LS clears bill to ease newspaper registration

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Bill, 2023, through a voice vote after a two-and-a-half-hour debate in the absence of most, if not all, Opposition members.

- Aditi Agrawal

The Bill simplifies and digitises the process of registering newspapers and other periodicals with the Press Registrar, sets up an appellate board to deal with issues related to registration, and decriminalises all but one offence.

The PRP Bill will replace the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which required newspapers, magazines, and books to be registered with the government. The BJP-led government and the previous Congress-led government had made multiple attempts to replace the colonial-era act. The Congress government introduced a bill in 2011 but it was not passed.