New Delhi : The government has set up a committee to develop the entertainment sector, according to the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj. The committee was set up here on Sunday at a conference of the state I&B ministers or SIMCON. Briefing the media a day after the conference, Ms Swaraj said some ministers led by the Karnataka I&B Minister, Professor VK Chandrashekhar, suggested that a committee be formed to deliberate on two issues. These issues are: shifting cinema from the state list to the concurrent list and having uniform entertainment tax on cinema in all states. But, Ms Swaraj felt that a committee should be formed not just for these two issues but for all issues concerning the entire entertainment sector. Seeking to elicit the views of the states, Ms Swaraj decided to include nine I&B ministers from various states in the committee.With Ms Swaraj as the chairperson and Mr Ramesh Bais, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, as the vice-chairperson, the committee has I&B Ministers of nine states - Assam, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Although no formal time-frame has been set, Ms Swaraj was optimistic that she would be able to submit a committee report on issues concerning development of the entertainment sector within six months. The state ministers' conference broadly took up four issues. These included shifting cinema from the state list to the concurrent list, uniform entertainment tax on cinema in all states, role of the government in content regulation, and synergy between the Centre and the states on government media units. To make decisions on these issues, the conference chalked out the guidelines for the newly formed committee.
The committee must suggest a policy framework (both in the Centre and the States) conducive for nurturing the entertainment sector. It must also recommend changes in the legislative and regulatory framework required due to the changing canvas of the sector. The committee will be responsible for identifying the additional infrastructure needs in terms of education, training, software production facilities and exhibition etc. Apart from that, it must suggest measures to boost exports in the entertainment sector, identify ways for providing finance for cinema and look at the taxation structure for greater revenue generation.
Finally, the committee is to look into any other issue related to achieve the full potential of the entertainment sector. Allaying fears of the state ministers, Ms Swaraj said that the deliberations on moving cinema to the concurrent list are not aimed at a bigger role of the Central government. "But we'll be able to address the problem of legislation if cinema is brought under the concurrent list," she said. Highlighting the need for a legislative framework for the entertainment sector, Ms Swaraj pointed out that it's an industry with Rs 15,000-crore turnover. Projecting a 32 per cent growth, Ms Swaraj said that by the year 2005, the entertainment sector will have a turnover of Rs 60,000 crore.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
