Central government Archives

Will ‘One Nation, One Poll’ Law Tweaks Need States’ Approval? See Details

The committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind will also check whether the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the states, according to the government’s gazette notification today

New Delhi: The newly formed committee to see whether India could hold parliamentary and state assembly elections simultaneously will examine and recommend specific amendments to the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and any other relevant rules.
The nine-member committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind will also check whether the amendments to the Constitution would need ratification by the states, according to the government’s gazette notification today.

It said the committee will start work immediately and give report as soon as possible.

The other members of the committee are Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, former 15th Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

The Congress party will consult its allies of the newly formed Opposition bloc INDIA on this committee before deciding whether to participate in the feasibility study, sources told NDTV today.

The committee will look into the feasibility of holding not only Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously, but also elections to municipalities and panchayats, according to the gazette notification.

The committee will analyse and recommend possible solutions linked to simultaneous elections if there is a hung house, no-confidence motion, defection, or any such other event.

A single electoral roll and identity card for voters valid for the national, state, civic body and panchayat elections will be explored, the government said in the notification.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/will-one-nation-one-poll-law-tweaks-need-states-approval-see-details-4352724#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Supreme Court seeks response from Central government, States on plea seeking reservation for Transgender persons

A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud as well as Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice on the plea that asserted that transgender persons are entitled to reservation under Article 16 of the Indian Constitution.

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the responses of the Central government and all States and Union Territories on a plea seeking reservation for transgender persons in education and employment [Subi KV vs Union of India and Ors.].

The plea filed by Subi KC, a transgender person from Kerala, drew the Court’s attention to a report by the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This report indicated that insufficient training and employment skill programs for transgender individuals have resulted in a significant lack of employment opportunities for this marginalized group.

The petition highlighted that while the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 has granted various rights to transgender individuals, it does not offer reservations in education or employment.

Moreover, the petition pointed out that multiple writ petitions have been filed in High Courts to implement reservations in public employment as requested by the petitioners. However, no concrete steps have been taken so far to ensure such reservations for transgender individuals.

Additionally, the plea mentioned that numerous studies and reports demonstrate that the transgender community is socially, economically, and educationally disadvantaged. Therefore, their dire circumstances need urgent addressal through the enactment and implementation of provisions for reservations, it said.

Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/supreme-court-issues-notice-plea-reservation-transgender-persons

PIB row: ‘Fact Check will not be done by PIB, Centre yet to decide’, clarifies Union Min Chandrashekhar

The clarification came as multiple media reported that the organisations have to remove their content from the platform if fact-checking agency declares the content as fake news

A day after a major controversy erupted following a Centre’s notification over the fake news, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar clarified that the rules do not mention “PIB Fact Check” as the agency that would declare or classify news content as “fake news”.

The clarification came as multiple media reported that the organisations have to remove their content from the platform if fact-checking agency declares the content as fake news. The matter also turned political as several Opposition parties called it the “draconian laws” and demand the centre to withdraw the legislation.

This tweet is either deliberate misinformation or ignorance masquerading as a tweet

✅There are NO Sweeping powers – neither is it "draconian".

✅IT rules already hv provisions from Oct 2022, which mandate Social Media intermediaries to not carry certain types of content if… https://t.co/vY0gnJtlBl

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳(Modiyude Kutumbam) (@Rajeev_GoI) April 7, 2023

“Misunderstood”

Earlier, it was understood that the fact-checking agency would be the Press Information Bureau (PIB). Notably, PIB is the nodal agency of the Government of India to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements.

It functions as an interface between the Government and the media and also serves to provide feedback to the Government on people’s reactions as reflected in the media.

However, on Thursday, several media reported that as per the amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 social media platforms and other intermediaries will now have to make sure that “fake news” articles about the Centre, declared as such by PIB, are taken down from their platforms once alerted.

“PIB will not be the fact-checking agency”

The minister said that the rules do not suggest that the agency declaring fake news will be PIB Fact Check. “The rules do not at all suggest that it’s going to be PIB Fact Check. I think some of the grey area, or indeed the misapprehension, comes from the fact that the original draft of the rule that went for consultation talked about PIB Fact check. The rules that were notified yesterday do not mention PIB Fact Check,” Chandrashekhar told ANI.

He said, “So we have yet to take a decision on whether it will be a new organization that has trust and credibility associated with it, or do we take an old organization and repurpose it to build trust and credibility in terms of a fact-checking mission.”

Source: https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/pib-fact-check-agency-row-rajeev-chandrasekhar-clarification-on-fake-news-take-down-rule-editors-guild-of-india-draconian-laws-social-media-fake-news-2023-04-07-861440