India’s policy on data must focus on access, not physical location

In recent times, India, Japan, and the United States have found themselves on the same side of the table, more often than not. So, when India declined to participate in the Osaka Track, the Japanese prime minister’s favourite initiative at the G-20 summit last month, it was something of an aberration.

Shinzo Abe wants to create a group of countries that will allow the free flow of data across international borders. India declined, taking the view that such a conversation ought to take place under the WTO.  The real stumbling block was the Indian government’s seriousness on data localisation. Staying out of the Osaka Track was a prudent decision, but the Narendra Modi government’s presumption that data localisation is in the national interest requires a thorough reconsideration.

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Fiscal constraint prevents stimulus

The interim budget in February gave a substantial stimulus to the taxpayer. Almost three crore taxpayers moved out of the net, as the minimum threshold was raised. Further, the cash transfer to households led to some consumption push, not to forget the electoral gains.Read more 

Like Swachh Bharat, Modi wants mission Save Water. Stop free water first

Modi has called for a mass movement — like Swachh Bharat — to save water. Since the new government took office, it has created a water ministry by folding up two older ones, set itself a goal of delivering piped water to all households by 2024, created a water management index that ranks states, and is set to roll out a whole host of measures to conserve water.But, contrary to popular belief and experience, we are not running out of water — 71 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by water. The problem does not lie in nature, but in the fact that Indian society is unable to cooperate in a manner that ensures each one of us has adequate water.Read more

To let data roam free or coop it up at home?

Cross-border flow is the basic life-blood of data. When information is isolated, it loses its potential to become knowledge and becomes increasingly vulnerable to breaches. Moreover, India might currently not even have the infrastructure to store its own data. More often than not, data is jeopardised by inadequate supporting infrastructure rather than malevolent threats.

