Take a fresh look:A data protection law must be people oriented

 There is a curious irony to the Government of India withdrawing the personal data protection bill in Parliament and stating instead that a “comprehensive legal framework” would be legislated shortly. When the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee was given the task of recommending a data protection law for India for the first time in 2017, the chairman and members of the Committee (I was a member) requested for a reasonable period of time for precisely the same reason — to recommend a framework that would take a holistic look at India’s digital economy, prevent regulatory overreach and protect privacy of citizens. That request was not heeded, not because time was of the essence but because in the governmental system, all deadlines are unthinkingly immediate, irrespective of the nature of the task.

As a result, the Committee, within the limited time offered to it, came up with a data protection legislation that promised a uniquely Indian approach to privacy and data protection — distinct from American way that protected individuals against the State but not as much against Big Tech, Chinese approaches which made individuals subservient to the State, as well as heavily regulatory European approaches like the General Data Protection Regulation, a goldmine for lawyers. Despite our best efforts, our recommended statute looked a bit like GDPR-lite, albeit with some uniquely Indian characteristics.

Over time, this version became heavy-handed, scarcely resembling the initial version that had been presented. The chief culprit of this was the Joint Parliamentary Committee that took two years to give its recommendations and presented a report that would imperil privacy, choke the digital economy and allow surveillance agencies wider latitude than they needed to do their job effectively. The demand that this matter go to the JPC was made by several groups which, perhaps a little too optimistically, felt that a bipartisan committee might better protect privacy than the government might. The JPC’s report, which includes in the long title of the bill the need for data protection “to ensure the interest and security of the state”, is a timely reminder to well-meaning activists and civil society groups that they must be careful what they wish for.

Handed such a befuddling report, confused in its concepts, vague in its recommendations, while at the same time voluminous in its opinions, the government appears justified in going back to the drawing board. Doing so gives it the opportunity of doing what might have been done five years back — consider the big picture of the digital universe in India. If that is indeed done, three distinct areas emerge for governmental action as part of a “comprehensive legal framework”.

First, there is an urgent need to protect children from online harm. It is unpardonable that with the withdrawal of the personal data protection bill, what technological companies can do with data of Indian children remains essentially unregulated. Children not only receive advertisements, but their behaviour can be tracked across websites and a detailed behavioural profile can be created. Further, plenty of inappropriate content is available on the internet for children without any warnings or restrictions. There is an urgent need to protect the personal data of Indian children from being mined for commercial gain.

Second, technology can play a critical role in promoting ease of living for citizens. While the government’s Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile record has been impressive, much more can be done to tap the potential of technology to improve lives. For example, despite JAM, property registration requires physical presence at the sub-registrar’s office together with the blackening of each of your fingers. The familiar rigmarole of providing physical photocopies of Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID card plays out at otherwise well-functioning passport offices, even when requesting something as simple as change of address. To stop this, there needs to be a legislative mandate to use paperless, presence-less mechanisms whenever they are available. The promise of technology is understood by all, but behavioural change needs a strong legislative push.

Such a push is also needed because large amounts of non-personal data today lie untapped in silos within the government and the private sector. Imagine the utility of traffic data in the city of Bangalore to prioritise where the metro needs to be extended to in order to decongest the city. Or the evidence of particular kinds of disease in the population to decide which kind of medical specialist to send to a particular primary healthcare centre. The benefits of responsible processing of non-personal data are immense in facilitating ease of living. But this won’t happen unless there is a clear vision and legislative mandate to implement it.

Finally, with time, deliberation and consultation, India can also get the ‘fourth way’ privacy statute that the Srikrishna committee had aspired for. Much of its constituent elements are present — but in order to serve as a model for the Global South, a new data protection legislation needs to think in Gandhian terms of the last person in the queue — the face of the poorest citizens of the Global South — and how a data protection statute can help them access and navigate the intimidating world of the internet in an effective and safe manner.  If that isn’t incentive enough, then perhaps consider this — globally, maximum data will flow to those countries whose legislative regimes are either considered ‘adequate’ by the European Union or countries that have specific bilateral data-sharing arrangements. Such arrangements will not happen without a dedicated data protection legislation.

