New Delhi : Where will the Convergence Communications 2001 Draft Bill be placed on the Internet?
That's a big question waiting to be answered. Even as the Group of Ministers (GoM) deliberating on the Convergence Bill approved the draft early last week, none of the ministries involved with it knows or wants to talk about where the draft will be placed on the Net. The choice is between the Websites of the Communications Ministry, Information Technology Ministry, and Information & Broadcasting Ministry. At the time of clearing the draft last week, the GoM had decided to place it on the government Website within a week after incorporating the recommended changes to get the feedback of the industry. But even the members of the GoM-Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha; Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj; Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan; Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan; and Law Minister Arun Jaitley-are not clear on where exactly the draft will be placed. Earlier the Fali Nariman draft report of the sub-group on Convergence was placed in the ICICI Website, courtesy Mr VKamath, MD and CEO of ICICI, who is one of the members of the sub-group on Convergence. However, now that the group of ministers has approved the draft, it should be placed on one of the government Websites, according to government sources. Even four days after the Convergence draft being approved, Ms Sushma Swaraj said that she was not aware as to which Website will have the draft. Say government sources that this confusion is the result of each ministry-Communications, IT and I&B-wanting the draft on its own Website. The confusion regarding putting up the draft on the government Website is linked to the one-up-manship that each ministry wants to have in the execution of the Convergence Communications Bill.
It is being said that the ministry which manages to have the draft on its Website may have a bigger say in its execution. The same ministry, it is feared, will have more power if and when a new ministry is formed after the Convergence Communications Bill is passed in Parliament.
The series of delay that one saw in holding the GoM meetings were also partly due to the conflict between the various ministries on having a bigger pie in convergence. That conflict, sources say, has now spilled over to the placing of the draft on the government Website. Another related issue-who'll pilot the Bill-is still undecided. Though some say that Law Minister Arun Jaitley may pilot the Bill to avoid any controversy.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
