Social media an essential tool in participatory democracy

NEW DELHI: Participants at a meeting held here today favoured increased use of social media as an important instrument in initiating dialogue with citizens in a participatory democracy.

They were participating in a Round Table on Citizen Engagement and use of Social Media chaired by Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.

The meet was attended by about 100 stakeholders including social media organisations, civil society organisations, industry associations, members of the legal fraternity, representatives of government departments and agencies and others.
 
The need for convergence of different channels of communication - print, electronics, social media etc. - and the need for synergies between these channels was also expressed.

It was agreed that appropriate mechanisms need to be created within government structures to enable faster response as required by social media based interactions.

Ways of improving citizen engagement in policy formulation and implementation of its projects and programmes; requirement of capacity building within government for use of social media; contextualising social media to Indian realities including Indian language content; development of Mechanisms to protect privacy and identity of individuals; and mechanisms to address security concerns about data including personal data also came under discussion.

Sibal agreed on the greater use of social media in a participatory democracy and felt that such close interactions not only helped to build healthy democratic practices but also contribute to transparent and accountable governance.

Minister of State Sachin Pilot stressed the need of creating enabling mechanisms which would help people from all parts of our country to participate in their own language and in the form of their choice: text based, voice based or even sign based. The proposal received support from all present and it was stressed that technologies should enable participation of differently enabled individuals also.

The meet is reported to have come in the wake of Sibal asking social network companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove offensive material and screen content.
Sibal had denied he was promoting censorship and said some of the images and statements on social media sites risked fanning tensions.