‘Need a censor body’: RSS forms panel for curbs on OTT’s ‘cultural pollution’

3 min readNew DelhiSep 16, 2026 05:49 AM IST First published on: Sep 16, 2026 at 05:46 AM IST

About two years after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat called OTT (Over the Top) content a driver of “moral corruption”, the Sangh has constituted an informal group to recommend ways to tackle what it terms “cultural pollution” on the video streaming platforms, The Indian Express has learnt.

Sources said this panel comprises several members including former vice-chancellors and pracharaks engaged in the fields of education and culture.

A source in the RSS said that the panel, set up a few months ago, held its first meeting last month. “This is an informal group and a proposal will be made which will ultimately be submitted to the Union Ministry of Culture and other stakeholders in the central government to deal with the dirt coming out on OTT platforms,” the source said. “We need something like a censor board to deal with this cultural pollution affecting our families and the young generation in particular.”

Another source said: “There is no deadline given for the group but before making its proposal, we need wider consultations with the people in the field of law as well.”

Bhagwat had targeted OTT content in his annual Vijayadashami address delivered in Nagpur on October 12, 2024. “The kind of things shown on OTT platforms are so disgusting that talking about it too would be indecent… There is a need to regulate it through law because it is also one of the big reasons for moral corruption,” the RSS chief had then said, blaming the OTT platforms for alleged “perversion in society”.

RSS sources said the move to form the panel was based on feedback from Kutumb Prabodhan, the Sangh activity that seeks to revive traditional family values, strengthen inter-generational bonds and promote social harmony. “Sangh functionaries view OTT platforms as one of the sources of moral corruption,” sources added.

Films shown in theatres are certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), commonly known as Censor Board, under the Cinematograph Act, 1952. There is no equivalent regulatory body for OTT content, which is governed mainly by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and related IT and criminal laws.

Some quarters have repeatedly sought to rake up “gaps in regulatory framework” for OTT content.

On July 22 this year, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan told the Lok Sabha in response to a question that the government had disabled 50 OTT platforms for public access in India over two years for displaying obscene content and for alleged violations of the IT Act, section 294 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.