{"id":93,"date":"2018-07-11T06:52:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T06:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/populareducation.in\/loksamvad\/?post_type=article&#038;p=93"},"modified":"2018-07-11T06:52:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T06:52:54","slug":"social-media-monitoring-hub-tender-date-extended-again","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/populareducation.in\/loksamvad\/article\/social-media-monitoring-hub-tender-date-extended-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media monitoring hub: Tender date extended again"},"content":{"rendered":"<strong>theprint.in<\/strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>New Delhi:<\/strong> The Modi government\u2019s ambitious plan to set up a social media monitoring hub seems to have found few takers with the tender inviting bids for the project being extended for the fourth time.\r\n\r\nOriginally, the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL), a PSU under the information and broadcasting ministry, had called for submission of bids for supply of software for the project by 17 May.\r\n\r\nThe date was first extended to 24 May, then to 31 May, which later became 18 June. Now, the new date is 20 August.\r\n\r\nAccording to official sources, only two firms responded when the first tender was floated for software that was supposed to be \u201cdesigned and developed in India\u201d, in line with Modi government\u2019s \u2018Make India\u2019 initiative.\r\n\r\nAs the tender needed at least three or more companies to be in consideration to pass the financial bid, the exercise was dissolved.\r\n\r\nSources in the industry say that the tender was extended again to \u201cloop in the new I&amp;B secretary Amit Khare\u201d.\r\n\r\nHowever, ministry officials said Khare too, like critics of the project, doubts its validity and purpose.\r\n\r\n<strong>Govt plans to listen to digital chatter<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe bid document for the project \u2014 Social Media Communication Hub \u2014 clearly states that it requires \u201ca technology platform to collect digital chatter from all core social media platforms as well as digital platforms\u201d.\r\n\r\nThe tender further mentions that the \u201cplatform may be used to disseminate content and hence should support publishing features\u201d.\r\n\r\nThe proposal says it requires the tool to be able to \u201clisten to email\u201d, and should be able to assist the government to tailor campaigns to target individuals to promote \u201cpositive\u201d opinions and to neutralise \u201cnegative sentiments\u201d about government schemes.\r\n\r\nIn addition to this, 716 district-wise SMEs are expected to conduct \u201csocial media publicity\u201d campaign.\r\n\r\nHowever, government sources admit that \u201cno such software exists that can easily and legally hack into personal emails\u201d and claim that the ministry has no intention to \u201cread\u201d or \u201clisten to\u201d emails considering such attempts would amount to hacking and would be entirely illegal\u201d.\r\n\r\nThe sources also indicate that the government is looking for a software on the lines of TalkWalker, a social media analytics and monitoring platform or Meltwater, a media and social media monitoring software.\r\n\r\n<strong>Protests against the project<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe Internet Freedom Foundation, an NGO that advocates a \u201cfree and open internet\u201d, served a legal notice on the I&amp;B ministry last month, asking the government to recall the tender.\r\n\r\nApar Gupta, co-founder and trustee of the NGO, argued that there is no statutory instrument or legislation which can be used to justify the creation of the Social Media Communication Hub.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe scope of the hub is supposed to fall under the government\u2019s \u2018New Media Cell\u2019. However, the New Media Cell was set up by a notification in 2013, not a law, and the activities of the hub are beyond the scope of that notification as well,\u201d he claimed.\r\n\r\nMany influencers and politicians have also raised concerns that the project could invade an individual\u2019s right to privacy, and the right to freedom of speech.\r\n\r\nTrinamool Congress MLA from Karimpur in West Bengal, Mahua Moitra, has filed a PIL against the project.\r\n\r\nCongress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi also questioned the Modi government on why the tender does not clarify if the data being accessed by the government will be encrypted. He also sought to know why the BJP government is \u201cspending Rs 42 core of our own tax payer\u2019s money to snoop on us\u201d.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>theprint.in New Delhi: The Modi government\u2019s ambitious plan to set up a social media monitoring hub seems to have found few takers with the tender inviting bids for the project being extended for the fourth time. Originally, the Broadcast Engineering&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"issuem_issue":[4],"class_list":["post-93","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","issuem_issue-june-2018","entry","no-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Social media monitoring hub: Tender date extended again - Lok Samvad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/populareducation.in\/loksamvad\/article\/social-media-monitoring-hub-tender-date-extended-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social media monitoring hub: Tender date extended again - Lok Samvad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"theprint.in New Delhi: The Modi government\u2019s ambitious plan to set up a social media monitoring hub seems to have found few takers with the tender inviting bids for the project being extended for the fourth time. 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