Month: October 2022

New Delhi (TIP)- IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said the latest amendment of intermediary guidelines is focused on protection of online users. The comment came as the government on Friday, October 28,  notified new rules under which it will set up appellate panels to settle grievances that users may have against decisions of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook on hosting contentious content.

The three-member Grievance Appellate Committee(s) will be set in three months, according to the gazette notification.

Soon after the tweaks in IT rules were notified on Friday, Vaishnaw said, “The focus of the amendment of intermediary guidelines is on the protection of online users. “The law of the land is supreme. Intermediary to ensure accessibility of its services to all users and respect their rights under the Constitution of India,” he noted.

According to the latest amendments, the appellate committees will be able to review content moderation and other decisions of social media companies such as Meta and Twitter.

“The central government shall, by notification, establish one or more grievance appellate committees within three months from the date of commencement of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022,” the notification said.

Each grievance appellate committee will consist of a chairperson and two whole-time members appointed by the central government, of which one will be a member ex-officio and two will be independent members.                Source: PTI

New Delhi (TIP)- India and the European Union have explored ways to facilitate mobility and migration of talented professionals, students and skilled workforce for the mutual benefit of both the sides, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday, October 28. The issues figured at the 6th High Level Dialogue on Migration and Mobility (HLDMM) between India and the European Union that took place in Brussels on October 27.

The MEA said the discussions at the meeting covered a wide range of issues related to the promotion of safe, orderly and regular migration including prevention of irregular migration.

“Both sides also discussed potential areas of cooperation to facilitate mobility and migration of talented professionals, students and skilled workforce for the mutual benefit of both partners,” it said in a statement.

“Both sides expressed satisfaction at the successful implementation of India-EU Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility. As India and EU celebrate 60 years of diplomatic ties, the dialogue is an important dimension of the strategic partnership,” it added. The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Ausaf Sayeed, Secretary (Consular, Passport & Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the MEA. Monique Pariat, Director General (Migration and Home Affairs), European Commission, headed the EU team.

Besides the two delegations led by the co-chairs, the meeting was also attended by representatives of the diplomatic missions of EU member states in Brussels who were invited as observers.

The representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Labour and Employment were part of the Indian delegation.      Source: PTI

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, October 28,  assured that the party, once voted to power at the Centre, would do away with Goods and Services Tax (GST) on handlooms to provide succour to the weavers.

He also promised to provide land rights to the tribal farmers of Telangana once the Congress comes to power in the state in the next year’s assembly elections. Gandhi, who was on the third day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, had an interaction with weavers and tribal farmers at Gopalpur Kalan village of Devarkadra block in Mahabubnagar district for more than an hour.

“You do not have to wait for too long. We will come to power at the Centre and the state soon and solve these problems. We will ensure that GST is removed on handlooms. We shall also provide title deeds of the lands being cultivated by tribal farmers, once we come to power in Telangana,” he said.

The weavers of Telangana have been protesting against imposition of GST on handloom textiles and their raw material. The Telangana government, too, recently wrote a letter to the Centre asking for removal of the GST on handloom products.

A woman weaver brought to the notice of Gandhi that the GST on handlooms and raw materials would cripple the weaving sector. “During the Congress period, yarn subsidy used to reach the weaver. That system does not exist anymore. Similarly, the state cooperative organisation used to buy directly from weavers. That, too, does not happen anymore,” she said. Similarly, tribal farmers during their interaction with the Congress MP, spoke about the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. They explained to him about the status of assigned land and lack of title deeds for their lands where they take up Podu cultivation (shifting cultivation).

Sunil Kumar of National Law School and Research (Nalsar) summed up the problem of the implementation of the Forest Rights Act. “Three major issues afflict the tribal farmers of Telangana. One, over 3 lakh applications are pending for recognition of forest land. Two, tussle between government departments, mainly forest and revenue departments, due to which 1 lakh tribal-farmers are suffering. Three, forest department is delaying recognition of forest land which is affecting approx. 25 lakh farmers in the state,” he explained to Gandhi.

                Source: HT

Mumbai (TIP)- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on October 28 wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to include the photographs of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on currency notes. The AAP leader wrote the letter two days after he appealed to the Union Government to print new notes with the images of Hindu deities for country’s “economic prosperity”.

“I have written to the PM on behalf of 130 crore Indians that the images of Laxmi-Ganesh ji should be put on the Indian currency along with Mahatma Gandhi’s,” Kejriwal wrote on Twitter while sharing the letter.

Claiming that the Indian economy was not in a good shape, Kejriwal had on Wednesday said the country needed a lot of effort to get the economy back on track along with the “blessings of our gods and goddesses”. “Tremendous support has been received on this issue. There is massive enthusiasm among people and everyone wants this to be implemented immediately,” Kejriwal claimed in the letter, while adding: “On the one hand, all countrymen need to work hard and on the other, we also need blessings of the deities so that our efforts bear fruits.”

Kejriwal’s demand has evoked sharp reactions from the BJP, which called it an unsuccessful attempt to hide the “ugly anti-Hindu face” of the AAP in view of the upcoming polls in Gujarat and HP. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the AAP leader said, “Our economy is not improving. We need to make multi-pronged efforts. Our efforts will bear fruit only when we have the blessings of God.”

New Delhi (TIP)- India on Saturday, October 29,  warned about the threat posed by the use of varied technologies for terrorist activities as they become “cheaper and more readily available”. India’s Permanent Representative to UN Ruchira Kamboj said the new and emerging technologies have helped fuel economic growth and offer the possibility to reduce existing inequalities, however, they have also thrown several challenges that demand our attention and urgent action.

“The use of new technology for terrorist purposes is increasing, diversifying and evolving as varied technologies become cheaper and more readily available,” Kamboj said in her opening statement on Day 2 of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting.

“Proliferation in online activities particularly during the pandemic has given terrorists the opportunity to spread their toxic narratives honing their propaganda, particularly targeting youth and children including through gaming platforms,” she added.

India is hosting the two-day anti-terrorism meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The ongoing meeting in Delhi is being held under India’s chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee.

Addressing the meeting, external affairs minister S Jaishankar underlined that the threat of terrorism is growing and expanding despite the UN Security Council’s significant efforts in the last two decades to combat the menace. Jaishankar said that the technologies have also thrown up new challenges for governments and regulatory bodies given the “very nature of some of these technologies and the nascent regulatory environment.”

“UN Security Council, in the past 2 decades, has evolved an important architecture built primarily around the Counter-Terrorism Sanctions Regime to combat this menace. This has been very effective in putting those countries on notice that had turned terrorism into a state-funded enterprise,” the minister said.

“Despite this, the threat of terrorism is only growing and expanding, particularly in Asia and Africa, as successive reports of the 1267 Sanctions Committee monitoring reports have highlighted,” he added.

Jaishankar further stated that the internet and social media platforms have turned into potent instruments in the toolkit of terrorists and militant groups for spreading propaganda, radicalisation and conspiracy theories aimed at destabilising societies.

“Another add-on to the existing worries for governments around the world is the use of unmanned aerial systems by terrorist groups and organised criminal networks,” he added.