CHANDIGARH
“Social media has made the political leaders and public functionaries accountable to the masses and has proved to be a great leveller, ” this was stated by BJP National General Secretary P. Muralidhar Rao during a seminar on “Role of Social Media in a Democraic Setup” organised by National Centre for Social Media Research (NCSMR) at CII here today.Speaking about the role of social media, Rao mentioned that social media has keept the public functionaries more senstive to public opinions and kept them in toes. Digital India is an inevitable future and it’s realities can not be escaped which could be seen even in the recent surgical strike on Black-Money. The demonitation has proved that the country has already adopted the e-payment route, which in turn strengthen the honest economy and take India ahead on the digital super highway leading to high growth and more equitable distribution of resources in the long run.
However among other panelists, social activist and political analyst Hemant Goswami made a case for regulating social media without hampering the spirit of freedom of speech. Goswami was of the opinion that the social media is extremely chaotic and not atall credible and therefore it can not replace the newspapers and the conventional mdia. The accountability of the conventional media is far greater which makes it more reliable and responsible, which social media was not. “India needs to enact a new legislation to restrict the targeted annonymous libel campaigns and rumor mongerings using photoshopped and VFX pictorial and video contents, while ensuring that it maintains the spirit of Artile 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, ” Goswami added.
Dr. Ashish Vashist presented facts and figures highlighting the growth of internet and social media and said that with the pervasiveness of internet, social media will remain relevant even in the coming times and can be used by Governments to strengten Democracy. Dr. M. P. Punia, Director – NTTTR and and Jawahar Yadav, Chairman of Haryana Housing Board, Chandigarh also spoke on the occassion and highlighted the importance of social media and e-connections in today’s democracy.