Facebook row: Officials to review Information Technology Act

November 29, 2012

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New Delhi, November 29: Amid the raging debate over freedom of expression in the social media and the recent arrests of young citizens who chose to speak their mind in cyberspace, officials are meeting in Delhi today to review controversial sections of the Information Technology Act.

 

The Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee will be in a huddle to consider if section 66A of the Act is too draconian in the age of social media.

 

Section 66A treats sending information through a computer or communication device as having committed an offence if the material is "grossly offensive, has menacing character, is sent to cause annoyance, insult and enmity or for criminal intimidation".

 

In today's meeting, officials are expected to debate what words used on social media platforms can be considered objectionable and whether complaints should be run past senior officers before the police register an FIR.

 

Experts feel section 66A is worded such that its interpretation borders on the vague, leaving the law open to misuse.

 

Examples of misuse abound. The most recent case is the arrest of two 21-year-old women in Palghar, Maharashtra, who wondered on Facebook if Mumbai should have indeed shut down for Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's funeral.

 

The woman who put up the post, and her friend who merely 'liked' it on Facebook, were arrested. Sena activists vandalised a clinic run by the uncle of one of the girls.

 

A national outrage prompted an inquiry and forced the suspension of two police officers, Ravindra Sengaonkar and Shreekant Pingle, but the charges against the two women are still to be dropped.

 

In May this year, two Air India cabin crew members, Mayank Mohan Sharma and KVJ Rao, were arrested by the cyber crime cell of the Mumbai police for Facebook posts alleged to be offensive to politicians. Like the Palghar case, they too were charged under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.


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News Network
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has congratulated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for his party's stupendous victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, saying the people of the national capital will continue to benefit from his leadership.

Responding to the Dalai Lama's statement, Kejriwal in a tweet on Wednesday said, "Am humbled by the kind words and blessings from His Holiness The Dalai Lama. Thank you very much @DalaiLama."

Referring to the Happiness Curriculum for government schools in Delhi, the Dalai Lama said he has a deep admiration for the efforts the AAP government has made towards "shaping better, happier human beings with improved values".

"These measures will have a positive impact on children's overall education, as well as helping the poor to fulfil their dreams of improving their lives," he said.

He also lauded the AAP government's initiative to incorporate aspects of inner mental development into the school curriculum.

"Through such initiatives, you are showing a path to the rest of India," the Dalai Lama added.

In a near-repeat performance of 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday retained power with a stunning victory, winning 62 of the 70 assembly seats and leaving the BJP with just eight seats.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

New Delhi, May 31: A low pressure area formed over Arabian sea and Lakshadweep is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and reach coastal states of Maharashtra and Gujarat next week, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

Sunitha Devi, in charge of cyclones at IMD, said, "A low pressure area has formed over southeast and adjoining east central Arabian sea and Lakshadweep area. It is very likely to concentrate into a depression during the next 24 hours and intensify further into a cyclonic storm during subsequent 24 hours."

She added, "It is likely to move nearly northwards and reach near north Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts by 3rd June."

A low pressure area and a depression are the first two levels on the IMD's eight-category scale used to classify cyclones based on their intensity.

The weather bureau said that the sea condition will be very rough and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea till June 4.

It has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over south coastal Maharashtra for June 2-4, on north coast on June 2-3 and in Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli on June 3-5.

IMD said that under the influence of likely formation of a low pressure system over Arabian Sea, conditions will become favourable from June 1 for onset of monsoon over Kerala.

The arrival date for monsoon in Kerala is around June 1 every year and in Maharashtra around June 10.

On Saturday, a private forecasting agency claimed that monsoon has already hit Kerala, but the assertions were quickly rebutted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

"The news about monsoon onset over Kerala in Social Media is not correct. Monsoon has not arrived over Kerala. The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge a"Stephen Hawking," saidAMadhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre said that the formation of a low pressure system in Arabian sea and its movement towards Gujarat coast will bring moisture to Delhi-NCR and North West India from June 3.

Two storms are forming over the Arabian Sea, one lies off the African coast and is likely to move over Oman and Yemen, while the other is placed close to India.

The development comes almost ten days after 'Amphan' pummeled four districts of Bengal in the fiercest cyclone in the region in a century, that left 86 people dead and rendered ten million people homeless.

