Commentary
Find our newspaper columns, blogs, and other commentary pieces in this section. Our research focuses on Advanced Biology, High-Tech Geopolitics, Strategic Studies, Indo-Pacific Studies & Economic Policy
India needs to be more mindful in regulating non-personal data
This article was first published in Deccan Chronicle. Views are personal.In September 2019, the Indian Government formed a committee chaired by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan to look at the regulation for non-personal data. The committee recently came out with a governance framework, comments to which can be submitted by August 13.As far as I can tell, the committee is one of the first efforts in the world to exclusively look at non-personal data, which itself is a vast term. Non-personal data refers to the universe minus personal data. This can include a company’s financials, information on a country’s infrastructure projects, traffic data and so on. Besides, unlike the mandate to regulate personal data, where the goal is to put more power in the hands of the users, the committee is tasked exclusively with unlocking the value of non-personal data.
Building temples of modern India
The Bhakra Dam in Himachal Pradesh, on the River Sutlej, is one of the largest gravity dams in the world. Thereservoir it creates, spread over 168 square kilometres, is the third largest in India. The waters of Bhakra provideirrigation for 10 million acres of agricultural land across Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. It also generates about1500 megawatt hydroelectric power, which is used across six states. When Jawaharlal Nehru poured the firstbucket of concrete during the construction phase of the dam, he said: “This is a gift to the people of India and tothe future generations”. And he insisted that a memorial be constructed for workers who built the dam. The hugeconcrete dam took a total of 15 years to build and Nehru dedicated the dam and irrigation project to the nation inOctober 1963, with these famous word: “This dam has been built with the unrelenting toil of man for the benefitof mankind and therefore is worthy of worship. May you call it a Temple or a Gurdwara or a Mosque, it inspiresour admiration and reverence.”Read More
Why Amazon, Apple, FB and Google are in the dock. It’s not just about economy
There was quite a bit of symbolism when the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google appeared before the anti-trust committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress last week. Here were the heads of the world’s most valuable companies, captains of the tech industry and some of the world’s richest men summoned to defend themselves before elected representatives of the world’s most powerful state.
All four men looked suitably humble and contrite. They even dispensed with their trademark Silicon Valley superhero costumes for the sober formal suit — well, at least on their visible upper bodies. So, here was the State demonstrating its supremacy over private companies, with the richest merchants of the kingdom bowing before the monarch’s court.
Yet, the hearing itself was conducted using a videoconferencing application over broadband internet, demonstrating just how dependent the modern State is on technology companies. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic — and indeed because of it — the four companies have outperformed the rest of the US economy. Together they are currently worth almost $5 trillion. On the day of the anti-trust hearing, they, together with Microsoft, represented over 20 per cent of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock market index. Such a concentration of wealth is extraordinary and has taken place after 42 years. As for ordinary citizens, as a New York Times journalist admitted, it is impossible to live without using the technology and services they provide.Read more
NEP 2020: A Lot to Look Forward to in the Indian Education Sector
What we learned from the US antitrust inquiry
This article was first published in Deccan Chronicle. Views are personal.This week gave us one of the most significant developments in antitrust that we have had in a long time. The CEOs of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook publicly sat down for an antitrust inquiry. As a general principle, I try to stick to developments that can have the most significant impact in India. However, the issue with technology, and with events such as this, is that they can have ripple effects in how these companies operate around the world (including India).Before the hearing began, two major points struck me. Firstly, it seemed a bit unfair that all four CEOs had to be questioned at the same time. Given how different the nature of each company is, it did not seem fair to address them all in six hours. Secondly, I predicted that going by an Apple commissioned report, the hearing might be an exercise in cross-talking.
A national vaccination campaign ought to be run like an election
Sometime over the next 12 months, a vaccine against COVID-19 is likely to be available. The task of administering it to few hundred million people—perhaps even over a billion—so that India acquires herd immunity appears daunting. That is, until you realise that India routinely carries out a task of the same scale and similar complexity fairly regularly. I’m referring to elections. If you think about it, a national vaccination programme is like a general election, but at much lower temperatures. It is a good idea to approach it as one because our elections involve a combination of administrative machinery, mindsets and behaviours that are ideal for a rapid national vaccination programme.Read more
The People’s Liberation Army is strong. But it has four weaknesses
It hasn’t fought since 1979; it has been corrupt; it lacks skilled personnel; and it has financial issuesThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) will be celebrating the 93rd founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on August 1. Consolidated in 1927 during the Nanchang uprising by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), PLA was formed as an armed wing to counter the Kuomintang’s anti-communist purges during the Chinese civil wars. Since then, PLA has become the world’s largest armed force with around 2.03 million active and 510,000 reserve personnel.In its recent history, it had two important turning points. First, the United States (US)’ use of advanced and sophisticated weaponry in the first Gulf War of the 1990s compelled PLA to pursue technological advancement. Two, the Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman, Xi Jinping’s championing of the Chinese dream to make PLA a world-class force by 2049 led to its restructuring and rapid modernisation. However, despite the technological advances and growing military might, PLA has key weaknesses. Here are the four most important challenges for PLA at 93.The article was originally published in the Hindustan Times.
