-Outlook A controversy has arisen over directions to school teachers in certain Bihar districts to dissuade people from defecating in the open and click pictures of those who refused to pay heed. Orders issued by block education officers asked teachers to do rounds in various wards and panchayat areas in the mornings and evenings and ask people to use toilets. They were also directed to click Photographs to shame those who insisted on...

-TheWire.in Private moneylenders are a major source of loans across the region, and with the collapse of banking in rural areas, their role has only grown. Baliram Kadpe is critical of the Maharashtra government. “Farmers do not get the minimum support price [for their crops, from the state],” he says with concern. “And it is tedious for them to acquire crop loans.”  Kadpe believes if the state ensures that farmers have access...

-The Hindu The very foundation of Aadhaar must be reconsidered in the light of the privacy judgment Predictably enough, the recent Supreme Court order affirming that privacy is a fundamental right sent Aadhaar’s public-relations machine into damage control mode. After denying the right to privacy for years, the government promptly changed gear and welcomed the judgment. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), suddenly asserted, “The Aadhaar...

-Business Standard For those whose fingerprints don't match, life becomes 'imPoS-able' New Delhi: In certain circles of Jharkhand, a newly-minted term has become the source of heartburn and more — PoS-able. It refers to whether or not one’s fingerprints match on the PoS (point of sale) biometric readers in ration shops. Those whose fingerprints match, access their allotted ration. For those whose fingerprints don’t match, life becomes ‘imPoS-able’. According to an ongoing...

-The Indian Express A citizen-centric data eco-system is necessary to protect privacy. Who owns my data? In this question, if you replace data with a physical object, like a car or a house, the answer would obviously be “me”. That’s true not only of physical objects, but also of content because the latter is governed by copyright laws. The principle is you are the owner of the content you create, such as...