It’s time to fix our Internet shutdown laws

This year alone there have been more than 100 Internet shutdowns. Surely, nobody can seriously contend that there have been over 100 instances of “public emergencies” in the last 9 months

Internet shutdowns are carried out when the State cuts off access to the Internet, more commonly mobile Internet. Due to their indiscriminate use, the social impact, deprivation of individual rights and the huge financial losses this is a growing issue of public concern. Hence, it becomes important to look at whether the legal rules which govern this power fulfil their public policy objectives and whether they have adequate safeguards. In August last year, the government made the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017 which are the basis of passing orders to shut down the Internet.

The Rules give state governments and the central government the power to suspend telecom services such as mobile Internet during public emergencies. In practice, however, governments have regularly used the tool for routine policing and even administrative purposes. Examples range from preventing cheating in exams to defusing local crime – both of which do not rise to the level of large scale public concerns and certainly do not amount to a “public emergency”, which is a requirement under the Rules.

The numbers lay bare the governmental abuse of power to enforce shutdowns. This year alone there have been more than 100 Internet shutdowns. Surely, nobody can seriously contend that there have been over 100 instances of “public emergencies” – however defined – in the last nine months. As for effects to the national economy, one estimate pegs the opportunity costs of Internet shutdowns between 2012 and 2017 at a staggering $3.04 billion. Another estimate of losses to telecom operators from shutdowns stands at $18,000 per hour. However, numbers only speak half the story. The Internet has silently in many ways become the bedrock of our daily lives. Communications and commerce – together making up the nuts and bolts of social, economic, and political life – are now conducted over WhatsApp groups, online shopping applications, and (sometimes) healthy Facebook debates. By frequently suspending access to the Internet, governments have intruded on a number of fundamental rights with grave ramifications.

Those intrusions may possibly be justified if accompanied by necessary checks and balances codified in law and practice. The Rules, which forms the legal basis for suspending the Internet, suffer from several design flaws that require immediate repair if they are expected to perform those checks and balances. I argued in a recent research paper that the Rules have problems in three core areas which require urgent reform.

First, and foremost, the Rules lack a sunset clause that places a time limit on a shutdown order and automatically terminates the order on its expiry. The absence of a sunset clause gives the government a carte blanche to authorise, enforce, and perpetuate shutdowns even in times of peace when it should be reserved only for egregious instances of public unrest, if ever.

Second, the sole safeguard contemplated in the Rules collapses on examination. The Rules have created a committee to review any shutdown order and examine its legality. However, due to sloppy drafting, the Rules do not authorise the review committee to do anything should it find the order illegal. This is counter-intuitive and renders the review committee with the academic task of evaluating the legality of a shutdown order without the further power to strike it down. Third, the Rules require the review committee to evaluate the legality of a shutdown order within 5 working days. On inspection of available data, any notion that 5 working days is a reasonable period of time to sit and review an order is incongruous. Data suggests that in recent years, states are suspending the Internet more frequently, but at the same time for lesser durations. As current data indicates, over 84% of shutdowns complete their life-cycle – of the Internet being suspended, fundamental rights being affected, and the Internet being restored – before 5 days.

Finally, what is most perplexing is also what is most patently unreasonable. The entire enterprise of shutdowns is mired in official secrecy and authoritarianism. From the secretive manner in which the Rules were drafted, to the opaque manner in which they are carried out, in many cases without so much as a notification to those affected by it, to failing to maintain an official record of the number and duration of shutdowns imposed, governments in India have approached the whole shutdowns process in a manner that is unparalleled in other domains. The unique position that the Internet commands in modern society aggravates this situation further.

On July 31, 2018, Husain Dalwai, a Member of Parliament, introduced a statutory motion in the Rajya Sabha seeking annulment of these Rules. However, the statutory motion was never taken up for business. By failing to do so, Parliament missed a golden opportunity to remedy them, which currently fails the tests of valid law or sound public policy.

Nakul Nayak is a legal fellow at the Internet Freedom Foundation and is currently pursuing his LLM from the University of Pennsylvania Law School

Source: Hindustan Times, 25/09/2018

Breach the wall of silence: Give State recognition to Indian Sign Language

The country’s population of deaf and speech disabled remains invisible at institutions of higher learning since most of them even fail to even complete school

Between 2007 and 2012, while studying at Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College and the Delhi School of Economics, Nipun Malhotra, chief executive of Nipman Foundation, doesn’t remember coming across any deaf students. Looking back, the 31-year-old disability rights activist says the country’s population of deaf and speech disabled remains invisible at institutions of higher learning since most of them even fail to even complete school.

