-NetworkIdeas.org In a move that was expected, the US Justice Department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against internet search giant Google, alleging that it resorts to anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the search engine space and, through that, over the related online advertising revenues. As a leading example the case cites the successful effort to exclude the Competition through a deal, in place since 2005, in which Google pays...

-The Indian Express Seema Chishti is a journalist based in New Delhi, who has worked for the Indian Express and the BBC. She is the co-author of Note by Note: The India Story (1947-2017). The emergence of political leaders the world over with a contempt for the democratic systems they preside over, requires a re-examination of the ideas of democracy & representation. This is a necessary preliminary towards salvaging ‘government by discussion’.  The...

-Newsclick.in Tech monopolies are increasingly being acknowledged as a danger to people, other companies and even to democracy. The regulatory worm seems to be turning in many countries, even in the US where it had gone into hibernation. The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google-Alphabet (Alphabet is Google's parent company) for a range of anti-competitive practices using its monopoly power in the search market. This is the only...

-Hindustan Times The Centre’s attempt to bulldoze the states on agriculture weakens the entire reform process Days after Parliament passed the controversial agriculture bills, several state governments have begun crafting strategies to avoid its implementation. This is a predictable consequence of a process of law-making that undermines India’s federal consensus. Agriculture is a state subject. The passage of national laws, on a state subject, marks a rupture in India’s federal trajectory. There is...

-Livemint.com * Market participation is meaningless without information. Should every Indian farmer get a smartphone? * Without internet connectivity and market intelligence, the transaction cost associated with selling in places outside the local market are higher than the value of the produce FATEHPUR: Kamlakant is a smallholder farmer in Daulatiyapur village of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. He is an enthusiastic vegetable cultivator and every season, he searches for answers to three basic...