PRISM - Is The Internet a Safe Place? >>By Ishaan Singh, St. Stephens College, New Delhi

PRISM – Is The Internet a Safe Place?

PRISM, a term that has shaken the very foundations of trust which people have in their electronic devices and  has  caused multibillion dollar companies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, Inc to lose their aura of reliability. The notion of it being for America’s national interest and the safety of its citizens is being debated. However, the PRISM programme’s data has helped avert dangerous situations and if extended to other countries and their citizens, the programme can possibly provide a great boost in the battle against terrorism.  

In today’s world 1.08 billion people use smartphones to either access the internet, browse or other app related activities. Each of these applications stores their personal data such as email ids, passwords and date of birth. The operating systems even track your location for your convenience through applications which provide you real time updates for transport and movie timings. All of which have allegedly released their records to the National Security Agency (NSA).. However, behind this veneer of convenience lies PRISM, a surveillance programme which records data from all of the aforementioned platforms. It is operated under the supervision of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The programme was set up by the Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism (PATRIOT) act established right after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and The Protect America Act established in 2007. The lay man was oblivious to the programme until 6th June 2013, when Edward Snowden an ex CIA employee and NSA contractor exposed some classified documents. Snowden revealed multiple PowerPoint slides which provided an explanation as to what extent the programme monitored communication and data. The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the PRISM Programme, including: Microsoft, Inc, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, Youtube, Skype, AOL and Apple as companies involved in the programme. The speaker's notes in the briefing document reviewed by The Washington Post indicated that "98 percent of PRISM production is based on Yahoo, Google and Microsoft."

Much of the world's electronic communications pass through the United States, because electronic communications data tend to follow the least expensive route rather than the most physically direct route and the bulk of the world's internet infrastructure is based in the United States. Hence, these lines provide United States intelligence analysts with opportunities for intercepting the communications of foreign targets as their electronic data pass into or through the United States.

In the USA, government officials including President Barack Obama have supported the programme, claiming that it has helped avert numerous terrorist attacks on US soil. They have cited examples of Najibullah Zazi and David Headley. Senator John McCain is of the view that “We passed the Patriot Act. We passed specific provisions of the act that allowed for this program to take place, to be enacted in operation."

Senator Mark Udall said "I don't think the American public knows the extent or knew the extent to which they were being surveilled and their data was being collected." "I think we ought to reopen the Patriot Act and put some limits on the amount of data that the National Security (Agency) is collecting," "It ought to remain sacred, and there's got to be a balance here. That is what I'm aiming for. Let's have the debate, let's be transparent and let's open this up."

The New York Times laments that "for years, members of Congress ignored evidence that domestic intelligence-gathering had grown beyond their control, and, even now, few seem disturbed to learn that every detail about the public's calling and texting habits now reside in a N.S.A. database." According to The Washington Post, the intelligence analysts search PRISM data using terms intended to identify suspicious communications of targets whom the analysts suspect with at least 51 percent confidence to not be United States citizens, but in the process, communication data of some United States citizens are also collected unintentionally. Training materials for analysts tell them that while they should periodically report such accidental collection of non-foreign United States data, "it's nothing to worry about."

The PRISM programme has provided the US with the tools to carry out these attacks. It has provided them with a map of the cyber infrastructure of the world which entails vulnerabilities of other countries. In a day and age where the internet dominates all sectors, cyber attacks can be both immediate and devastating.  They can disrupt communication systems, disable national infrastructure, or, as in the case of the Stuxnet virus – disrupt and sabotage nuclear reactors. Hence, the threat of cyber warfare is one that is real and lethal. All of this mapping of vulnerabilities and keeping them secret for an offensive and these pre-targeted, ready to unleash cyber weapons are a worrisome prospect for the world. Therefore, the conception of PRISM in the world is quite contrary to the general “it’s nothing to worry about” idea in the US.  .  

Arguably, the United States of America is pursuing Cyber Espionage. The PRISM programme was set up BY the US Government FOR American national interests. Therefore, the programme spies on and gains potentially dangerous data of other countries while providing zero protection for their citizens. However, if the data was to be shared between the participating countries, perhaps then, the PRISM programme would not be seen as a bane but a boon for the world against terrorism as it would benefit a larger population. After all, the programme was established to fight it and the USA is by far the most popular face of anti-terrorism worldwide. Countries such as India have borrowed from it and are in the process of setting up their own cyber surveillance system – CMS (Central Monitoring System).

The PRISM programme has spied on and collected data from all parts of the world including America. It has provided them with the vulnerabilities of other countries and the tools to exploit those vulnerabilities. However, the PRISM programme has been instrumental in averting terrorist attacks on US soil and can be used as a strong weapon in the battle against terrorism being waged by the United States and its allies. Although, that is only possible if the data is shared amongst the participating countries. The programme has changed the perception of the internet and has shaken the very foundations of trust which people have in the internet and their electronic devices.