The time for specious arguments of not regulating data protection to incentivise startups, comfort Big Tech and the BPO industry is over. If India is to become a data leader of the Global South, it needs a package of laws that deal with data protection, children’s data and technology-enabled ease of living for Indian citizens. By withdrawing the personal data protection bill, the government has taken a good preliminary step. It must now follow up right.

Arghya Sengupta is Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Polic

Source: The Telegraph, 17/08/22

Quote of the Day

 

“If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.”
Woody Allen

“यदि आप बार बार नहीं गिर रहे हैं तो इसका अर्थ है कि आप कुछ नया नहीं कर रहे हैं।”
वुडी एलन

Current Affairs-August 11, 2022

 INDIA

– Bihar: JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar takes oath as CM, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav appointed Deputy CM

– Justice Uday Umesh Lalit appointed 49th CJI, to take oath on Aug 27; will have a term till November 8

– Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launches indigenous Lumpi-ProVac vaccine to protect livestock from Lumpy Skin disease

– Fisheries & Animal Husbandry Minister Parshottam Rupala launches ‘Fish and Seafood’ book; aim is to boost the domestic consumption of fish and seafood

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– RBI releases regulatory framework for digital lending; lending business can be carried out only by entities regulated by the central bank

– Centre releases 2 instalments of tax devolution to state govts amounting to Rs 1.16 lakh crore

– World Biofuel Day celebrated on August 10; PM inaugurates second generation (2G) ethanol plant in Panipat, Haryana

– Centre decides to remove fare cap on air tickets from August 31

– LIC consolidates its leadership position with 68.57% market share

WORLD

– China says exercises near Taiwan, conducted post Nancy Pelosi visit, have ended

– WHO decries increasing attacks on monkeys over fears of spread of monkeypox in Brazil

– World Lion Day celebrated on August 10

SPORTS

– India’s CA Bhavani Devi wins gold in Commonwealth Fencing Championship 2022 in London

– Serena Williams announces retirement from professional tennis; won 23 grand slam titles starting from US Open in 1999

Current Affairs-August 12, 2022

 INDIA

– J&K: 3 soldiers martyred & 2 terrorist gunned down in terror attack on army camp in Rajouri

– Gaganyaan project: ISRO successfully carries out test-firing of Low Altitude Escape Motor (LEM) of Crew Escape System, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh

ECONOMY & CORPORATE

– Union Cabinet approves continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) – Housing for All Mission up to 31st December 2024

– Income tax payers barred from enrolling in Atal Pension Yojana (APY) from October 1

– Subscribers of APY get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month after attaining 60 years of age depending on their contributions

WORLD

– China and Nepal agree on building Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network

– China shields Pakistan based global terrorist – Abdul Rauf Azhar from UN sanctions

– Indian-American journalist, Fox News host Uma Pemmaraju dies at 64

– Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador proposes 3 men commission for world peace including PM Modi, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Pope Francis

A fond birthday wish for a land that was once home

 ndia has some of the wealthiest people in the world and many beauty queens. Indian food, movies, sitar music and yoga practices are well accepted all over the world.

When I was a kid in elementary school, all students had to sing a song written by Atulprasad Sen on Independence day and other patriotic occasions: “Bolo bolo bolo sabe, shata beena benu robe, bharat abar jagat shabhay shreshtha asan lobe” (Let us all say with the music of hundreds of veena and flute that India will once again take the best seat on the stage of the world). It was an uplifting song for sure, but no one really believed it. As soon as we stepped outside school we were hit by pollution in the air, sights of extreme poverty, huge numbers of people crowding mass transits, smell from trash and open drains, old rundown buildings, inadequate protection from severe weather and lack of sanitary facilities. The list went on. Our country did not look like being on its way to the best seat. My pessimism for my country was so intense that I emigrated to a prosperous country, the USA, after my graduation from college and for many years I was certain that I made the right decision.

