Wednesday, December 23, 2015

IAS Diaries Part 1 - Formal Dinner

So many people have come to me expressing their desire and desperation to loose weight and when I tell them my way of doing it, they simply start to have second thoughts. No one wants to run five kilometers everyday, no one wants to slog it out in the gym, no one wants only protein diet in the breakfast and no one wants to do away with those sinful little desserts. And hence I pondered upon the dilemma and after putting much thought to it, I have the best solution for such people. Attend as many of "Formal Dinners" as you can!

Some might be thinking what the hell is this guy up to and how can a proper multi-course dinner help to reduce weight. Well folks, welcome to the concept of pseudo-dining where the entire focus is on everything else OTHER than food. You must look razor sharp, you must wear the proper attire, you must not make noises with your cutlery, you must not cross talk with people sitting in front and finally and most importantly you must not eat to your quantitative satisfaction. And also, to state the obvious, you must look satisfied and have that gorgeous little pretentious smile of yours as if you are actually enjoying the nano quantities of food being served to you at a blistering pace.

Now, this whole ball game reminds me of my days in ITBP. There also we had such long dinners which lasted for nearly four hours leaving you even more hungry than you originally were. But there is this another instance that i can relate this to. So, during the training we were supposed to do certain number of pull ups and chin ups to pass the physical tests. Now, initially, most of us weren't able to do many and that's when our CHM told us, " साहब लोग, चिन अप चाहे ना हो, पर तरकीब बिलकुल सही होनी चाहिए ।" Meaning, that even if you are unable to do the actual thing, the procedure should look sublime. It is not what you are supposed to do but it is how you pretend to do, that defines you. Yes yes, inspiration from Batman Begins.

Now, prima facie, a four-course meal seems to be adequate but as they say, do not judge a Formal Dinner by the number of courses it offers. And why are we even counting the few tea-spoons of soup and a minuscule salad as separate courses. There was hardly any discourse they resulted into. Plus, to add to the misery, since around 200 people were dining together, there was no way that all could see the chief guest eating. And hence we had Red and Green lights indicating when to start eating and when to stop. Fabulous it was, waiting at the on-the-mark line, ready to gulp the tiny portions of pretentious food on our plates. They might as well had a yellow light, so that we could figure out which cutlery to use among the whole arsenal kept in front of us and get ready to press the throttle at the hint of the Green. I really felt, most of the times, there was more cutlery than food on our tables.

And then it was time for "Main" course. There is a reason why it is called a "Main" course. If you are going to serve cutlets and two pieces of chicken, we would have to rethink the whole nomenclature folks. I think we had more quantities of food served in the Pro-leagues organized by the Officer's club. And then it was time to raise a toast. And that was followed by a spectacular speech by our Chief guest which goes like, "I must finish this speech really quickly as we all have to go out and have some dinner. I was thinking that I would repeat the speech I made the last time. Why not, it's the same place, same food, same taste as well. The OTs are different but perhaps the faculty would think he is saying the same thing. But i am more than sure that they do not remember what i said as it was hardly relevant. ....". God, what a speech.

And then we raised a toast again. "To the Service!". And as those tiny volumes of apple juice had hardly made a difference, we thought we should go on toasting. To the Cadre, To the District, To Rahul Raj, To Dr. Rajaganapati, To you , To me etc. But then the evening came to an end and we, along with our poorly fed tummies, marched out with a loud outcry "To the Ganga Dhaba!"

P.S. But also, as rightly put by the Chief Guest, these things teach us patience and discipline which impact our lives in several ways, more than we could ever imagine. 

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

[Essay] Building a civilized society: Respect for privacy in an age of transparency


Privacy is not something that I'm merely entitled to, it's an absolute prerequisite.” – Marlon Brando

The Information Age
Welcome to the age of Big Data. Welcome to an era where omnipotence is proportional to the amount of information you command. Welcome to an era where the establishment and the corporate houses know your choices and preferences better than yourself. They already know what you want to buy, what you want to own, where you want to travel and what financial transactions you are involved in. There is nothing to hide as everything you do today is quantified and collated inside servers that are thousands of miles away from you. Scary isn’t it? One might even relate to the idea of Skynet featured in a successful film series called Terminator featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course the omnipresent and super powerful search engine today known by a different name is the obvious reference here.

