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Government departments are constituting Quick Response Teams (QRT) to ensure a timely response to misleading or fake contents on social media, an official said. There is a need to engage with people through social media in a constructive manner and to ensure that responses to rumours, misinformation, fake content, and misleading posts are issued in a timely manner, the official said. The objective is to promptly scrutinise, coordinate and respond to such content, while effectively monitoring matters related to the works and functions of government departments on social media. The functions and responsibilities of the respective teams include responding to fake/misleading content on social media. Departments such as power, agriculture and commerce have already constituted their QRTs. "Ideally, the response from the ministries should go in two hours of noting such content," the official said, adding that the monitoring of social media and relevant digital platforms would be undertak
The Centre on Friday notified 40 questions - caste, place of Covid vaccination being two of them - to be asked of respondents during the population enumeration phase of the Census, set to begin from September 1 in snow-bound areas, a government order said. The order from Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan notifies questions such as whether the person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and their caste. The population enumeration in Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, will take place from September 1 to 30, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month. "For the conduct of the above Census, there shall be an option for self-enumeration from August 17 to 31 just before the start of house-to-house population enumeration," it said. In the rest of the country, the population enumeration (PE) will begin next year.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking directions to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking, including a time-bound probe and trial of narcotics cases, confiscation of properties of traffickers and creation of a uniform investigation protocol. Observing that the problem is "very serious", a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said coordinated efforts by expert agencies were required to deal with the menace. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has filed the petition, told the bench that a similar issue is already pending before the apex court. "The problem is very serious," the bench observed, adding that some kind of a solution has to be there by the expert agencies. Upadhyay said some of the countries, including Singapore, have taken several effective steps to deal with the problem of drug trafficking. The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, has sought directions to th
The government has slashed the online content takedown time for sensitive matters to 2 hours from the earlier 24 hours given to social media platforms, an official statement said on Thursday. According to the statement, amendments were made on February 10, 2026, in the IT Rules 2021 to strengthen the regulatory framework to address harms arising from synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes and AI-generated content. "Strengthening of timelines for compliance, including reduced timelines for removal of unlawful information upon actual knowledge upon valid reasoned intimation from the Appropriate Government or court orders (timeline reduced from 36 hours to 3 hours) and for grievance redressal (including special categories such as nudity/impersonation etc) (timeline reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours and 24 hours to 2 hours for sensitive matters, respectively)," the statement said. IT Rules mandates the significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs), platforms wi
The government will raise a number of issues, including lapses in tackling of CSAM as well as wrongful action on prominent account during the upcoming meeting with Meta's global team, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Tuesday, adding that a company at the forefront of technology should have been able to make its systems work as they are supposed to. Meta's global team will be in India on August 5 and 6, Krishnan said. The upcoming meeting is significant as the government has summoned Meta's top global executives after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Facebook post addressing India's youth and promising stringent action against paper leaks, was briefly restricted on the platform. Meta has also been under regulatory scrutiny over Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in paid advertisements on Instagram, and the government had earlier slapped a notice on Meta over the issue. "There are a range of issues...the CSAM issue was raised, so what measures have been taken ..
The government on Monday introduced a Bill to replace British era legislation with the objective to include digital and virtual records as admissible evidence in the court of law in sync with digital dependence of the banking system. The Bill was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha. The new law to be called the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 2026 is going to repeal or replace the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891. "With the advancement of technology and growth of digital banking, bank records are increasingly created, stored and maintained using contemporary technology (instead of physical record). It has, therefore, become necessary to modernise and strengthen the existing legal framework to meet the requirements of the present banking system," the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said. The bill proposes to expand the scope of the definition of 'bankers' books' to include all forms of records maintained by banks, whether in physical, ...
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to ensure that wherever there is a road, there is a properly demarcated, encroachment-free space for pedestrians. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe asked Additional Solicitor General K M Nararaj, appearing for the Centre, to instruct the authorities concerned to make sure that the space meant for walking is not encroached upon and is properly separated from motor vehicle lanes. "Without any big investment and construction, just ensure that proper demarcation is done of walkers' space. Wherever there is a road, there should be a walkers' space. Do it with a rope or anything and ensure it is not encroached," the bench told Nataraj. The bench gave him two weeks to instruct the authorities while emphasising that pedestrians should have confidence that the space is meant for them and they can walk freely without any threat of moving vehicles. The top court posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. On June 19,
Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East this year, 16 Indian nationals, including 10 seafarers, have lost their lives in the region, the government informed Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said this in response to a query from CPI(M) MP John Brittas in the Rajya Sabha. The Ministry of External Affairs was asked the number of Indian seafarers and other Indian nationals killed, injured, stranded or evacuated due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East in 2026, 16 Indian nationals including 10 seafarers have lost their lives in the Middle East (one in Saudi Arabia; two in Kuwait; eight in Oman; one in Iraq; and four in UAE), and 75 Indians have been injured (32 in UAE; 24 in Oman; four in Qatar; 13 in Kuwait; one in Saudi Arabia; and one in Israel)," Singh said. In a separate accident not related to attacks, 12 Indian nationals lost their lives in Ras Laffan gas
The government has proposed to extend the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for up to six-year-old BS-VI-compliant private vehicles to three years instead of the current one year to ease the burden on owners. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, has said that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC certificate and those above 10 years every six years. According to the draft notification, while all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every six months, all motor vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every three months. BS, or Bharat Stage, refers to India's vehicle emission standards that set limits on pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matter (PM). The standards are aligned with European emission norms and are enfor
The government on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha a bill to provide for stricter measures to check paper leaks, amid protests by opposition parties in the House against the police action during the student agitation over the NEET issue. Soon after the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill was introduced by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House till 2 pm due to continuing protests by the Opposition. They were demanding a response from the government over the police crackdown on students during the CJP-led July 20 protest march to Parliament. Seeking to amend a two-year-old anti-paper leak law, the bill has been introduced following the over-month-long protest by students over NEET-UG paper leak and other issues. The bill proposes to set up fast-track courts in every state for speedy trials of accused and enhances punishment. According to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, ..