A key issue on which India needs to make a decision is the approach to cross-border data flows. The ability to share and process data at lightning speeds is almost as important as the existence of the data itself.It is remarkable what information can achieve when collected and processed at a large scale. With the growth of 21st-Century technology, these possibilities have grown. For instance, because data can flow at unprecedented speeds, centres can analyse trends in real-time and provide insights that guide behaviour. Consider Google Maps, a software that collects information on a global scale, through remote sensors and can instantly count for changing directions, congestion, and solve to the minute for how much longer it will take from point A to point B. The sheer utility of Google Maps has made it essential to how we function on a daily basis.Just like Google Maps impacts the individual, sets of big data drive behaviours of industry and, indeed, entire sectors. A key reason why this model is able to function so efficiently is the nature of data. As a commodity, data can be shared at lightning speeds while managing costs. In the contemporary world, collecting and sharing information has become easier and more effective than at any point in history. It is a result of this that we have made our progress into “Industry 4.0”, and it is the driver that will help us bring about this revolution.However, this progress cannot be achieved without the freedom of accessibility that data aggregation requires. Pieces of information kept in isolation are not nearly as useful or efficient in comparison to what they can do together when combined and consolidated — the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When data is allowed to exist without borders, it has the added benefit of keeping costs down and allowing companies to spread out globally. Any curbs on this ability can have negative side effects for industry and the billions it benefits around the world.Unfortunately, that is a possibility India has been considering over recent years. Data localisation is the idea that data should be ‘localised’ or confined to national borders. Measures to achieve this can vary in their degree of severity. If considered in its most stringent form, localisation can prohibit data to leave national borders (generally there is a provision to make exceptions for special circumstances). When relaxed, localisation requirements might ask for companies to meet security adequacy standards when keeping an updated copy of the data domestically.This brings us to the broader question of why localisation measures in India are on the rise. The Reserve Bank of India released a circular early last year that called for localisation in the payments sector while a special committee, formed for designing recommendations on data protection, suggested localisation methods.Localisation is a trending topic in the Indian data space. So let us take a moment to examine why the government is taking the stance it is. The arguments presented in the central bank’s circular and the White Paper released by the Srikrishna Committee essentially boil down to the need for access rather than storage of data. Unfettered access to data is supposed to translate into more effective law enforcement. Localisation then is a method to enable this need for access. In addition, it would also protect India’s data from malicious foreign entities.While ensuring security and ease of access for Indian data is paramount, localisation might not be the best means to achieve that end. Because of the very nature of data, the physical location of where it may be stored does not govern who has access to it. There are different zones of jurisdiction depending on who the data belongs to. For instance, just because Facebook’s data centre might be located in Bangalore or Hyderabad, does not make it a property of the state or federal government(s). Moreover, even if placing the centres in India would somehow protect them from foreign surveillance (the fears are justified after Edward Snowden’s leak), it would render them more vulnerable to domestic threats. Moreover, more often than not, data is jeopardised by inadequate supporting infrastructure rather than malevolent threats. For example, a study by the Leviathan Security Group stated that in 2011 data was compromised because of a slow water drip in a nondescript office building in the Canadian city of Calgary. The lack of adequate infrastructure set off an explosion that caused days of computer outages for hospitals, ambulances, radio stations, taxis, and criminal justice facilities around the province. It is not easy to source and maintains the infrastructural requirements of data centres. Not only do they need to be completely free of even seemingly minor dysfunctions such as water drips, but data centres also need massive amounts of resources — electricity and water — to function. India might not have the infrastructural capacity to meet the requirements of setting up and maintaining data centres. A large percentage of Indians do not have access to electricity and there is an impending crisis for water.So, India still has a long way to go before it can meet the infrastructural requirements for setting up data centres of its own. Ultimately, for India, and for the sake of the larger narrative, localisation is not a means to achieve better data security. What it will do, instead, is increase costs for the industry while making global organisation tougher to manage. Curbing freedom of movement for data will impact the ability to progress, innovate, and allocate resources while sullying the experience for the end-user, the people.It should be noted that localisation was a key mandate of the BJP government before the elections. There is a widespread belief in the government that localising Indian data is the way to go. It complements the current administration’s ‘India First’ message. However, as far as cross-border data flows are concerned, localisation might not be the tool that helps India in the long or short term. With the reelection of the BJP, there is no reason to believe that the approach to cross-border data flows is likely to change. We can presume that the draft e-commerce policy, data protection bill, and the RBI circular will all enforce their version of localisation.The question is whether it will actually help keep data secure while harnessing the potential we know it possesses. As most experts on big data and AI will tell you, when it comes to data, it is always better to let it roam free.

The article was first published in The Hindu. Views are personal.

Bihar encephalitis to lynchings to #MeToo – why Indians don’t take issues to the finish line

The Supreme Court Monday “came down heavily on the Centre and Bihar government” for the rising number of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome deaths in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar. Chances are that in 10 days, we won’t remember that over 150 children had died in Muzaffarpur as the news cycle would have turned three or four times by then and we would all be outraging about some entirely different issue. It appears that in India at least, outrage cycles have failed to create change. Even the #MeToo movement has run aground.Read more

SCO 2019: hits and misses for India

After winning re-election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for his first multilateral engagement. India has used the 2019 Bishkek summit to balance its approach between conflicting interests of the US and China. It stands to gain from the SCO’s peace process in Afghanistan, the decision to use local currencies for trade and the organization’s stand on terrorism.However, India missed out on energy and connectivity opportunities emanating from the SCO, along with a chance to break ice with Pakistan.The June 14-15 event was Modi’s third SCO summit. Having begun as the Shanghai Five in 1996, and renamed as the SCO in 2001, this organization has become a pivot to security and geopolitical issues of the Eurasian region. India’s participation in the organization is marked by its interest in energy and connectivity projects in Eurasia.

This article was originally published in Asia Times. Click to read the full article

Can Hong Kong protect its 'freedom'?