Furthermore the amount of data that is collected everyday is astounding to say the least. As per Eric Schimidt, CEO of Google, the amount of data collected between the genesis of human civilization and 2003 is nearly equal to the amount of data which is collected every two days in present times. Now that’s some statistics which will sweep you off the floor. All this data is floating over the internet most of which is unsecure and can lead to vulnerabilities of various sorts. Moreover, this data set is here to stay and would probably keep us in doubt for eternity. This creates the risk of Identity thefts, Cyber crimes and cyber espionage. And these are not just lethal-appearing phrases, they are considerably lethal.

Need for Transparency
From this very apprehensive picture of big data, emanates the question of transparency. Transparency is the practice of having everything out in the open for all to see be it the policy decisions, be it the records created for government services or be it anything else. In fact, World Bank defines transparency as one of the crucial features of Good Governance. Now a day’s transparency is one of the prime parameters on which the effectiveness of a government is measured.  With the advent of the Right to Information almost everywhere in the world, the governments are being forced to be more proactive in information dissemination to avoid such unwanted litigation.

The struggle for Right to Information in India started in the form of a social movement to unveil the red carpet and to look beyond it. The Mazdoor Kisaan Shakti Sangthan (MKSS) was one of the key factors which forced the government to open up the vogue of secrecy. This organization under the leadership of Aruna Roy was looking into the non-payment of wages to workers in Rajasthan and started demanding the right to see and verify the government records in this regard. In her paper titled “Fighting for the right to know in India[1], she describes how the locals are planning for a dharna in a busy market town of Beawar, in central Rajasthan. It takes form of a procession and moves through the town roads like a snake eventually culminating into a protest in front of the office of the local authorities.  Such movements against local authorities started to come in vogue at several other places as well. It was as if a wave had struck aiming to demolish the veil of secrecy. One thing led to another and suddenly people wanted to see more of what the governments are actually doing on records. And hence was born the movement for Right to Information.

The latest paradigm in the evolution of Public Administration is of e-government[2] or Digital era governance as it is popularly referred to in administrative journals. This Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform has empowered the citizens and at the same time has provided the Governments an avenue to realize transparency. Within a blink of an eye, a draft bill can be uploaded and eventually can be seen and deliberated upon by millions of citizens. The comments and suggestions can easily be captured by creating online forums. Citizens can be made aware and sensitized about various programmes and issues through this medium. If not for this instrument, it would have been utterly difficult to realize the idea of transparency.

Predicaments to Transparency
But every rose comes with its own thorns. Transparency and big data are great idea which seem to be good intentioned as well and are possibly quintessential in this global age. But there are certain components which have the potential of being Orwellian which refers to those elements which are destructive for a free and open society, a term coined after George Orwell. We all know who Edward Snowden is and we all are aware what he stands for. As per the claims made by him, US government and it’s agency named NSA were allegedly snooping on individuals to the extent which no one can ever imagine. This is apparently being done very secretively without letting anyone know even a little thing. The whole episode has sent shock waves across the world and has made citizens from various other countries aware about their right to privacy and the iron fist forced upon them by the governments.

To understand this in our national dimension, let’s take the illustration of RTI in India. We all know the good side of it so would be redundant to mention it here. But also one needs to understand the flip side to it.  As per certain news reports, every year nearly 30 RTI activists are either killed, criminally intimidated or beaten. Nothing is being done to protect the identity of the whistleblowers. Without doing the same how do you expect people to come forward and make their case heard. It is very obvious that they would rather chose to be silent than being made silent in a not so good way. And why are we moving so slow to protect the whistleblowers, you just need to realize those who are to make the call are the ones most likely to get affected.

