According to BJP, ‘The Internet Must be Governed’
BJP said the internet is a crucial part of one’s life, and should be governed very carefully without the need to compromise the freedom of speech and expression.
Speaking at an Internet governance event organised by industry chamber Assocham, BJP National Spokesman, Sambit Patra said,
Internet is extremely important and since it is extremely important for governance also, because every person is within the ambit of government, Internet has to be governed in a way that does not take away basic essence of Internet which is freedom of speech and expression.
He also stated that the government had formed a community along with TRAI on Net Neutrality. He said,
Once the TRAI submits its recommendation to the Telecom Commission and then after the commission approaches the government, the government will take the decision in favour of people.
On March, the Supreme Court deemed Section 66A of the IT Act as unconstitutional. This Act granted police the power to arrest anyone for sending out offensive messages from computers, mobiles or any other communication portals with a maximum penalty of 3 years in jail. Sambit Patra stated this Act had been misused in the past, due to vagueness of words.
On the contrary, Congress leader and former Union Minister, Manish Tewari, challenged Patra’s discussion by stating that the Internet should not be governed and must be left the way it is to develop. He supported his statement by saying,
Difficulty is where do you draw the line? Someone may be liberal and may draw the line on the left and someone may conservative may draw the line on the extreme left.
A few days back, the Indian Government came out in support of Net Neutrality. The government hasn’t been issued with a final verdict on the same but is committed to keeping the Intenet open and evenly accessible to everyone. Standing up in support of free internet, Telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a firm voice said that the practices of blocking and deliberately slowing down or speeding up of lawful content on web should not be allowed. Read more about it here.
