Ravi Shankar Prasad: Expressing views through Internet a fundamental right, subject to restrictions

“Can we deny that Internet, a fine creation of human mind, is not being abused by terrorists, by agent provocateurs, by giving fake news… for communal violence? Therefore, what the law agency does is that they do it (block access) periodically across the country,” the minister said.

“Abuse of Internet is there not (just) in India, but, globally. The whole ISIS prospered because of the Internet. What the Supreme Court has done is that they have said that temporary suspension of (Internet) rules must be periodically reviewed. We have the Home Secretary, the Law Secretary and the IT Secretary in the Central Government. Similarly, we have the Home Secretary and others in the states. This periodic review should be done quickly, so that process is also going on,” he said.

When asked about the Internet blockade imposed in Jammu and Kashmir by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Prasad said that 783 white-listed websites related to government, banking, tourism, e-commerce, transportation and education, are now accessible in the state.

“People in Kashmir are happy,” he said, adding that voice, SMS and landline services have been restored in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir and Broadband services are functional in Jammu.

Replying to another question on the health of public sector telecom companies, Prasad assured the House that the government considers BSNL and MTNL as “strategic assets” and that there was no intention of shutting them down.

“We consider BSNL and MTNL as strategic assets, as they have come to the aid of the people during natural calamities. There were problems in these companies, but we will revive them soon. Don’t be under this impression that BSNL and MTNL will be shut down. We have infused a revival package in them and I assure you that these companies will not be shut down,” he told the House, adding that the revival package contains the core of optimal utilisation of the assets of these companies.