Indian broadcasters draw bans for stepping over obscenity lines

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 6/4/2013 11:32:00 AM

'Recent decisions by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting have raised questions about the country’s approach to broadcasting regulation. Mahima Kaul reportsComedy Central ran afoul of India’s Ministry of Information for broadcasting content considered obscene. Both Comedy Central India and Fashion TV were slapped with 10-day suspension notices for violating the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995. The reasons for the ban – listed in a detailed letter by a min(...)'

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The New Digital Age: Book Review for Mint

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 5/25/2013 6:33:00 AM

'; An arresting survey of how technology is changing people and their destiniesFrom the offices of Google, we get Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen’s opus, The New Digital Age, which imagines a world they believe is but inevitable—a future completely dominated by technology.The book promises to explore “the future of people, nations and business”, and this view is predominantly seen through the lens of international and national security. To that end, it ends up presenting (...)'

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India’s plan to monitor web raises concerns over privacy

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 5/21/2013 8:22:00 PM

'The Indian government has been implementing a system to track and access calls, texts, and online activities. Mahima Kaul reports from Delhi that the Central Monitoring System (CMS) will be used by tax authorities and India’s National Investigation Authority to fight terror-related crimes.Opposition to the surveillance system have now launched an online petition against it. Opponents say that while the system can be used to halt terror attacks and other violence, the (...)'

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Will social media be a game changer for Indian politics?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 5/13/2013 10:54:00 AM

'Election fever has completely gripped the Indian media. Though general elections are scheduled for 2014, the news cycle regularly carries rumours of early elections every time another corruption scandal breaks. Pundits, analysts and party spokespersons, appearing on television every night, attempt to connect with India’s growing middle classes. And a big topic of conversation: the potential for social media to become a game changer in the next election, Mahima Kaul reports fro(...)'

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Saradha Group scandal exposes ties between India’s media, politicians

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 5/9/2013 8:45:00 AM

'The discovery of a financial scam at a company in India’s West Bengal state is shining a light on the relationship between politicians and media owners, Mahima Kaul reports.The firm in question, Saradha Group, had risen to become a financial empire over the past eight years under boss and owner Sudipta Sen. The company has business interests ranging from construction to travel to exports and agriculture. When the “chit fund” scandal came to light — with an estimated loss of $4(...)'

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The big issues for Indian web users

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 4/15/2013 5:26:00 PM

'Some of India’s most prominant internet writers, researchers and policy analysts came together in Bangalore on 9 April to discuss “Strengthening Freedom of Expression on the Internet in India”, organised by the Internet Democracy Project.The subject has been intermittently making headlines in India, with a number of politically motivated arrests made under the Information Technology Act’s controversial Section 66a. Causing more confusio(...)'

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India: Kumar versus the censor

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 4/4/2013 6:20:00 PM

'Despite making two award-winning documentaries, filmmaker Ashvin Kumar has faced difficulty having his films shown. Mahima Kaul reports on his battle with India’s Censor BoardIndian filmmaker Ashvin Kumar is in a curious position. His documentary, Inshallah Kashmir, recently won this year’s India’s National Award for “Best Investigative Film”. Kumar also won the 2012 National Award for “Best Film on Social Issues”, for his documentary Inshallah (...)'

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India has an internet problem

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 3/14/2013 12:19:00 PM

'In a discussion on withdrawing the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000, member of parliament from Karnataka, M. Rama Jois, proclaimed that, “this law was passed in a hurry and we are worrying at leisure!” Hurry is putting it loosely. On the last day of the Winter Session of the Lok Sabha (India’s lower house of Parliament) in December 2008, seven bills were passed in seven minutes, without any discussion on them. Section 66A, as has been widely reported,(...)'

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Will new plans for a digital rural India hit or miss?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 3/8/2013 2:19:00 PM

'Since the internet was introduced  in 1995 in India’s major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta, it has steadly grown in urban areas. By 1998, India has its first Internet Service Provider, Sify (later sold for $155 million). By 2001, India has its first crime branch. By 2005, the country had over 200,000 internet cafes. Facebook arrived in 2006, and in 2009, the government drafted policy on Indian language internet domain names. As individuals in cities stock u(...)'

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How India censored one of its own websites

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 2/23/2013 4:19:00 PM

'India’s University Grants Commission (UGC), amongst its other responsibilities, determines and maintains the standards of institutions of higher education in India. As a part of this duty, it had warned students that an institution called IIPM (Indian Institute of Planning and Management) is not a recognised university and does not have the right to issue certificates. The message on the commission’s website has now been blocked, following an interim court order by the Gwa(...)'

