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.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Artistes and Actors Forum (IAAF) today objected to the introduction of porn star Sunny Leone in the popular television reality show ?Bigg Boss 5? on Colors.

In a complaint to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the IAAF said Minister Ambika Soni should taken stringent action against the channel for indirectly encouraging and promoting pornography in India.

IAAF Spokesperson Flynn Remedios said, "Sunny Leone has proclaimed on her website ?as seen on Bigg Boss 5?, but the website is nothing but a hard core porn site and there is no mechanism to stop minors from accessing the website. We have e-mailed the complaint to the minister as well as sent the same by registered post to her office."

The complaint said: "We are an informal body of actors and artistes (including singers, musicians, etc) all connected with the Film and Television industry. We would like to place on record through this correspondence our official complaint regarding the indirect promotion of adult content and pornography by TV Channel Colors via the introduction of adult porn star Sunny Leone in their popular TV Reality Show Bigg Boss Season 5."

"Several newspapers have reported on this trend and phenomenon and our own research has found out that thousands of youth including minors who were earlier not aware of Sunny Leone?s status or profession have been specifically searching for her photographs, biodata, etc on the internet and are exposed to hard core pornographic content including photographs and videos on the internet, the moment they type out her name on any search engine like Google.

"This is only because she is seen on the show Bigg Boss 5 and viewers would like to know more about her. Even her website which proclaims Sunny Leone "as seen on Bigg Boss 5" is a hard-core porn website offering pornographic content to users. Though it has an option asking viewer to exit if they are below 18, there is no mechanism to ensure that viewers below 18 do not view the pornographic content on sunnyleone dot com."

In its letter, the IAFF said: "It is our contention that TV channel Colors was aware of this possibility and knowingly chose to introduce an adult porn star into a TV programme which is watched by people of all age groups. By introducing Sunny Leone in their TV programme, TV Channel Colors is indirectly promoting a pornographic website www.sunnyleone dot com and is in blatant violation of Indian Television laws.

"We request you to take immediate and stringent action for this violation of the Broadcast code and ensure that other TV channels in future do not introduce porn actors in family shows."