I&B Ministry
Govt favours net neutrality; data is the new oil: RS Prasad
NEW DELHI: The much-debated net neutrality issue got some additional boost from the Indian minister of electronics & information technology and law & justice Ravi Shankar Prasad when he said that the government favours non-discriminatory access to the Internet.
“We are strong advocates of non-discriminatory access to Internet and democratization of Internet governance,” Prasad said yesterday while dwelling on the issue of net neutrality and digital dividends to average citizens.
However, he didn’t elaborate on the net neutrality (and OTT) issue, which is being studied by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in totality for possible guidelines and regulations. TRAI has already undertaken a lengthy consultation process with various stakeholders and its final recommendations are awaited.
Pointing out that India is home to 270 million smart-phones, a number that’s likely to swell to 500 million in few years time, Prasad said that India doesn’t want to miss out on the digital revolution having missed the industrial revolution.
Making a case for more efficient bandwidth availability at affordable rates to an average Indian, Prasad said, “Data is the new oil… (and) digital India is ideology neutral, politics neutral and only pro-India.”
Prasad, who was delivering the inaugural address at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF)-organised “CyFy 2016: Digital Asia & Scripting the New Governance Order” here yesterday evening, asserted if a digital profile of India is drawn it would look something like this: 1.03 billion mobile phones, 1.05 million digital identity (Aadhaar cards) and 400 million internet users, apart from a digital army of young people who have fanned out in rural areas running Common Services Centres at more than 200,000 places.
Enumerating the various digital initiatives undertaken under the Digital India plan, something that is very dear to Prime Minister Modi, the senior minister opined that the government had undertaken some “path-breaking” programmes.
“Digital India is for the under-privileged… (and) digital inclusion will come about with digital connect,” the Minister said, adding the government was creating a digital infrastructure for Indians so that citizens could reap digital dividends aplenty.
Pointing out that a digital India would provide more effective governance and remove socialistic-era licence regime, Prasad said in a few years time India would become a $ 1 trillion digital economy.
But the cyber space also brings along many dangers. Emphasising on the importance of precaution, Prasad said, “Governments of all countries have to come together to safeguard their citizens from the threats of cyber crimes.”
ORF, which annually organises a conference on cyber-related issues, including security and entertainment, is an independent self-sustaining think-tank. Having started in the early 1990s, it has been backed by the now Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries.
The full address of the minister could be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/RaviShankarPrasadOfficial/videos/10154464395568329/
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
