The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is engaged in discussions with representatives from civil society, advocacy groups and industry associations on India's proposal on internet governance at the United Nations.

India has been pushing for an open democratic system of global internet governance at the UN to ensure a balance between private, commercial and public policy interests.

"The proposal, which was prepared by Ministry of External Affairs and endorsed by DeitY, is a step forward towards the democratisation of the global internet related public policy issues," Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot on Saturday said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The proposal was in consultation with Brazil and South Africa, he added.

The proposal was put forth at the UN Commission for Science and Technology Development in May and is a reiteration of the statement made in the UN General Assembly in October, the Minister said.

A meeting involving the industry, the civil society and the government was held in the Department on May 9, 2012, Pilot added.

India, in May, had said it believes in the freedom of Internet and free deliberations on public policy for Internet governance.

"India is committed to tapping the tremendous potential of cyber space and the tremendous opportunity it provides and for creating a citizen-centric and business-centric environment to connect all human beings to the information highway," an official statement had said.

India wishes to emphasise the need for global coordination to ensure that internet continues to be a free and secure medium for the whole world, it had added.

The statement gains importance amid government voicing concerns about inappropriate content on social networking sites.

The government has already ordered blocking of 310 webpages where morphed and inflammatory contents were uploaded allegedly with the aim to incite Muslims in India leading to the mass exodus of people of the northeastern region from places in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

There were also reports that the government has asked Internet service providers to block select Twitter accounts, including that of some journalists.

However, the government has said it is working with Internet giants like Facebook and Google to remove such content.