The other example is that of the UID project. Again prima facie, you would think of it as a brilliant proposition that would eliminate the duplication of the identity cards which we have to get from a myriad government departments. The idea to link it to our accounts is even more brilliant. But among the general apprehensions surfacing today is that our bio-metric stats are not stored with the best of security framework and the risk of identity theft is imminent and ever present. People would like to know what layers of security are being provided and how safe their personal identities are. But nothing particular has been done to mend the trust deficit in this regard and that can prove a costly affair later on.


Privacy Vs Transparency
All these above discussed cases hint at an ongoing debate between Privacy and Transparency. To those well versed in Indian Polity would easily relate it to the debate between Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties. Some sections assert the prominence of the former and others opine that the later are equally important and relevant. Can some rights be compromised to realize a particular duty? Can some duties be neglected to fulfill a particular right? These are difficult questions with not a single correct answer. Both are relevant at their places and a fine balance needs to be struck when they come face to face. And every single situation would have its own unique solution. Imposition of generalizations would be a futile exercise.

On the same lines we need to understand that both are relevant in their own frames and a fine balance is what we should aim for. This answers the compatibility question between the two. Now the only dilemma left is that of how to strike that balance. One school of thought believes that the yardstick should be of “Public Interest”. Whenever there is predicament on the question of a compromise between privacy and transparency, we ought to see what is best in the larger interest of the people. There would be times when the levels of transparency would have to be reduced and there would be times when the Right to Privacy shall be curtailed to some extent.

Right to Privacy Bill[3]
This brings us to the question that is anything being done in India to facilitate the much talked about Right to Privacy. A very detailed bill was drafted and has been discussed in the pubic circles for years but it is still to see the light of day. The basic purpose of this act is to protect the citizens against the misuse of data by the government authorities.  To obtain various services and licenses, citizens have to present certain personal vitals and records to the respective departments. All such records then stay with those departments and at times some confidential information lies at the risk of being compromised. As of now, the bill targets all the citizens only but the other question being shall it be expanded to cover all residents? Besides it also deals with the delicate phenomenon of interception by Intelligence agencies.

Now one needn’t debate on the relevance of such agencies as they are paramount considering the question of internal security. What one needs to debate is that the bill also pondered upon the possibility of giving a blanket exemption to such Intelligence agencies. Now as Lord John Acton had said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Ergo we must think of certain safeguards to prevent the abuse of such raw power. Such blanket exemption should only be given in rarest of rare cases which pertain to the national interest but of course it would be very difficult to prove such urgencies. But the difficulty in the provision of safeguards should never be an excuse for absolutism. In this regard, the bill also proposes the constitution of a Data Protection Authority (DPA) which would also be mandated to prevent the stealing of personal information.

Another debate that is parallel and ongoing is that whether this Right to Privacy can be said to be derived from the Right to life and personal liberty as provided by Article 21. Various judicial pronouncements can be sighted to substantiate this argument. A recent Supreme Court bench while deciding on a matter pertaining to privacy went on to say that “If a man is not safe in his own house, then what remains in Article 21 (right to life and liberty)? Where is the liberty then? If privacy is not there in liberty, then what else can be there?”  Looking at it from an individual’s perspective, there might be certain private vitals which they consider disturbing to be made public and hence the correlation can be made. Another line of thought which has been coming up is that rather than monitoring all the citizens why not only monitor those who are part of the power hierarchies. These are the people who are at positions where such abuse is possible so why not limit the sample to them. Intriguing thought indeed and I am sure the future stakeholders would be coming up with an amicable solution. But the counter view presented is that when it is also about ensuring internal security of the nation and for this there can be no compromises and a zero tolerance approach has to be adopted.