"One country, two systems”, the brilliant formulation that allowed Britain to transfer Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, allowed a lot of people to believe that the two systems would converge over time. That while the mainland would adopt free markets and democracy, Hong Kong would become better integrated with its motherland.Read more

India and Brexit: How New Delhi Can Position Itself to Maximize Benefit

The United Kingdom’s planned exit from the European Union, Brexit, keeps getting messier by the month. It led Theresa May to resign, just like David Cameron before her. It may end up making Boris Johnson the U.K.’s next prime minister, or be the cause of him facing judicial consequences. Brexit also led to the creation of the Brexit party, which got the largest vote share in recent European elections. So we now have British representatives in the EU who don’t want to be there. As of now, it shows no signs of getting better for the U.K.

What does this mean for India and why does it matter? The short answer is that Brexit may end up being good for India’s relations with the U.K. and the EU. The long answer, however, is a bit more complex. To get there, let’s put Brexit into context for India.India and the U.K. share strong trade relations. There is a sizable Indian diaspora in Britain, which means India receives a lot of remittances from the U.K. As per previous estimations, the U.K. sends approximately $4 billion to India through formal and informal channels. Indians are among the most common non-British nationalities in the U.K., with 832,000 residents. India sees the U.K. as a lucrative market in itself and a gateway to the European Union. Between 2000 and 2018, total foreign direct investment (FDI) that flowed into India from all channels from the U.K. is estimated at $50.57 billion. Of this, the U.K. directly invested $26.09 billion in India – increasing its investment by $847 million between 2017 and 2018 – representing 7 percent of all FDI coming into the country. India also shares strong relations with the EU that could be developed further. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and India was the EU’s ninth largest trading partner in 2015. The EU accounted for 92 billion euros worth of trade in goods in 2018 or 12.9 percent of total Indian trade, ahead of China (10.9 percent) and the United States (10.1 percent). The EU is also a leading destination of choice for Indian exports. Eighteen percent of total Indian exports are to the EU. The relationship is set to become stronger as both parties have been considering entering into a free trade agreement, which would reduce tariffs and barriers to bilateral trade.How is Brexit likely to affect India’s economic relations with both these parties? A lot of it depends on whether there is a “soft” Brexit or a “hard” Brexit. In simpler terms, it depends on whether or not the U.K. leaves the single market. The EU imported around 44 percent of U.K. exports in goods and services in 2017 — 274 billion British pounds’ worth, out of 616 billion pounds of total exports. Should the U.K. leave the single market, it may have to look for other buyers for its goods and services. In a post-Brexit world, India could benefit from this. South Korea did exactly that recently, by agreeing to sign a free trade deal with the U.K. The timing is no coincidence. The U.K. needs trading partners and leaving the single market will give London strong incentive to expand in markets elsewhere, particularly the Commonwealth.India is one of the biggest economies in the bloc and has strong trade relations with the U.K. Moreover, Brexit may devalue the pound, which could be a boost to trade volumes between India in the U.K., providing a strong base to build upon. The timing is also ripe for India, with a new government coming in. A flagship trade deal with the U.K. would serve as great news in times where trade wars dominate the news. This is not to say that an FTA is the only way to go. Another feature of Brexit may be that European labor workers might need to leave the EU or stay on different visa requirements should Brexit turn out this way. India could also take advantage of this to incentivize movement of labor between the two countries.A hard/soft Brexit could also mean stronger ties between India and the EU. With the U.K.’s departure, the EU is likely to want to fill that economic gap. As far as trade with India is concerned, the first order of business might be to work toward finalizing the free trade agreement. If the U.K. can no longer serve as a gateway to Europe, Indian companies might also consider diversifying their current investments in London. An attractive destination could be Ireland, because of its close proximity to the U.K. and membership to the EU. This could also mean investments in other EU trade capitals, such as Frankfurt and Paris. Doing so would benefit the EU as a bloc in a post-Brexit world.While the full impact of Brexit spans across sectors, the changing nature of the U.K.’s involvement in the single market is what India should be concerned with. While trade relations between India and the EU/U.K. have been strong historically, Brexit could be the catalyst that makes them stronger. As the EU and the U.K. both look for new trade opportunities elsewhere, India could emerge as a beneficiary of this new arrangement. The reshuffle that Brexit brings with it is something the Indian economy should welcome, soft Brexit or otherwise.This article was first published by The Diplomat. Views are personal. 