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Does the internet liberate or constrain us?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 2/10/2013 6:03:00 AM

'A recent survey suggests that most users think of the Internet as a force for good. But we need to pay attention to the various forces, both governmental and private, that are reshaping the Internet via global platforms, writes Mahima Kaul A week before government officials from around the world left for Dubai, to attend the World Conference on Information Technology (WCIT), the Internet Society released a global Internet user survey which revealed attitudes of over 10,000 use(...)'

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How a fatwa stopped the all-girl rock

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 2/8/2013 2:21:00 PM

'The teenaged members of Kashmiri all-girl band Pragaash decided to shelve their music career after being harassed online, and a fatwa issued against them. Mahima Kaul reports on how the controversy has unfoldedFollowing a live performance at a Battle of the Bands held in Srinagar, Kashmir in December 2012, a little known band called Pragaash began receiving hateful and abusive comments on their Facebook page. The all-girl rock band has three members, all between the ages of 15(...)'

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India’s flourishing offence industry hits literary festival – again

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 2/1/2013 7:37:00 AM

'A few days before the now-famous (and perhaps infamous) Jaipur Literature festival, the only thing most people thought they knew was that Salman Rushdie’s potential visit was being blocked, this time by elements of the Indian People’s Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist group.William Darampyle, author and organiser of the festival, took pains to clarify that the event this year would not court controversy like it did last year, telling I(...)'

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What is Bollywood’s role in changing Indian attitudes to women?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 1/21/2013 3:52:00 PM

'Could greater control over Bollywood help reverse a culture of female objectification in India? No, argues Mahima Kaul, but the roles of women in Bollywood films could still do with a makeover In 1995, a movie called Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge swept India. It became an instant classic and cult hit. The short synopsis of the movie is that Simran, an Indian girl who grew up in the UK under a very strict father has been promised as a bride to a young man in Ind(...)'

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What reception will India give new Rusdhie film?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 1/1/2013 6:55:00 PM

'The film of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is set to be released on 1 February. If the team behind the movie adaptation is at all nervous about screening the film they have good reason. Rushdie, who wrote the screenplay, and has been the literary face for freedom of expression for years, has a tumultuous history of censorship with India.The Booker prize-winning book is about two children, born at the stroke of midnight as India gained its independence. Their liv(...)'

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They can't rape it out of me.

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 12/20/2012 4:40:00 PM

'There was this Sweet Valley book where one of the characters gets assaulted and the other raped. I don’t know if you are familiar with Sweet Valley, but in my teenage world, this was akin to Barbie getting raped. It just didn’t compute. But then, something wonderful happened. The book, called ‘Take Back the Night’, showed the main female characters pulling in all their strength, including a march on campus, and going to court and confronting their attacker. It was probably bee(...)'

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A Better Life for Delhi’s Dogs

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 12/18/2012 6:20:00 AM

'Residents of Vasant Vihar in southwest Delhi might have spotted Sarita Paswan going about her rounds. For over a decade, she has been feeding street dogs in the neighborhood twice a day, every day.She takes bowls and a bucket of food to give the dogs in their little pockets of the colony — behind guard boxes, inside the local club grounds, next to rows of parked cars. As she approaches Mohindra Taxi Stand next to D-block market, a portly gentleman calls out to Ramu, Kalu and L(...)'

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Fatwa calls for ban on female receptionists

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 12/15/2012 4:16:00 AM

'A recent fatwa issued by a leading Indian Islamic seminary advises women to refrain from working as receptionists, describing the job as un-Islamic and against Sharia law. The influential Darul Uloom Deoband offered the ruling in response to a question posed by a Pakistan-based company on 29 November on the seminary’s website, and states that Muslim women cannot work as receptionists because they are not allowed to appear before men without veil. There are approximately 160 mi(...)'

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India and social media: When will it be safe for the average citizen to critique the powerful?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 11/30/2012 3:29:00 PM

'Last week, in the small town of Palghar, Maharastra, a 21-year-old  was arrested for a Facebook post questioning a citywide shutdown to mark the death of a regional leader. Her friend was arrested for ‘liking’ her status. The two women, Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, faced charges under the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008.The case has triggered a massive public out(...)'

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Why are India’s politicians scared of social media?

Author : mahima      Blog : the life and times      Date : 11/19/2012 2:35:00 PM

'A war over free expression between Indian citizens and their government is raging, with social media serving as the battlefield. Two girls were arrested in Mumbai today, one for having updated her Facebook status asking why the city was observing a bandh — a city-wide shut down — to commemorate the death of an influential regional leader, Bal Thackeray. The other simply ‘liked’ the comment. The update was brought to the notice of Shiv Sena local leader, (...)'

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