New Delhi/Guwahati, 9 August 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) expresses grave concern over passing of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill and Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Bill 2023 in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. The two Bills provide for widening of censorship power and intrusive and arbitrary checks into the functioning of newspapers, periodicals, and media organisations.
On the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, which has been passed in Lok Sabha on Monday will create an enabling framework for surveillance of citizens, including journalists and their sources. While Certain provisions of the DPDP will undermine the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2005, dilution of the RTI Act will deprive the public, including journalists, in getting information in public interest, thereby reducing accountability of the government.
The Union expressed concern over the extension of powers of the Press Registrar to other government agencies, including law enforcement agencies. The provision in the PRP bill for giving authority to enter a press organisation is highly intrusive and violative of media freedom, the Union added.The PRP bill seeks to repeal the existing Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. The most concerning provision of the Bill is that a person convicted for “an offence involving terrorist act or unlawful activity” or “for having done anything against the security of the State” cannot publish a periodical. The IJU is of the opinion that since sedition and terrorists’ laws are being used to gag independent journalism and media organisations in the past, this new provision in the bill may be used by the government to deny the right to bring out newspapers, periodicals and other publications to persons who are critical of governments.
In a press statement Geetartha Pathak, President of IJU and former member of Press Council of India and Sabina Inderjit, Secretary General and Vice President of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that while the DPDP Bill 2023 would make the government less transparent to the people including journalists and end up making them transparent to both the government and private investors, the PRP Bill would have adverse impact on publications of newspapers and periodicals and overall press freedom in the country. They urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to send the DPDP Bill and the Rajya Sabha Chairman to send the new PRP bill to respective Parliamentary committees for scrutiny.
