Civil servants and officers may be allowed to participate on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, but criticism of the government will strictly not be allowed, according to a proposal by the department of personnel and training. "Previous sanction of the Government shall not be required when member of the service, in bonafide, discharge of their duties or otherwise publishes a book or article or contributes to or participates in an public media including social media websites," the proposal said. However, they will not be allowed to criticize the government in any document over any public media published anonymously or pseudo-anonymously, it added. The member of service will not make a statements critical of the government or its policies on television, social media or any other communication application. Interestingly, caricatures are included as documents which may be considered as criticizing the government. Criticism of any policy or action by the central or state government will not be allowed. Any statements capable of embarrassing relations between the central and state governments are prohibited under the guidelines. Similarly, criticism which could affect relationships between the government and foreign state are not allowed. MediaNama's take The government has the right to form or establish a policy to manage its social presence better. However, there are a number of points which point to gray areas and may impede on freedom of expression. What would constitute as "embarrassing" and amount to criticism? The point of caricatures being included as documents critical of the government is absurd…