The only time people like us get to view someone using sign language is during news bulletins on Doordarshan or when we watch the Independence Day or Republic Day on the national broadcaster with a sign language interpreter commentating about the event. A World Health Organization report says around 63 million people in India suffer from either complete or partial deafness, and of these, at least 50 lakh are children. One barrier standing before the country’s deaf population is the threadbare infrastructure of educational facilities such as specialised schools. The country only has about 700 schools which teach sign language. Another big impediment is the State’s reluctance to provide the official language status to Indian Sign Language (ISL), a collection of visual cues, hand gestures and devices which are used as a communicative mechanism by people with hearing or speech impairments to interact with each other. In this regard, we lag behind nations such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sri Lanka, USA and Zimbabwe, among others. Closer home, Nepal has made a special provision in Article 31(4) of its Constitution to specifically recognise sign language as a means through which education could be provided to hearing or speech impaired persons.

Last week, the Delhi High Court issued a notice listing a PIL filed by Nipun Malhotra seeking official recognition of ISL. Finally, the government, too, appears to be waking up to this. On September 23, minister of state for social justice and empowerment Krishan Pal Singh Gurjar said he would write to home minister Rajnath Singh to request that ISL be made an official language. The minister’s initiative is welcome. This will bring India’s hearing-impaired community a step closer to having their only method of interaction recognised by the government. Once it is listed as an official language, the Union government can promote and develop sign language in an official capacity. It can then be used to conduct UPSC examinations, among others, and qualify for printing on currency notes.

In a country as linguistically and culturally diverse as India, the gestures used in sign language vary with every region. So, the Sign Language Research and Training Centre backed by the government is working towards codifying it. Last year, a project commissioned by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment put together an online dictionary with than 7,000 signs that deal with words used in academic, medical, legal, technical and routine conversations by deaf people. The dictionary included videos and subtitles to facilitate easier comprehension and was accompanied with photo illustrations and information about the usage of the corresponding English and Hindi word.

There are only about 250 certified sign language interpreters in India. Non-recognition of a standard language hinders schooling and a shortage of educators and can also lead to mental health issues when deaf children find it tough to communicate with their parents. Recognition of sign language could be the first step towards helping people with hearing loss fight social stigma, lack of jobs and a formal education. It’s high time we helped break this wall of silence.

aasheesh.sharma@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times, 25/09/2018

So Much to Thank For

Apart from knowledge and skill, what we require most for cultivating a decent quality of life is proper attitude. An attitude of gratitude is undoubtedly of prime importance, as the same can execute miraculous transformation in the quality of our own life and living. Gratitude is spontaneous thankfulness to someone who has benefited us in any manner. It springs from the heart. Though we are aware that we have a great many things to be thankful for, why is it that most of us remain ungrateful most of the time? We are basically egoistic. Hence, we find an easy escape route with fault-finding. Once Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, educationist and benefactor of the poor, was told that someone abused him. He was surprised and said, “I do not remember to have benefited him in any way. Why should he speak ill of me? Only those whom I help, speak ill of me.” He never expected gratitude from anybody and profusely helped the needy or anybody approaching him for help without expectation of any kind. When Jesus cured 10 lepers, nine of them instantly left the place to rejoice without thanking him. Only one of them waited to thank him. Jesus asked him, “Why are you waiting?” He replied, “To thank you for divine healing.” With utmost humility, Jesus said, “Don’t thank me. Thank God, since His healing power has worked through me.” Let us take vow to be grateful to all givers by discarding our false ego and ridiculous sense of superiority complex and, thereby, build up better human bonds on universal ethics and value system of the humanity at large

Source: Economic Times, 26/09/2018

Survey: India ranks 158th among 195 countries in health care investment

A study by Seattle-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation published in The Lancet says that India’s ranking of 158th in 2016 represents an improvement from its 1990 ranking of 162nd.

India ranks 158th in the world for its investments in education and healthcare, a survey of 195 countries has revealed. It ranks below countries like Sudan, Azerbaijan, China and Bosnia Herzegovina. According to the survey, Finland tops the list of 195 countries in the two key sectors.

A study by Seattle-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation published in The Lancet says that India’s ranking of 158th in 2016 represents an improvement from its 1990 ranking of 162nd. It comes from having seven years of expected human capital, measured as the number of years a person can be expected to work in the years of peak productivity, taking into account life expectancy, functional health, years of schooling and learning, the survey said.

“Our findings show the association between investments in education and health and improved human capital and GDP, which policymakers ignore… As the world economy grows dependent on digital technology, from agriculture to manufacturing to the service industry, human capital becomes important in stimulating local and national economies,” said Dr Christopher Murray, director of IHME.

