People's Democracy

Mechanism for TV Programmes Captioning Demanded

THROUGH a letter addressed to Smt Ambika Soni, minister for information and broadcasting in the government of India, on October 15, the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), has expressed concern about the way of captioning of the TV content.

Addressed to the minister by NPRD assistant convener Muralidharan, the letter said the last week of September 2012 was celebrated by the deaf throughout the world as the International Week of the Deaf. In India too, many organisations representing the deaf community celebrated the week, thus attempting to create an awareness about and draw attention towards the issues facing them.

As per the 2001 census 1.26 million people in the country were deaf whereas the data of the NSS 58th round said the population of the deaf in India was around 3.06 million. These, the letter said, are underestimates. It can safely be said that one in every 200 people is deaf. The 2011 census data, when released, is expected to come up with a near accurate and a much higher figure.

The letter pointed out that among other issues, one significant issue that was sought to be highlighted by the deaf during the week related to captioning or sub-titles of the content broadcast through TV channels.

The draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012, proposed to be introduced in the coming winter session of parliament, provides that appropriate governments and establishments shall take measures to ensure that “Persons with disabilities have access to electronic media by providing for audio description, sign language interpretation and closed captioning.”

As one is aware, in open captioning, the captions or sub-titles are continuously displayed on the screen of TV sets and consumes some space. As opposed to this, closed captioning is preferred worldwide as the viewer has a choice to turn the captioning on or off.  Currently, all TV sets in India do not come with decoders pre-installed in them. Until such time as all TV sets come with preinstalled decoders, those desirous of watching captions would have to buy a decoder separately.

In contrast, many European countries offer closed captioning. The United States began this around 1978 and made it mandatory in 1990 with the passage of the Americans with the Disabilities Act. Canada and the United Kingdom followed suit. Subtitling and access issues in general are constantly discussed at the European Parliament. Consequently, subtitles for the deaf and those hard of hearing are increasingly broadcast in many countries, both in and outside the EU, even in places where no relevant legislation is in place yet. 

A research in the US way back in 1980 showed that captions improved reading skills not only of deaf children, but also non-deaf children with learning disabilities. Captions are also increasingly being used by second language learners, and it has been proven that literacy levels improve with the use of subtitles.

Apart from those born deaf and those who have become deaf at a later stage, there is an increasing population of the elderly, sizeable sections of whom are hard of hearing. Captioning TV content will be a boon to all of them.

Attached please find a paper from The Journal of Special Translation and an article by Shri Brij Kothari on the issue.

To make TV watching meaningful for such a huge population, who are deprived of this basic right, it is essential that captioning is made mandatory for all TV programmes produced and broadcast in India. Pending the enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012, as also a legislation for TV sets above 14 inches to have decoders inbuilt in them, the NPRD has urged the minister to put in place mechanisms for captioning the content on TV programmes broadcast in the country.

Copies of the letter have also been forwarded to Mukul Wasnik, minister for social justice and empowerment, and to Smt Stuti Kackar, secretary of the Department of Disability Affairs.