The Hans India: New Delhi: Tuesday, February 06, 2018.
The scrolls,
break news, polls form the basis of sensational news, even as the trolls in
social media get viral and reach millions.
(Troll means an irresponsible comment on Facebook or twitter). The power
of media and social media runs parallel and influence mutually.
While
electronic media bombards with breaking news, citizens and leaders equally can
use the tweets, Facebook and Whatsapp transcript encrypted (supposed to be
protected) messages to reach millions of people without bothering the
geographical borders. Exchange of information between the ruler and the ruled
could happen in myriad forms.
With
expansion of this media power, the state is also extending its jurisdiction on
the common man. Besides journalists, it is arresting netigens and citizens for
‘offensive’ comments, ‘embarrassing remarks,’ ‘satiric’ cartoons and
‘insulting’ caricatures. Police intrude drawing rooms at early hours to arrest
nitizens for a Facebook posting or Whatsapp sharing. The state and the
non-state factors are coming down heavily on people threatening their freedom
of expression. One Mr Zakir Ali Tyagi
was confined for 42 days for his comments against the rulers.
https://scroll.in/article/853786/i-still-dont-understand-my-crime-up-teenager-jailed-for-facebook-posts-in-april-seeks-answers
Debajit Roy, merchant, and Anupam Tarafdar, the residents of Balurghat in north
Bengal, were arrested for Facebook posts criticising traffic restrictions
during Durga Puja. https://thewire.in/189265/bengal-arrest-facebook/.
Arrested
for political criticism
Another
person in Karnataka was arrested on September 8, 2017, after murder of Gauri
Lankesh, for a comment against the persons with leftist ideology.
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/bengaluru-police-arrest-22-yr-old-posting-facebook-hate-messages-gauri-lankeshs-murder-68077.
Arresting for
political criticism and ‘offensive’ opinion is an abuse of state power and is
against basic tenets of expression freedom. Facing police for political views
on social media is a serious breach of constitutional right.
The other
media book and cinema is equally in trouble. Street and state are unsafe for
expressive persons. ‘Padmaavat’ is an example. Despite clearance by the film
certification authority and the assertion of apex court, this expression is
facing suppression by states and certain elements on streets. Some states
argued before the Supreme Court against the freedom of expression. Are we free
to imagine and write fiction?
One
Additional Solicitor General argued that people do not have freedom to distort
history. The court asked what is that ? He gave an example: if a producer shows
our Father of Nation taking whisky, is it it not distortion? Then the advocate
on other side asked: What is fiction in it?
Indian
Express on Jan 25, 2018 gave a headline “There is freedom to stone school bus
with children,” exposing protests
against ‘Padmaavat’ movie causing a four-minute ordeal for children. Is the
right to life of children of no value? Karni Sena and others can keep off from
movie, campaign against it vociferously, but can’t use violence.
Issues of
demanding information are of high concern. Aadhaar is such an issue today.
Through Aadhaar, the state is collecting the private information of common
people with unseen coercion, while even under RTI the state refuses to give
basic information about public servants like recruitments, charge sheets and
complaints or actions against them under wrongful claim of privacy. For state,
it is private and for people is it duty to give all that information under
threat! State is possessive of official information while citizen’s privacy is
of no concern.
Official
secret: An oxymoron
Official
secret is a self-contradiction by itself. It could be even an oxymoron. If it
is official, how that could be personal or secret? We still are being ruled by
British legacy of Official Secrets Act 1923, which leaders of Independence
movement demanded to be repealed. Right to Information in theory overrides the
OS Act. But enough scope was created in the exceptions for survival of Official
Secrets.
Aadhaar
& civil death
With Jan
Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile, combinedly called JAM, the state is trying hard to
convert every transaction into an electronic one. The digitalisation is one way
an innovative programme, but not free from challenges to democracy. Now poor
and middle classes have to surrender to the new master technology.
They are
deprived of ration even by an accidental match or mismatch of biometric
data. If their present finger prints do
not match with data at date of enrolling, citizen suffers civil death, one
cannot even operate a bank account or use the mobile, can’t get a caste
certificate, or income certificate, without which he cannot even join his
children in schools.
Not having
Aadhaar, makes him niraadhaar. It can cause ‘civil death’. You may be alive but
you cannot survive! If right to vote is also linked with Aadhaar, the endeavour
to de-duplication with accuracy might lead to the ‘civil death’ of a citizen.
The Supreme Court in fact came to the rescue of the people and passed around
six orders not to link it to several schemes.
The SC agreed
linking only to PAN cards and bank accounts etc, and around six schemes. But
various programmes are being added from time to time making Aadhaar mandatory.
All the hopes are now pinned on the Supreme Court, which is hearing a batch of
writ petitions.
Aadhaar is
criticised as an affront to the very freedom. One of the major deficiencies of
Aadhaar Act is that a person has no choice to decide not to have Aadhaar card.
Once person is enrolled with Aadhaar, he cannot opt out of it.
If UIDAI
denies the card illegally, or by defective technology, or for any reason, the
aggrieved citizen has no right to complain. The Act says that person should
approach the UIDAI to complain on his behalf, and the power to complain is
given only to UIDAI. If UIDAI has
illegally denied Aadhaar card, or if personal data is leaked or stolen or
deliberately sold by officers of UIDAI, a citizen has to ask only UIDAI to
complain on his behalf! He has nowhere to go.
If any person has a complaint against UIDAI, the Aadhaar Act 2016 does
not provide any way out.
Without law
on privacy and data protection, feasibility, assurance of safety, a massive
enrollment was done. After crores of
citizens were enrolled under fear of deprivation of welfare and ration, the
Aadhaar Act was passed wherein UIDAI is authorised to collect demographic and
personal information besides biometric information.
There are
hundreds of instances of leakage or selling of data but UIDAI denies. The UIDAI
has banned 34,000 technological companies, which were once working for it. Complete personal information of more than
100 crore people is with the government, while government employees are protected
by Official Secrets Act, in spite of Right to Information Act. Most of their
service-related information is denied by PIOs, considering them as third party
personal information.
Parties
fighting against RTI
Political
parties are fighting tooth and nail not to reveal their financial details. They
do not want give information under the RTI Act. All parties are united,
forgetting their differences, to fight against the transparency. Thanks to ADR
and MKSS, we have at least the information about criminal, educational (or lack
of it) or financial background of each contesting candidate.
But
unfortunately, there are no penal consequences for false declarations. The
fudging of accounts of expenditure by candidates to keep it low within limits
is never probed. The source of their donations and names of donors continue to
remain secret. While whole population pays maximum 30 per cent income tax, the
political parties enjoy exemption without any accountability.
If they get
donations of Rs 1,000 crore per annum, they should have paid Rs 300 crore tax,
had there been no exemption. There is neither regulation of political parties,
nor possibility of regulating the media. Not it is possible to imbibe culture
of responsible commenting on social media.
Expression right cannot survive without information and suppressing
information is not good for democracy.
The people
should not continue to be left out to remain subjects, they should empower
themselves with information to become vibrant citizens and question the parties
and wrongs by media and social media. The political parties and the media
should voluntarily come under the RTI and give information to the people to
make India a real democracy. (Part of Author’s address “Scrolls, Trolls and
Polls: Information and Political Parties” at Hyderabad LitFest on 28th Jan
2018)
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