Source: Indian Express, 25/09/2018

Manufacturing nationalism

The decision to commemorate the ‘surgical strike’ of 2016 goes against the grain of Indian tradition

Observing the politics of his day many years ago a wit in Britain is said to have remarked “Patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel!” The wag in India would be forgiven if in a reference to political practice here he were to replace ‘patriotism’ in the bon mot with either ‘nationalism’ or ‘secularism’. Right now, however, it is the observation on the uses to which the former is often put that is all too relevant for this country.

Commemorating an action

Even as we have grown accustomed to election time being turned into silly season by rival political parties scrambling for attention, nothing could have prepared us for the latest missive from the University Grants Commission (UGC), a body originally conceived to nurture our institutions of higher education. It is reported that the UGC has issued notice to the universities that they should prepare to commemorate the ‘surgical strike’ on India’s north-western border which we are informed had taken place on September 29, 2016. This is disappointing to say the least, for we build public universities so that they hold up a mirror to ourselves, not so that they serve the interest of the government we elect. Public universities in a democracy are to be allowed independence from the government of the day and, equally important, its individual members must be assured freedom from the dictates of the majority within them. This is not a utopian proposal as much as something essential for the advancement of knowledge, to which our progress is tied.

As in the age-old dictum, “all is fair in love and war”, everything appears acceptable to this government as it prepares for the election of 2019 looming ahead. It has gambled on the value in its game plan of keeping alive the memory of India’s response to a cross-border intrusion in the recent past.

Two questions arise when we reflect upon the action that is to be commemorated. First, how significant was it? Second, is it a wise thing to do to bring details of a military action into the limelight? In the history of India’s defence engagements on the western front since 1947, the action in question is hardly the biggest or brightest.

War years and response

Surely, India’s response to the infiltrators from Pakistan who had invaded Kashmir in 1948 was more impressive. While, of course, the wars of 1965 and 1971 were far bigger, in 1948 India not only was struggling to find its feet after the trauma of Partition but also was a fledgling country beset with economic hardship. That in the midst of all this the Indian armed forces air-lifted to Srinagar were able to achieve what they did is remarkable, especially given the terrain. Only the political leadership of the time is accountable for why the action did not fully secure India’s borders by removing the invaders from the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir, an outcome believed to have been considered attainable by the then Brigadier, K.S. Thimayya, who had participated in the action and had asked for some more time to achieve the end.

In an inexplicable move, Nehru had vetoed this proposal and taken the matter to the United Nations. The Mountbattens, who were allowed to influence events in India for far longer than they deserved to, are believed to have had a role in this. But whatever is the truth, nothing that could have been achieved at the border in 2016 can match the action of 1948. Surely the people of India can see this, arousing scepticism over the motive for the commemoration of a mere ‘surgical strike’. None of India’s Prime Ministers had gloated over victory in war. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s humility helped him steer clear of this in 1965, and Indira Gandhi, not given to undue modesty, did not make capital out of the India-Pakistan war of 1971, which had left the adversary not just bloodied but halved. It was left to others to liken her to Durga. In their dignified silence, India’s former Prime Ministers had followed the practice of great leaders who refuse to glory in aggression. The countries of Europe remember the sacrifices of their soldiers in the two World Wars but they do so with restraint. Can it be said that they love their country less for merely wearing a flower for a day, not requiring their great universities to celebrate victory in war?

Having the edge

A second reason for avoiding public remembrance of the ‘surgical strike’ of 2016 would be that it undermines any advantage that may be possessed by India. While it may at times be necessary to pursue infiltrators to their lair, it can be strategically unwise to keep advertising your past actions. Here Oscar Wilde’s advice to the young that “one must always be a little improbable” is a good principle to follow even in matters of defence. The enemy should be left constantly guessing how you will react, so that you would be able to exact even greater damage when he attempts to hurt you the next time round. Politicians reveal their amateurishness in matters military when they boast in public of the deeds of our soldiers.

In general, it is unfortunate that India’s politicians are unable to make common cause when it comes to national security. Something of this kind is much needed in a matter that is being aired in our television debates right now. In a relatively rare moment of sanity emanating from them, an anchor suggested that henceforth defence acquisitions be made through bipartisan committees so that there is transparency. This would avoid the mud-slinging that we are left to witness over the Rafale deal and ensure that the national interest is upheld.