That magic potion called education
Take one swig of this magic potion called education, and you will become invincible, like the Gauls of the Asterix comics. It is the secret to a better quality of life for yourself and family. It is also the foundation for sustained growth of the economy. Future growth will depend not so much on expanding the area of cultivation of crops, or building bigger factories and buildings, or faster cars or microchips. It will depend on building a large stock of “human capital”.That human capital is nothing but a culmination of education. That capital creates future innovations, productive ideas, creative products and processes, which in turn contribute to economic growth.So our biggest investment priority for the future should be education. How to plan for the future? A Confucian proverb answers it best. It says: If you want to plan for a year, plant some rice. If want to plan for the next ten years, plant a tree. If you want to plan for a hundred years, then educate your children.The New Education Policy (NEP) announced this week is not too soon. And it is also not the first one. The first one was passed by Parliament in 1968 based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission. The second one was passed in 1986, which was revised in 1992. The present one is the third one. In essence it is a paradigm, a framework, which lays downs certain key focus areas and priorities. It is to be implemented jointly with the states in the next 20 years.Read More
Are we seeing the beginnings of an ‘Indian internet’?
Almost a month ago, the Ministry of Information Technology took the unprecedented step of banning 59 apps/services on the purported grounds that these services were prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. At the time it was unclear what a ban entailed and how it would be implemented and/or enforced.
However, the subsequent weeks between companies voluntarily suspending their services, Apple and Google de-listing them from their respective app stores and telecom service providers being ordered to block these apps, the ban has been 'technically' enforced from the perspective of an average user that may not want to navigate the world of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and TOR. So, for now, it appears that we have the answer to the second question.
Reports now suggest that 47 more apps could be facing a ban with another 275 being monitored closely.
Forests, trees and branches of the internet
In the context of the stand-off between India and China, these moves have and will be portrayed as a strong response to China. As Alex Stamos (former CSO at Facebook) of Stanford's Internet Observatory illustrates there are several overlapping considerations - many of these are applicable to India too.
Thus, as far as the future of the internet in India (and even the world) goes, these developments cannot be viewed in isolation. And must be looked at in combination with recent events in India, its stated position on cyber sovereignty as well as global trends.
iPhone 11 is now ‘Made in India’, but Modi govt must see it doesn’t get too taxing for Apple
If you purchased an iPhone 11 recently, chances are that you have in your hands a smartphone assembled in India. After over a year of speculation on whether or not Apple will assemble its top-of-the-line product from a factory in India, news emerged last week that the iPhone 11 has indeed been “Made in India” at its contract manufacturer Foxconn’s plant near Chennai. This is good news that the Narendra Modi government can well claim as a success. But it’s important to understand why it is good news and what kind of success it is, to ensure that new government policies do not undermine this achievement. Read more
What is driving China’s aggression?
There has been growing debate in recent times in India and other countries about China’s aggression. What’s driving Beijing to engage in contests on multiple fronts, be it Hong Kong, the near seas, or India, particularly amid a pandemic and economic weakness? Is it opportunism? Is it hubris? Is internal turmoil and insecurity leading to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lashing out? Or are there structural factors that one must consider?Read the full article in The Hindustan Times.
Apple’s Anti-trust Hearing May Be an Exercise in Cross Talking
This article was first published in Deccan Chronicle. Views are personal.In an event that is set to send sparks flying throughout the global tech ecosystem, the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have agreed to testify to the American Congress for an anti-trust inquiry. Even before the inquiry, there has been cynicism around whether it is a good idea at all to have Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg answering questions so close to each other. Because all of these companies have very different business models, the limited time is likely not going to be enough to achieve a lot.Each of the four companies has been labelled as potentially ‘too big’ and arguments have been made in favour of breaking them up. But it is only Apple that comes to the event with a very recent chip on its shoulder. The App Store was involved in a very public fight with Basecamp around whether an app by the developer should be allowed on to the platform without paying the 30% cut that Apple charges.
The environment and economy can be friends
Are economic development and environment preservation antithetical to one another? The clear answer is no. It is possible to have clean air and water, less pollution and still be a prosperous country. Indeed the evidence is compellingly on the other side. The hallmark of a developed country is when you can drink water from the tap without worrying about filter or aqua guards. The municipal water supply is potable. Even the air quality in most advanced economies is much better than some of the poorer economies. Germany boasts of producing more energy from wind and solar than by burning coal. The United Kingdom will abolish all coal-fired electricity in the coming decades. One of the oldest articulation of the compatibility of development and environment was the speech given by Indira Gandhi at the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. She said: “We have to prove to the disinherited majority of the world that ecology and conservation will not work against their interest but will bring an improvement in their lives.” She meant that the fight against poverty was consistent with sustainable and ecologically responsible development.Read More
Avoid that sink(ing) feeling before you do the dishes. Dishwasher is the new washing machine
After booming sales over the past couple of months, dishwashers are in short supply in many Indian cities. The waiting period for some of the reputed brands is as long as two months. Dishwasher detergents have disappeared from supermarket shelves and online retailers. The Covid-19 pandemic has given the dishwasher its moment in India. If it leads to a greater adoption of dishwashers in Indian households, it will be a good thing for Indian society.