Kedaarnath: a poem on the Uttarakhand colossal Tragedy

असंख्य घरों को उजाड़ 
बेवाओं की गोद में डालकर 
बच्चे अनाथ 
तुम अभी भी खड़े हो केदारनाथ !
हमारे सरकार की तरह
बेबस, असहाय, निरुपाय!!
लेकिन हमारी भक्ति देखो
मलबों में अँटकी साँस,
कटे पाँव-हाथ, कोई न बची आस,
हर प्राण पर झूलती हताशा की हाय
फिर भी जारी है महोच्चार -
'ॐ नमः शिवाय, ॐ नमः शिवाय!'



हमारे पुरखों ने
आस्था का कितना वाञ्छित
विकेंद्रीकरण किया,
करोड़ों हम
सबको एक देवता दिया
अब बढ़ कर हो गए हैं हम अरब
जोड़ लिया है मंदिर, दरगाह, मकबरे
और कुछ हज़ार आस्था के नुमाईन्दे भी
लेकिन नहीं मिला फिर भी
सबको अपना एक देवता,
मानव-मन संशय में भोगता;
सो हमने आस्था के
अलग-अलग समुदाय भी बनाए
टूटती नींव पर
कुछ और पलस्तर लगाए।
घरों की नींव ही केवल बच गयी,
दुर्बल थी
चक्रवातों में उड़ गई,
बाढ़ों में बह गई।

अब सोच कर क्या होगा केदारनाथ!
अन्य सम्प्रदाय या आस्थाओं को तो
मैं कुछ कह नहीं सकता
पर तुम तो अपने थे,
तुमसे जुड़े हमारे झोली भर सपने थे.
असहाय तुम दिखे नहीं,
तुम थे!
तभी तो अपनी समाधि में ग़ुम थे।
हम चीख भी नहीं पाए
और क्रुद्ध हिमालय
हमें खींच ले गया पाताल के गर्त में
तुमसे नहीं निभाई गई
वंचना-सी शर्त में।

केदारनाथ,
तुम्हें या तो गिर जाना था
या थोड़ा डर जाना था
जिससे कि हमें याद आता
तुम्हारा भी अब कम ही रहा है
मानवों से नाता।
जैसे जीवन प्रकृति का रूप है
लाशें भी तो उनका ही स्वरुप हैं,
फिर प्रकृति को प्रकृति से क्या बचाना
व्यवहारिक हो,
दर्शन का क्यूँ करो बहाना!
तुमने शायद ठीक ही किया
खड़े-खड़े
मानवों की दुर्दशा देखते रहे
हमारी करनी का फल
भला तू क्यूँ भरे!!

(मृत्युंजय)
२२.०६.२०१३

ANCIENT INDIAN REPUBLICS (JANAPADAS): TRIBAL CLANS OR A PRECURSOR TO MODERN DEMOCRACY.

SYNOPSIS:

Democracy, both as a value and a system, has remained an amorphous concept for both its seekers and scholars. Though having its accepted origin in ancient Greece (508 BC), it certainly has ingredients rooted in the history of many continents, regions and civilizations even before Greeks patented the nomenclature.

There are signs of self-governance models in the ancient Near East from around the 6^th century BC, particularly among the Medes; the ‘Collegia’ of the Roman period having associations of various social, economic, religious, funerary and even sportive nature officers elected every year, often directly modeled on the Senate of Rome; The German tribal system described by Tacitus in Germania and so on.¹

In fact, the list gets longer if we enter in to the medieval ages. However, the spread of democratic ideals and practices to other cultures and even failure thereof have been explained by the Historians on the assumption that Democracy or personal liberty are ideals foreign to the non-Western cultures – an assumption at least as old as Herodotus.²

There are no perfect models of democracy waiting to be discovered, but there seems to be scattered evidences of “government by discussion”, in which groups of people having common interests make decisions that affect their lives through debate, consultation and voting. Majority of these groups or governments have been either called ‘Oligarchies’ or ‘Tribal Clans’, little realizing that even the best form of democracy in the present times had to undergo a process of evolution, well perceived by Emile Durkheim (a French Sociologist & philosopher) when he describes “Democracy is not a discovery or rediscovery of our century, it is the character increasingly assumed by societies……its rise has been continuous from the beginning of history”. ³

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 ¹ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_democracy

² See for example Herodotus, The Histories 7. 135, Trans. Aubrey de Selincourt, rev. ed. – Harmondsworth, 1972 p. 485: the famous reply of the Spartan emissaries to the Persian General Hydarnes

³ Emile Durkheim in ‘Lecons the Sociologie’ quoted by Raymond Aaron in ‘Main Currents of Sociological Thoughts 2’ translated by Richard Howard and Helen Weaver – Penguin Books 1967

