15/11/2019 - S & T | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 5 years

KEY POINTS

· For our country, with a rich diversity and cultural heritage there are many stories to tell, but as long as there are a high percentage of revenue leakages in the monetisation chain because of piracy.

· The government has addressed this concern recently, but the time has now come to introduce administrative measures which will empower the executive and bring immediate and long-term relief to this cancer called piracy of content.

Administrative measures

· The palliative care to the piracy is via digital civics where it is important that the public at large needs to be educated about the potential financial threat of accessing content illegally.

· As per RAND reports, entertainment piracy operations have close links to terror organisations and crime syndicates.

· Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), an initiative of the Ministry of Commerce, has made a good start to spreading digital civics, but efforts need to be ramped up both monetarily and professionally.

· The creative industry, the telecom operators and the Chinese government introduced the “Sword Net Action”, an annual anti-piracy programme under which the music industry files 200-500 administrative complaints, of which, 80-90 per cent are resolved successfully every year.

· It is time that India uses every diplomatic platform or forum be it at the bi-lateral level via the FTAs or multi-lateral trade pacts such as BIMSTEC and RCEP to ensure greater enforcement of media and entertainment content infringement and seek content protection for the Indian creative industry.