Lok Sabha Question No. 2843 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-15
Subject: Internet Governance Forum
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Rajbahadur Singh, Rodmal Nagar, P.P. Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Solanky, Krishna Pal Singh Yadav, Sangamlal Kadedin Gupta, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Manoj Kumar Tiwari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2843

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.12.2021

## INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM

## 2843.   SHRI RAJBAHADUR SINGH:

SHRI RODMAL NAGAR:

SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY:

SHRI MAHENDRA SINGH SOLANKY:

DR. KRISHNA PAL SINGH YADAV:

SHRI SANGAM LAL GUPTA:

SHRI PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)  the details of aims, objectives and significance of India having its own Internet Governance Forum;
- (b)      whether  the  Government is planning to regulate the access of internet for  children  as an agreement on most websites stands null and void for minors and if so, the details thereof and if not the reasons therefor; and
- (c)  whether the Government is taking steps to provide a platform level to the Indian home-grown apps and if so, the details of appropriate policy support given therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a): The aim & objectives of India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF) is to bring the large diverse communities of India together on a platform, to project the community voice and opinion in matter of Internet Governance, creating synergies and enhance understanding of Internet Public Policy and  its  impact  in  the  Indian  scenario,  increasing  the  multi-stakeholderism  within  the  Internet Governance ecosystem. IIGF is conducted under the aegis of United Nations Internet Governance Forum.

The significance of having India Internet Governance Forum is that it   gives an opportunity to engage  Indian  citizens,  stakeholders  and  policy  makers  in  a  dialogue  on  various  issues  and concerns which are linked with healthy growth of the Internet, while keeping it open, safe & trusted and accountable.

(b): There is no such proposal under consideration to regulate the access of internet for children. However, Government has taken the following steps to make cyber space safe and trustworthy for children, which inter alia include:

(i)        Section  67B  of  the  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000  provides  stringent punishment for publishing, transmitting or viewing Child sexual abuse material online.

(ii)   The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules,  2021  empower the  users  of  Intermediaries  and  makes  the  social  media  platforms accountable for their safety.  The Rules require the intermediaries to adopt a robust grievance redressal mechanism including time-bound disposal of grievances. The Intermediaries need to convey their terms and conditions which must include communication to users  not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, update or share any information that is inter alia harmful, defamatory, obscene, invasive of another's privacy, harm minors in any way or  are  otherwise  unlawful.    Intermediaries  are  also  expected  to  remove  any  information violative of any law in India as and when brought to their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by an appropriate government or its authorised agency. The Rules also  require  Significant  Social  media  Intermediary  (SSMI)  to  endeavour  to  deploy technology based measures to proactively identify child sexual abuse material.

(iii)  Government periodically blocks the websites containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)  based  on  INTERPOL's  'worst  of  list'  received  through  Central  Bureau  of Investigation (CBI), the national nodal agency for Interpol in India.

(iv)  Government  has  issued  an  order  to  concerned  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs)    to implement    Internet  Watch  Foundation  (IWF),  UK  or  Project  Arachnid,  Canada  list  of CSAM websites/webpages on a dynamic basis and block access to such child pornography webpages/websites.

(v)  MeitY  through  a  programme,  namely,  Information  Security  Education  &  Awareness (ISEA),  has  been  creating  awareness  among  users  including  women  and  children highlighting the importance of digital safety while using Internet. A dedicated website for information security awareness (https://www.infosecawareness.in) provides relevant awareness material.

(c):  Government  has  initiated  an  indigenous  app  store named  as  Mobile  Seva  Appstore under AatmaNirbhar  Bharat  mission  as  a  platform  to  host  Indian  apps.  It  enables  all  Government Departments  and  the  private  sector  entities  in  the  country  to  host  their  mobile  applications providing  citizen  centric  services  related  to  health,  education,  agriculture,  financial,  online payments, electoral services, social welfare, food, transport, energy, etc. It has more than 1030 apps  uploaded  by  government  and  private  entities  across  India.  Both,  Organizational  and

Individual developers can register themselves and upload apps. Only verified and signed Android Application Package (APK) files can be uploaded on the AppStore. Uploading and downloading of apps are free of cost.

Also, Government of India through National Informatics Centre has implemented the project name 'National e Gov Appstore' which is a platform for hosting Government Web based applications and components that can be reused by other Centre / States Departments without investing cost and effort in the development of similar applications. Many applications have already been hosted on this  platform  including  popular  solutions  like  e-Procurement,  e-Office,  Vahan,  e-Prison,  eGranthalaya Land Records etc. The details of the platform are available at https://apps.gov.in

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