The other was the BJP’s Lok Sabha member Meenakshi Lekhi announcing that the Joint Parliamentary Committee she was heading had finished its deliberations on the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDP Bill) and that it was ready to be tabled in the budget session of Parliament.
The common link between the two? The vexing issue of personal data and privacy.
While WhatsApp and its alternatives became the topic of debate from Twitter trends to family conversations (many, ironically, on WhatsApp itself), the PDP Bill barely got newsprint, despite India’s chequered past in protecting data privacy. The bill itself has been shifting form, reach and substance right through. As Lekhi hinted a week ago, the very name of the bill is to be changed, besides 89 other changes, one new clause and two new amendments.
But, is the indignant Indian WhatsApp user missing the forest for the trees?
The new terms of service integrate WhatsApp with Facebook, though the company claims only conversations with business accounts will be impacted. “Messages between loved ones and friends remain encrypted. That’s not changing,” reiterated WhatsApp’s global head Will Cathcart.
Denne historien er fra January 24, 2021-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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Denne historien er fra January 24, 2021-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