How the world is dealing with China’s military modernisation drive

China’s military modernisation is advancing rapidly, requiring stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific region to adapt with the changing realities. China’s Defence minister Wei Fenghe made a speech on June 2 at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore. Shangri-La Dialogue is one of the biggest track-one diplomacy security fora of Asia. Mr. Fenghe’s speech was monitored closely for three reasons. One, the Defence minister has not attended this forum since 2011. Two, his speech was a response to the statement made by Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defence for the United States. Mr. Shanahan revealed details of the ‘new phase’ in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy. Third and most importantly, the speech came a month after the Chinese military report published by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).The DOD report cautioned the U.S. Congress about the rapid modernisation of the Chinese armed forces. The report claims that the Chinese leadership aims to achieve informatisation of the People’s Liberation Army by 2020 and modernisation by 2035, with the broader goal of developing the PLA into a world-class force by 2050. The report gives considerable attention to the advancement of the PLA Navy (PLAN). There has been an evolution in the approach of the PLAN from ‘off-shore water defence’ to ‘open sea protection’ due to its increased military capabilities. The report says that China’s second aircraft carrier, Type 001 A, would likely be commissioned by the end of this year. This would be followed by the induction of another carrier, Type 002, in a short span of time.The Type 002 carrier is expected to be equipped with advanced launch capabilities in the form of an electromagnetic catapult. Currently, this technology is available only with the single aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy, the USS Gerald R. Ford. The report also states that the PLAN currently operates four nuclear-powered ballistic missile–carrying submarines (SSBNs) and six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), predicting that this number would increase in the near future. The DOD report further cautions the U.S. Congress to expect the establishment of more overseas PLA bases, like the one in Djibouti, in the Indo-Pacific region in the near future.

What does this mean for regional stakeholders..

This article was originally published in the Hindu thread. Click to read the full article

The gene of prejudice in gender determination

From impeding track stars like Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand to laws restricting bathroom access and a proposal in the US for genetic determination of sex, the issue of gender identity remains mired in controversy.Can there be a sensible and humane resolution to this debate? Or does this debate represent an unwarranted imposition of societal perception of gender on the scientific determinants of sex? If that is the case, the resolution definitely does not lie in force-fitting science to societal concepts. In a landmark decree, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it was shifting gender incongruence (i.e., being transgender, when your gender identity is different from the one assigned at birth) from its mental disorders chapter to the sexual health chapter. It basically means that the WHO recognises that being transgender is not a mental health problem as was initially thought, but is probably normal biology. (read more)

Three changes that can be introduced in the performance review process in R&AW

There is an acute staff shortage in India’s RAW with about 40 per cent of the posts at the level of joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries lying vacant. And then, it became worse nearly six months ago when more than 70 senior and mid-level RAW officials were marked for compulsory retirement by the Narendra Modi government. Of these, four were holding the joint secretary rank, while the rest were of the level of deputy superintendent of police or other subordinate ranks.The whole episode calls into question the suitability of a colonial-era performance appraisal process called ACR (or Annual Confidential Report) for an intelligence-gathering organisation like the Research & Analysis Wing.Read more

Delhi must wake up and smell the opportunity

Deepening competition between the US and China over trade and technology is bringing forth a new set of economic and strategic challenges for India. Navigating these successfully requires New Delhi to mitigate and manage the threats, while leveraging the opportunities that arise. Doing so, however, requires the Indian government to undertake key reforms and adopt a strategic outlook with regard to certain domestic policies.A protracted Sino-US tech war could limit India’s room to maneuver, with the possibility that the global cyberspace and technology and innovation ecosystems could splinter into spheres of influence. This necessitates the adoption of a strategic outlook towards domestic policies.Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/sunday-spotlight/delhi-must-wake-up-and-smell-the-opportunity-739059.html 

India's Focus Shift From SAARC to BIMSTEC Is Strategic, but Underused

While India has tactfully used the platform to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, it must also tap into BIMSTEC's immense potential for development, connectivity and trade in the region.