Above all, dragging our armed forces into a jingoistic nationalism to serve some narrow political end stems from an ignorance of India’s eternal tradition. Ashoka Maurya renounced violence after his victory at Kalinga and spent the rest of his life spreading the idea of non-violence. The Chandela kings, after victory in war, built exquisite temples at Khajuraho, leaving them for the use of their people. For a soldier to aspire to reward, whether of wealth or fame, was considered a fate far worse than death. This after all is the message of the Bhagavad Gita. Apparently some of India’s politicians are unaware of their inheritance.

A national spirit

Nations are imagined communities. They first arise in the minds of the people. The state can only tap into this national spirit; it cannot create it. Ashokan edicts in the four corners of the country, erected at a time when transporting people and communicating ideas was a Herculean task, testify to the fact that at least some Indians had imagined a community long ago. This imagination had revolved around ethical conduct and transcended cultural, linguistic and religious differences. Over two millennia later it was to erupt in the form of a national movement when Gandhi’s call to unite against a colonial power was instinctively heeded by millions of ordinary Indians. By the 21st century, Indians imagine themselves as a community, it may be said, of diverse nationalities. They must view with amusement the ersatz nationalism being manufactured over a routine action somewhere along India’s north-western border.

Pulapre Balakrishnan is Professor at Ashoka University, Sonepat

Source: The Hindu, 25/09/2018

Shalini Bharat appointed new Director of TISS

Mumbai: Professor Shalini Bharat has been appointed as the new Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), the institute announced on Monday. She had been the acting Director ever since the resignation of former director S. Parasuraman in February.

S. Ramadorai, chairman of the governing board, TISS, said, “I am happy to welcome Prof. Bharat as Director. As TISS gears up to cement its position as an institution of excellence in higher education, I am sure that Prof. Bharat, who brings with her a wealth of experience and vision, will take the initiative and ensure that TISS meets the challenges with passion and commitment.”

Prof. Bharat has been with TISS since 1984, when she joined as a lecturer. She was the first dean of the School of Health Systems Studies and was subsequently the deputy director (academic), when she was given the additional charge as the acting Director.

She is also a member on the governing body of the Public Health Foundation of India and was the National Coordinator of Global Fund Project – Saksham. She has been associated with the National Rural Health Mission and has been on the governing board of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Source: The Hindu, 25/09/2018

Rethinking disaster management

The new climate reality is raising the bar on disaster resilience

It is time to stop thinking of the extreme weather events hitting us with increasing frequency as bolts from the blue. Kerala bravely endured the monsoon storms, but it would be a mistake to think that disasters of this magnitude are “once in a hundred year” events.

Weather disasters are being affected by climate change that is caused by humans. The devastation is worsened by the collective failure of governments and businesses to invest in building resilience despite the evidence on runaway climate change. The lesson from the Kerala floods, Hurricane Harvey (Houston, U.S., 2017) and Typhoon Haiyan (the Philippines, 2013) is that responses to disasters must be proactive, not just reactive.

First, reconstruction efforts must involve rebuilding in a better way. Climate proofing in Kerala calls for structures to be built with wind- and water-resistant materials. The higher cost will be more than offset by avoided repairs. Second, people need to relocate out of harm’s way. After Haiyan’s storm surges, distances from coastlines that were considered safe for settling were extended. During the 2015 floods, Chennai illustrated the price of unrestricted urban development. Third, early warning is vital. Because of investments in these systems, Cyclone Phailin (2013) claimed less than 40 lives in Odisha, whereas a superclyclone in 1999 in the State had killed 10,000 people. In Kerala, there was no timely forecast from national weather services. The State needs a reliable flood forecasting capability. Fourth, there needs to be tougher implementation of logging and mining regulations in fragile ecologies. Deforestation worsened the effects of Kerala’s floods and mudslides, as the report of the Western Ghats ecology expert panel 2011 had warned. Lastly, there is the climate conundrum: Wayanad, which just saw record rainfall, is expecting a severe drought. Kerala by itself has a small carbon footprint, but it can have a voice in helping one of the world’s largest carbon emitters reduce its carbon footprint.

The economic damage from global warming has global ramifications. The 2011 floods in Thailand’s economic heartland disrupted not just national, but global manufacturing value chains. The Kerala floods are estimated to have shaved off about 2.2% of the State’s GDP. Bolstering resilience must be central to recovery. Multilateral agencies including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank may be well-positioned to provide financing, which is vital when budgets are stretched, and, crucially, knowledge solutions to tackle climate disasters. Kerala gets high marks for its participatory approach to relief and rehabilitation. Invaluable as this is, the new climate reality is raising the bar on disaster resilience.

The writer is a former Senior Vice President, World Bank, and author of “Climate Change and Natural Disasters”

Source: The Hindu, 25/09/2018