India faces threat of digital colonisation

India must protect its digital economy from global giants aiming to harness the country’s data through trade agreements

- ABHIJIT DAS

The last quarter of 2019 witnessed two seemingly disparate events in New Delhi. Nick Clegg, the erstwhile deputy prime minister of UK, lobbied hard for free flow of digital data across borders and author William Dalrymple’s much-awaited book on the East India Company (EIC) was out globally. What Clegg is doing on behalf of the global digital giants fits well with Dalrymple’s description of how the EIC came to acquire influence and completely dominate India a few centuries ago.

This connection should compel our policymakers and political leadership to have a hard look at how, through trade agreements, India stands at the brink of literally signing away its digital prosperity and future.

While most of the facts about the EIC are generally well known, some aspects of Dalrymple’s engaging narrative bear a striking resemblance to the strategies being used by digital giants in their quest for global dominance and profits. It is relevant to recount some key points made _ by Dalrymple.

First, the basic objective of EIC was to make windfall profits through securing monopoly over trade. Second, in its rapacious pursuit, the EIC enjoyed the backing of the British Parliament.

Third, the interests of many local Indian communities, particularly Jagat Seths and bankers, lo and the EIC converged. el In pursuit of their - I row self-interest, many OF local bankers in India competed among themselves to supply almost unlimited credit to the EIC, unmindful of the larger impact of their action.