I&B Ministry
“Digital has emerged as alternative platform for information dissemination”: Arun Jaitley
MUMBAI: The Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley has said that in the last two decades, conventional contours of the issues pertaining to freedom and responsibility of media had changed due to changes in the nature and content of media and the definition of news.
According to the Minister, news in the electronic media today is being defined by what the camera could capture. “In the current paradigm, technology has become a driving force for these changes. The impact of technology was profound as information dissemination was taking place 24×7 across different technological tools and media platforms including the digital space,” he added.
Jaitley stated this while delivering the first Justice J. S. Verma Memorial lecture on the ‘Freedom & Responsibility of Media’ organised by the News Broadcasters Association.
Elaborating further, Jaitley said that technological developments had defied the contours of censorship and the challenges for the media lay within, in the context of ownership patterns, financial sustainability and financial models, which led to aberrations such as paid news.
According to Jaitley, the challenges before the media were to ensure quality, credibility along with the responsibility to play the role of an educator in handling sensitive issues. The challenge also lay in maintaining high ethical standards on the issue of conflict of interest where media needed to be very careful.
Regarding digital media, the Minister said the financial models would evolve as the medium matured. The digital platform also needed to evolve its own standards of responsibility as it had emerged as an alternative platform for information dissemination.
The Minister further mentioned that media responsibility was critical in addressing matters related to security, social tension, privacy of the individual and the issues that involved a subjudice connotation. “Media needs to avoid the conduct of parallel trials in reporting matters that were subjudice,” he said, adding that constructive deliberations on all issues relating to media freedom and responsibility needed to be initiated amongst all stakeholders.
During the course of his address, Jaitley recalled the outstanding contribution of Justice J. S. Verma in the domains of Human Rights, gender equality, probity and media freedom as the conscience keeper of the society.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
