India to focus on digital push at Commonwealth meet

India will push for climate justice, strong cyber security laws and strengthening of rule of law through its Digital India initiative at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting (CLMM) in Nassau, the Bahamas.

Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will represent India at the meet on October 16-19.

India will also raise the issues of violent extremism, promotion of terrorism and use of online means of recruitment by extremist groups at the forum.

“The Digital India initiative has played a key role in digital inclusion particularly through the ‘Jan Dhan, Aadhar, Mobile’ trinity. Welfare subsidy is directly going into Jan Dhan accounts and money previously being pocketed by middle-men is going to the deserving,” said Prasad at a media interaction here on Friday, adding that this needed to be strengthened.

On climate change, Prasad said he would articulate the PM’s concept of climate justice as it is the “other side of the coin of sustainable development justice”. The concept highlights that developing countries should be also allowed to follow their model of development without too many restrictions, as rich countries had placed not many restrictions on themselves when they were developing, he said.

“Since more and more extremist groups are using online means to recruit people, we will flag the issue of insulating the ICT means,” he said.

The law ministers’ meeting, held once in three years, provides delegates with an opportunity to share best practices and improve collaboration among countries who share a common legal tradition.

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