Union IT Ministry directs Wikipedia to remove page depicting wrong map of India
The IT ministry has taken strong objection to a page in Wikipedia, which wrongly depicts Aksai Chin as part of China and sought urgent remedial action.
The Indian government has directed Wikipedia, the free information website to take down a page, which wrongly depicts Aksai Chin as part of China, according to sources in the government.
The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India has issued an order under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, directing Wikipedia to remove the link from their platform that has shown the wrong map of Jammu and Kashmir.
It has also warned that if Wikipedia does not follow the directive of the government then it would take serious legal action against it, including blocking access to the entire platforms as per section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
According to government sources, Wikipedia has not yet corrected the map.
This incorrect depiction of India’s map was brought to the notice of the government by a Twitter user as this is shown on the page relating to Bhutan-India relations.
The Twitter user had tagged the Union Home Ministry and asked them to take strict action against the website. The ministry then asked the Union IT ministry to take necessary action.
The contentious Wikipedia page is titled Bhutan-India relations and talks about the bilateral ties between the two countries. It talks about the military cooperation between the two countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan in 2014.
The government sources said, “Taking cognizance of this, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology swiftly issued an order on 27th November, 2020 directing Wikipedia to remove this page as this is violation of territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. “
The issue of wrong representation of India map has happened earlier and the government has taken strong objection. In September this year, it had served a notice to micro-blogging site Twitter as the geotag for Leh showed it as part of China.
The government had then asked Twitter to provide an explanation on why action should not be taken against the micro-blogging website. Twitter has since resolved the issue.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta
