Govt permission made mandatory for international online events

GUWAHATI: Politicians, bureaucrats, activists and scientists alike will now have to secure prior permission from the Union ministry of external affairs (MEA) to hold or participate in online international conferences or seminars centred around “sensitive subjects”, including the Northeast.

The MEA has made its prior approval mandatory for all events relating to national security, or which are “clearly related to India’s internal matters”.

State government ministers, government officials of the rank of joint secretary or above as well as doctors and scientists, will all have to first take the permission of the MEA, if they wish to participate in any virtual event.

Permission will also be required for events that involve “sensitive subjects” with provisions for sharing data in any form, a revised set of MEA guidelines, dated January 15, said.

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Clarifying the permissions required for online seminars organised by a government department or publicly-funded universities etc, the guidelines noted that any virtual conference being organised will require approval from their “administrative secretary”.

However, before granting permission, the MEA will have to ensure that the subject matter for the online event is not related to “security of state, border, Northeast states, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh or any other issue which are clearly/purely related to India’s internal matter/s”.

For conferences that involve discussions around these specific subjects, approval will be required from the MEA.

The names of all participants in such seminars will have to be approved in advance by the government.

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Besides, “appropriate level of scrutiny” is to be exercised to identify the nature and “sensitivity of data” while examining the contents of the presentation to be made at the seminar.

“While seeking approval/after approval, link to the online event should be shared by email at socoord@mea.gov.in,” the guidelines said, adding that this also applies to programmes having foreign funding or sponsorship.

The education/MEA guidelines encouraged universities to avoid using apps having servers that are controlled by countries or agencies that are “hostile to India” stating: “There should be judicious selection of IT applications/platforms, medium for interaction; preference should be given for those apps having servers not controlled/hosted/owned by countries/agencies hostile to India.”