Today in Parliament, I spoke on Fair Use and Copyright Strikes on Digital Content.
Millions of Indians are now digital content creators. Their channels & pages are valuable assets built over years of hard work, which get taken-down by Copyright Strikes.
IndiaтАЩs Copyright Act, 1957 must be modernised to define Fair Use, to protect transformative and incidental use, while safeguarding original creators.
Fair use is NOT piracy.
Creativity cannot thrive under the fear of arbitrary, algorithm-driven copyright strikes. ЁЯЗоЁЯЗ│
A BJP MLA from Rajasthan was caught in a sting operation demanding a 40% commission to approve a project under the MLA-LAD fund, something long known to happen, but now on video.
Take a simple example: if a road project worth тВ╣1 crore is approved for a village, тВ╣40 lakh is effectively pocketed by the MLA/MP even before the work begins. From the remaining тВ╣60 lakh, further cuts go to PWD officials, district and block officials, middlemen, fixers, audit and clearance facilitators, after which the contractor still takes his profit. What finally reaches actual construction may not exceed тВ╣10 lakh. That is precisely why such projects barely last a few months.
In China, such a case would trigger a swift inquiry and severe punishment, including death penalty. In India, there isnтАЩt even an FIR yet. Absolutely nothing will happen.