I&B Ministry
Law ministry to give opinion on CAS Bill
NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry is understood to have sought the advice and opinion of the law ministry on conditional access system and whether an ordinance is feasible at this point of time.
According to government sources, an opinion from the I&B ministry has been certainly sought, but whether that will lead to an Ordinance (an executive order) cannot be said at this point of time.
What the sources did admit is that the clarifications sought from the law ministry do revolve round at least one fact: what will be the status of CAS if the DTH regime comes into effect and somebody starts a KU-band DTH service in India?
The I&B ministry is also looking into the issue of set-top-boxes (STBs) as and when CAS is implemented as also what would be the fate of STBs in a DTH regime.
It is learnt that some technical experts have opined that if the DTH regime comes through, CAS may become redundant or its value may diminish as the cable subscribers won’t be prone to investing in two STBs for a TV service.
Though at this point of time, an ordinance on CAS looks unlikely, ministry sources did hint that I&B minister Sushma Swaraj is still keen on bringing about CAS even before the next session of parliament starts.
But to do this, the government will have to convince the President, who promulgates an ordinance, that CAS is of national importance and a piece of law cannot wait till the next session of parliament.
The government sources also indicated that the law ministry might give its opinion on the matter by the end of this week or early next week.
The amendments to the Cable TV (Networks) regulation Act, 1995, which would facilitate implementation of CAS, has been okayed by the lower house of the Indian parliament (Lok sabha), but a green signal from the Upper House (Rajya sabha) could not be obtained during the recently concluded monsoon session of parliament because of opposition from the Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha. So much so that the I&B ministry had to get the Cable TV Regulation Amendment Bill 2002 delisted from the agenda of RS sometime during the middle of the parliament session because of the demand from the Opposition that it wanted a thorough debate on the issue of CAS before it gives it okay to the amendments.
I&B Ministry
MeitY & Reliance Foundation launch e-SafeHER cyber training for Women
Programme aims to train one million rural women in cyber safety over three years
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has partnered with Reliance Foundation and C-DAC Hyderabad to launch ‘e-SafeHER’, a nationwide cyber security awareness programme aimed at empowering one million women across rural India.
Anchored under the Information Security Education and Awareness Programme, the initiative will focus on building digital confidence and safe online practices among women who are increasingly using digital platforms for financial transactions, livelihoods and essential services.
The programme will be rolled out through a community-led model, with training delivered via women’s self-help groups and grassroots networks. C-DAC Hyderabad will develop and localise training content, while Reliance Foundation will drive on-ground implementation using its rural outreach platforms.
Speaking on the launch, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan said, “e-SafeHER is an exciting opportunity to bring together knowledge and collaboration to build a cyber secure Bharat. Through this initiative, women from even the remotest regions will be empowered to participate safely in the digital ecosystem.”
Echoing this, Reliance Foundation director Isha Ambani said the initiative aims to equip women with the skills needed to navigate the online world safely. She added that the goal is to enable one million “Cyber Sakhis” who can confidently adopt digital tools to improve their lives and livelihoods.
The programme will begin with pilot training in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, before scaling nationwide through a phased approach. It will use multilingual content, audio-visual modules and blended learning formats to ensure accessibility and engagement.
Designed for long-term impact, e-SafeHER will be integrated into existing digital literacy and women’s empowerment programmes, avoiding the need for parallel infrastructure. The initiative also aims to drive measurable behavioural change, from improved awareness of cyber risks to safer digital transactions.
By combining policy, technology and grassroots reach, the programme looks to bridge not just the digital divide, but the digital safety gap, ensuring that inclusion goes hand in hand with security.
