Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg was on hostile turf on Monday as spoke to executives at the world’s biggest annual gathering of the mobile industry, renewing attempts to win their backing to help reach billions of users with no Internet access. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Zuckerberg sought to make peace with…
The e-commerce sector failed to find a place in the Budget for 2015-16. Measures proposed on taxation or start-ups may benefit online retailers, but there were no sector-specific measures for the sector. Sectors that made it to the budget over e-commerce were leather footwear, which received a reduction in excise duty; incense sticks, which received…
The increase in mobile and internet connectivity in India has been much faster than the growth in our road and rail networks. Photo: Mint The ubiquitous mobile phone is today emblematic of one of aspirational India’s great success stories in the 21st century. But the spread of mobile phones in the country also reflects a…
What happens when a wireless operator with millions of customers loses the airwaves it needs to provide service? We may soon find out thanks to an unusual government auction taking place in India. The government will open the bidding on Wednesday for airwaves already in use by the biggest carriers, including Bharti Airtel Ltd and…
INTRODUCTION India is home to 1.2 billion and is projected to be the third largest economy in the next decade.1 India also accounts for 33 percent of the total population living in poverty, according to the UN2 and spends 1.3% percent of its GDP on health compared to 3 percent by China and 8.6 percent…
A coalition of civil society groups, including Pension Parishad, National Alliance of People’s Movements, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and Right to Food Campaign, held a rally and dharna in New Delhi in December to coincide with Parliament’s winter session. The rally sought to bring diverse groups together, provide a platform for social issues and highlight social…
The farmer wanted to know why the govt wasn’t using Google Earth and WhatsApp to help the farming community and stop rampant corruption. A pre-budget meeting with members from the farming community literally left chief minister Siddaramaiah stumped when a 69-year-old agriculturist from North Karnataka spoke on the use of Google Earth’s [latitude and longitude]…
New Delhi: Impunity is widespread for human rights abuses by state and non-state actors in India, says the latest report by Amnesty International. The 2014-15 annual report of the international human rights organisation on ‘ The State of the World’s Human Rights ’ – released on February 25 – says that despite progressive legal reform and court…
The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging constitutional validity of certain sections of the cyber law including a provision under which a person can be arrested for allegedly posting “offensive” contents on websites. A bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman reserved their judgement after Government concluded…
“Moral policing is not just a policing on morals, but also has a say on sexual behaviour, intellectual behaviour and governing behaviour. It is a sign of silencing,” said Shiv Visvanathan, social scientist, here on Saturday. He was delivering a lecture on the concluding day of communication fest ‘Article 19’ organised by the School of…