Social media won't be allowed to abuse election process: Prasad
New Delhi, Aug 26 : Social media platforms will never be allowed to abuse India's election process and stringent measures backed by laws on data protection and individual privacy have been put in place, Information Technology (IT) Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said.
Addressing the plenary of the G-20 Digital Economy Ministerial meeting in Salata, Argentina, on August 23-24, Prasad also noted that India had taken serious note of the reported data misuse by social media platforms and said the purity of the democratic process should never be compromised, an IT Ministry statement said here on Sunday.
The Minister's remarks come after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a preliminary enquiry against the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica for alleged illegal harvesting of personal data of Indians from Facebook.
The UK consultancy has also been accused of allegedly interfering in the 2016 US Presidential elections.
"Minister Prasad stressed that India had taken a serious note of reported misuse of social media platform data. Such platforms will never be allowed to abuse our election process for extraneous means," the statement said.
He also said that the purity of the democratic process should never be compromised and that India will take all required steps to deter and punish those who seek to vitiate this process.
Noting that while privacy cannot prohibit innovation nor become a shield "for the corrupt or terrorists", Prasad said that data must be anonymous, objective and taken with consent for it to continue being an effective tool to improve business.
In this connection, Department of Telecommunications Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said here earlier this week that the government has no intention of imposing a blanket ban on messaging applications and is looking for other "technical solutions" to curb instances of fake news and misuse of these apps.
On Tuesday, Prasad met Whatsapp CEO Chris Daniels here and asked the visiting corporate to comply with Indian laws and take "suitable" steps to prevent the misuse of the instant messaging platform.
At the G-20 event, Prasad also proposed that a part of the revenue generated by digital platforms needs to be reinvested in the host markets.
According to the statement, India's digital infrastructure consists of 1.21 billion mobile phones, including 450 million smartphones, nearly 500 million internet subscribers and increasing broadband availability.
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Indian startup's 'Drishti' satellite launched aboard SpaceX rocket
New Delhi (PTI): Bengaluru-based space start-up GalaxEye's Mission Drishti satellite was launched on Sunday aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from California.
Mission Drishti is the world's first OptoSAR satellite, integrating electro-optical (EO) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors into a single operational platform, according to the company.
While EO sensors capture high-resolution images during sunlight and clear skies, SAR sensors provide all-weather and all-time images, using radar pulses.
In a statement, Suyash Singh, founder and CEO of GalaxEye, said, "With the satellite (Mission Drishti) now successfully in orbit, our immediate focus is on completing its commissioning. As we move through this phase, we are already witnessing strong global interest in the differentiated datasets enabled by our OptoSAR payload."
The satellite will help address long-standing limitations of conventional systems and enable more reliable and consistent data acquisition across diverse environmental conditions, the company said.
As a dual-use Earth observation satellite, the mission will support use cases across defence, agriculture, disaster management, maritime monitoring, and infrastructure planning.
The satellite is also expected to complement India's broader initiatives, including the 29 active Earth Observation satellites outlined in ISRO's recent annual report.
The launch came after five years of indigenous research and development, and extensive environmental testing and performance validation of the Mission Drishti.
In a statement, Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd), director general of Indian Space Association (ISpA), said, "GalaxEye has achieved what only a few global players have, which is seamlessly combining optical and SAR capabilities on a single platform to enable persistent, all-weather intelligence."
What stands out is not just the technology, but its broader impact on how downstream applications will increasingly define value in the space economy, particularly in Earth observation, where timely, decision-grade insights are critical," he added.
ISpA is the premier industry association of space and satellite companies in the country.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh also took note of the Mission Drishti launch, saying the development marked a significant milestone in India's space journey.
In a post on X, the minister said, "The successful launch of the world's first OptoSAR satellite, and the largest privately-built satellite in the country, reflects the immense potential of our young innovators driving nation-building."
GalaxEye aims to scale up Mission Drishti to a constellation of 10 satellites by 2030, developing a robust and sovereign Earth observation infrastructure for India.
