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In this digital age, how free speech is dealt with in a multipolar world, and the emergence of the new and complex forms of censorship were discussed in a talk on "Rethinking Media Freedom in the Digital Age" at the Observer Research Foundation.
If the purpose of privacy is to preserve democracy, then data protection laws must reflect this purpose.
New digital age won't be as much fun if we don't talk about privacy. Privacy should not be limited to headline grabbing revelations about surveillance, Snowden and Sony; these conversations need to be mainstreamed to every citizen-consumer.
Indian companies, however, have different compliance protocols, answerable as they are to the Indian state.
India does not have a privacy law in place right now, although what should be in the law has attracted considerable debate. Therefore, the contours of privacy in the RTI gambit have resulted from various decisions and court orders given over the years.
The debate on privacy got a fillip by the recent arraignment of WhatsApp for being the conduit of fake news, which incited vigilante violence.
Privacy and democracy have always had an uneasy relationship in India. However, now India has a unique opportunity to evolve a progressive and expansive legislation on privacy and protection of personal data. The report of the experts group chaired by Justice Ajit Prakash Shah is a good starting point.
The indecision of the AAP since the announcement of the Delhi poll results has the potential for the national voter to prefer national parties or alliances, rendering regional parties minimal players with maximalist muscle-flexing.
The motor vehicles agreement between BBIN nations is a welcome development and marks a good beginning. But now what is needed is a sustainable approach to infrastructure development in the region.
The solution is simple in concept but difficult to implement. Judicial administration will have to be separated from the administration of justice. A separate class of court administrators, reporting to the presiding officer but not having to take orders from him, may have to be formed.
An 'Agreed Line of Administrative Control' in the place of the existing Line of Actual Control (LAC) could free India and China from some of current problems at the bilateral border talks, feels Mr R Swaminathan, former Secretary and Director-General (Security), Government of India.
Experts at a conference on "Internet Governance and India: The Way Forward" have unanimously agreed that "anonymity" in cyber world is important for protection of dissenting voices. They also accepted that internet stands on three basic tenets of openness, freedom, universality.
Experts at a discussion on Indus Water unanimously agreed that a 'blue revolution' must follow the 'green revolution' so that the human possibilities for development are not compromised in the basin.
Reported jihadi threats forcing the down-grading of a New Year Eve entertainment programme and those regarding seven more Maldivians joining the civil war in Syria have revived the on-again-off-again national discourse on religious radicalism in Maldives.
By ratcheting up tension, China is causing alarm in other countries that use the busy South China Sea as the shortest and most convenient link between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Chinese could well end up the losers as the countries affected could band together to offset Chinese aggressiveness. Worse, it could well trigger off Japanese nationalism and rearmament.
What was not acceptable to Karnataka have been made acceptable to Sikkim now. Naturally, advocates in Sikkim too would not want to have a judge, allegedly tainted by misdemeanour, to be their Chief Justice.
The attack on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a function in New Delhi, where a kirpan-wielding individual popped up to hit him, should be viewed not as a stand-alone case.
There is a lot to feel hopeful about the maiden meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharaff in distant New York. If the two nations needed to move ahead with the peace process, set in motion by predecessor Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh needed the personal chemistry working with Musharaff. At the end of the day, both said it did work.
At this rate, the TNA can become 'untouchable' in national politics, as they were earlier. It does not serve the Tamil cause - and certainly not the moderates' cause. It is the hardliners alone, many of whom are outside the country forever that will be happy.
Encrypting communications enhances privacy and the security of information services. This, in turn, incentivises innovation in the ICT sector and contributes significantly to the growth of the internet economy. India’s (now withdrawn) Draft National Encryption Policy was single-minded in its approach. It sought only to prescribe standards that would enable law enforcement agencies to access encrypted data. There are, however, multifarious conc
Is green tax an answer for a cleaner India? The author contemplates if taxation is an answer
In Bangladesh, the municipal elections held last month (January 2011) provided an opportunity to assess the trends in the country's politics. The results showed that the ruling Awami League is on a declining graph as far as its popularity is concerned.
Chinese foreign policy statements may seem sloganistic, ritualistic and without content but one has to realise it need not be articulated in the Euro-American way, says Prof. Geremie Barme of Australian National University College of Asia and Pacific.
Tehran has responded in a carefully structured, calibrated fashion to the resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors last Saturday regarding Iran's nuclear programme. We may not have heard the last word yet, but are quite close to it.
The Government and the political and bureaucratic class should be sensitive to the cause professed by the civil society and acknowledge that absence of accountability and responsibility could lead to anarchy of a more militant kind.
Pakistan's "memogate" controversy has raised questions about the strength of the country's civilian government. This has been admitted even by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
Proceedings of the weekly interaction in the Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation
The IAC is at the cross-roads now. That it has also been the fate of most such organisations over the past years in various parts of the country should not also be lost sight of. Many have come and gone, but very few have remained as an electorally successful political outfit.
The 'multiple identities' of the Tamil-speaking people in the country have suddenly acquired an urgent need for mutual understanding between the State and the citizen. There are contextualised circumstances, which may not provide for a yard-stick to measure 'national interests' or prioritise them.
Today, the Government(s) should not be looking into questions like 'Why Telangana?'. It has lost the luxury of thought process already. Instead, it should be looking at the when and how of it.
The trilateral maritime cooperation initiative by India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, and the Outcome Document signed recently by the NSAs of the three countries, has the potential for further improving naval ties in the shared Indian Ocean Neighbourhood.
