Internet Governance/Advocacy

In light of the growing media focus on Facebook's 'Free Basics' and the overwhelming response to the TRAI consultation paper on differential pricing, Parminder Jeet Singh argues how differential pricing will invert the basic egalitarian design of the Internet in this article in Deccan Herald.…

Following Face book’s aggressive campaign to gain public support for Free Basics, Parminder Jeet Singh in this article in The Hindu argues how while the campaign utterly failed in its intended purpose, its unintended consequences may have done a lot of good to India in shaping a new level of…

Following TRAI's historic ruling that prohibits the discriminatory tariffs for data services, Parminder Jeet Singh, in this op-ed in the Deccan Herald, discusses how TRAI has asserted its regulatory control over the Internet by ensuring data services are not discriminated based on content and…

ITfC has made submissions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in response to the two consultation papers it released, one on free data and another a more general pre-consultation on net neutrality.

On the consultation paper on free data TRAI sought comments on alternate…

IT for Change provided its comments to the Committee on Net Neutrality of the Government of India's Department of Telecommunication. There are below and also enclosed. The submission highlights 'equality of opportunity' more than consumer's freedom of choice as the key principle underlying a net…

IT for Change was at the 18th annual session of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development . We delivered the following intervention during the plenary discussion reviewing the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). This meeting of the…

The recent public consultation by TRAI has catapulted the issue of 'net neutrality' into mainstream consciousness. In this article for the Economic and Political Weekly Parminder Jeet Singh delineates precisely what net neutrality is, and the important criteria it must meet to…

In a Q & A, Parminder Jeet Singh discusses the social underpinnings of the Net Neutrality discussion and the principles that should guide any regulation in this area. This segment was carried as part of Down to Earth's cover story for June 2015.

In this piece for The Hindu, Parminder Jeet Singh writes about entrenchment of power and control with regard to the global Internet in the hands of a few economic and political elites, overwhelming based in the US, leading to what may be called as a unipolar networked-digital complex.

The Telecom Regulating Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper to test waters and the public sentiment over regulating the at-present loosely defined OTT (over-the-top) services. One of the most important issues in the paper was of net neutrality and its various pros and cons.…

Parminder Jeet Singh, IT for Change, India, presented a draft proposal at the Russian Internet Governance Forum's panel on BRICS, for instituting a formal framework of cooperation on digital economy, and also setting up a research centre in this area. This proposal appeared as an article in…

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…

Issue No. 287 of the Third World Network's 'Resurgence' featured many articles by members of the Just Net Coalition, foregrounding global level Internet Governance issues of critical importance, during the run up to the IGF 2014, Istanbul. Parminder Jeet Singh's overview traces the International…

The Just Net Coalition (JNC) is a global network of civil society actors committed to an open, free, just and equitable Internet of which IT for Change is a founding member.
Founded in February 2014, the coalition engages on topics of the Internet and its governance,…

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,…