There can’t be a ban on use of word ‘Dalit’ in media: PCI

There can’t be a ban on use of word ‘Dalit’ in media: PCI

News:

1. The Press Council of India has recently decided against issuing a directive to the media prohibiting the use of the word “Dalit”.

Important Facts:

2. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory to all private satellite TV channels, urging them to refrain from using the nomenclature ‘Dalit’ for people belonging to Scheduled Castes in compliance with a Bombay High Court directive.
3. The PCI, which regulates the media in India, however noticed that a blanket ban was neither advisable nor feasible”.
4. The PCI added that it had to be adjudicated on case-to-case basis.
5. In an earlier order on March 15 this year, the Ministry of Social Justice too had issued a similar advisory to all the State governments and Union Territories that in all official transactions, the constitutional term “Scheduled Caste” should be used instead of the word “Dalit”.
6. About PCI:

• The Press Council of India was first set up in the year 1966 by the Parliament on the recommendations of the First Press Commission with the object of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of press in India.
• The present Council functions under the Press Council Act, 1978.
• It is a statutory, quasi judicial authority functioning as a watchdog of the press, for the press and by the press.

It adjudicates the complaints against and by the press for violation of ethics and for violation of the freedom of the press respectively.