I never wanted to censor social media: Sibal

Mumbai: Telecom and information technology minister Kapil Sibal today admitted that he never meant to censor social media but rather ensure that these websites obey the laws of land.

“I never wanted to censor the social media. The media reported I had said I would pre screen the content on social media. I had never even heard the word pre-screen,” he said at the inauguralceremony of the 20th India Leadership Forum organised by Nasscom. He added that if the electronic media can abide by laws then social media must not consider itself to be above that.

Sibal congratulated the IT industry for its tremendous growth over the last two decades and said that the time is now ripe for IT to also service the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in India.“The sector which contributes 7 percent of the GDP will touch and transform lives all over the world,” he said.

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Talking about growth, Sibal stressed that the West had failed to realise the potential of emerging economies. He said that had the West invested in this part of the world, the global economic crisis could have been averted and the growth story would have been way different.

Emphasizing the importance of the IT sector, Sibal estimated that the India needs $ 400 million worth of electronic goods and services , of which it may produce only $100 million. " So India must speed up the manufacturing of consumer goods, where the IT sector must tremendously pitch in".

H also hopes the New Electronic Service Bill, which is currently being scrutinised by the Standing Committee, will change the landscape of governance. Under this Bill all government services, like passports, banking, tax filing etc will be offered online. Each state will declare a timeline by when it can make these services available to the people.

Sibal also handed out awards to companies as well as individuals for outstanding achievements in the IT sector which included awards for social innovation, software innovations and work in the sphere of corporate social responsibility.