Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, on Friday, had urged army personnel to make use of the grievance redressal mechanism to report their issues instead of indirectly communicating through social media.
But on Saturday, reports emerged that the Ministry of Home Affairs has now placed a ban on social media for paramilitary jawans and if any material has to be posted, it would be possible only after getting an approval of the director general.
A Telegraph report said: “The (MHA) guidelines said the respective director-general (of the seven paramilitary forces) would clear the release of pictures, videos, text and other information on “operations and other service matters” on the social media, either via the official handles of these forces or directly.”
The head of paramilitary forces K Durga Prasad, too, conveyed his disapproval of soldiers airing their complaints on platforms like YouTube, Twitter, etc.
‘Aisa Kuch Nahi Hai’
Reports of smartphones being banned for army personnel were also quashed by Army Chief Bipin Rawat, who responded with: “Aisa kuch nahi hai” (That’s not true).
But soon after, the Twitter was abuzz with information denying any such restrictions citing MHA sources.
Over the last few weeks, a few BSF and CRPF jawans uploaded videos complaining about the lack of facilities, low salaries among other issues which even led to a probe by the MHA.
Uttarakhand Police Bans Social Media Use
Uttarakhand Police, on Friday, banned its personnel from raising any service-related grievance on social media.
It warned of punitive measures if any content posted by them “tarnishes” the image of the force or policies of state and central governments.
DGP MA Ganpati issued a circular to senior police officials of the state asking them to ensure that social media tools are used by their subordinate employees only for professional purposes.
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