Lok Sabha Question No. 2582 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-10
Subject: Lessons on Internet Etiquettes and Cyber-bullying
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2582

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 10.03.2021

## LESSONS ON INTERNET ETIQUETTES AND CYBER-BULLYING

## 2582.  DR. T. SUMATHY  (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether the Ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Education proposes to introduce lessons on internet etiquette and ethics in schools in the upcoming academic year for children age seven and above and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (b) the number of complaints received by the Government about cyberbullying during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise and the steps taken by the Government in this regards;
- (c) whether the Government is aware that unlike in UK and US, India does not have any rules and laws under which sponsored content should be flagged and if so, the details thereof and the reactions of the Government thereto; and
- (d) whether the Ministry proposes to regulate, with the help of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, sponsored content to protect the customers from misleading advertisements and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- (a):  National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum for teachers and students in school education. As a part of this curriculum, safety, security and ethics in the cyber world are being introduced as separate chapters in ICT, IT and Computer Science textbooksfor class 9 to 12. The cyber safety components have also been introduced into the course content of ICT curriculum for students till class 8 .
- (b):   As per the data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 7, 40 and 45 cases were registered for cyber stalking/bullying, under section 354D of Indian Penal Code, under cybercrimes against children during the years 2017, 2018 and2019respectively. The details of State/UT wise cases reported during 2017 - 2019 are at Annexure .

'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Constitution of India. States/UTs are primarily responsible for prevention,  detection,  investigation  and  prosecution  of  crimes  including  cyber-crime  through  law  enforcement machinery. The Law Enforcement Agencies take legal actions as per provision of law against offenders.

To strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber-crimes  in  a  comprehensive  and  coordinated  manner,  the  Central Government  has  taken  steps  for  spreading  awareness  about  cyber-crimes;  issuance  of  alerts/advisories;  capacity building/training of law enforcement personnel/prosecutors/ judicial officers; improving cyber forensic facilities; etc.

(c) and (d): The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified under the Information Technology Act, 2000, provides for dealing with unlawful content appearing on intermediary platform  and  Online  Curated  Content  Platforms.  These  rules  provide  for  mechanism  of  complaint  and  grievance redressal. A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with two levels of selfregulation,  Level-I  being  the  publisher  and  Level-II  being the  Self-Regulatory Body,  and  the  third level being the

Oversight Mechanism under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The rules provide for an effective grievance redressal mechanism for receiving, processing, and time-bound disposal of public grievances related to the Code of Ethics. The publishers shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India, who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it. The self-regulatory body would be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court, or by a person of eminence from the relevant field, and can issue advisories to the publisher. *******

## Annexure

State/UT-wise  cases  registered  under  Cyber  Stalking/Bullying  under  Cyber-crime  against Children (Sec 354D IPC r/w IT Act) during 2017-2019

| S. No.   | State/UT          | 2017             | 2018             | 2019 Cases   |
|----------|-------------------|------------------|------------------|--------------|
| S. No.   | State/UT          | Cases Registered | Cases Registered | Registered   |
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 1                | 6                | 3            |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 3        | Assam             | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 4        | Bihar             | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      | 0                | 1                | 0            |
| 6        | Goa               | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 7        | Gujarat           | 1                | 2                | 1            |
| 8        | Haryana           | 0                | 0                | 2            |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh  | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 10       | Jammu &Kashmir    | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 11       | Jharkhand         | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 12       | Karnataka         | 0                | 0                | 0            |
| 13       | Kerala            | 0                | 1                | 0            |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh    | 1                | 4                | 3            |
| 15       | Maharashtra       | 3                | 16               | 28           |

| 16   | Manipur           |   0 |   0 |   0 |
|------|-------------------|-----|-----|-----|
| 17   | Meghalaya         |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 18   | Mizoram           |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 19   | Nagaland          |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 20   | Odisha            |   0 |   0 |   2 |
| 21   | Punjab            |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 22   | Rajasthan         |   1 |   1 |   0 |
| 23   | Sikkim            |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 24   | Tamil Nadu        |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 25   | Telangana         |   0 |   1 |   3 |
| 26   | Tripura           |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 27   | Uttar Pradesh     |   0 |   4 |   1 |
| 28   | Uttarakhand       |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 29   | West Bengal       |   0 |   1 |   1 |
|      | Total State(s)    |   7 |  37 |  44 |
| 30   | A&N Islands       |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 31   | Chandigarh        |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 32   | D&N Haveli        |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 33   | Daman &Diu        |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 34   | Delhi             |   0 |   3 |   1 |
| 35   | Lakshadweep       |   0 |   0 |   0 |
| 36   | Puducherry        |   0 |   0 |   0 |
|      | Total UT(s)       |   0 |   3 |   1 |
|      | Total (All India) |   7 |  40 |  45 |

Source: Crime in India

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