To understand the importance of privacy it would be apt to quote long time privacy activist Simson Garfinkel. In his work Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century[4], he tries to argue why people are so particular about their privacy. On this note he goes on to say
“Privacy is about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity…. Over the next fifty years we will see new kinds of threats to privacy that don’t find their roots in totalitarianism, but in capitalism, the free market, advanced technology, and the unbridled exchange of electronic information.” This very statement presents the whole worldview which we discussed above in a very concise and precise way that speaks for the need to have privacy. Some people argue that they don’t care about Privacy as they have nothing to hide. Edward Snowden smartly compared it to the situation where people do not care about Freedom of expression because they have nothing to say.

Now the question comes how to evaluate whether the model designed by us balances the elements of privacy and transparency. A better way to understand this would be to take an organization as a reference point.  The work Privacy Payoff offers us a great tool to determine how a particular company is performing in terms of the local information policies and how well they manage customer privacy. They refer to their tool as the “Privacy Diagnostic Tool Workbook which keeps in mind these basic privacy principles such as limiting the collection, disclosure, duration of retention of records etc.” Moreover they also provide a questionnaire pertaining to “Privacy Impact Assessment” which is turning out to be an excellent tool for figuring out whether the novel technological solutions deployed by that company are privacy compliant or not.

Now taking a global perspective on privacy laws, the difficulty is that every country has a different set of Privacy laws and this becomes a big issue for the Multi-national corporations (MNCs) and to clear this legislative jungle, this work by IT experts Albert J. Marcella Jr. and Carol Stucki titled as “Privacy Handbook: Guidelines, Exposures, Policy Implementation, and International Issues[5] proves to be an oasis in a desert. Full credits to the makers of this work for trying to accommodate almost all the countries irrespective of their sizes and influences. This in fact became a big issue when several big American firms were asked to comply with the European privacy norm in order to continue their businesses in Europe. Such situations arose with other companies as well in several other nations which eventually led to the development of this kind of a study.

As we move forward in the digital age where freedom and privacy have become ultra important for all individuals, the industry is gearing up to use this as a marketing propaganda. Or rather this has already materialized in certain ways. Brands are being made and popularized using privacy as a prop. Internet Service Provider (ISP) company Earthlink were floating a funny commercial accusing other ISPs of sharing and leaking personal information. A similar project was launched by Microsoft titled as Trustworthy computing. This is indeed a smart move to have an early grab as it is almost certain that the Privacy movement is going to get global and is going to succeed not very far from now.

Having understood the relevance of both Privacy and Transparency in modern times, now we need to cautiously craft a sturdy framework that can sustain both these components simultaneously eventually laying a strong foundation upon which we can build a civilized society.  As we have already agreed that transparency is one of the core democratic values which we cannot do away with. What we need to keep in mind is that such information which are pivotal to the strategic and security interests of the country should be dealt with in a secured and sophisticated manner to avoid any mishaps.

On the other hand, we need to give due recognition for a Right to Privacy and we ought to make sure that we move forward in a mission-mode approach for its realization. As we advance through the various paradigms of Public Administration, we have moved from New Public Administration (NPA) to New Public Management (NPM). That represented a transition from rowing to steering. But the future which belongs to the empowered and aware citizenry demands the paradigm of New Public Service (NPS)[6] which requires the authorities to move from steering to serving. And in this light, the Right to Privacy becomes even more crucial that one could imagine.

Once upon a time, Thomas Hobbes conceptualized the legendary “Social Contract Theory” so that there could be order and not chaos in the society. Today to build a civilized society in this global information age, we need another social contract between the citizenry and the establishment which calls for a fine balance between the Privacy of citizens and the Transparency in governance. With the realization of one such contract, thou shall see the rise of Good Governance. We started with a wonderful quote on Privacy and we end with an equally sublime quote on transparency having come full circle.

