OPPOSITION AND treasury benches on Tuesday locked horns in Lok Sabha over the Centre’s transfer to ban sure information channels citing safety points and the delay in Governors clearing the Bills handed by the Assemblies.
Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi sought to know whether or not the I&B Ministry had given a showcause discover on what safety difficulty it discovered earlier than proscribing a channel from broadcasting. Just denying a channel on the premise of a safety clearance, with out the stated channel figuring out the rationale, worries us concerning the state of freedom of Press in as we speak’s India, he stated.
Minister of State L Murugan shot again, elevating questions concerning the Congress authorities’s historical past within the matter. “I want to ask the honorable Member not to worry about freedom of speech and freedom of the Press. I do not want to recall the memories of 1975 as to what happened at that time in our country.”
The minister then added that whoever needs to get permission to run a TV channel has to provide an utility to the ministry. “The ministry forwards it to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which would further consider the issues pertaining to national security… I want to tell him that this is not about the security flaws but about national security.” He additionally stated the federal government has taken motion towards the 159 TV channels, which acted towards the Program Code and the Advertisement Code.
Raising the difficulty of the Governor not giving assent to the Bills handed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, DMK chief TR Baalu stated the Center ought to name again the Governor. Raising the difficulty in zero hour, Baalu stated since MK Stalin took oath as Chief Minister, greater than seven Bills had been handed and despatched to the Governor for assent, however they’re nonetheless pending. “They are either held by the Governor or reserved for the consideration of the President. So far, he has not sent all the seven Bills to the President. He is keeping them in cold storage,” Baalu stated.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Meghwal stated Baalu ought to have given a discover to boost the difficulty of Governor within the House. But Baalu continued to talk. “Are we running a jungle raj?,” he stated.
,
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