Things started to change in recent decades for the better. Two most significant positive events have been the opening of the Indian market to international trade (the socalled “Economic Liberalisation”) and the global dominance of Indian engineers in Information technology. Both these developments resulted in significant improvements in living standards of the middle class and reduction of poverty. Modernisation of infrastructure followed. High rise buildings with residential “flats”, air-conditioned shopping malls, flyovers at major intersections, new international airports, and fast bypass highways through the outskirts of big cities were built, not to mention metro trainlines. The skyline of my hometown, Kolkata, started to look more like that of Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. I went back to visit India several times while my parents were alive, but the umbilical cord was cut after they passed away.

There was a thirtyyear gap between the time I attended the last rituals following my father’s death and a more recent trip. I returned with great anticipation to see all the improvements I had been hearing about for years; perhaps we were getting closer to that seat on the world stage, I thought. Yes, I was impressed to see the new Kolkata; things that I could not have even imagined while I lived there. I got glimpses of good life in Kolkata by visiting the “Vedic Village” complex, the South City Mall, the Calcutta Club, and some luxury modern flats belonging to friends. However, as I stayed longer, I realized that despite all these improvements, the attitudes and mindset of people had not changed much, especially as far as tolerance towards imperfection is concerned. Among all the signs of prosperity, three imperfections stood out. First was pollution/dirt.

As soon as I walked out of the airport terminal building upon my arrival in Kolkata that familiar smell from thirty years ago greeted me; a mixture of exhaust fumes from cars and buses, dust, and smoke from open flames. If I were taken blindfolded to all the cities in the world, I would be able to tell when I am in Kolkata just by that smell. When daylight broke the next morning, I could barely see distant buildings through a suffocating layer of smog. It did not bother anyone, but I felt that I would not be able to breathe for too long. Adding to pollution in the air was trash on the ground. Trash was everywhere in small piles, big piles, and scattered on the pavements; papers, left-over food, thrown away rags, miscellaneous small objects, plastic sheets, debris from unfinished construction projects and so on. Some had a strong stench. Then there was dust. Dust was on the streets, on the pavements, in the air. Dust enters homes through open windows and coats everything.

Rain during monsoon seasons does not wash away the dust from the roads into the river because of lack of proper drainage. The second imperfection was blatant corruption. I was told that it was an accepted part of living. Nothing gets done unless officials are bribed. We had corruption when I was living in India, but it has become more open and widespread. Typically, a financial transaction is involved, but it could be non-financial favour as well or some form of nepotism. If you need a good job, a house in a decent area, admission into a good school or treatment at a good hospital, you must know someone with influence there. “Corruption is everywhere” was the comment from one of my friends. The current WBSSC recruitment scandal is the latest example of such mega corruption. My third observation was that although lives of poor and lowerincome families had improved through a “trickle-down” economic principle, the improvements were not in the same proportion as those of rich and middle-class people.

The percentage of poor people compared to the total population seemed to have increased. Part of it is related to corruption; poor people cannot even pay bribes nor have the right connections to advance in life. I asked my cousin’s driver one day. “Did you finish high school? What motivated you to become a driver?”. He said with an embarrassed smile, “I went up to the ninth grade. I wanted to join the military which needed drivers. I learned how to drive, completed all the requirements and the training, but then I was asked to pay Rs. 40,000 in bribe before I could enroll. I did not have that kind of money. At least, I can now earn some money by driving for private people.” He was making about $12 per day even if he worked all day. He was married and his wife was expecting a baby. This was the snapshot of “have-nots” in Kolkata. India became a free country in 1947 and we are about to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Independence Day. My sincere birthday wish for mother India is that people who take care of her – the current and future governments – make it the highest priority to fix pollution and corruption and make her clean, literally and figuratively.