I've come to learn there is a virtuous cycle to transparency and a very vicious cycle of obfuscation. – Jeff Weiner


References

1.      Fighting for the right to know in India – By Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
2.      Reinventing local governments and the e-Government initiative – By Alfred Tat-kei ho
3.      Right to Privacy Bill on Centre for Internet and Society’s website.
4.      Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by Simson Garfinkel
5.      Privacy Handbook: Guidelines, Exposures, Policy Implementation, and International Issue by Albert J. Marcella Jr. and Carol Stucki
6.      New Public Service by Robert Denhart and Janet Denhart

Thursday, December 17, 2015

LBS Diaries Part 25 - Exams and Goodbyes

There are mixed responses to the timeline of the Foundation Course. Some feel they have no idea about how these four months have galloped away. Some say they were counting days and are glad to get rid of the damning cold Mussoorie has been putting upon us. One thing certain, that the former outnumber the later by leaps and bounds. So now came the time to write our Final Exams. The much dreaded affair especially for the victims of the first Management Mid term. This brings out an important aspect to the table, yes, there were "two" mid term exams. That's outrageous people, mid term can be only one right, in the middle of the term. And if you still insist on making this a high school with so many exams, at least be technically right by not calling it so.

Anyways, we are Probationers and given the Rule 12 of Probation Rule, we don't have much say in things happening around. So unwillingly we slogged for the finals in the last weekend of the Foundation Course where people rather wanted free time to go out with friends one last time and rightly so. First things first, on behalf of the entire batch I propose a vote of thanks to all those who prepared short notes and circulated on various social media forums so that the uninitiated could do the needful. Especially Ran Vijay, it is perhaps because of you that many OTs would pass and would not have to come here again saving a lot of government revenue in the form of their TA/DA. Great job man!

And there we were with Public Administration paper as the first strike. Now the name here is terribly misleading and they literally put everything under the Sun under the garb of this holy subject. And then it was coupled with Law. The previous night to the exam became so taxing for some that they thought of consulting the Old Monk. But we all know, he only helps in Philosophy. Anyways the papers of both the subjects were having ample choices and as post-modernist administrative thinkers discuss, public choice theory is good for all. Holds true in exams as well. But then came the Economics paper with a dubious claim that this was the easiest paper in ages. On this, I can say with 99% confidence interval that previous batches would have been all pass outs of DSE/LSE if that was to be true. And I double dare you to to a Z test on my null Hypothesis!

Apart from the difficulty levels, the Economics paper had put people in dilemma. Those writing their exam in Nehru Auditorium were finding it difficult to chose the question which was on the pros of market economy. History can be amusing at times. Nevertheless, it was all over soon and the even more difficult part was here. The time of goodbyes. It has been a wonderful Foundation Course. Getting to meet so many diverse personalities from across the band of services all at once is one rare opportunity. And this idea of bringing people from all services together is very crucial as later on when we go in the field, the pace at which things move will depend upon how your equations with people in other services are. After all, each and every service plays a crucial role in the developmental discourse of the nation. And for that synergy to exist, FC has certainly played a key role.

And what to say of this batch. This bunch of Three Fifty Three is certainly multi-faceted as the faculty phrased it. You name the event and there would be participation. Be it a lazy Sunday or a party Friday. This batch has great sporting talents, wonderful actors, melodious singers, energetic dances and what not. You name the skill and we will show you the SWAG. Sometimes, I wonder how a bunch of UPSC passouts can be so talented in all these aspects. Hat's off to you guys. No kidding. Lastly, I wish everyone Good Luck in all their endeavors. It has been a pleasure knowing so many of you. And it is a pity that we only had three months. I am sure that our paths would cross again and again. Lets hope the warmth of the bonds remains for always. Lets hope that we look out for each other in the testing times that are to come. Lets hope that we all succeed in giving back something to the nation. On this note,  I would like to share with you all, the words that came to me on the day of our result. Click here to read.

I would like to end by quoting the most powerful lines I have ever come across. It gives me immense strength when the times are not right. "Life is like a boxing match. Defeat is declared not when you fall, but when you refuse to stand again".

P.S. This is the last post of 90th Foundation Course. But the show must go on. And so would the posts.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

LBS Diaries Part 24 - Of classes & of yawns!

