India in talks with Bangladesh for deporting Rohingyas: Rajnath
New Delhi, July 25 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday that India is in talks with Bangladesh over deportation of Rohingyas living illegally and the process will begin after getting status report from the states where they are living illegally.
Responding to a specific query in Rajya Sabha during Question Hour by Anand Sharma about talks with Bangladesh over the issue, he said that there has been a discussion between the Indian and Bangladeshi External Affairs Ministers on the issue.
He said right now in the country Rohingyas are in many states and the centre has issued advisory for identifying, numbering and taking biometrics of them.
"The states has been asked also to ensure that they left with no documents so that they can claim for citizenship in future. This advisory has also been issued to the states," he said, adding that after getting reports from the states, these will be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs.
"Then our External Affairs Minister will talk to her Myanmar counterpart. And if felt necessary, she will also talk to External Affairs Minister of Bangladesh so that Rohingyas living in India could be deported," he said.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said that everybody knows the background of Rohingya issue.
"We have approached the Government of Myanmar and Bangladesh also. We all know that they have come from the State of Rakhine in Myanmar. So, the Government of India is impressing upon the Government of Myanmar to take back these people. The process will be as per discussion we had with sovereign countries. I cannot give an assurance here," he said.
Earlier, nominated member Swapan Dasgupta sought to know from the government whether Bangladesh has, for a change, admitted that there were illegal Bangladeshi nationals residing in India and has accepted taking them back.
"Earlier, they had not even admitted that fact. Just as we are approaching this problem, I think, a new problem is coming up. I would like to ask a question on that. This is on the systematic trickling of Rohingya refugees who are coming in, using Bangladesh as a staging post to come into various parts of India, but notably using the sea-borne route to come into Sundarbans area of West Bengal.
"There are reports which have been documented in the electronic media, which have said that 40 organisations are working in close coordination to facilitate them," he said, asking for the steps being taken by government to actually detect, identify and remove them.
Rijiju said under the Foreigners' Act, 1946, the Central Government has the power to identify, detect and push back or deport anybody who is illegally staying in India.
"With regard to the issue of Rohingyas, we have stated earlier also that there are Rohingyas who have entered India illegally," he said, adding that, as per the security agencies' reports, they are in the Jammu city and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jaipur."
In response to another query related to deportation of 52 Bangladeshis in Assam in detention camps, Rijiju said that the Bangladesh has agreed, identified and accepted the identity of these people as Bangladeshi nationals.
"So, now they have agreed to that. These 52 people including one minority will be deported on July 30 at 11 a.m. from Mankachar ICP in Assam" he said.
He rejected the claims that thousands of genuine Indian citizens are kept in detention camps in Assam motivated by the tribunals and the border police taking a particular motive.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
