Nandini Chami

On December 20, 2018, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order authorizing ten central agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated from any computer, drawing legitimacy from the Information Technology Act (2000) and associated rules. It is not clear if the order intends to be an executive fiat for blanket…

Developing countries need to recognise that in the datafying economy, any step towards creating a level playing field for local platforms must foreground and tackle the question of data in digital trade regimes. Read more in our submission to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy on ‘Fostering Development…

This paper examines the nature of e-governance in India, presents the implications of the changing nature of governance and state-citizen engagement particularly for groups at the margins, and makes suggestions for a digitalisation that strengthens participatory democracy in the country.

The synthesis report of the multi-country research study titled 'the Voice or Chatter project' explores how ICT-mediated citizen engagement can promote democratic governance and amplify citizens’ voices. Digital choices for democracy can empower or disempower citizens; they can present citizens with real alternatives for equality, thereby…

The starting point of this paper is that efforts to bridge the gender digital divide or use ICTs towards women’s empowerment in the current digitalised socio-economic paradigm must be more than just about women’s access to connectivity. They must focus on the design of institutional frameworks that can guarantee the democratic distribution of…

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-border data flows as a means for smaller players to…

IT for Change was invited by the Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG) to develop a position paper on ‘A feminist perspective on gender media and communication rights in digital times’ for the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 62). The theme for CSW62 is ‘Participation in and access of women to the media, and…

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 this judgement is only a beginning. The de facto…

Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami authored two issue papers for Association for Progressive Communication's research series on 'Internet and ICTs for social justice and development'. The papers examine a history of feminist engagement with development and digital technologies, and chalk out future directions for feminist advocacy in relation…

This position paper looks at the issue of intermediary filtering in the context of two Supreme Court cases. The first was a petition filed by activist Sabu Matthew George in 2008, asking for a ban on advertisements on search engines related to pre-natal sex determination. The second case was a suo-moto PIL taken up by the…