Clear the Clutter

  The Anatomy of Disengagement. Context of the Article Raksha Mantri Hon’ble Rajnath Singh on February 11,2021 announced in the Indian Parliament that ‘India and China have reached an agreement vis a vis Disengagement and further De-escalation-’ and that ‘India will not even cede an inch of her territory’.  He was referring to the monumental agreement signed on the 9-10 February 2021 which stipulates the following - Status Quo ante on North and South Bank of the Pangong Tso lake to be restored Both sides to cease forward deployments in a Phased, Coordinated and Verified Manner. Chinese side will go back to East of Finger 8 to its post at Sirijab. The Indian side will go to West of Finger 3 at the bilaterally known Dhan Singh Thapa Post. All Infrastructure built during these past 10 months in the No-Patrol Zone in support of these troops to be demolished and no new infrastructure to be constructed. The Most Important Takeaway from the above agreement is that the Chinese have go...

  Indian Democracy: A Civilizational Predisposition Democracy, per its very nature and apparatus, is inextricably interlinked with the modus vivendi of the people of Bharata. Civilizationally, it has not only been conducive to the prosperity and proselytization of democracy but also a catalyst to the process of democratization. The Bharata Race facilitated and participated in intense exercises of intellectual edification through ‘deliberations in Representative Bodies’ premised upon the very sanctified sentinel of Democracy - Vox Populi, Vox Dei. We find Bharata’s ancient history and roots replete with evidence of Robust Democratic  Representation and even Elections! King Vishal of the Vaishali (V rijji Mahajanapada) was ‘elected and not nominated’! The Sabhas and Samitis of Ancient India can certainly be construed to be astonishingly analogous to our extant Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively- in both structure and representation.  The Ancient Text Rigveda mentions th...

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, with special reference to Part II of SSIMs. There has been much hue and cry about the so-called derision of the Fundamental Right to privacy by the new IT Rules, 2021. I will analyze the apparatus and genesis of the rules and rebut arguments concerning violation of privacy and other such contentions. What is the Ambit of Rules? The Primary Purpose of the said rules is to ‘regulate’ -  Code of Ethics for Digital Media Publishers : The Rules prescribe the code of ethics to be observed by publishers of digital media including:  (i) news and current affairs content providers , and  (ii) online curated content providers (also known as OTT platforms ).   For news and current affairs , the following existing codes will apply:  (i) norms of journalistic conduct formulated by the Press Council of India,  (ii) programme code under the Cable Television Networks Re...