Cong MP raises issue of social media censorship
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Congress MP Rajeev Gowda
"New Delhi: Senior Congress MP Rajeev Gowda on Thursday raised the issue of social media platforms "censoring" user-generated content.
Raising the matter during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Gowda said accounts of a prominent lawyer, journalist and Dalit activists have been suspended by social media platforms.
"What we see here is that there is a structural problem out there with unregulated Internet platforms. They need to bring in some guidelines so we have a clear sense of what is allowed and what is not and appeal mechanisms...otherwise we are seeing free speech subject to private censorship, " the Congress MP said.
Referring to a report, he also said the Indian government sends most number of requests for take down of content to variety of Internet intermediaries.
"We want to known from the government on what basis these take downs are taking place. These all are shrouded in secrecy," Gowda said
Another senior Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said the number of policy holders of LIC has reduced to 29 crore from 33 crore during 2014-19 (NDA-1) and stressed "mistrust" in public institutions among masses was on the rise.
He said millions of Indians invest their savings in LIC and it is a ray of hope for them.
Singh said reserves of public sector units and RBI were being taken to improve the deteriorating financial condition of the central government.
"Because of lack of trust, the number of policy holders was declining," he said.
In his Zero Hour mention, P L Punia (Cong) highlighted the plight of Indians caught for illegally staying in foreign countries and kept in detention centers.
He asked the government to provide legal help and make efforts to bring them back.
Punia also sought strict action against agents who illegally send Indians to foreign lands.
BJP member Rakesh Singha raised the issue of shortage of teachers in higher education institutes in the country. He said there were 13.67 lakh teachers in higher education, but in the past five years the number has come down to about 12.84 lakh.
Sinha said there was a lack of 6,600 professors in universities.
He also said students to teacher ratio in India is 24:1, which is quite less than developed countries and urged the government, especially the HRD Ministry to take steps to address the issue.