A crucial meeting between the representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and the government was underway at the Vithalbhai Patel House here on Friday as part of efforts to find an amicable solution to the outfit's demands related to exam irregularities. While the government was represented by Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh, the CJP was represented by its national spokesperson Saurav Das and another youth. This was the third official meeting between the CJP and the government. Nadda and Das, along with another CJP spokesperson, Ashutosh Ranka, had attended two back-to-back meetings on July 20 at the minister's residence. The meeting is taking place hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike late on Thursday night following government assurances on his key demands. The CJP had earlier declined the government's invitation to hold talks at a minister's residence or office, insisting that discussions should ta
The government on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that it is willing to hold a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue, and urged Speaker Om Birla to convene a meeting of all parties to decide on the rule, date and duration of the debate. As soon as the House reassembled at noon after an earlier adjournment, Birla asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to make a statement but Congress leader K C Venugopal intervened to assert that the Opposition is also seeking the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Rijju said the government is willing to hold a discussion on NEET paper leak issue but the Speaker will have to meet floor leaders of all parties to decide on the rule under which the discussion will be held, its date and duration. Amid Opposition sloganeering, the House was adjourned till 2 pm. The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue and is also seeking the resignation of Pradhan over the handling of the controversy over th
The Centre has ordered deployment of 20 additional companies of the CRPF in Delhi to strengthen security measures in view of the CJP protests and demonstrations by various political parties, officials said on Wednesday. The forces, all drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), are being airlifted from West Bengal after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) ordered their immediate deployment in the national capital on Tuesday night. A total of 20 CRPF companies are being airlifted from Kolkata to be deployed in Delhi to strengthen the law and order in view of the CJP protests, demonstrations by various political parties and the ongoing Parliament session, official sources in the security establishment told PTI. Multiple instances of violent clashes during the latest protests have necessitated this immediate deployment, they said. They said these companies were deployed in West Bengal for the conduct of assembly elections held there a few months back and were asked to stay put
The Centre has withdrawn the licensing exemption for medicinal formulations containing more than 12 per cent of ethyl alcohol and brought them under stricter regulatory oversight, including mandatory licensing and prescription-only sale, to curb misuse and prevent diversion for intoxication, officials said. Certain medicinal products, including tinctures of cardamom, ginger and other aromatic preparations, have been exempted from licensing requirements under Schedule K of the Drugs Rules, 1945, the ministry said. Some of these formulations contain high concentrations of ethyl alcohol, in certain cases up to 80-90 per cent volume per volume (v/v), making them susceptible to misuse for intoxication, it said. References were also received from certain state governments in this regard, the ministry said. To address this concern, the government has mandated that all formulations containing more than 12 per cent v/v ethyl alcohol, in quantities exceeding 30 ml, shall no longer be covered
India has extended the anti-dumping duty imposed on certain Chinese tubes and pipes till January 27, 2027 to guard domestic makers from cheap inbound shipments, according to a finance ministry notification. The duty on 'seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of iron, alloy or non-alloy steel' was first imposed on October 28, 2021 for five years. Amending a notification, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said it extends "the levy of anti-dumping duty... up to and inclusive of 27th January, 2027 unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier". The existing duty ranges between USD 961.33 and USD 1,610.67 per tonne. The CBIC has also announced continuation of an anti-dumping duty on imports of 'Normal Butanol' or 'N-Butyl Alcohol' exported from Malaysia, South Africa, and the United States of America for five years. It is used in different sectors such as chemicals, paints, adhesives, and coatings. Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and pr
The Centre plans to refer the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer "Satluj" to an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) constituted under the IT Rules 2021 for a detailed examination and future course of action, government sources said on Tuesday, two days after streaming platform ZEE5 was directed to take down the film over "security concerns". The film, which was earlier titled "Punjab '95" and details the life of activist Jaswant Singh Khalra in Punjab in the turbulent 1990s when the state was reeling under terrorism, was stuck with the censors for more than three years. Released uncut on ZEE5 under the new title of "Satluj" on July 3, the film was removed from the platform on July 5. Sources said the matter will now be examined by the IDC, a committee constituted under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, to consider grievances relating to content published by OTT platforms and digital news publishers and make recommendations to the ...