Official Panel Sees âWestern Biasâ in Indiaâs Low Press Freedom Rank But Wants Defamation Decriminalised
âIndex Monitoring Cellâ member P. Sainath distances himself from âdraftâ report, submits separate note.
Despite the growing number of cases against journalists, the draft official report on improving India s press freedom ranking claims, The work culture in the Government of India involves transparency as the norm . Image: Bill Kerr/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
Rights14/Mar/2021
Mumbai: A committee set up by the Narendra Modi government last year to suggest ways of India improving its ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has concluded that the media is doing well and that Indiaâs poor score â which it says is ânot in line with the ground situationâ â is the product of âwestern biasâ.
Among committee’s key recommendations is to decriminalise defamation
Pointing out that the right to dissent should be the central focus of press freedom, independent journalist P. Sainath struck a dissenting note in the report submitted by the Index Monitoring Cell (IMC), set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry with stakeholders, to improve India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index and to evolve an objective yardstick to gauge media freedom.
“The right to dissent is very central.You know there are people filing FIRs and taking legal action against journalists (and other citizens) under the Epidemic Act, Disaster Act, sedition laws. We are shutting down the Internet for six months or more for whole regions,” Mr. Sainath made this observation, in his 12-page dissent note, along with three indices with a complete list of journalists, activists and stand-up comedians who have been arrested and intimidated by the State in the last one year.
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