New law for registration of newspapers comes in force

Registration of newspapers and periodicals is now a click away as the new law has replaced the colonial era Press and Registration of Books Act dating back to 1867.

The government has notified the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act (PRP Act), 2023, and its Rules in its Gazette and consequently the Act has come into force from March 1, an official statement said.

From now on, the registration of periodicals shall be governed by the provisions of the PRP Act and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Rules.

According to the notification, the office of the Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) shall carry out the functions of the erstwhile Registrar of Newspapers for India.

The new Act provides for an online system for facilitating the registration of newspapers and other periodicals in the country.

The new system replaces the existing manual, cumbersome processes involving multiple steps and approvals at various stages which were causing unnecessary hardships to the publishers, an official statement said.

Earlier, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had launched the Press Sewa Portal (presssewa.prgi.gov.in), the online portal of the Press Registrar General, for receiving various applications as mandated by the new Act.

All applications, including the intimation by the printer of a periodical, application for registration of facsimile edition of a foreign periodical, application by a publisher for obtaining a certificate of registration of a periodical, application for revision of certificate of registration, application for transfer of ownership of periodicals, furnishing annual statement by the publisher of a periodical, and procedure for desk audit for verification of circulation of a periodical will be online through the Press Sewa Portal.

The Press Sewa Portal ensures paperless processing and offers services with an e-sign facility, digital payment gateway, QR code-based digital certificates for instant download, an online system for providing intimation by printing presses, percentage of probability for title availability, online access to registration data for all publishers, filing of annual statements, among others.

It also intends to put in place a chatbot-based interactive grievance resolution mechanism. “The patrolling team sensed that something had happened to them. Since they were speaking in Spanish, the police could not understand what they were saying. However, the policemen brought them to a local hospital assuming they needed some treatment,” he said.

The Spanish couple told doctors about the incident of sexual assault, he said.

“We were informed about the incident around 1.30 am on Saturday. The investigation started as soon as we received the information. We spoke to the victim. Thereafter, we detained some people and during interrogation, they admitted their involvement. The accused also took some other names. We have formed a team and raids are being conducted to nab the other accused. We are also taking the help of a forensic team and the CID in this regard,” he said.

The SP said that police were not informed earlier about the arrival of any foreign tourists in Dumka.

Meanwhile, another official, on condition of anonymity, said seven to eight local youths were involved in the incident.

The official said a massive manhunt is on to nab the culprits.

The issue was raised in the Jharkhand Assembly during its concluding day of the Budget session on Saturday.