I&B Ministry
Pakistan Government should lift ban on Indian TV: I&B minister at BES Expo inaugural
NEW DELHI: India’s information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today hinted to the Pakistani government that it should lift the ban on Indian TV channels and help in the free flow of information. This act would further the confidence building process between the two countries.
”Pakistan should follow the Indian model and be as liberal in transmission of Indian contents as we are. It will strengthen people-to-people contact,” said Prasad, while delivering the inaugural speech at the 10th international conference of the Broadcast Engineering Society (BES) in the capital today.
”Realising well the importance of free to air transmission, which caters to a majority of the population, and, in turn, meets the larger social objective, the government is committed to extend fullest support to the public broadcasters (Doordarshan and All India Radio) ,” said Prasad.
The statement, in a way, seems like a justification for the huge loan that the I&B ministry would be extending to DD and AIR’s parent organization, Prasar Bharati, during 2004-05, as part of the budgetary proposals announced yesterday by the finance minister.
Dwelling on his pet subject, the dissemination of development-related information on TV channels, Prasad exhorted the private sector to have a proper balance between technological advancement and content in order to realise the larger social goals.
The minister also said that his ministry has asked broadcast regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI), for inputs on revenue sharing and spectrum management for FM radio even as it is still considering the Dr Amit Mitra task force report on the second round of licensing in this sector.
“We have received the taskforce report and are considering it. Meanwhile, I have asked the new regulator TRAI for inputs on revenue sharing and spectrum management in FM radio,” Prasad said.
Earlier, Prasad conferred the BSE’s honorary fellowship to Asia Broadcasting Union (ABU) general-secretary David Ashley and a Canada-based organisation CRC’s vice-president (marketing and business development) Dr Veena Rawat.
Also speaking on the occasion, Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma said the KU-band direct-to home (DTH) transmission would formally start from April this year. Others who spoke at the inauguration function included I&B ministry secretary Pawan Chopra.
I&B Ministry
IT Rules tweaks are clarificatory, not expansion of powers: MeitY
Govt signals flexibility as platforms push for clarity on user content rules
NEW DELHI: The Centre has sought to dial down concerns over its proposed amendments to the IT Rules, with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan asserting that the changes are intended as clarifications rather than an expansion of regulatory powers.
Pushing back against criticism from platforms and civil society, S Krishnan said the amendments “do not in any way actually give us wider powers” and are meant to remove ambiguity in how existing provisions are applied. He added that the trigger came largely from within the ecosystem, with intermediaries themselves seeking clearer guidance on compliance, takedowns and record preservation.
At the heart of the debate is the growing friction between platforms and policymakers over responsibility for user-generated content. Intermediaries have argued that they should not be treated on par with publishers, particularly when content is created and uploaded by users. Krishnan acknowledged this concern, noting that “a sharper distinction” between user content and publisher content is needed and is currently under examination.
The issue becomes more complex in enforcement scenarios. While registered publishers can be directly asked to modify or remove content, intermediaries often lack control over the original creator. “In such cases, the intermediary cannot direct those changes,” Krishnan explained, underlining the need for procedural nuance.
Another key proposal under discussion is to bring user-generated news and current affairs content within a more unified regulatory ambit, potentially under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The move follows suggestions that a single authority should handle such content, regardless of whether it originates from a publisher or an individual user.
Even as the government frames the amendments as a tidy-up exercise, fault lines remain. Industry players have flagged concerns over compliance burdens, especially for smaller businesses, and questioned whether advisories could effectively become binding without explicit legislative backing. Krishnan said the government is mindful of these risks and is exploring ways to ease obligations, including possible relaxations under certain provisions.
The ministry is also considering consolidating multiple advisories and guidelines into a more structured framework, a step widely seen as addressing long-standing confusion over what platforms are expected to follow.
On takedowns, the government has reiterated that due process will remain unchanged. Krishnan stressed that actions will continue to be governed by established procedures, with reasons recorded and review mechanisms in place. He also pointed to the surge in deepfakes and synthetic media as a factor behind rising content disputes, calling it a “scale challenge” for regulators.
Interestingly, Krishnan also framed social media platforms as commercial entities rather than pure vehicles of free expression, hinting at a broader shift in regulatory thinking as platform economics come into sharper focus.
With stakeholders seeking more time and, in some cases, a rollback of the proposals, the government has kept the consultation process open-ended. Krishnan said further revisions remain on the table, signalling a willingness to adapt the draft based on feedback.
For now, the message from MeitY is clear: the rules may not be tightening in intent, but the effort to define them more clearly is well underway.
