Daily Briefing: Open to stricter social media rules, says Govt; In UP, SP-RLD candidate faces sedition charge over poll slogans

Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government is open to introducing “stricter” guidelines for social media intermediaries if Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are able to build a consensus on it. His statement in the Rajya Sabha came four days after senior officials of the ministries of Information and Broadcasting as well as IT met senior executives from Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to understand the process of flagging, demoting and takedown of controversial content.  

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States are in a much better position to push capital expenditure quickly, and execute smaller ticket projects dispersed across the country, said Finance Secretary TV Somanathan. “The Centre operates on certain big axis projects like national highways, railways, pipelines, telecom, that has its own value, but this (state-level capex) has a greater geographical spread and a greater diversity of projects. So, it has a good chance of being effective. So, we thought that in this push, some portion must be done through states,” Somanathan told The Indian Express.

From the Front Page 

A day after shots were fired at his vehicle while he was returning to New Delhi from a poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, AIMIM leader and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi said he did not want the Z-category security cover offered to him by the government. “I don’t want Z-category security. Make me an A-category citizen at par with you all. I don’t want security, but you apply UAPA against them,” Owaisi said.  

Showing the red signal to the Kerala government’s showpiece K-Rail project, the Railway Board told Kerala High Court that it is “advisable” that proceedings of land acquisition for the proposed high-speed line be “stopped at this stage” — and that feasibility of its current alignment “has not been agreed” to by the Ministry of Railways. Speaking to The Indian Express, sources in the Rail Ministry said the statement “means the project is as good as dead in its present shape”. 

Pumping in adequate government resources; stricter enforcement of deterrent penalties; engaging communities in a “democratic” monitoring regime; setting up a statutory independent authority. These are the key recommendations made by top experts, including current and former members of various panels of the Government and Supreme Court, after an investigation by The Indian Express found several cases of non-compliance in six mega projects to commitments made in order to obtain environment and forest clearance.

Marking a dubious first in the run-up to the UP elections, a sedition charge has been levelled against the Opposition SP-RLD alliance candidate from Bijnor, Dr Neeraj Chaudhary, based on a video that surfaced online of his supporters shouting slogans during a “mass contact” programme. While the local police claimed in the FIR that the video shows Chaudhary’s supporters raising slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad”, the candidate has denied the charge. 

Must Read 

While hearing a case against him in connection with rape allegations, the Supreme Court said: “Have you seen (his) activities?… Is this the way to behave?” Few expect Simarjeet Singh Bains to bat an eyelid though. The two-time legislator, and founder-cum-president of the Lok Insaaf Party, is not just contesting the Atam Nagar seat in Ludhiana again, but is also confident that all his opponents would lose their security deposits, including the advocate of the woman who has accused him of rape.  

Harish Damodaran writes on how Uttar Pradesh has grown to become ‘Ganna Pradesh’: “The next government in UP should look at how to make sugarcane part of a ‘circular economy’, wherein it gives back to nature what it takes.”

After six students were banned from entering a college in Karnataka’s Udupi district for wearing a hijab last month, the row over whether educational institutions can impose a strict dress code that could interfere with rights of students has spilled to other colleges in the state. The issue throws up legal questions on the freedom of religion and whether the right to wear a hijab is constitutionally protected. We explain how religious freedoms are protected under the constitution. 

And Finally

Growing up, Sunil Kumar had just one dream: wearing the Indian jersey. The circumstances forced the then 19-year-old budding boxer to quit the sport. Now, 20 years later, he is finally living his dream through his son Nishant Sindhu, who is representing India at the ICC Men’s U-19 World Cup.

Delhi Confidential: On Thursday night, when AIMIM leader and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi came home, his wife didn’t expect to hear that his car had been shot at. “New story,” she is learnt to have commented, thinking this was a tale he had made up to get out of going to dinner. Owaisi then asked for the TV to be switched on, but his daughter called her mother at that moment to find out about him, which made her realise that he was indeed telling the truth.

Until tomorrow,

Rahel Philipose and Rounak Bagchi

Express Cartoon by E P Unny