So, it was our last class at the computer lab. I don't know about the majority but in my opinion these ICT sessions were absolutely fabulous and utterly quintessential. Not that I didn't know any of the basic stuff which was taught but for the simple fact that every public servant should be made aware of all such ICT tools so that he/she can carry the work efficiently. In the age of e-Governance and m-governance, computer basics is like a little cog in the big machine. Nonetheless, a very crucial cog. And this time spent in labs was made even more special by the lovely faculties who had so much patience for our silly musings and twisted doubts.

As the instructor started the last session, he asked to the class, in his cute little English, "Am I audiable to the class?". Yes Sir, pretty much audible, only grammatically inaudible.  As the class was underway, those already proficient in computer knowledge started playing the Dino-jumping game which the Chrome browser offers to the folks devoid of internet. That cute little game reminds me of Mario and the amusing fact that how such simple games are able to grab our attention for so long. Any way, talking of games, the computer lab had also become the virtual shooting range for the OTs. Everyday after the end of business, a battle was fought between the cops and terrorists. Counter Strike had resurrected from the ashes of college times. Okay, coming back to the point, once ample time had passed, the instructor in the lab would innocently ask us about our assignments "Have you done everybody?". And then we all had to try hard to keep our laughter to inaudible levels. Freakishly funny, how much of a difference an absent comma can make.

But then, an overwhelming majority would agree to the fact that these were the only classroom sessions which we looked forward to, where we didn't indulge in the sin of slumber and we would not mind more. And then there were the regular classroom sessions with more or less the same syllabus which we had studied while preparing for Civils. Be it the quarter group, half group or full group, they were all equally sedative. And it doesn't matter if you had had a good sleep in the night or not. Five minutes into the lecture and your eyes start to give up. One yawn after the other. You try to hide that embarrassing opening with your hands. After a while, you get fed up of doing that camouflage and thus the speaker gets his feedback then and there. Some find a good posture to sleep which won't be that insulting. And some brave souls, let themselves go completely off the hook. Head backwards from the top of the seat, they slide down their seats. And then there are those, who even snore. Nothing less than red and white bravery awards, for such melodious audacity.

Not that all were cliched, we have listened to some excellent lectures and inspiring speeches. But the numbers are minute. Talks by Ramachandra Guha, K. Vijay Kumar, Jayant Sinha and others have been extremely thought provoking. But then there were others where we couldn't join the dots. I am sure many would remember that decibel disaster from a top management institute where the phrase "my ears bled" actually came true. I am sure many would remember that theoretical class on Yoga when clearly somethings are better understood in practice. I am sure many would remember the Australian episode where we desperately needed subtitles to understand even a word. I am sure many would remember that psycho session with no PPT which was responsible for 230 people failing in Management. And I hope you remember the adventurism of listening to a free market economist which pushed us literally to an existential crisis.

Talking of subjects, how can I not mention Public Administration. I don't understand why everyone is after this still evolving subject. As if the distasteful defamation of the subject by UPSC was not enough, the subject has been suffering here as well. Here at the academy, you can clearly classify topics into Law, Management, Political Concepts. And whatever remains from that and whatever cannot be rightly classified into anything else, all is dumped in the umbrella discipline of Public Administration. In a way, this has become the God of academics. What why, जिसका कोई नहीं होता, उसका Pub Ad होता है !

Jokes apart, I simply admire the in-house faculty here at LBS NAA. To me, and perhaps to many more, they are far better than the guest lecturers from across the country and beyond. Be it the breathless prepositions of Law, be it the dynamic display of Economics or be it the subtle nuances of administration, hats off to you guys. In case you are wondering if I really meant the above mentioned, the answer is yes, it has to be, it is more than three lines! At last, the classes are coming to an end. We have learnt several valuable things. We also have had perhaps the best naps ever. Best of both worlds, I would say. Let's hope the wisdom passed on helps us to survive in this VUCA world. And for the benefit of those who were sleeping in that class, VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous!

In the lectures to come during the professional training, I wish you luck. Hope you get the last row!