Google, Facebook update website to comply with IT rules

Agencies
May 30, 2021

New Delhi, May 30: Large digital companies like Google and Facebook have begun updating their websites to reflect the appointment of the grievance officers under the new social media rules that came into effect recently.

According to government sources, large social media companies like Google, Facebook and WhatsApp have shared details with the IT Ministry as per the requirement of the new digital rules, but Twitter is still not following the norms.

The new rules require significant social media intermediaries – those with other 50 lakh users – to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. These personnel are required to be resident in India.

Industry sources said Facebook and WhatsApp have already shared their compliance report with the Ministry of Electronics and IT, and that the details of the new grievance officers appointed are being updated to replace the existing information on these platforms.

Google’s ‘Contact Us’ page shows details of Joe Grier as a contact person with an address from Mountain View, US. The page also contains details on the grievance redressal mechanism for YouTube.

As per the rules, all intermediaries have to prominently publish on their website, app or both, the name of the grievance officer and his/her contact details as well as the mechanism by which a user or a victim may make a complaint.

The grievance officer will have to acknowledge the complaint within 24 hours and dispose of such complaint within a period of 15 days from the date of its receipt; and receive and acknowledge any order, notice or direction issued by the authorities.

The government sources on Friday had said that Twitter is not following the norms.

Twitter has not sent details of the chief compliance officer to the IT Ministry, and shared details of a lawyer working in a law firm as a nodal contact person and grievance officer, they added.

This when the IT rules clearly require these designated officers of the significant social media platforms to be employees of the company and resident in India, they pointed out.

While Twitter did not respond to email queries on the issue, its website mentions Dharmendra Chatur as the ‘Resident Grievance Officer for India (Interim)’.

Google, Facebook and WhatsApp also did not respond to detailed email queries on the appointment of the personnel as required by the new IT rules.

The sources had earlier said that besides Google, Facebook and WhatsApp, other significant social media intermediaries like Koo, Sharechat, Telegram and LinkedIn too have shared details with the ministry as per the requirement of the IT norms.

Under the new rules, social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours, and remove within 24 hours content that is flagged for nudity, pornography etc.

The Centre has said the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.

Non-compliance with the rules would result in these platforms losing the intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

After the new norms came into effect on May 26, the IT Ministry had turned up the heat on significant social media companies, asking them to immediately report compliance and provide details of the three key officials appointed.

The new IT rules also require significant social media intermediaries – providing services primarily in the nature of messaging – to enable identification of the “first originator” of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India, the security of the state, or public order.

The large platforms have to also publish periodic compliance reports every month mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon, and the number of specific communication links or parts of information that the intermediary has removed or disabled access to in pursuance of any proactive monitoring conducted by using automated tools or other reasons. 
 

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News Network
May 30,2023

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Mangaluru, May 30: Speaker of the Karnataka legislative assembly and Mangaluru MLA UT Khader directed officials of various departments in Dakshina Kannada district to be prepared to tackle natural disasters during monsoon.

Chairing a meeting on monsoon preparedness on Monday, Khader said that departments should take measures to reduce loss of life and properties. 

“Based on previous experiences, measures can be taken to prevent loss of properties and protect domestic animals. Officials and people’s representatives should be prepared to respond to the complaints of people. Officials should form teams at the village-level and in urban areas. Excessive rain in catchment areas may result in flooding. Hence, awareness should be created among people to prevent damages,” he said.

Officials should rush to the spot immediately in the event of landslides or incidents like compound wall collapse. While Rs 10,000 should be given as immediate relief, a detailed report on damages to properties should be prepared so that maximum compensation can be distributed within 10 days. The district has an amount of Rs 3.5 crore for disaster management. If required, more funds can be sanctioned to the district, he said at the meeting and directed the officials to inform him of any support required from the government.

While deploying National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, involvement of youths from local organisations also should be ensured to take up rescue operations. Officials should convene meetings in gram panchayats and urban local bodies to discuss plans. Fire and emergency and health departments should be prepared to respond in emergency situations. 

The department of rural development and panchayat raj, public works department, national highways and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) should immediately fill potholes on the roads. The Mescom and forest department should work jointly to cut branches of trees that are likely to fall on electric lines. Junior engineers of the Mescom and rangers of the forest department of the respective areas will be held responsible for any death related to electrocution, the speaker warned.

He also directed the district administration, all urban local bodies and gram panchayats to start a 24x7 helpline.

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News Network
June 10,2023

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Bengaluru, June 10: The government of Karnataka will henceforth give paternity leave to single male parents including the ones who are abandoned or ditched by their wives. 

While until now, childcare leave in the form of maternity leave was applicable only to women, from now on single male parents will be eligible for this leave too. 

According to an order issued on Friday, government employees who are single male parents include unmarried, divorcees and widowers.

There were several requests to allow leave for single men who were raising children. The government felt it was a justified demand, the order said. 

Accordingly, single men will be eligible for six months' paternity leave. 

However, if during this leave they get married, their leave will automatically end from that day, the order stated.

Earlier, the government had recognised adopted parents on par with biological parents for leave, by allowing such parents to avail maternity leave as well. 

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News Network
May 31,2023

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Around 40 medical colleges across the country have lost recognition over the past two months allegedly for not following standards set by the National Medical Commission (NMC), official sources said on Tuesday, May 31.

About 100 more medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and West Bengal may also face similar action, they said.

The colleges were not found to be complying with the set norms and several lapses related to CCTV cameras, Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance procedures and faculty rolls were found during inspections carried out by the Commission, an official source said.

According to government data, the number of medical colleges has increased significantly since 2014.

There is an increase of 69 per cent in medical colleges from 387 before 2014 to 654 as of now, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar had told the Rajya Sabha in February.

Further, there is an increase of 94 per cent in MBBS seats from 51,348 before 2014 to 99,763 as of now and an increase of 107 per cent in PG seats from 31,185 before 2014 to 64,559 as of now.

To increase the number of doctors in the country, the government has increased the number of medical colleges and subsequently increased MBBS seats, she had said.

The measures and steps taken by the government to increase the number of medical seats in the country include a centrally-sponsored scheme for establishment of new medical colleges by upgrading district/referral hospitals, under which 94 new medical colleges are already functional out of 157 approved.

Reacting to his derecognition of medical colleges, experts from the medical field said the NMC is largely relying on the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system for which it considers only the faculty which are on duty during daytime from 8 am to 2 pm.

"But the working hours of doctors are not fixed. They have to work in emergency and at night shifts also. So the NMC's rigidity with the working hours has created this issue. Such micro management of medical colleges is not practical and the NMC needs to be flexible to such issues," an expert said.

Another expert said, "The NMC is derecognising medical colleges believing there are deficiencies. At the same time, the NMC has also allowed the registration of students in such colleges, which is a contradiction. Moreover, such experiment is tarnishing India's image at the global level because India is the largest supplier of doctors and with such instances coming to light, the world will lose confidence in Indian doctors." 

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