I&B Ministry
I&B pushing for CAS tabling next week
NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry today is understood to be pushing ahead for the issue of conditional access system (CAS) to be included in the business agenda of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of the India Parliament next week.
A meeting relating to CAS was also held today at the I&B ministry and it was attended amongst other by the minister Sushma Swaraj and senior ministry officials, including joint secretary broadcasting Rakesh Mohan, who also happens to head the costing committee which is looking into the issue of pricing of the basic tier of free to air channels in a post-CAS era.
According to senior I&B ministry officials, the effort is to have the Cable TV Regulation Amendment Bill 2002, envisaging beinging addressability in Indian cable TV homes, being listed in Rajya Sabha for Monday which is an I&B ministry day. However, the tabling of the Bill, for which three hours has been set aside for debate, may still happen on some other day. The date has still to be definitely decided.
However, till early evening it was not clear whether CAS will be part of RS’s agenda fro the next week or not and what will be the strategy of the I&B ministry considering Opposition-dominated RS has been insisting on a debate on CAS before a nod is given..
The I&B ministry’s anxiety to have the CAS issue get the RS’ nod can be undertsandable, especially in the light of the tabling of a report in Parliament on the Communication Convergence Bill of the Standing Committee on IT and Telecom.
If Parliament in all its wisdom decides to go ahead with the legislation on convergence, envisaging a super-regulator for IT, telecom and broadcasting sectors, during this sesion only then CAS is likely to take a back seat.
As and when CCB is enacted into a law, most existing Acts amd rules and regulations meant for the IT, telecom and broadcasting sectors are to be subsumed into the bigger piece of legislation. This would also include the Cable TV (Network) regulation Act, 1995 which Swaraj wants to be amended to have the enabling clause on CAS to be included.
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.
