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Govt to curb misuse of press registration

These publications retain the titles allotted to them, but cease to publish anything despite that Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday afternoon said that these publications which have not published for six months or maximum for up to a year will have to give up their titles which will then be free to be taken up by anyone else.

He was speaking after the release of the 58th ‘Annual Report on Print Media’ compiled by RNI.
Javadekar also said that publications not filing annual returns for three consecutive years would be de-registered, according to the proposal. He also announced that the RNI would soon begin e-filing of application for registration of new newspapers.

He said that the RNI had initiated various to bring in transparency in the system. He said, ‘While the Press in India had grown exponentially, the challenge before the press was also to lay down the contours of being responsible in their functioning.’

Several steps taken by RNI using technology prolifically in this regard , ‘such as Online e-filing of Annual Statements, Quick disposal of title applications and registration cases, creation of e-mail and mobile number database of publishers and owners, automatic SMS intimation, SMS for status of registeration, online public query responses and information and facilitation counters, initiation of e-filing of the annual statements of the registered publications,’ informed Javadekar.

According to the latest RNI report, print media has registered a growth of 5.95% over the previous year as a total of 5642 new publications were registered during 2013- 14. The minister said that as per the report at present there were 99,660 registered publications, out of which only 20,000 were filing their annual returns. Everyday the RNI receives about 100 applications for registration, out of which the RNI issues ahead about 30-40 each day.
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