Govt bans children's cartoon TV serial Shin Chan

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) The government has banned children's TV cartoon serial 'Shin Chan' on grounds of undesirability of its content for its viewers.

The serial was being telecast on the 'Hungama' TV and was gaining wide popularity among the children.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma said here orders for taking the TV serial off the air had already been issued.

Replying to a question at the economic editors conference, Mr Sharma said the government was very much serious about any violations of the programme code and could not overlook societal concerns.

When one of the questioners pointed out that in some parts of the country, the serial was still being aired, the Minister said he would instruct his officials to look into the matter and take strict action against the violators.

Replying to a related question about the proposed content code, the Minister said the government was seized of the matter and was very much for such a code and an independent regulator to enforce, but was trying for a consensus to emerge.

He said the content code prepared by a committee representing a cross-section of the society was rejected by broadcasters and instead one of their associations, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), brought out their own code to be enforced by a self-regulatory body set up by them, but the government was not satisfied with the situation, as some of the channels may not find it binding to follow the code, and then some intervention has to be made.

The issue of content impacted the society as a whole, so it could not be just left for broadcasters to decide it.

''Societal concerns have to be taken note of. The Ministry was revisiting the whole issue of content and regulation and it would evolve a consensus on the issue,'' he said.

The recommendations of the committee were under serious consideration of the government, and the judiciary also wants such a code to be in place.

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