I further wish that India indeed does take that best seat on the world stage before she turns 100. It certainly sounds plausible, unlike the time when I was a kid. India is already projected to be the third largest economy in the world within the next two decades. There will soon be more Indians than any other nationality on this earth. India is the largest democracy with nuclear capabilities. Indians are highly successful in almost all aspects of society in many foreign countries. India has some of the wealthiest people in the world and many beauty queens. Indian food, movies, sitar music and yoga practices are well accepted all over the world.

Indians are thought to be smart, philosophical, peace-loving people with friendly personality and humility. India, with the dominating presence of three of the four largest religions in the world, is considered the place for any spiritual journey. When I was leaving India on my way back to the USA, many of my relatives and friends asked if I would ever consider returning for good. My answer to them was a sincere yes. “But if I come back, it would be to go to the Himalayas for my ultimate quest. I would be wandering the foothills with just a cane in search for that supreme power.” I indeed wish that I will reunite with my mother and complete my own spiritual journey. I can hear that song in my ears: “A ab laut chalen…tujhko pukare desh tera”.

BASAB DASGUPTA 

Source: The Statesman, 11/08/22

Fine Arts Career in India: Institutes, Job Opportunities, and Top Skills to Develop

 Do you enjoy being creative - painting, sketching, singing, sculpture, or performing on stage or on screen? But have you always been discouraged because it's not viewed as a good enough professional option? Well, we are about to give you all the details you need to make a viable career out of it - where you can study, what you can study, what jobs you should look at and what skills to hold on to, practice and nurture. Read on for all the details…

Institutes for Fine Arts degrees

While creativity is the spark that will take you far, a certificate, diploma, or degree can be the stepping stone you need to further refine your skills and sensitivity, which will eventually make you more successful. In addition to the above, a number of postgraduate and PhD programmes in Fine Arts are also available for those wishing to specialise. These courses usually range in duration from 1 to 5 years. Here is a list of the top colleges across the country that offer UG, PG & Doctorate degrees in Fine Arts:

Bachelor of Fine Arts & other undergraduate programmes

• College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram
• Amity University, Mumbai
• Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture & Fine Arts University, Hyderabad
• Jamia Milia University, Delhi

Master of Fine Arts & other postgraduate programmes

• Visva Bharati University, West Bengal
• Amity School of Fine Arts, Noida
• College of Arts, Delhi University
• Sir JJ Institute of Fine Arts, Mumbai

PhD in Fine Arts

• Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
• NIU, Greater Noida
• Royal Global University, Guwahati
• Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

Career Opportunities in Fine Arts

Having a degree in the arts widens your perspective and also gives you deeper insight into what career you would like to pursue. These professions range from entrepreneurship to self-employment. However, to give you an idea of the kind of options you should consider while pursuing a degree, we bring you a list of professions one can pursue with a degree in Fine Arts below:

• Artist: An artist could be working with any medium - painting, sketching, sculpting or even the performing arts. Their main vocation is to create art that their audiences like to see and own(in the case of creative arts) or observe or listen to (in the case of performing arts).

• Illustrator: Professional artists who draw and sketch for a living are called illustrators. For print and digital media, they could be creating digital art or clicking photographs. For more mainstream media, they could be commissioned to create specific illustrations or murals following certain guidelines or styles.

• Fine Art Consultant: A fine art consultant is an expert in their chosen field of art. They work with customers, helping them find and buy art for their homes, workspaces or galleries. In addition to having the sensibility to identify good art from the rest, they also conduct research, build relationships with artists and collectors, and evaluate the wants and needs of their customers to deliver the best results.

• Art Therapist: An art therapist is a certified and trained professional. They offer clinical therapy and counselling using art as a medium of expression.

• Art Teacher: An art teacher, as the name suggests, uses their artistic abilities to encourage others' creative development. They can teach students of various ages and will usually cover the basics, the use of various mediums, and the theories behind the art form.

