No plan to censor social media: Kapil Sibal

Union Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday ruled out any plan to censor social media, but said the companies need to obey the law of the land.

The comments came in the backdrop of a Delhi court's order asking social and networking media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google etc to remove objectionable contents.

The court's order had come after Sibal had taken some measures to rein in social media organisations from hurting religious sentiments.

"No government in the country will ever censor social media. But we need to make sure that everybody obeys the laws of the country. If the print media and visual media obey the laws, the social media can also obey the laws," Sibal told the Nasscom Leadership Summit that got underway here this morning.

"I want to say once and for all, without any obfuscation, no government in India will ever censor social media," he further said.

After a local Delhi court early this month warned of crackdown against the social media sites if they fail to take steps to protect religious sensibilities, Internet giants Google and Facebook removed the offensive contents from their India websites.

Sibal also said the government would set up a fund worth Rs1,000 crore as part of its electronics devices manufacturing policy envisaging creation of over 200 electronics clusters with a 10-year stable tax regime as incentive for it.

He said the government will shortly enact a law to encourage electronics hardware manufacturing.

The minister also informed that the government proposes to clear an Electronic Service Delivery Bill that will mandate all government organisations to deliver public services through the electronic mode.