The vision of the internet as it turns 25 years old in India is of a transformational technology that through improved access renews our constitutional commitments. In today’s @HTtweets I offer these views to critique and commentary.. I have referred to Prime Minister Nehru’s Independence Day speech (translated into english) made in 1963. A difficult time in our national history. It makes for honest reflection and renewed hope, as distant as it may seem. It is contained within volume 5 of Nehru’s collected speeches available on Archive.org.
If you want to discover how far we have come from those early days of computer clubs and internet evangelists. Those who made a mission to even demonstrate the basic value of connectivity, do read this fascinating article in @livemint. As a parting note, we should be cautious of arguments that pose internet access as an exclusionary goal to civil & political rights. Internet shutdowns reveal the framing of competing rights (rather than complementary) while may be an intellectual contrarian thread, it is dangerous for ordinary Indians.