• Gallery Manager: A manager of an art gallery is someone who is in charge of the day-to-day running of the gallery, but more importantly of selecting artwork and artists to exhibit. They also hire art experts to be employed by the gallery and communicate with suppliers, artists, historians, and vendors to plan the transfer, journey, or acquisition of display artworks.

• Art Framer: A custom wall hanging expert is an art framer. They work with clients to maintain and display artwork, and their everyday responsibilities include creating beautiful frames with their hands, sourcing supplies and interacting with customers.

Skills Required in Fine Arts

Fine artists create works of art for aesthetic, commercial, and ornamental consumption. Some of the most fundamental skills that a fine artist must have are perseverance, dedication and creativity. But beyond these, particularly for visual artists, there are a few other skills that they must possess:

• Realistic Drawing: The capacity to create art that accurately depicts actual life is a key skill that artists should possess. By mastering this ability, one can produce lifelike portraits, landscapes, and object-based art.

• Constructive Drawing: Fine artists practise constructive drawing as a means of representing their intent using simple lines and shapes on paper. Creating a rough outline of what the artist would sculpt, paint or draw later is one such example.

• Knowledge of art materials: When you become an artist, you first select one or a few mediums that you enjoy working with. To maintain your own distinctive style, it is essential that you learn how to work with the materials of your chosen medium. This is a skill that comes from learning and constant practice.

• Imagination: Whether you work on commissions or create art for exhibitions, having the imagination to create something out of nothing - and to be able to depict something in a style that is uniquely your own, imagination is an absolute must. Particularly for artists working in the surrealism or fantasy school, this skill is a basic building block.

• Understanding of Perspective: A viewer's perspective describes how they might view a work of art. To bring variety to their work, artists should be aware of numerous points of view and be able to create artwork from them. Other significant elements, such as shading and sizing details, are also affected by the artist's understanding of perspective.

Strong emotional convictions and an urge to create, along with a connection to canvas, pencil, or colours, are the usual traits on associates with someone wishing to pursue fine arts. A person's love of art can inspire and urge him to use that love to paint his environment. Fine art education is a tool to encourage, nurture, and lead young, passionate art aspirants in the right direction. With the right set of skills, a place to study and employment in hand, one can definitely achieve success in fine arts.

Source: The Telegraph, 10/08/22

Storm shelter: The battle for the Ideas of India

 Sometimes, when I think of India on the day it was born, August 15, 1947, I have the image of people starting to erect a huge,open-sided tent over a large mass of suffering human beings. The tent is made of patchwork, from whatever material is available, with all sorts of colour, all kinds of texture, being sown together. To stretch over so many people,this covering material needs supports,both at its edges and in the middle, and these supports too are made from diverse material and are of different heights.The people who have volunteered for the job of erecting the tent have no choice but to work together, work in concert as well as attentively in sequence: Section B needing to wait for Section A to complete its task before it can begin its own, with Section C and D waiting their turn and so on.

At minimum, the covering is meant to protect people from the heat and the rain. From the glare of exploitation, the long drought of scarcity, the drench of widespread disease. No matter what the apologists of the British Empire now tell us, let us never forget that a smallish country halfway across the planet made itself the most prosperous on earth on the backs of our labour and our resources for nearly two hundred years. Let’s remember that it then abandoned the million sit had squeezed dry to continuing poverty and the aftermath of the mass violence triggered by its precipitate withdrawal.In 1948, the year after the British left India, despite the great depletions of the Second World War and the loss of their largest colony, they could institute and fund the National Health Service,which provided health coverage to every Briton, no matter how rich or poor. The government could re-target tax money and deploy it to this end with conscious,educated mass support because of the education system that had been put in place over the previous century, a system which was, like everything else,funded by the spoils of Empire. After the shocks of the Depression and the War in the late 40s and 50s, the United States of America, Britain and western Europe delivered access to university education to a wider section of their populations than ever before. This meant that capitalists were paying taxes that funded the education of many youngsters who used that knowledge and chose to become some shade of liberal, socialist or communist,young people who would spend the rest of their lives fighting to instal some checks and balances against rampant,profit-making corporations.