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kushal kumar
 - 
Monday, 1 Jun 2020

                      According  to  IMD  alert  appeared  in  some  newspapers  on  31  May  2020  ,  a  cyclonic  storm  is  brewing  in  the  Arabian  Sea  ,  which  is  likely  to  reach  coastal  districts  of  Gujarat  and  Maharashtra  by  3  June.  It  is  expected  that  the  these  States  would  take  more  care  and  appropriate  strategy  well  in  time  to  combat  the  likely  danger  to  the  coastal  districts  from  cyclonic  storm  designated  as   ‘Nisarga’.  In  this  context  ,  it  may  be  apt  to  refer  readers  to  this  Vedic  astrology  writer’s  predictive  alerts  in  article  -  “  Predictions  for  coming  year  2020  by  kushal  kumar”  -   published  last  year  2019   on  10 October   at   theindiapost.com/articles/predictions-for-coming-year-2020-by-kushal-kumar/.  The  related  text   of  the  predictive  alert   reads  as  follows  in  the  said  article  :-

“  The  next  three  months  from  April  to  June  2020  ,  appears  to  be  a  period  of  time  testing  ‘patience’   and  ‘ perseverance’   ,  introducing  several  parts  of  the  country  to  worrisome  concerns.  Coastal  States  of  India  ,  particularly  those  in  the  southern  part  ,  may  be  called  upon  to  take  more  care  and  appropriate  strategy  against  likely  cyclones  ,  storms  ,  floods  ,  coming  of  danger  via  sea  ,  landslide  and  damage  to  crops   during  April-June  in  2020.  Such  dates  of   month  of  May  as   6 , 7 ,  13 to 16  ,  25  and 26  may  be  watched  with  care.  Similarly  ,  the  dates  3 , 4 ,  11 to 13  ,  21 ,  22  and  26  in  June  2020  may  be  watched  with  care.  Coastal  States /UTs   such  as  Gujarat  ,  some  parts  of  Maharashtra  ……………………………………look  to  be  vulnerable.  It  may  be  apt  for  them  to  take  necessary  precautions  during  May-June ,  2020”. 

                    The  aforesaid  details  suggest  that  the  predictive  alert  of  this  writer   published  last  year  2019  on  10 October  ,  is  coinciding  with  the  alert  of  IMD  appeared  near  about  31 May  ,  2020. 

Kushal  kumar  ,

202- GH28 ,  Mansarovar  Apartments  ,

Sector 20  ,  Panchkula -134116  ,  Haryana.

1 June  ,  2020. 

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News Network
July 1,2020

Chennai, Jul 1: In a case of cluster infection, 58 of the 65 mourners who attended the funeral a Central government official, Selvam, 56, who had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and who died in Coimbatore and was brought for burial at Pannavaadi near Kolathur near Mettur in Salem district, tested positive for Covid-19, after three of them initially tested positive as they neither wore face masks not observed social distancing during the funeral, sources said.

Even as Dr Vijayabaskar said AIADMK MLA from Sriperumbudur, K Palani who tested positive for Covid-19 has recovered and will be discharged from hospital in couple of days, the MIOT International Hospital in Chennai said that the State Higher Education Minister, K P Anbazhagan, who initially showed no symptoms of coronavirus, subsequently tested positive in his second sample. He was now under treatment, his condition very stable and all his vital parameters are normal, MIOT said in a statement.

In what continues to be an unrestrained run, Tamil Nadu added its biggest day-wise spike so far of 3,943 positive Covid-19 cases, while another 60 deaths due to the novel coronavirus confirmed on Tuesday took the total death toll in the state to 1,201.

Of the new positive cases, Chennai alone accounted for its highest per-day jump of 2,393 positives with the number of persons tested today across Tamil Nadu put at 30,053. The total number os Covid-19 positive cases in the State as a whole till date is racing towards the one lakh mark at 90,167.

However, these outcomes are all on anticipated lines with the ICMR's push for more aggressive testing, even if they want lockdown controls to be now more focused at the district level, and want the Chennai model to be taken to the districts.

In this backdrop, the Health minister, Dr C Vijayabaskar chaired a detailed Covid review meeting this evening through video conference with all the hospital deans and other top officials on different facets of the disease prevention and control measures and the state's overall preparedness.

Chief Minister, Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami in a statement in Chennai assured that with the 'full lockdown' continuing in greater Chennai, parts of three neighbouring districts of Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram and parts of Madurai district till July 5, the free community kitchens for the elderly, disabled and destitute will continue to function in those places till July 5 and hygienically cooked food packets served to them.

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