Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is soon likely to announce new positions for the senior former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, sources said.
Ravi Shankar Prasad’s replacement might well keep a lower profile, but tighten the screws further without creating quite as many controversies
In the Cabinet reshuffle on July 8, Ashwini Vaishnaw, a Rajya Sabha MP for Odisha, was given key portfolios - Minister of Electronics and Information and Technology, Railways, and Communications.
Under the new IT rules, large digital platforms that have over 5 million users are required to publish periodic compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the decision to involve private players was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15, 2020 that around 6 lakh villages in the country will be connected with broadband in 1,000 days.
In the interaction with Moneycontrol, CEO of Koo, Aprameya Radhakrishna shares how the firm's transparent policy on violations increases the trust on a local social media platform and how they are very clear on what we will do in a situation in India.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry on behalf of Sony Music Entertainment flagged a copyright violation complaint that ended up denying the minister access to Twitter for around an hour.
"Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Currently, the BPM industry revenues grew 2.4 percent to $38.5 billion in FY21 despite the pandemic. With the new set of norms that further eases work from home norms, the industry could grow to $5.5 billion by 2025, said Union IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on June 23.
The guidelines would help the business process outsourcing organisations giving voice-based services in India and abroad.
Social media companies were given three months (till May 25) to comply with the new Information Technology (Intermediary guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
A row erupted on Saturday over Congress leader Digvijay Singh's comments in an audio chat on social media that his party will have a "relook" at Article 370 revocation and Jammu and Kashmir's lost statehood if it returns to power, with the BJP accusing him of spewing venom against India in "collaboration" with Pakistan.
The Election Commission has also proposed making paid news an electoral offence under the Representation of the People Act to provide a strong deterrent against malpractice.
Social media platforms were given three months to comply with the new IT rules, which came into effect on May 26.
"The rules only empower the ordinary users of social media when they become victims of abuse and misuse," Prasad posted on micro-blogging platform Koo, and also tweeted.
In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world embraced digital transformation at a pace never witnessed before," Prasad said at the UN High-Level thematic debate on Digital Cooperation and Connectivity: Whole-of-Society Approaches to End the Digital Divide.'
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the rules on digital media and OTT platforms were framed after one and half years of public consultation.
During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Ravi Shankar Prasad said it is the commitment of the prime minister that communication infrastructure of the country must improve.
India’s first indigenously developed Appstore, 'Mobile Seva Appstore’ hosts more than 965 live apps from various domains and categories of public services, Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Speaking during Question Hour on the banning of Twitter accounts, Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government welcomes dissent but cannot allow misuse or abuse of social media.
The guidelines for social media, streaming services and digital platforms are a 'uniform yardstick' to remove double standards, says the communications and information technology minister.
The URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), accounts and webpages were blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Replying to a discussion on the Bill in the House, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it makes the provision to avoid payment of tax payers' money as an award in those cases where the agreement or contract is 'induced by fraud or corruption'.
Addressing a press conference a day after the court verdict, Prasad asked why the Congress, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee Didi and all those who questioned the Batla House encounter have turned silent.
Reliance Jio became the biggest buyer by acquiring 488.35 MHz of spectrum for Rs 57,122.65 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel's 355.45 MHz at Rs 18,698.75 crore, and Vodafone Idea's 11.80 MHz for Rs 1,993.40 crore.