Netflix India content head meets I&B Secretary over webseries 'IC814: The Kandahar Hijack' row
New Delhi (PTI): Netflix India's content head Monika Shergill on Tuesday met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju here, amid a row over the web series 'IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack'.
The meeting at Jaju's office here lasted for about 40 minutes during which the OTT platform official was apprised of the sentiments expressed by a large section of the society and the need to be sensitive while handling such topics.
Voicing concern over the depiction of terrorists in the web series, a senior official has said nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the nation.
The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has stirred controversy with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.
"Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the people of this nation. Indian culture and civilisation should always be respected," another official source said.
"Should we allow any foreign people to slipshod over our cultural values," the source said without elaborating.
The sources said filmmakers have to think before portraying something in a wrong manner. "You may be liberal, but you cannot portray institutions in a wrong manner," the source said.
Using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood and #IC814, several X users shared posts claiming the filmmakers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' to allegedly protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community.
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Dhyan Chand lifetime award to be replaced by Arjuna lifetime
New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.
Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.
In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.
"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.
"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.
"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.
The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.
