Standing Committee on Information Technology (2014-15)
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STANDING COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (2014-15) 12 SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING [Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Forty-seventh Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on ‘Issues Related to Paid News’] TWELFTH REPORT LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI August, 2015/Shravana, 1937 (Saka) 2 TWELFTH REPORT STANDING COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (2014-15) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING [Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Forty-seventh Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on ‘Issues Related to Paid News’ Presented to Lok Sabha on ___________ Laid in Rajya Sabha on _____________ LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI August, 2015/Shravana, 1937 (Saka) 3 CONTENTS Page No. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (ii) INTRODUCTION (iii) CHAPTER I Report…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1 CHAPTER II Recommendations/Observations which have been accepted by the 10 Government…………………………………………………………………………………………… CHAPTER III Recommendations/Observations which the Committee do not desire to 31 pursue in view of replies of the Government………………………………………………………………………………………….. CHAPTERIV Recommendations/Observations in respect of which replies of the 33 Government have not been accepted by the Committee and require reiteration ……………………………………………………………………………………………… CHAPTER V Recommendations/Observations in respect of which replies are of interim in 35 nature……………………………………………………………………………………………………. ANNEXURES *I. Minutes of the Twenty-fourth sitting of the Committee held on 11th August, 2015 II. Analysis of Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/ 45 Recommendations contained in their Forty-seventh report *Not appended with the cyclostyled copy. 4 COMPOSITION OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (2014-15) Shri Anurag Singh Thakur - Chairperson Lok Sabha 2. Shri L.K. Advani 3. Shri Prasun Banerjee 4. Dr. Sunil Baliram Gaikwad * 5. Dr. K.C. Patel 6. Shri Hemant Tukaram Godse 7. Dr. Anupam Hazra 8. Dr. J. Jayavardhan 9. Shri P. Karunakaran 10. Shri Virender Kashyap 11. Shri Harinder Singh Khalsa 12. Smt. Hema Malini 13. Shri Keshav Prasad Maurya 14. Ms. Mehbooba Mufti 15. Shri Paresh Rawal 16. Dr. (Smt.) Bhartiben Dhirubhai Shiyal 17. Shri Abhishek Singh 18. Shri D.K. Suresh 19. Shri Ramdas C. Tadas 20. Smt. R. Vanaroja @21. Shri Raosaheb Danve Patil Rajya Sabha 22. Shri Javed Akhtar 23. Shri Salim Ansari 24. Smt. Jaya Bachchan 25. Shri Vijay Jawaharlal Darda 26. Shri Santiuse Kujur 27. Shri Derek O’Brien 28. Dr. K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao 29. Shri Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar 30. Mahant Shambhuprasadji Tundiya # 31. Shri Meghraj Jain Secretariat 1. Shri K. Vijayakrishnan Additional Secretary 2. Shri J. M. Baisakh Director 3. Smt. Meenakshi Sharma Additional Director * Nominated to the Committee w.e.f. 11.09.2014 vice Shri Feroze Varun Gandhi, M.P., vide Bulletin Part – II w.e.f. 11.09.2014. @ Nominated to the Committee w.e.f 15.07.2015 vide Bulletin Part-II dated 17.07.2015 # Nominated to the Committee w.e.f. 14.01.2015 vide Bulletin Part – II dated 16.01.2015. (ii) 5 INTRODUCTION I, the Chairperson, Standing Committee on Information Technology (2014-2015), having been authorised by the Committee, do present the Twelfth Report on Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Forty-seventh Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on the subject ‘Issues related to Paid News’ relating to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 2. The Forty-seventh Report was presented to Lok Sabha on 6th May, 2013 and laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha on 7th May, 2013. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting furnished their Action Taken Notes on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Forty-seventh Report on 25th April, 2014. 3. The Report was considered and adopted by the Committee at their sitting held on 11th August, 2015. 4. For facility of reference and convenience, Observations/Recommendations of the Committee have been printed in bold in Chapter-I of the Report. 5. An analysis of Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Forty-seventh Report of the Committee is given at Annexure-II. New Delhi; ANURAG SINGH THAKUR, 11 August, 2015 Chairperson, 20 Shravana, 1937 (Saka) Standing Committee on Information Technology. (iii) CHAPTER-I REPORT This Report of the Standing Committee on Information Technology deals with the action taken by the Government on the Observations /Recommendations of the Committee contained in their Forty-seventh Report (Fifteenth Lok Sabha) on ‘Issues related to Paid News’ relating to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 2. The Forty-seventh Report was presented to Lok Sabha on 6.05.2013 and was laid on the Table of Rajya Sabha on 7.05.2013. The Report contained 18 Observations/Recommendations. 