REPORT BY INDEX MONITORING CELL

Subject : Important Reports

Context : Veteran journalist strikes a dissenting note in Index Monitoring Cell report.

Concept :

Pointing out that the right to dissent should be the central focus of press freedom, independent journalist P. Sainath struck a dissenting note in the report submitted by the Index Monitoring Cell (IMC)
It is set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry with stakeholders to improve India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index and to evolve an objective yardstick to gauge media freedom.
The 15-member committee, has four journalists and government functionaries. Chaired by Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau, the committee has 10 government employees.
Among the key recommendations is the decriminalising of defamation. India is one of the few countries in the world to criminalise defamation.
The panel has also recommended that consent of the Press Council of India is a prerequisite before filing an FIR against the media or a publication.
The meeting of the panel comes in the backdrop of a steady decline in India’s ranking in press freedom.

World Press Freedom Index

It has been published every year since 2002 by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) or Reporters Without Borders.
Based in Paris, RSF is an independent NGO with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).
OIF is a 54 french speaking nations collective.
The Index ranks 180 countries and regions according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
The parameters include pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.