GS Paper II

News Excerpt:

The new Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, came into effect on March 1, 2024, as announced in the official Gazette.

More about the news:

• The new Press and Registration of Periodicals Act, 2023, has replaced the old Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.
• The Centre has notified the new law and the associated rules in its official gazette. Accordingly, the Act is in force from March 1.

Provisions of the Act:

• Responsibilities of overseeing the Act will fall under the purview of the office of the Press Registrar General of India (PRGI), formerly known as the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI).
• In alignment with the Digital India initiative, the PRP Act introduces an online system to streamline the registration process for newspapers and other periodicals across the country.
• The new system replaces manual processes involving multiple steps and approvals at various stages which were causing unnecessary hardships to the publishers.
• The registration of newspapers and periodicals has moved online in the Press Sewa Portal.

• • The Press Sewa Portal ensures paperless processing and offers services with e-sign facility, digital payment gateway, QR code-based digital certificates for instant download.
  • Online system for providing intimation by printing presses, percentage of probability for title availability, online access to registration data for all publishers, filing of annual statements, among others. 
  • It also intends to put in place a chatbot-based interactive grievance resolution mechanism.
  • The portal is accompanied by a new website with all the related information and a user-friendly interface. 

• The new PRP Act removes books and journals from the purview of registration necessitated by the old law. 
• It defines a periodical as “any publication including a newspaper which is published and printed at regular intervals containing public news or comments on public news but does not include a book or a journal of scientific, technical, and academic nature.
• As per the new Act, all applications for periodical registration must be submitted exclusively through the Press Sewa Portal. 

Way forward:

• With the online registration process guided by software, the likelihood of application discrepancies is significantly reduced, leading to expedited application processing. 
• Applicants will receive real-time updates on their application status via SMS and email, ensuring transparency and minimizing delays due to miscommunication.