According to the American Heritage Dictionary, Oxymoron means...
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.
We dont let half a chance pass by to gloat over our democratic credentials. How many times have we thrown the "we are democratic" phrase at our western neighbour. And how many times have our scholars reminded the americans that we are more natural an ally of the US simply because we value freedom and free speech, unlike China !!
Are you guys scrambling for cover now ? Its eat your words time, folks. The Government of India thinks it has this god given right to prevent its citizens from viewing certain internet content.
Yes, they think they know whats right and whats not. They are like the guardians to the gateway that leads to the information super-highway. Well, you can be forgiven for thinking that I am talking about an oppresive dictatorial regime here. Naah ! Its India. Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India !!
Here's a thought. Why dont you government guys censor the whole internet instead. And just give a list of sites that are allowed in to these ISP's. Easier for you and easier for the ISPs too. So that way we can go back to the Doordarshan days of Uno-Channelo !
And you know what ? I am trying hard not to take a pot-shot at the Prime Minister. But damn its getting too tough. Here is a technocrat who is totally alone in the cabinet. Each ministry doing as it pleases. No collective responsibility. Honestly I thought our first big experiment with coalitions under the NDA was a mess (at times) but this UPA coalition sequel is worse than messy.
The dept. of Telecommunications, who does it come under ? Is it again a minister from the south ?
5 comments:
hmm.. true.. very bad decision.. maybe the person who took this call was not really aware of technology.. quite silly , coming from Information ministry..
we have long way to go in respecting individual's freedom, but you see government can really do anything with total impunity, that's the reality..
Its some babus decision...btw the ministry is under Jaipal Reddy I think.
But the silver lining is the highlight of public anger...forced govt to reverse its stupid action within 2 days....so much so that now DOT is asking the poor ISPs for explanation as to why action shouldnt be taken against them for blocking the entire blogspace...when they wanted to block just 2 pages.
Doesnt DOT know that we can still access any of the blocked contents through a proxy ??
the minister from down south, is busy furthering his own interests i.e. taking down opponents...
eswar
Contrary to popular view that it is this UPA govt that has started behaving 'commie/socialist' and curbing freedom of speech by blocking ISP, it is surprising to note that actually it was the previous NDA govt that setup a cell to block internet websites in India and started the trend !
Ever since the Computer Emergency Response Team India (CERT-In) was named the designated agency for blocking websites in 2003, the Government has been periodically issuing orders to ISPs.
The Hindu was the first to report the first-ever blocking of a site in September 2003 when ISPs barred access to a group espousing the cause of Meghalaya's Khasi tribe. Since then there have been several instances of ISPs being ordered to block websites but they never came into the public domain.
More info here http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/22/stories/2006072206991400.htm
I suppose you are right...we need to question our whole system of democracy and the so called great institutions that support it. Shameful. Really shameful.
Post a Comment