In the meantime, in India, the problem in erecting the tent was the matter of sequencing: you could not have basic education without basic health but,equally, you could not have basic health without a modicum of education; you could not allow entrepreneurs a free-run towards profit in an obscenely unequal society but there was no way of creating a more equal society without giving private industry some opportunity to grow(the limitations of the Soviet Five-Year plans were evident even as we copied them to some extent); economically, you could not shut yourself off from the rest of the world, yet there was no question of pawning the country’s resources to the multinationals backed by the big Western powers (the examples of what was then happening in Iran, Congo and South America were vivid and bloody). Nehru, Patel, Azad, Rajaji and other leaders navigated the young, vulnerable Republic through these sharp, contradictory rocks but in this they were hardly alone — helping to erect and shore up different sections of the tent was a whole army of labourers, farmers, dedicated administrators, politicians, social activists,military servicemen, intellectuals and artists.

History continuously redacts itself.Most of the people who were alive in those first formative years of Independence have now passed on. The ones who were then kids — or just born— now rule over us, even as they themselves stand on the exit ramps of life. In the intervening years, one of the main struggles that has developed within the nation is the battle for memory, a war over what is to be forgotten and erased,over what is to be remembered and how it is to be remembered.

Even as this and other struggles have enlarged underneath it, the enormous and complex task of erecting that basic tent has never been completed. It has been ongoing, stopping at times, starting again, stalling again. At times, segments of the covering have been brought down by gales and storms from the outside;at other times, bits of the tent have collapsed when internal supports have broken down or have been deliberately removed; some areas have had firm covering for long periods, while others have remained exposed to the elements. After seventy-five years, this partly secure,partly ramshackle, leaky but colourful patchwork held up by an assortment of poles and supports is what we call India,Bharat, Hindustan, desh, watan, mulk. This trembling, uneven structure maybe kept together by a whole variety of jugaad, but it is also vast and has a sort of miraculous togetherness, which is different from any rigid ‘unity’.

In the warren of substructures that have come up below the larger covering,often people in one corner have no idea what others are doing in another pocket.From time to time, we’ve seen ‘leaders’,politicians who’ve managed to work themselves to the very centre, attempting to push other people to the margins and even out of the sheltering cover of the tent. In striving to do this, they can be seen hacking away at the strongest supports, tearing holes into the strongest covering. We can see that if these people continue, they will shortly bring the roof down on everybody and not just on the sections of the populace they have labelled the enemy.

After seventy-five years, it should be clear that there are not just one or two ‘Ideas of India’ but multiple competing ideas of what our country should be. We need to interrogate each of these with cold-eyed urgency. Within a few years, roughly 20 per cent of all the humans on this small, troubled planet will be looking to shelter under the tent we call India. As ethnicities and genetic groups increasingly mix with one another,our species is moving towards multiplying micro-diversities rather than any overarching homogeneity. The people we call Indians are centrally apart of this — in a hundred years, people will hopefully shun any ideas of purity,whether regional or religious or caste identities; there may not be any Bengalis or Gujaratis, any Hindus or Muslims,any upper or lower castes as we understand these categories today. Climate change, global warming, ecological crises, whatever your preferred codification,will need large masses of people living adjacently to work with rather than against each other. Therefore, we must ask: which idea of India provides succour and safety to the widest variety of people? Which idea is most accommodating of difference, whether ethnic,racial, religious, of sexual orientation,of differing practices of living? Which idea will ensure the fairest distribution of increasingly scarce resources? Which processes of completing, repairing and shoring up the loose tent that was begun 75 years ago will provide the best quality of life to the largest number of people?

Ruchir Joshi

Source: The Telegraph, 9/08/22