Government committed to promote India as a Soft Power Government proposes to collaborate with Industry for setting up an Institute of Excellence for Gaming and Animation : Col. Rathore

Government committed to promote India as a Soft Power

Government proposes to collaborate with Industry for setting up an Institute of Excellence for Gaming and Animation : Col. Rathore

Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that the Government was willing to partner with the Industry to set up an Institute of Excellence for Gaming and Animation. The idea was under discussion in view of the Skill potential in the Media & Entertainment Sector where the youth workforce could act as a force multiplier. The proposed joint initiative could lead to the convergence of Content, Skill & Technology in the M&E domain. Col. Rathore stated this while delivering his address at the CII Big Picture Summit at New Delhi today.

Regarding the various initiatives undertaken by the Government across M&E sectors, the Minister said that the potential of India as Film shooting destination was a part of the proactive initiative in the policy domain. The Ministry was pursuing the idea of funding Indian Films in collaboration with the industry to participate in the prestigious International awards such as Oscar and Cannes. This was being noted keeping in mind the vision of the Honble Prime Minister to project the soft power potential of the country. In this context, the Ministry also proposed to set up NFDC as a Single Window Institution for all film shooting permissions in India. The Minister called upon the industry to undertake Out of Box Solutions to promote cinema through small theatres and mobile theatres in rural areas to enhance the reach of cinema. He also called upon the Industry to reinforce campaign and networking to project the importance of Indias soft power across global communities.

In his address Col. Rathore emphasized that the future road map of the M&E Sector depended upon technology, creativity and vision to tap resources for optimal utilization. The Governments policy would incorporate the same keeping in mind the contemporary M&E domain framework. Quoting some of the initiatives of the Ministry, Col. Rathore reiterated the success of FM Phase III auctions in the light of the transparent process adopted, measures being put in place to fast track digitization and the emphasis of the Government on Social Media and Digital advertising to ensure enhanced presence of Government initiatives. Col. Rathore also emphasized the need to provide top class training to the media fraternity so as to ensure good quality skills and content in view of the challenges facing the sector.

Special Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri J.S. Mathur speaking at the Summit said that M&E landscape was undergoing transformative changes and this was a challenge for all concerned stakeholders. Shri Mathur emphasized that the Government had taken many initiatives for providing an enabling environment for the growth of the sector. He also said that the rapidly changing technology provides great opportunities for the players in the sector specially the content developers and creators.



CP/GV