3. The Action Taken Notes in respect of all the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Report have been received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and are categorized as under:- (i) Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government: Rec. Sl. Nos.:- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15 and 18. (ii) Observations/Recommendations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of the replies of the Government: Rec. Sl. Nos.:- 17 (iii) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee and which require reiteration: Rec. Sl. Nos.:- 6 (iv) Observations/Recommendations in respect of which the replies are of interim nature: Rec. Sl. Nos.:- 8, 11, 13, 14 and 16. 2 4. The Committee desire that Action Taken Notes on the Observations/Recommendations contained in Chapter-I and final Action Taken Notes on the Observations/Recommendations contained in Chapter-V of the Report shall be furnished to them at an early date. 5. In the 47th Report (15th LS), the Committee had extensively examined various aspects of Paid News and its ramifications on different sections of society. The major recommendations of the Committee included, formulating a viable and enforceable mechanism to curb the menace of paid news, framing of guideline/code to demarcate between “Advertisements and News”, need for defining Paid News, reviewing the working conditions for media personnel, enforcing guidelines/code for bringing transparency in “Private Treaties” , framing rules to for regulate cross media holdings, implementation of proposals made by the Election Commission of India, strengthening of Press Council of India, etc. Majority of the recommendations made in the 47th Report have been accepted by the Government. The Action Taken Notes on the Observations/recommendations of the Committee have been reproduced in the relevant chapters of this Report. 6. The Committee will now deal with action taken by the Government on some of their Observations/Recommendations. Manifestation of “Paid News” (Recommendations Sl. No. 1 and 2) 7. In their original Report, the Committee had observed with concern that certain sections of the media have started reciveing monetary or other benefits for publishing or broadcasting in favour of individuals/organizations/corportate entities, what is commonly being referred to as Paid News and it has spread at remarkable pace in some sections of the media. The phenomenon has the effect of unduly influencing the financial/stock/real estate market, health, industry and influencing public opinion in election process. The Committee found that Paid News is not limited to corruption of individual journalists instead has become complex and ‘organised’ involving multiple players like journalists, manager/owners of media companies, corporations, public relations firms/advertising agencies and some sections of the political class. The Committee further noted that although the Election Commission had started noticing the menace of Paid News as early as 2004 General Elections itself, the malpractice of Paid News surfaced prominently during General Elections of 2009 and thereafter. Even though the menace of ‘Paid News’ has been in practice and visible for long, the Committee found that the Ministry 3 of Information and Broadcasting had not done anything substantial to check the menace. While feeling seriously concered over the ways the menace has manifested, the Committee apprehended that if it was not curtailed at this juncture, it would assume gigantic proportions. The Committee, therefore, had recommended the Ministry to act swiftly on the issue of ‘Paid News’ on priority basis and come out with a viable and enforceable mechanism so that this menace is curbed at the earliest. 8. In their Action Taken Notes, the Ministry have inter-alia stated that the issue of formulating a comprehensive policy and institutional mechanism to address the phenomenom of Paid News is under consideration of the Government. The Ministry of I&B are of the view that any action on Paid News through legislative action would require Parliamentary approval for which political consensus is a pre-requisite. Accordingly, Ministry of I&B have submitted a note to the Ministry of Law and Justice on issues namely, (a) Representation of the People Act, 1951, be amended to make incidence of Paid News a punishable electoral malpractice and (b) The PCI must be fully empowered to adjudicate the complaints of Paid News and give final judgement in the matter. On the basis of examination by the Ministry of Law and