The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory to TV channels in order to ensure appropriate representation of children in dance-based reality shows. They have advised all private satellite channels to show restraint, sensitivity and caution in programmes that depict children. An official statement was released as a reaction to the adult-like dance moves performed by children. It read: “These moves are often suggestive and age-inappropriate. Such acts may also have a distressing impact on children, impacting them at a young and impressionable age.” The advisory also directed channels not to show kids in an indecent, suggestive or inappropriate manner in programmes.

The Programme and Advertising Codes under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 prescribes that programmes should not denigrate children. Also shows meant for children should not contain explicit scenes of violence or bad language. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights states: “No child should be made to perform or enact scenes or mouth dialogues that are inappropriate for his/her age or those that may cause him/her distress.”

The question is not just of distressing children, showing them in age-inappropriate ways may be a factor implicated in the high levels of sexual crime against children as well. Also, the lack of proper control over what kids watch in movies, on TV and on the internet continues to pose a problem. The importance of media education to ensure that children are not affected by what they watch, but rather assimilate it in a healthy way, can be seen. Schools and parents will have to work together to equip their children in this regard.