Work From Home Till July 31 For Employees of IT Companies? Here's a Fact Check as Ravi Shankar Prasad Clarifies on WFH Date Extension

New Delhi, April 29: Union Minister for Information Technology and Electronics, Ravi Shankar Prasad, announced the relaxation of connectivity norms till July 31 to facilitate work from home. His announcement on Tuesday was misreported by a section of media, who stated that he has ordered the IT sector employees to work from home till July 31. The Minister later issued a clarification. Work From Home Needs to Popularise, Relaxation on Money Deposits and Clearances Extended Till July 31 to Ease WFH: RS Prasad.

The misreporting was a result of a factually incorrect tweet by the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan, who claimed that the Union government has extended the work from home dates for IT sector employees till July 31.

"In view of #COVID19, Central Govt has asked IT professionals to work from home till July 31. Union Minister for IT & Telecom Shri @rsprasad

informed the decision to all State IT Ministers during a video conference held to discuss problems of the sector due to lockdown (sic)," he said. Ravi Shankar Prasad Issues Clarification on Work From Home, Says 'Extension Not for IT Industry Employees'.

Prasad, while responding to a factually misinterpreted tweet of the Karnataka Deputy CM, said he wished to clarify that his order pertained to only the relaxation of certain norms which are necessitated for companies to implement the work from home model.

The Union Minister added that the exemptions were related to VPNs and other work from home requirements -- and directions for the same have been issued to the Department of Telecommunications.

"Wish to clarify that it is not extension of #WFH. In response to IT Industry’s request to facilitate WFH for OSPs, @DoT_India had relaxed terms & conditions for VPN till 30.4.20. After discussions with IT Ministers this relaxation in terms & conditions is extended till 31.7.20 (sic)," he posted on social media.

See Tweets Below

Misleading Claim of Karnataka Deputy CM

The exemptions announced by the Ministry of IT and Electronics include the requirement of setting up certain virtual private network (VPN) for employees to work from their residential premises. The prerequisite permission for operating under a work from home or WFH programme has also been waived till July 31.

The requirements were earlier exempted till April 30, in the order issued by the Ministry in the last week of March. In view of the continuing coronavirus pandemic situation, Prasad extended the same till July 31. However, the relaxation in norms till the said date should not be considered as an order to work from home till then, he clarified.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 29, 2020 10:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).