I&B Ministry
Dasmunshi replaces Jaipal Reddy as I&B minister
MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: The long awaited cabinet reshuffle has thrown up a surprise as far as the information and broadcasting portfolio is concerned. The man whos got affected the maximum is information and broadcasting minister S. Jaipal Reddy.
While Reddy was today moved out of information and broadcasting ministry and given the charge of urban development, he has been replaced by Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.
New I&B minister Dasmunshi also retains the parliamentary affairs portfolio which he got as additional charge after the exit of Ghulam Nabi Azad a fortnight ago. Water Resources, till now held by Dasmunshi,however moves to heavy industry and public enterprises minister Santosh Mohan Deb as an additional charge.
Dasmunshi, a career politician, also heads Indian football’s official body All India Football Federation (AIFF), which recently signed a telecast deal for domestic football with Zee Sports for an undisclosed amount.
Reddy, meanwhile, has been given charge of urban development while retaining the portfolio of culture minister.
Dasmunshi, a Congress Party loyalist, unlike Reddy (who has moved around a bit amongst political parties), contested from Raiganj West Bengal and won the parliamentary seat.
Though Reddy was dignified when the news broke, he did admit to a journalist in the evening that there was a soft campaign in the Congress Party against him.
Speaking to a TV channel, a seemingly upset Reddy responded by defending his record in the I&B ministry. “There has never been a flurry of activity in policy making (in the I&B ministry) in the last 58 years as there was in the last one year,” he was quoted by ndtv.com as saying
In the meanwhile, the Prime Minister retained the foreign ministry portfolio that had become headless after minister Natwar Singh was shunted out in the aftermath of the UN-sponsored Volcker report.
I&B Ministry
Press Sewa Portal digitises 1.5 lakh records, streamlines periodical registrations: MIB
Online system spans 780 districts; Rs 5.6 crore penalties, 88,315 titles cancelled
NEW DELHI: India’s print media registry has quietly moved from dusty files to digital dashboards. The government has digitised more than 1.5 lakh historical records of newspapers and periodicals and shifted registrations fully online through the Press Sewa Portal.
Introduced under the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Act, 2023, the portal now handles all applications for registering periodicals, replacing the earlier paper-heavy system created under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which has since been repealed.
The digital shift brings a wide range of services onto a single platform. Publishers can now register new periodicals, revise registrations, transfer ownership, file annual statements, pay penalties online and apply for circulation verification without navigating government offices.
As part of the rollout, specified authorities in 780 districts across India have been onboarded onto the platform. Since 1 March 2024, the portal has processed 11,081 applications and issued certificates across different categories.
The transition has also brought stronger compliance. According to government data, Rs 5.63 crore in penalties has been collected through the portal so far. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for some of the largest penalty collections.
At the same time, the authorities have carried out a major clean-up of inactive or non-compliant publications. A total of 88,315 periodicals have been cancelled nationwide, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi among the states reporting the highest number of cancellations.
The government says the system will continue to evolve based on feedback from users. The Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) regularly reviews suggestions to improve services and make compliance easier for publishers.
The full list of registered newspapers and periodicals is available on the PRGI website under the Registered Titles section.
The information was shared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs L Murugan, responding to a question from Damodar Agrawal.
