IFF's new initiative for Parliamentary literacy

Hey IFF community!

We have started a new initiative, On Parliament (@IFFonParliament) on Twitter through which we attempt to follow important parliamentary responses on various tech policy issues such as surveillance, data governance, cyber crimes, legislations affecting digital rights, etc. If you want to stay updated on discussions held in Parliament, follow us on Twitter! Do tell us what you think about our work, what more you would like to see, and how we can improve!

As a sample, here are some of the important responses we’ve received this Budget session:

  1. On the IT Rules: The Ministry of Electronics and Information technology replaced the phrase ‘must enable’ with ‘is required to’ while discussing the IT Rules 2021 in the Lok Sabha. Adopting such an interpretation may imply increased obligation of Significant Social Media Intermediaries to identify the first originator of information.
  2. On Aadhaar Voter-ID linkage: Though the Ministry of Law and Justice stated that Aadhaar will be used to facilitate single entry for electors in the electoral roll and that the two databases are distinct & won’t overlap, the Ministry did not state whether any study or research was conducted to show the manner in which the linkage will be able to reduce the number of bogus voters.
  3. On regulations for the Ed-tech sector:. Instead of enacting a law that regulates Ed-tech companies, the Ministry of Education issued do’s and don’ts for students, parents & schools, putting the burden of prevention of exploitation on the main stakeholders themselves.
  4. On the National Digital Health Mission: As on March 23, 2022, a total of 20,81,45,351 Health IDs had been created.
3 Likes

This is a good initiative, thanks. In time, I look forward to IFF impacting bills before they become law. It is a difficult challenge, but it is better to try and fix bad bills than have to battle it later in court!

2 Likes

Certainly sir!

We are currently engaging Members of Parliament on multiple issues. We will continue to strive towards increased engagement and greater impact in Parliament!

3 Likes

Thanks and all the best!

2 Likes