CBFC - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Prasoon Joshi

Explanation:
Popular screenwriter and lyricist Prasoon Joshi was recently appointed as the new Central Board for Film Certification after Pahlaj Nihalani was sacked.

Nihalani’s term as the CBFC chairman was embroiled with controversies regarding the demands for multiple cuts for films like ‘Udta Punjab’, ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ and recently ‘Indu Sarkar’.

The board had ordered 89 cuts and told producers to remove all references to Punjab, elections and political parties in the movie ‘Udta Punjab’, which was based on the state’s drug problem.

The new chief of CBFC, the 45-year-old writer-poet and adman Prasoon Joshi is a well-known name in the Hindi film industry.

He is famous for writing dialogue and lyrics for films like 'Delhi 6', 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'. He wrote songs for 'Fanaa', 'Black', 'Ghajini'.

As an adman, Prasoon Joshi is also famous for spearheading political campaigns by major parties.

During the 2009 elections, Prasoon Joshi was given the charge for creating the campaign concept for the BJP and he came up with 'Majboot Neta, Nirnayak Sarkar'.

Lal Krishna Advani was being projected as the NDA candidate in that election.

He was asked by P Chidambaram, the then finance minister of the UPA government, to conceptualise the Service Tax campaign.

Later, he was also instrumental in the Achche Din Aane Wale Hai campaign by the BJP during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Joshi also wrote an anthem, 'Saugandh', which was voiced by Narendra Modi during the campaign.

While it is rumoured that Pahlaj Nihalani was given the post of CBFC chief after his 'Har Ghar Modi' video during the elections, Joshi's contributions to BJP campaigns are no less.

The lyricist ad-man is also behind the most popular project of Narendra Modi till date - Swachh Bharath.

He wrote the anthem titled 'swachh Bharat Ka Irada' during the campaign.

He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2015 for his contributions towards the field of Arts, Literature and Advertising.

Joshi has received the 'Filmfare Best Lyricist Award' three times, in 2007 and 2008 and again in 2014 for the Hindi movie 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.’

He has also received the National Film Award for 'Best Lyrics' twice, for his work in 'Taare Zameen Par' (2007) and 'Chittagong' (2013).

Prasoon Joshi has written a poem on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday.

Prasoon Joshi started his career at Ogilvy & Mather in Delhi after earning a degree in Management from IMT Ghaziabad. He currently heads the Asia Pacific division of McCann Erickson.

His other advertising campaigns include Chloromint, Happydent commercials, as well as the Incredible India's 'Atithi Devo Bhava' campaign featuring Aamir Khan.

ANSWER: Online film certification system

Explanation:
Online Film Certification System of CBFC would facilitate the PM's vision of Ease of Doing Business and Digital India.

The complete automation of the Film Certification Process would enable Good Governance making the entire process transparent and efficient.

The objective is to eliminate the need for human interface to the extent possible.

The new online certification system would be an important step in making the CBFC Office paper less and would enable effective monitoring & real time progress tracking for both CBFC Officials and the applicant (Producers).

More online initiatives would be introduced in the Ministry as part of the roadmap for transparent Governance.

The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) established by the Ministry in Nov 2015 provided Single window clearance to facilitate film shootings by foreign film makers in India.

A total of 41 shooting Permissions were given for foreign films/projects in 2016 which was approximately 33% increase over 2015.

Ministry of I&B has also simplified the Annual Renewal process for existing TV channels wherein permitted broadcasters can continue their operations by paying annual fee up to 60 days before the due date for continuation of the channel for a further period of 1 year.

The payment can now be made online through Bharat Kosh Portal since 1st January, 2017.

The online system has integrated the payments made by the producers towards certification fees with Bharatkosh portal, a Govt. of India system for all Non-tax revenue receipts.

It would be the First Software to fully integrate with the Bharatkosh.

Online Film Certification System: Know More (Source: PIB)

The salient features of the online film certification system are as follows:

• In the e-cinepramaan, the status of each application would be visible online in the dashboard of the producer/concerned CBFC official.
• In case of short films/promos/trailers less than 10 minutes, even for Examination purposes also, the producer need not visit the Office/Theatre. They can merely submit their creations online.
• For films longer than 10 minutes, the applicant will only have to show the film at the Examining theatre and will not have to visit the CBFC Offices at all except to collect their certificates.
• The producer/applicant would be informed by SMS/e-mail of the status of their application and any action needed, beginning from the receipt of application to the certificate collection.
• The transparency in the system and elimination of middle men would mitigate chances of any corruption and would also avoid allegations of jumping the queue or rigging up of Examination committees.
• The implementation of QR code on the certificates would eliminate chances of fraudulent certificates.
• The system envisages a robust MIS system for performance tracking and efficient reporting.
• The system has inbuilt alerts depending on the pendency of the application to ensure that time limits prescribed by the Rules are not violated.
• Simultaneously, a new CBFC Website has also been developed bringing in new user friendly features and important information at the click of a button.

ANSWER: Shyam Benegal

Explanation:
Shyam Benegal Committee constituted to revamp CBFC on 26th April 2016 submitted to the report to information and broadcasting ministry

• It recommended that CBFC should be film certification body whose scope will be restricted for categorisation for the suitability of the film to audience groups on basis of age and maturity
• The guidelines seek to protect children from unsuitable content and empower parents to make informed viewing decisions