STATE QUESTIONS CENTRE’S SURVEY METRICS ON HYD
OTT platforms are showing filthy things with abuses, Centre tells top court
Reacting to the survey of a department of the Centre, in which Hyderabad does not find a place in the top rankings, a high ranking official in the state government said, “(We are) totally baffled. We have been ranked number one in Mercer’s Quality of Living Index in India since 2015 till date for five years in a row. For us, not to find Hyderabad even in the top 10 feels weird. We could have understood if we were ranked as one of the top three, or even top five.”
Reacting to the survey of a department of the Centre, in which Hyderabad does not find a place in the top rankings, a high ranking official in the state government said, “(We are) totally baffled. We have been ranked number one in Mercer’s Quality of Living Index in India since 2015 till date for five years in a row. For us, not to find Hyderabad even in the top 10 feels weird. We could have understood if we were ranked as one of the top three, or even top five.”
The official, scanning the entire list, said, “Looking at cities which have been rated above us in this survey, we can say it is almost bordering on being ridiculous as far as rankings go.”
“We were ranked number one amongst all the metros in the last few years in the Swacch rankings conducted and released by the Central government. It, therefore, comes as a rude shock. There is surely more to the motivations behind the survey than meets the eye. It cannot be taken at face value,” the bureaucrat said.
“We feel it is very unfortunate that such rankings are not based on transparent criteria and are done always in a subjective manner,” the officer added.
The Supreme Court on Thursday favoured the screening of programms on over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix while expressing concern that at times programmes are with porn contents.
“We are of the view that there should be some screening of such programs. At times they are showing pornography too”, said a bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Subhash Reddy.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre told the court that “They are showing filthy things with abuses too.”
The top court’s observation came in the course of the hearing of a plea by Aparna Purohit, the commercial head of Amazon Prime Video in India, seeking anticipatory bail in a case filed by the Uttar Pradesh government rooted in the web series Tandav.
Aparna Purohit has moved the top court against Allahabad High Court’s order refusing her the anticipatory bail in the case.
Having expressed its displeasure over the way objectionable content including pornography was being shown on OTT platforms without prior screening, the court asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre to place before it the recently notified Information Technology Rules, which provide for regulation of content on OTT platforms.
While senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Aparna Purohit, argued that it was about “freedom of speech and expression”, the bench countered that it was about “creating balance”.
Tandav, a political thriller starring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, was launched as an Amazon exclusive in January and all its nine episodes have been completed since there was no court stay against its streaming.
Unlike the movies, produced in India or abroad, require the censor board’s clearance before release to the theatres, but the OTT that was evolved in the wake of the complete lockdown due to the pandemic, there is no control on the contents of the programmes shown on them.
It was in the wake of this that the government framed regulations to regulate them.
Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday met representatives from the Over the Top (OTT) industry and said they have welcomed the government's new guidelines.
He also said that the OTT industry will partner with the ministry towards making the experience on the platform better for audience.
“Had a fruitful meeting with representatives from
OTT industry and explained the provisions of the OTT rules. All representatives have welcomed the new guidelines. The ministry and industry will partner together to make the OTT experience better for all audience,” Javadekar tweeted. However, more details about the meeting were not available immediately.
The government had on February 25 notified new rules and guidelines for OTT platforms and digital news media, requiring them to make public their details and having a grievance redressal system in place.