In a passionate letter explaining his government’s failure to coordinate relief efforts in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stated that a breakdown in connectivity due to unprecedented flooding caused a ‘missing government’ in a time of crisis. Recounting the chain of events in a newspaper, he wrote: ‘Initially I was relieved to find that…
A final draft resolution at the United Nations, passed in July 2014, has focused on the UN General Assembly’s review process of World Summit on the Information Society outcomes implementation. India has been lauded for its leadership in producing this document which calls information and communication technologies (ICTs) ‘enablers and drivers for the achievement of…
Would it confuse you to go on a website called www.young.indians only to find out it belonged to the Reliance group and was not a Government of India website? Would it offend you if a website ending in the suffix .ram talked about a product and not the deity? Would new forms of web addresses serve to confuse…
The period 2014-19 is set to witness a transition in political governance in India’s democratic landscape. A new transformation in wider governance areas and intervention, with new ideas, vision and milestones, is discernable. The country’s digital landscape for its billion plus population is set to build upon existing strengths and learning over the past decade…
The India media is the subject of the news yet again. This time though, the private news channels — the usual suspects – are only reporting the news. Instead, the latest war of words among politicians has thrown the public service broadcaster, Doordarshan, into the limelight. Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)…
A friend recently blogged about the Indian elections and wrote in his post about a tweet from the Aam Admi Party’s Somnath Bharti, in frustration as he wasn’t able to upload a video of his party workers being beaten up in Amethi, that he would have done so if the broadband would have been better.…
The conversation about internet governance has started making headlines in India over the past few months. Much of this can be traced back to the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, that broke the controversial news that US government had used top internet service providers and even content providers to carry out surveillance across the world. The same country, which had…
In order to raise awareness about online safety, Google India initiated a nationwide campaign, ‘Good to Know’. The campaign focuses at ensuring that Internet users act as responsible digital citizens. This nationwide campaign started on 11 February 2014, which is also celebrated as Internet Safer Day. The campaign was launched by Google India with…
Freedom of Speech also implies responsibilities that justify that freedom Digital tools have exterminated the Government’s attempts to establish monopoly over news and other information media. It largely promotes the need for transparency and accountability in the country. Digital technology connects the citizens to a wide range of resources, which empowers them in the field…
The e-Panchayat project, implemented with a tech solution from the National Informatics Centre, is a positive development India’s right to information is perhaps a hallmark law, considering the fact that in the 21st century information is the basis of equity, empowerment, rights and access. While the law has caught the imagination of the people, it…