Indian Intelligence Agencies are Helping NSA to Spy on its own Citizens

The Indian media has missed the major implications of the latest Snowden disclosures. It is not simply that India is one of the countries, or that the BJP is one of the political organisations under … Read more

Government Digital Security Infrastructure Hacked

The new government’s push towards digital India through increased use of e-governance will have to wait for some time as the digital security of on-line transactions among government entities has been seriously compromised. The system … Read more

Better Days Ahead – for Insurance Companies and Corporate Hospitals

Since being installed in government the BJP’s ministers have announced a slew of measures to usher in “better days”. True to this pattern, the new government’s health minister – Dr.Harsh Vardhan – has articulated a … Read more

100% FDI in Indian Defence Industries: “Nationalists” Ditch Self-Reliance?

The only reason there is a question mark at the end of the title is that, although a Policy Note is pending consideration by the Cabinet, the BJP-led government has not yet announced its decision. … Read more

Bullet Trains: Bad Idea for India

A favourite Modi idea, highlighted in the BJP manifesto, is to introduce bullet trains in India. Not just in one or two small stretches as has been contemplated of and on earlier, but in a … Read more

NETmundial or the Internet Governance World Cup?

NETmundial – a global conference on Internet governance – was held last week in Sao Paulo (April 23-24) and ended with a non-binding outcome statement that was weak on surveillance and with some gains for … Read more

Vodafone and Verizon Spied for GCHQ and NSA

The recent disclosures that have come in the press that Vodafone and Verizon have helped their “parent” spy outfits – GCHQ (UK) and NSA (USA) – to spy on the Indian telecom network will not … Read more

Moily, Kejriwal and the Scam in Gas Pricing

Reliance and the near doubling of the gas price led to Kejriwal’s short-lived government filing an FIR against Moily, the Petroleum Minister and Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited. The scam in gas … Read more

Making The Railways Sick: The Flip Side Of India Shining

IN the huge ad campaign that the Vajpayee government has run, now declared partisan and stopped by the Election Commission, there was no talk of the railways. The state-owned Indian Railways carries 11 million people … Read more

Privatisation of the Electricity Sector and Its Repercussions

THE decision of Arvind Kejriwal’s government in Delhi to have the accounts of the three distribution companies (discoms) subjected to a CAG audit has had immediate repercussions. The three discoms are moving the courts against a CAG … Read more

South African Patients Need our Solidarity

A few days back, the Health Minister of South Africa, Dr Motsoaledi, characterised an elaborate plot hatched by large multinational drug companies as “genocide” and a conspiracy of “satanic magnitude”. He was referring to public … Read more

GSLV Success: Indian Space Programme Comes of Age

Scientists and engineers at ISRO, and people all over India, heaved a huge sigh of relief and cheered loudly, at the successful launch on January 5 of the GSLV D5 rocket with an indigenous cryogenic … Read more