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Dear Reader,
The surveillance of citizens by governments has always been a looming threat to privacy and personal freedom. The commercialisation of spyware, combined with huge strides in technology, makes it easier and more tempting for governments to turn on the heat. In the firing line are journalists, activists and political opponents.
Even if not fully understood, the consequences of the increasing sophistication and ready availability of spyware are writ large. In this context, MediaNama analyses a Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) study, released last week, on the consequences of commercial surveillance vendors' (CSVs) operations on the governments' ability to intervene surreptitiously in a citizen's life and liberty.
Every government, whatever its hue, is allergic to criticism. The present government is no different. Scalded by flak from some members of the Indian diaspora, the government has reacted by cancelling the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards of over a hundred such critics.
This was revealed in a response by the Union Home Ministry to an RTI application filed by Article 14. The government, the story says, is increasingly using Section 7D of The Citizenship Act, which gives "arbitrary powers" to the state to revoke OCI cards of those it is unable to see eye-to-eye with. Meanwhile, the Section has been challenged in the Supreme Court by a group of eighty overseas Indians and is pending before the Court.
Wayanad, in Kerala, has seen a spate of events involving human-animal conflict. This has raised a fierce debate in the public space on ways to reduce such skirmishes. In 2017, under public pressure, the state government appointed a 'People's Vigil Committee' – a collective of representatives from civic bodies, forest department officers and local people to mitigate and lessen the frictions. Keraleeyam Masika looks at the functioning of this Committee, its efficacy and its weaknesses.
And, a familiar story from Bihar, where a primary school in Saur block of Saharsa district sanctioned in 2014, is yet to get a roof a decade later. Umpteen petitions to the government have gone unheeded. However, in an unfamiliar twist, faced with the children's education coming to a hard stop, the villagers got together, pooled money and resources, and built the school themselves. मैं मीडिया brings you this bittersweet tale.
For more such stories from the grantees this week, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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