Leaders of the BIMSTEC countries attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony last Thursday. This is an opportunity for India to leverage the grouping for better regional economic integration, rather than merely as a diplomatic tool to isolate Pakistan.BIMSTEC comprises India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In other words, it is SAARC minus Pakistan and Afghanistan, plus Thailand and Myanmar. In 2014, Modi had invited leaders of the SAARC countries for his swearing-in ceremony.However, since then, tensions between India and Pakistan have led to New Delhi shifting focus from SAARC to BIMSTEC. Since its formation in 1997, we have only witnessed BIMSTEC coming to life during periods of tensions between India and Pakistan. During Modi’s first term, India began focusing on BIMSTEC after a series of terrorist attacks on Indian defence establishments in Uri and Pathankot.

This article was originally published in the Wire. Click to read the full article

Biological Weapons: The Impact of New Technologies

In June 2018, German police arrested a Tunisian man in Cologne for trying to build a biological weapon using the deadly toxin, ricin.1   In October 2018, researchers flagged a US agricultural program funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) as a potential mask for a bioweapons project.2 At the same time, Russia also claimed that the US had tested biological weapons in Georgia killing over 70 people.3 Further, suspect packages were sent to select targets in the United States in October 2018;4 these packages in addition to being mail bombs also carried a white powder reprising concerns of the anthrax attacks from 2001 which led to the death of 5 people.There has been no incident of biological agents being used as a weapon of mass destruction in the recent past. Yet as the above examples show, there have been attempts to explore and create technologies that could be weaponised by both state and non-state actors. The threat was made apparent by James Clapper, US Director of National Intelligence, who added gene editing in their annual worldwide threat assessment report in 2016.5 Since then, there has been a wider recognition that the advances in technologies and improved access to science have lowered the barriers to creating designer bioweapons. [Read more]

Time India Lay’s eyes on Pepsi potato case

A multinational giant using all its might to crush four small farmers for an alleged patent infringement: this is how PepsiCo’s decision to sue a group of Gujarat farmers for Rs 1 crore each played out in the media early this month. The US-based snack and beverage maker was accused of coercion for taking the farmers to court for growing FC5 potato variety, which it exclusively developed for its Lay’s chips.It was the money — Rs 1 crore — that caught attention: how can a poor farmer pay such a huge amount? And instinctively, you side with the farmer. But is that instinct correct? Who is right: the farmers or the drinks major they are up against? [Read more]

Misguided Talks With the Taliban Won’t Bring Peace to Afghanistan

Dark, bizarre, surreal: we are short of adjectives to accurately capture the current political situation in Afghanistan. On May 8, even as they were in talks with the US, the Taliban attacked the Kabul office of a US aid NGO, killing nine. On May 5, the Taliban mounted attacks on armed forces outposts in northern Afghanistan, killing more than a dozen servicemen.Earlier in March, the Taliban’s shadow police subjected women to public lashings evoking comparisons to their brutal medieval-era style rule between 1996 and 2001. This is to say nothing of the 75,000 plus Afghan civilians who have been killed in heinous acts of terrorism since 2001. And despite all this, the US seems determined to strike a deal with the Taliban through negotiations which erode the authority of the Afghan national unity government, a government midwifed by them and one that couldn’t have survived this long without them. On May 9, the US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted that slow but steady progress was made on the framework to end the Afghan war and the Doha round of talks were now getting into the ‘nitty-gritty’.If we are to believe Khalilzad, the US remains hopeful of forming an interim government involving the Taliban on the basis of this quid pro quo: the US will scale down its presence in Afghanistan in return for security guarantees by the Taliban. Though the details are yet to be worked out, there appears to be an in-principle agreement on this broad arrangement between the US, the Taliban, and the Taliban’s minders – the ISI. If it works out, President Trump will appeal to the voters in the 2020 presidential elections that he has brought soldiers back from Afghanistan – from a war he now refers to as “ridiculous”.

