Close on the heels of a Government rebuke for not protesting against fairness cream ads, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has said it is planning to form a media watch group to monitor advertisements.‘‘The watch group will be an independent body responsible for bringing objectionable ads to the notice of the Government,’’ said Poornima Advani, chairperson, National Commission for Women.It will comprise people from the advertising world, mediapersons, and representatives of National Commission for Women as well as state women’s commissions to monitor the ads, said Advani. She said the National Commission for Women as well as state women’s commissions are dissatisfied with the present mechanism for monitoring ads.Moreover, she said, the commissions have felt the need for a minimum and a maximum penalty to be fixed under Sections 294 and 295 of the IPC for indecent representation of women in the audio-visual media.‘‘There are close to 100 TV channels in the country at present and monitoring them all is not going to be an easy task. Hence the need for a separate body to keep a tab on them and point out the objectionable ones,’’ said Advani.Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had, at the inauguration of the two-day conference of the state women’s commissions here last week, rebuked the National Commission for Women for not raising its voice against fairness cream commercials saying ads like the one for Fair and Lovely cream projected women in a bad light.
