Lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Development and Technology Committee have underscored the need of introducing the Communications Act in a way to regulate the social media rather than to control it.
The lawmakers were speaking in the discussions on the principles of the Bill Designed to Make Provisions Regarding Information Technology.
The discussions was organized by a sub-committee formed by the committee to conduct a study on the theme of the bill.
Saying the message that the government was wont to controlling the social media has reached the masses, the committee members urged the government to clarify this and regulate the social media.
Committee president Kalyani Kumari Khadka said that the bill should not contain ambiguous words and sentences. "It should be clear so that the people can comprehend it," she said.
Sub-committee member Kedar Sigdel demanded that the new legislation should be brought to regulate the technology in a systematic way on the basis of suggestions and feedback from the stakeholders as the technology's development has positive impact on other sectors as well.
Lawmaker Indra Kumari Sharma demanded to regulate the social media to check the anomalies seen in the field, saying the technology was being misused rather than used properly in the recent days.
Lawmaker Gauri Shankar Chaudhary said that the Communications Act should be legislated at the earliest in a way to provide smooth and accessible service to the people.
Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Mahendra Man Gurung, explained that the government was preparing to introduce the Communications Act aiming to systematizing the social media and bringing it within the ambit of tax by doing away with the anomalies and aberrations seen in this sector.
Coordinator of the sub-committee Bina Kumari Shrestha said the committee would soon finalize the bill after holding clause-wise discussions on its principles.
The committee had formed the sub-committee on April 1 for studying the information and communications technology sector.
