'The unprecedented telecast ban imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Malayalam news channels Asianet News and Media One TV is vitiated with apparent legal errors. As a result of the ban, both the channels went off air at 7.30 PM on March 6, and can resume telecast only at 7.30 PM on March 8. The ban orders issued in respect of these channels' coverage of the Delhi riots reek of arbitrariness and vagueness and are glaringly disproportionate...'
'Malayalam news channels Asianet News and Media One came back on air on Saturday morning, a day after the Centre placed a 48-hour ban on them for their coverage of the Delhi riots. The channels were taken off the air at 7.30 pm on Friday and were to resume broadcast only at 7.30 pm on Sunday, March 8. In its unprecedented orders, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry cited “siding” with one community and being “critical towards Delhi Police and RSS” as reasons for its decision.
'The Modi government on Friday banned two Malayalam news channels – Asianet News and Media One – for 48 hours starting 7.30 pm today for their coverage on the violence in North East Delhi. An order issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the coverage of Asianet News was done in a manner which “highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community”.
'Malayalam channels Asianet News and MediaOne have been barred for 48 hours by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for their 'coverage of the Delhi riots'. Both the channels have been showing a black screen since 7.30 pm on Friday, March 6, when they were taken off air. The channels can resume broadcast only at 7.30 pm on March 8. The order from the Ministry alleges that Asianet News and MediaOne were provocative, could have incited violence, critical of police, sided with a particular community and showed those who supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in poor light.
'Log in to Google Play store and key in ‘vehicle info’, and at least 200 mobile apps – both free and paid – will show up in the search results. A single click and a wait of 10 seconds is all it takes to find the name of vehicle owners by entering any vehicle registration number. Type in other combinations of words such as RTO info, vehicle details and so on, and hundreds of apps are listed – and each day, the number keeps increasing. Some of these apps have been downloaded a million times — each.
'Months after the government restored low-speed internet with access to “whitelisted” websites in Kashmir, local people in the region are again grappling with limited access after a moment of breather provided by Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) has ended. The administration Kashmir has enforced a crackdown on the use of VPNs with nearly all of them being blocked by telecom companies. Residents say that with the blocking of VPNs the access to even those “whitelisted” websites seem to have been curtailed as these websites do not open due to abysmally low bandwidth...'
'With people in Kashmir using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to circumvent the limited access to internet in the region, those, especially in South Kashmir, say the security forces are physically checking mobiles to inquire about VPN usage. This, days after the government restored partial internet services. However, the Army denies that its personnel were involved in any such crackdown. In South Kashmir villages of Anantnag, Shopian, Khonmoh and Kulgam, many youth alleged that Indian Army personnel stopped them at checkpoints.
'The unintended consequence of the Supreme Court’s order on Internet Shutdowns in Kashmir — where it put down accountability norms for Internet shutdowns, and said that some essential websites should be accessible, is that it has given rise to the creation of the Great Indian Firewall: filters that control what users can and cannot access online.
'New rules recently notified giving the Centre power over Central and State information commissioners are intended to ensure RTI appeals go the government's way... The suspense and mystery on the Narendra Modi government’s real impact on the right to information is now over. The damage to the autonomy of all information commissioners in India is more that what was expected. Not only has independence been cut, the institution – and its chief – have been made subordinate...'
'...there is a case for autonomy [of central banks], for sure. And that autonomy is important for all institutions, and that autonomy in the central bank in India was dead, certainly, in November 2016, when demonetisation was announced. Because it was very clear at that time that this was a decision taken against the wishes of the RBI, imposed on the RBI, which then had to implement something, which it did very badly. Which it had absolutely no knowledge of, and no preparation for.
