Development and Democracy/Advocacy

'Digital Democracy in India' is our ongoing attempt to examine the emergence of a new governance paradigm in the country, characterized by the rise of ‘governance by networks’ and ‘rule by data’, from the standpoint of inclusive citizenship. We are primarily concerned with tracing critical…

We have been actively engaging with the debate on privacy and data protection in India, that has gained traction in the context of the unique citizen ID/ Aadhaar project of the government. Through our media articles, we have emphasised the public value of privacy, bringing in an agency…

The nine-judge bench of India’s Supreme Court has just ruled that “privacy is intrinsic to freedom of life and personal liberty” guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and qualifies as “a primal natural right”. In this article, Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami reflect on how…

Gurumurthy wrote an article 'Use of Information Technology in promoting transparency' in elections, in the Common Cause publication.

At MC 11, the United States, Japan and European Union are actively pushing for a liberalised e-commerce regime that will reinforce the rules for trade set by the global North. Key to this dominant discourse is the persuasive rhetoric on free cross-…

MC11 e-com battlelines drawn across three camps' gives an overview of the various positions countries have adopted on e-commerce and trade, and likely to play out at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference from 10 to 13 December, 2017. The divergent approaches to the…

IT for Change submitted comments on the draft general comment on state obligations under the ICESCR in the context of business activities. The submission asserted the need for an immediate and appropriate regulatory response to platform-companies, who have increasingly become…

This article examines the new concerns for privacy emerging in the age of data-based governance, using the UID/Aadhaar scheme in India as a case in point.

Anita Gurumurthy, Executive Director, IT for Change participated in the First annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum) organised at UNHQ, New York between 6-7 June 2016. In her statement from the floor, she emphasised…

In June 2014, the High Power Committee examining amendments to the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act 1993 invited IT for Change to provide inputs on the strategic use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), for strengthening Panchayat Raj Institutions. IT for Change,…

Dear friends,

It is an honour to be here and to speak on this panel.

I would like to talk about geographies of the network society that are excluded – geographies typically characterised as 'bottom of the pyramid' by non-inhabitants – geographies that are home to those who…

IT for Change with CIVIC Bangalore, KRIA Katte, and Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement condemn the proposal to amend the Right to Information Act that the government has undertaken in the monsoon session of the parliament. The amendment is to keep…

IT for Change was one of the five civil society members of the 'Task Force for the Effective Implementation of Section 4 of the RTI Act' constituted by Department of Personal and Training, Government of India. IT for Change also led the sub group of the Task Force on digital…

This policy brief was originally prepared as an expert input for the 'Regional Conference on Delivering Social Protection to Unorganised Workers', held in Bengaluru (India) in November 2010, and organised by the Department of Labour (Government of Karnataka) and GTZ (Germany…

Prepared for a workshop on Open Development organised by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa (Canada) in May 2010, the paper presents a comprehensive critique of the concept of openness, taken from the technology discourse. The paper critically…