The Centre plans to introduce a Bill to replace the 155-year-old 'Press and Registration of Books Act' with a simplified version that decriminalises various provisions and brings digital media under its ambit.
The Centre has also listed 24 bills, including the Cantonment Bill, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, for introduction in the Monsoon Session of Parliament that is scheduled to commence from Monday.
The government plans to introduce the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2022 also in this session.
“The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2022 seeks to replace the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 by decriminalisation of the existing Act, keeping the procedures of the extant Act simple from the view point of medium/small publishers and uphold the values of Press Freedom,” a government communication to the Parliament read.
The government had first released the draft Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill in 2017 that sought to ease the process of registration of newspapers and dispense with the penal provisions under the PRB Act.
The PRB Act has provisions to impose a penalty on publishers for not printing the name of the printer in the newspaper or periodical or not making a declaration before the magistrate about operation of printing presses.
The proposed Bill has provisions to set up a press registrar general and bring the digital media in its ambit.
The 2019 draft bill had defined “news on digital media” as “news in digitised format that can be transmitted over the internet, computer, mobile networks and includes text, audio, video and graphics.”
The Bill sought to enable the central government and the state government to frame appropriate rules to regulate the criteria or conditions for issuing government advertisements in newspapers, accreditation of newspapers, and suchlike facilities for newspapers.
It also proposed to have a simple system of registration of e-papers and doing away with the earlier provision under the PRB Act, 1867, that deal with prosecution of publishers.
The Cantonment Bill proposes to achieve greater developmental objectives in alignment with municipalities across the country and also facilitate "ease of living" in cantonments, according to a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill seeks to rationalise the government's role in cooperatives and increase participation in the working of the multi-state cooperative societies, so as to increase public faith in these societies and create a conducive environment for their growth and development.
Similarly, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill seeks to strengthen the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code by introducing provisions on cross-border insolvency and certain other amendments for a time-bound resolution of stressed assets while maximising their value.
Some of the other bills listed for introduction are -- the Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill, the Development of Enterprises and Services Hubs Bill, which proposes to revise the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and frame rules, the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) (Amendment) Bill, the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill and the Competition (Amendment) Bill.
The government has also listed the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to rationalise the prohibited areas and bring other amendments.
The Kalakshetra Foundation (Amendment) Bill, the Old Grant (Regulation) Bill, the Forest (Conservation) (Amendment) Bill, the National Dental Commission Bill, the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, the Indian Institute of Management (Amendment) Bill and the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill have also been listed for introduction.
The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, the Trafficking of Persons (Protection, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill and the Family Courts (Amendment) Bill are also listed for introduction during the session.
Two separate bills for Constitution amendment to revise the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu are also listed for introduction.
