Maps law will punish those who depict Indian map incorrectly, says Rijiju

After the proposed Geospatial bill raised many eyebrows, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said it will not hurt tech companies.

However, he cautioned companies such as Google, saying they will have to make sure to show Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir correctly on India’s map.

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Rijiju told ET the proposed Geospatial Information Regulation Bill will punish those who violate depicting Indian maps as well as mapping so-called security sensitive areas.

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The minister told ET that tech industry's concerns would be addressed, which has argued that such a bill would impact Google, Apple, Uber, Ola, Zomato and an array of startups.

"The law should not have any kind of negative impact or creating a negative atmosphere for business growth... definitely all concerns of the industry will be addressed in the final law. I am assuring that the intention of the government is to facilitate business... It is not to create a hurdle,” he said.

Also, Rijiju said India would like Google to depict boundary in a correct manner.

“That is our sovereign concern that we will always put that across. They (Google) have their own way of thinking. They have not shown Arunachal as part of China but they show it in red colour as disputed. That is not acceptable to us at all,” he told ET.