The ministry of information and broadcasting will work on getting feedback on the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 in the next few months, around the time India goes to polls, I&B minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday.
“Work will be done to get the feedback during the three months of elections,” Thakur told HT on the sidelines of a media briefing on Cabinet decisions. “The timeline [of the introduction of the bill in Parliament and subsequent passage] depends on the nature of feedback and suggestions we get and the kind of changes we will have to make as a result of it.”
When the bill was released for public consultation on November 10, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra suggested it was unlikely that it could be introduced during the budget session, which starts on January 31 since it is the last House session before the general elections.
“Today is November 10. The deadline to submit comments is December 10 and I am sure [people] will ask for more time. Then we have to go through the comments. Then it has to go to the Cabinet,” he said at the time. The deadline to submit comments has been changed twice, and comments can now be submitted till January 27.
The bill’s release on November 10 for public consultation took several stakeholders by surprise because the consultation on Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) paper on a national broadcasting policy ended only on November 7. MIB had asked TRAI for its inputs on the policy.
{{/usCountry}}The bill’s release on November 10 for public consultation took several stakeholders by surprise because the consultation on Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) paper on a national broadcasting policy ended only on November 7. MIB had asked TRAI for its inputs on the policy.
{{/usCountry}}When asked what prompted the government to release the bill at that point, Thakur said: “That’s a continuous process... During the elections, we can get the rest of the process done.”
The bill seeks to give the ministry oversight of streaming platforms without having to rely on the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and suggests new obligations on all broadcasters, including the creation of a Content Evaluation Committee. It also seeks to impose obligations of streaming services on individuals who post news and current affairs content online, including on platforms such as YouTube, and WhatsApp and Telegram channels.
The bill has faced criticism from some free-speech advocates, online streaming platforms, and broadcasters for giving the government too much power over content and for conflating disparate entities, that is linear broadcasters (which ‘push’ content on viewers) with streaming platforms (where viewers ‘pull’ content of their choice.
A senior government official, on the condition of anonymity, had earlier told HT: “There is no change in the status of how online news publishers are governed. If they are governed under the IT Rules, they [textual news websites] will continue to be governed here.”
“Government makes laws and rules for citizens. I’m more focussed on citizens than OTT platforms,” Thakur said on Wednesday.