A day after saying that GDP has no relevance and should not be treated as a Holy book, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dube on Tuesday requested the Centre to come up with a law to ban social media to stop it from circulating misinformation.
He said the circulation of misinformation on social media leads to abusive remarks which affect the lives of people.
Dubey was referring to his statement in the Lok Sabha wherein he had said Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has no relevance and it should not be treated as "Bible, Ramayan and Mahabharat". The statement grabbed headlines and triggered a debate on social media, with many users mocking the lawmaker.
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"When the Constitution was made, it was mentioned in Article 105 and 105 (2) that whatever would be discussed in the House, it would be properly reported, and any member would be free to make his point without any fear and partiality. Social media and breaking news were not there when Article 105 was introduced," Dubey said.
"So, I personally urge the government through you (Lok Sabha Speaker) that a law should be made to ban social media to stop such activities," Dubey said, adding that his whole family was abused on social media.
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Referring to his statement on GDP in the House during debate on Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the lawmaker said: "I was discussing GDP and I quoted a report of Simon Kuznets, who formulated the concept of the GDP."
"In his report, Kuznets had himself accepted in 1934 that he was not happy with his GDP concept. A discussion is going on over the issue in the whole world," he added.
Simon Kuznets, an economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research, presented the original formulation of the GDP in his report to the US.
"I have come up with a report of a committee, set up in 2008 by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in which Amartya Sen, Prof Joseph Keith and Chin Paul were present," Dubey said.
"They all had also said the same thing in their reports what Simon Kuznets said in 1934.
"They said that GDP is not a measurement tool. There was a UN convention in 2011 over the issue. And there is an OECD (Overseas Economic Cooperation Development) report which is going on in its leadership. I told these things with proper proof and based on logic, but I was abused by the media, especially social media," Dubey added.
(With IANS Inputs)