It’s easy enough to understand why the demand for dishwashers has surged. The lockdown and social distancing considerations have increased the number of meals cooked and eaten at home. At the same time, access to domestic workers is limited. The additional load of cooking and eating at home has literally piled up the dirty dishes in and around the kitchen sink. Many people have come to realise that dirty dishes don’t get cleaned merely because they have been left near the sink — someone needs to do them. If the falling apple triggered Isaac Newton to theorise about gravity, it could be unwashed dishes that led him to his first law of motion, or Émilie du Châtelet to the law of conservation of energy.
India should deploy naval power to acquire leverage over China
The Personal Data Protection Bill in the context of the Twitter hack
This article was first published in Deccan Chronicle. Views are personal.In case you have not been following the news, earlier this week, Twitter was the subject of a very public data breach. A lot of very high profile accounts were hacked, including Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Apple. There is, of course, wider context to it. The hack itself is a symptom of malicious user behaviour on Twitter and historically lax responses to it. In case you want to know more about this, Casey Newton’s newsletter ‘The Interface’ is a great place to start.The short of the matter is that hacks are relatively common on the platform, as is spying. Twitter has a chequered history with cybersecurity. There have been several bitcoin-related scams as well as spying missions that were carried out on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I wish I could say that Twitter is the only company that undergoes these trials, but sadly that is not the truth. Cybersecurity incidents are fairly common and do not make the news as often as they should.
India’s struggle to impose a ‘Google Tax’
India introduced a tax on e-commerce companies in the February Union Budget. What’s unusual about it? Don’t all companies have to pay a tax on their profits? Yes, but this is about e-commerce companies, which do not have a permanent establishment in India. For tax purposes, they are non-residents and hence not subject to income tax. Obviously we are not talking about Flipkart, Big Basket, Swiggy or Zomato, which are all desi companies with a presence in India – although it is possible that they ‘moved’ their head office out of the country after getting acquired by global giants. We are talking about companies like Google, Amazon and Netflix. All of them happen to be American companies. Hence the new tax, which is actually called a ‘levy’, is often referred to as the ‘Google Tax’. It is 2 per cent of revenues, if your aggregate revenue from India is more than Rs 2 crore.A company like Google makes money from advertisements, which show up on the right-hand side of your search. Or when you watch YouTube. Or sometimes even in Gmail. For users all these services, and many more such as Google Maps, are free. But the company makes money from those tiny ads that keep popping up now and then. Their customer is the advertiser, not you, the user of those services. In fact, a company like Google is selling you, or rather your ‘eyeballs’, to the advertiser. Since the ads can be small and truly micro-targeted, i.e. they show up only based on what you are searching, the ad rates are small.Read More
Understanding Implications of Hong Kong’s Tech Ecosystem Changes for India
This article was first published in Deccan Herald. Views are personal.While the pandemic rages on, the Chinese leadership in Beijing has tightened its control over Hong Kong. Earlier in 2019, the region saw fierce protests take place regarding an extradition bill. Now, Chinese lawmakers have voted to adopt the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.The law came into force by being added to Annex III of the Basic Law (de facto Constitution of Hong Kong) and hence was not debated in Hong Kong’s legislature. There had been plenty of speculation about the dynamics of the move and how that reflects on China itself. But since the law has been put into place, it has met with sharp responses, especially within the tech community.
Radio, Buddies & More: Alternatives For Students Without Internet
With the COVID-19 pandemic’s requirement for social distancing, it will be difficult to physically reopen schools. When schools in Israel reopened, clusters of COVID-19 cases were reported from them and all schools had to be closed again. Thus, keeping schools closed is a wise option. The current situation has certainly increased the demand for virtual learning and in the same direction, the Government of Maharashtra has announced the beginning of the new academic year for state board schools with online classes. While that seems like a logical decision, especially in Maharashtra which accounts for 30% of COVID-19 cases in India, it does not account for the digital disparity. Not all students have access to smartphones/internet and therefore, it is imperative to find alternatives to online learning so that all students are able to access education.Read more
Capacity is not what’s hindering India’s testing rate, government price caps are
India cannot control the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic unless the governmental authorities stay in mission mode and get better at the ‘test, trace and isolate’ strategy, as I wrote in my column a couple of weeks ago. The first and most important part of the epidemic control strategy is testing, for only when you test lots of people and get the results quickly will you be able to trace their contacts and isolate them all.
Covid-19 cases across India are rising because the country is just not testing enough people, and test reports are taking too long to come out. And the main reason why India is falling far short of its capacity to test is that governments have failed to engage private laboratories and healthcare facilities in a reasonable manner. How else can you explain the fact that while there are abundant numbers of test kits available in the country, India ranks among the lowest in terms of tests per capita? Philippines, Malaysia, Rwanda and Cuba test more people per day relative to population than India does.