Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 9: Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told Parliament on Tuesday that the government does not agree with Reporters Without Borders’ views or rankings, and that it disagrees with the conclusions reached by putting India 142nd on the World Press Freedom Index.
Rai said India’s disapproval is based on “very low sample size, little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy, adoption of a methodology which is questionable and non-transparent, lack of clear definition of press freedom etc,” in response to a question from Congress member Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha about the latest ranking.
In response to Tewari’s question about the closure of the Kashmir Press Club on January 18, Rai stated that no such organisation exists. He went on to say that the club has no elected controlling body because it ceased to exist as a registered body and failed to register under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
