I&B Ministry approves anti-piracy initiative in the XII Plan

Approved scheme under the Plan has an outlay of Rs 2 crores for the period 2012-17

The government has approved a scheme under the 12th Five Year Plan for carrying out an anti-piracy initiative in the audio-visual sector. This new scheme of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has an outlay of Rs 2 crores for the plan period of 2012-17.

The major activities planned include campaign on piracy through audio-visual, internet and print media; a dedicated web portal; training programmes and workshops to sensitise police, judicial, administrative officials, multiplex and cinema hall owners about the Copyright Act; conduct research on effects of piracy and develop public-private strategies to combat piracy; production of a film/documentary; efforts at inclusion of anti-piracy awareness material in the curriculum of the schools and colleges; spreading awareness through road shows/street plays and programme in schools and colleges.

The governemtn intends to implement these activities in collaboration with Business Chambers and NGOs, wherever possible.
As per the I&B ministry, piracy continues to be a key challenge for the Indian film sector and has been a prime reason for decline of Home Video market in India.

As per FICCI-KPMG report for 2011, the piracy market accounts for 600-700 million unit sales of DVDs each year with more than 10,000 vendors operating in illegitimate DVD market. With increased competition within this sector, prices of pirated DVDs are declining as compared to previous years. Another new emerging threat to legitimate exhibition of films is illegal download of films available on websites. The magnitude of this problem is set to increase in the coming years, given the expansion and availability of broadband infrastructure. While digital technology on the one hand plays a significant role in accessibility of content across various new media platforms, the film sector faces a massive challenge of grappling with pirated software on web-based platforms in the current Indian environment where mechanisms for regulation of content on the Internet are non-existent.