On the occasion of a State-level seminar ‘Digital Odisha: Challenges and Opportunities’ jointly organised by the Jananta Vikas Manch (JVM) and the Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR) here on May 1, former member of Odisha Women Commission Namrata Chadha released the JVM’s draft paper on roadmap to make a Digital Odisha.
She said, “The freedom of speech should be absolute and it should not be compromised at any cost.” There are stringent laws in place to deal with cyber crime and hence the internet freedom should not be truncated in the name of checking cyber crime, she added.
Digital media strategist Sai Prasan said that the media reports suggest that Narendra Modi Government is planning to come out with a set of rules to monitor the freedom of expression on internet. "The digital media is a people’s media which is controlled and run by them. Any move to impose restriction on the use of digital media will go against the interest of the people," he said.
However, he maintained that the freedom of expression should not be considered a licence to bully girls and women on digital media and hence, the Government should book the offenders and take immediate and stern action against them. He also said that digital media should not be just confined to elite of the State, but the facility should be available to all including workers, farmers and others.
“We need to scrutinize the role and contribution of Odisha’s IT Ministry along with Odisha’s Computer Application Centre (OCAC) in the development of digital media in the State,” he said. Sai Prasan urged the Naveen Patnaik Government to address the issue of electricity and slow internet in State.
Commenting on the freedom of expression on Internet, CSFHR convenor Dhirendra Panda welcomed the order of recent supreme court order to strike down of Sec 66A of IT Act and urged similar other provisions in different acts be repealed. Journalist Sandeep Sahu said, “Unrestrained freedom of expression in India may lead to riots on the streets because of various reasons as India’s case is different from the US and developed societies.”
Nirman director Prashant Mohanty said that the State should be digital as it will connect the rural areas with the urban Odisha. A number of prominent personalities including Mentor to Internet Entrepreneurs Bhavani Pani, social activist Sudarsan Das, social worker Rutuparna Mohanty and editor, Koshal Horizon Baidyanath Mishra, among others, spoke.