Ashwini Vaishnaw held his first introductory meeting with industry bodies including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), The News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), and the Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), on June 4th.
Vaishnaw, who assumed charge of the Ministry of Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology on June 11, discussed several industry issues and assured support to the industry bodies.
As per sources, one hour was given to every industry body separately.
The meeting holds significance because just a few days ago NBDA brought digital news under its self-regulatory body’s purview. Earlier, the Supreme Court had called out representative bodies of TV news channels including NBDA over the lack of discipline and accountability among TV news channels and has called for stronger self-regulation.
It is to be noted that significant unfinished business awaits Vaishnaw at MeitY and MIB, for instance, yet to operationalise the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023, which was passed nearly a year ago. The Digital India Act, a replacement for the Information Technology Act of 2000, has been in the pipeline since 2022. The MIB is yet to finalise the eight-month-old Draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill (“Broadcast Bill”) to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
MeitY and MIB have faced pushback on several recent pronouncements and documents. The Broadcast Bill has been criticised in various quarters. A key concern is the inclusion of digital media and OTT apps in its definition of broadcasting.
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