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Digitisation as challenger to India’s constitutional framework

Mar 30. 5:00pm.  Apar Gupta, Executive Director, Centre for Internet Freedom, New Delhi. “Digitisation as challenger to India’s constitutional framework”. https://in.linkedin.com/in/apar1984.

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Description: Successive governments have prioritised increasing tele-connectivity, open data platforms and digital identity in India. These have resulted in mass internet access and use of technology in governance. Policy design has also de-prioritised an emphasis on fundamental rights. This is most tangibly perceptible in areas of free expression and privacy. The end result of relentless digitisation has resulted in harms that have ultimately challenged the democratic framework of India towards greater aggregation of power towards Governments and private beneficiaries of policy largesses.

Apar Gupta is a lawyer qualified to practice in India with a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Law, New York. He is the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights advocacy organisation in India for which he has been awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2019. His work is focused at the intersection of technology and civil rights through strategic litigation in cases such as Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India and Justice Puttaswamy v. Union of India. This is complemented with online campaigns and civic literacy efforts such as the one for Network Neutrality under the SaveTheInternet.in, or for data protection laws under SaveOurPrivacy.in. He has also deposed before Parliamentary Committees of Information Technology and Science and Technology to inform topics of study including Internet Shutdowns, online obscenity and the DNA Bill.

 March 30, 2022 

Time: 5:00pm

Presenter: Apar Gupta

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Global Asia Program