India joins G7, 4 others to protect free speech, ‘online and offline’

India, along with G7 countries and four invited countries, Monday signed the ‘2022 Resilient Democracies Statement’ in which they committed to “guarding the freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors” and “protecting the freedom of expression and opinion online and offline”.

A four-page statement, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the G-7 summit in Germany, said, “We, the Leaders of Germany, Argentina, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Senegal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union, affirm our commitment to strengthening the resilience of our democracies.”