Proposed Broadcasting Bill Risks Stifling India’s Musical Heritage, Say Artists and Experts:

Suspense crime, Digital Desk : While attending the Jahan-e-Khusro Sufi Music Festival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the significance of music, describing it as India's civilizational spirit. At the same time, the music community's worries are only deepening due to the Government's Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill - a proposal which could potentially transform art into mere content for broadcast consumption.

What the Draft Bill Proposes

With a life cycle beginning in December 2023—revised in July 2024, put on pause in August—if this draft is reintroduced in its present state, it could require all issued music to meet a centralized Programme Code, enforcing content scrutiny before release akin to TV and radio.

Musicians Warn of Creative Suppression

In a study done by The Dialogue, titled Tuning into Change, 82% of respondents believed the new compliance would restrict musical diversity and 75% claiming they would face heightened operational burdens due to preemptive content reviews.

Those Trapped in Tradition Argue Fluidity

Indian artists from classical and folk disciplines contend that their works, most being derivative from centuries-old institutions like the Chishti Sufi order, depend on improvisation and cultural movement.

“Can inspiration ever be regulated?” they pose, emphasizing that creativity needs to progress rather than be confined to programmatic algorithms.

Why Current Laws Are Sufficient

Music services are in compliance with the IT Rules 2021 regarding user complaint handling and government-issued content takedown servicing. The Act of 2000 further contains a number of provisions including severe punishments meant to curb digital crimes such as obscenity and violation of privacy terms. This proposed bill seems to me to be attempting to further duplicate these already existing measures, creating a gap in time without any positive intent.

Maintaining An Active Atmosphere

In the music of India, there are more than 40,000 formally registered and 14 million temporally registered artists which include folk singers as well as brass band musicians. They are not mere entertainers. They are the cultivators of rich oral history. As one of the artists said, “there is a need to overlook rules derived from broadcasting laws to protect such an environment.”

Control Must Be Cooperative Rather than Militaristic

The appeal is not made to suggest the absence of regulation, rather the presence of defined policy approaches which directly bound creativity but indirectly ensure responsibility and structure.

“Do not kill my country’s music! Allow free-flowing, innovation-ready, inspired evolution unchained from red tape, purely administrative shackles,” the appealing artists tell us.