This article first appeared in The Wire

Demoting India’s engagement with Pakistan from PM level to foreign secretary-level will be a good start

A response to The Print's TalkPoint question for 20th May: With Lok Sabha elections over, how can India and Pakistan now repair fractured ties?Pakistan is not one geopolitical entity, but two. The first is a putative state; represented by civilian governments and a civilian de-facto head of state. The competing entity is a dynamic syndicate of military, militant, radical Islamist and political-economic structures. It pursues a set of domestic and foreign policies to ensure its own survival and relative dominance: the military-jihadi complex (MJC). This latter entity is an irreconcilable adversary and must be delegitimised, contained and dismantled.Any Indian action towards Pakistan is met with a response by both these entities. For example, every Indian PM has sought to make a grand gesture that will “solve” the Pakistan problem, only to be stalled by the next terrorist attack orchestrated by the MJC. So, demoting the engagement with Pakistan from the prime ministerial level to the foreign secretary and national security adviser-levels will be a good start. This will allow India to calibrate its response towards Pakistan without having to risk huge political capital. India is better off putting a grand rapprochement on the back burner, while expending available political capital to launch economic reforms and get the country on the train to prosperity.

Equity sans reservations: Imagining alternate ways for affirmative action

Affirmative action aimed at ending discrimination has a long and complex history in India. A new chapter was added to this story on May 10 when the Supreme Court upheld a Karnataka law, saying quotas for promotion of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates in public employment was constitutional and did not require demonstrating ‘backwardness’ of the community.Even groups opposed to quotas want the same benefit extended to them. For long, this has been the only solution to address inequity in India. So these recent developments provide a good opportunity to reflect on the question: can we imagine better ways to achieve social equity goals?Consider this thought experiment. There are no predetermined quotas for any posts. Positions are filled only based on a composite score of all applicants. The composite score is a combination of two measures. The first is an inequity score — calculated to compensate for the relative disadvantage faced by an applicant.The second measure strictly represents an applicant’s ability to be effective for the position they are applying for. Selection is on the basis of the composite score. No seats are reserved and yet the score allows for addressing multidimensional inequity much better than current methods.Read the full article on FirstPost here. 

Can our water, power woes hit data localisation plans?

One of the key challenges the new government will have to face after the Lok Sabha elections, be it a BJP or a Congress-led alliance or a federal front coalition, is data localisation and assuring foreign investors and states about the disruption associated with it.

RBI’s notification, Justice B.N. Srikrishna-led committee’s report, and the draft e-commerce policy have all called for data localisation without explaining how such a step will benefit India.

For a move that could define the future of domestic and international data in India, a cost-benefit analysis would be much appreciated by the industry, academia as well as civil society.

Cost, resources and security are fundamental to localisation. Its impact on ease of doing business and the start-up ecosystem as well as the geopolitical implications of other countries following India’s lead are yet to be understood in full. India needs to work out a comprehensive cost benefit model so that people can get a holistic picture of data localisation.

Going forward, data and where it should be kept are set to be the most important issues in India’s technology policy.

The questions to ask are – why does it matter where data is stored and is data localisation a wise choice?

The article was first published on The Print

Neighbourhood RWAs face greater scrutiny than political parties in democratic India

The manner in which the Supreme Court has handled the allegation of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is unedifying. Given the nature of the case, the Supreme Court ought to have handled the case in an exemplary manner to protect its own credibility — and thus faith in the Indian Republic — in the eyes of the public.

Unfortunately, it has merely taken a procedurally correct approach.

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