Pakistan blocks Wikipedia for not removing blasphemous content: Reports
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan has blocked Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, after it refused to remove offensive or blasphemous material, according to media reports on Saturday.
The blacklisting of Wikipedia comes days after the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) degraded Wikipedia services for 48 hours, threatening to block it if the content deemed blasphemous' was not deleted, The News newspaper reported.
When a PTA spokesperson was contacted late on Friday night and inquired about the blocking of Wikipedia, the official confirmed that "yes" it had been blocked, it said.
On the instruction of the high court, the PTA on Wednesday degraded disrupting and slowing access to the encyclopedia website for 48 hours because there was blasphemous content on it.
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation.
PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid said the ban had primarily been imposed for non-compliance with the orders, the Dawn newspaper reported.
"The decision can be reviewed once Wikipedia removes sacrilegious content that has been identified by the regulatory authority," the spokesperson added.
The PTA spokesperson stated that Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said content by issuing a notice.
An opportunity for a hearing was also provided; however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the authority.
Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia were degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents.
On Saturday, the Wikimedia Foundation said "it does not make decisions around what content is included on Wikipedia or how that content is maintained".
It added that this is "by design to ensure that articles are the result of many people coming together to determine what information should be presented on the site, resulting in richer, more neutral articles".
"We hope that the Pakistan government joins with the Wikimedia Foundation in a commitment to knowledge as a human right and restores access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects promptly so that the people of Pakistan can continue to receive and share knowledge with the world," it said.
Social media giants Facebook and YouTube have been blocked in the past over content deemed blasphemous.
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Siddaramaiah urges PM Modi to suspend VB-G RamG Act, flags 'erosion' of employment rights
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suspend the implementation of the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act, warning that the new law fundamentally weakens the employment guarantee framework and undermines cooperative federalism.
In a detailed letter to Modi on Tuesday, the Chief Minister expressed serious concern over the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), stating that the new legislation risks dismantling a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement that has served as a critical livelihood safety net for rural households.
“I wish to draw your kind attention to the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RamG) Act and the consequent repeal of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,” Siddaramaiah wrote, cautioning that the shift could defeat the very intent of an employment guarantee law.
“At the outset, I submit that the new law risks defeating the very intent of the original employment guarantee, a demand-driven, rights-based entitlement,” the Chief Minister said, while acknowledging that although the new Act increases the promised guarantee from 100 to 125 days, it does not provide assured planning or central funding to back that promise.
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Siddaramaiah pointed out that the VB-G RamG Act caps the union government’s financial responsibility to a ‘normative allocation’ for notified areas of each state, with the Centre contributing only 60 per cent of that allocation in most states.
“As a result, the so-called legal guarantee of 125 days is not absolute,” he said, adding that it is constrained by a centrally determined funding ceiling, leaving many gram panchayats without funds despite genuine demand.
The Chief Minister also objected to provisions that allow the Centre to determine state-wise normative allocations annually based on objective parameters that are neither embedded in the legislation nor fixed through consultation.
He warned that such parameters could be altered unilaterally and would fail to reflect diverse local needs across and within states.
“In effect, a demand-driven regime is being converted into a supply-driven, top-down system,” Siddaramaiah wrote, pointing out that the new framework runs contrary to the participatory approach under MGNREGA, where labour budgets originate at the gram panchayat level and allocations follow village-level demand rather than central convergence plans.
He stated that this diluted the constitutional vision of decentralisation under the 73rd Amendment.
Raising alarm over the revised funding pattern, Siddaramaiah said under MGNREGA, mainstream states followed a 90:10 Centre-State sharing arrangement, while the new Act shifts this to 60:40.
This, he said, converted a statutory guarantee into “a run-of-the-mill scheme” and imposed a heavy burden on state finances already strained due to GST compensation issues and inequitable financial devolution.
According to him, the provision making states fully liable for expenditure beyond their normative allocation could leave them facing 100 per cent financial responsibility for excess demand.
In such a scenario, he said, the guarantee would depend not on demand but on a state’s fiscal capacity, rendering the entitlement unenforceable.
Siddaramaiah also criticised the requirement to pre-notify a 60-day no-work period during peak sowing and harvesting seasons.
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While acknowledging increased agricultural activity during those months, he said a blanket restriction would hurt vulnerable groups who may not find adequate farm work.
He cautioned that this could reduce employment opportunities, suppress wages and worsen livelihood insecurity, leading to increased distress migration and reduced participation of women.
Summing up the changes, Siddaramaiah wrote that the new framework shifts the intent “from ‘right to work’ to ‘work only if permitted’,” and from year-round rural employment to restricted periods and locations.
He also voiced concern that increased reliance on technology and contractor-led projects could exclude the poorest, particularly Dalit and Adivasi communities.
Terming the implementation "arbitrary and hurried", the CM said the Act violates constitutional provisions requiring consultation with states and weakens the foundations of cooperative federalism.
Siddaramaiah also opposed the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the law, calling it a historic, globally acclaimed rights-based legislation rooted in Gram Swaraj and Antyodaya.