Durkheim’s proposed definition of democracy implies that the political order, that is, the order of command and authority, is only a secondary phenomenon in society as a whole, and that democracy itself must be characterized by certain features of the society such as degree of consciousness of the governmental functions, degree of communication between the mass of the population and the government. He takes a dim view of direct universal suffrage.¹

Durkheim’s evolutionist view gets further support by the contemporary explorations of philosophers, most notably John Rawls, who saw ‘the exercise of public reason’ as the central feature of democracy.² Similarly, standard works and authorities of Political Science define ‘Republic’ as a state where the sovereign power vests, not in a single person or monarchy, but in a group or college of persons, more or less numerous. Oligarchies, aristocracies and democracies have all been labeled as republics. Thus Sparta, Athens, Rome, Medieval Venice, the United Netherlands and Poland have all been described as republics, though none possessed universal suffrage as the basis of their respective systems of governance.

Universal suffrage was not available to women in France in the 20^th Century. In the republic of ancient Greece and Rome, the franchise was confined to a small minority; in the medieval republic of Venice, the franchise was the right given to a strictly limited aristocracy which itself was dominated by a small oligarchy; the republic of 7 states of Netherlands was undoubtedly governed by an elected stateholder, but he was selected by the votes of burghers who only had the franchise rights. Even in modern times in USA, millions of Negroes were deprived of franchise rights for a long time, and England had similar pocket boroughs till the middle of the 19^th century.

Moreover, Franchise can be only one of the ways to effect democracy, but its reach and effectiveness ‘depend critically on the opportunity for open public discussion’, whereas public reasoning includes the opportunity for citizens to participate in political discussion and to influence public choice.  James Buchanan, the founder of the contemporary discipline of ‘public choice theory’ too has argued that the definition of democracy as “government by discussion” implies emphasis on individual values which do affect the forms and nature of governance.

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¹ Raymond Aron in ‘Main Currents in Sociological Thought 2’ translated by Richard Howard and Helen Weaver – Penguin Books, 1967, p. 93

² See his ‘Justice as Fairness: A Restatement’, ed. Erin Kelly (Cambridge, Mass): Harvard University Press, 2001, p. 50

If we take the aforesaid contemporary and more rational view of democracy, we will appreciate the claims of those ancient republics of India who stood test of time in establishing and beholding examples of ‘governments by discussion’ for centuries together. There seems to be a major departure from monarchical form of government from the later vedic period as indicated in the Rig Vedic Brahmana, the Aitareya, and in the Yajur Veda and its Brahmana, the Taittiriya. Megasthenes, the famous Greek writer, records the changes in tradition: ‘Sovereignty (Kingship) was dissolved and democratic governments set up’ in various places.¹

As late as in 1903, T.W. Rhys Davids, the leading Pali scholar, pointed out in his book ‘Buddhist India’ (London, 1903) that the Buddhist Pali Canon (and the Jatakas, a series of Buddhist legends set in the same period but composed much later) depicted a country in which there were many clans, dominating extensive and populous territories, who made their public decisions in assemblies, moots, or parliaments.² Since then classical sources like Vedas, their Brahmanas, Buddhist Pali canons, Buddhist works in Sanskrit, Panini’s grammar in Sanskrit ‘The Ashtadhyayi’, the ‘Mahabharata’, the Jaina canons, works of Greek writers who accompanied  Alexander the Great during his Indian expedition and even Kautilya’s ‘Arthasastra’ have been meticulously ploughed through for evidence and insights. Coins and inscriptions have documented the existence of republics and the working of popular assemblies.

My essay intends to examine one important case of ‘government by discussion’ – the Republics of East and North-west Ancient India of the period before 400 AD, mainly because they deserve a rational place in world historiography and also to dispel the oft held belief that the very concept of democracy is specifically “Western”.

The present essay has following goals:

a)    Summarize the history of ancient Indian Republics taking the help of the various original sources, research works and papers; and

b)    Examine the historiographical evaluation of the Indian republican experience so as to place them with deserved value as precursor to modern democracy.

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¹ Epitome of Megasthenes, Diod. II. 38; Mc Crindle, Megasthenes pp. 38, 40.

²(www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/.../HISTDEM/indiadem.htm) Steve Muhlberger, Associate Professor of History, Nipissing University in his article ‘Democracy in Ancient India”

My presentation on India - Indonesia at Jogja (Yogyakarta)

Indonesia finds a special reference and place all through in the Indian cultural and even economic & political history. Whether its parables or fables, myths or realities, Indonesia remains a familiar cultural environ for every Indian.

In fact the histories of the two nations share a similar course of fate. As India has multiracial and cultural incursions leaving its imprint on its cultural fabric through the ages, Indonesia too has witnessed a somewhat similar fate. From Aryans to Macedonians, shytho-Parthians to Turkish, Mughals, Portuguese, Dutch and British, it’s a history of continuous conflict, reconciliation and indegenization for India. Similarly, Indonesia has Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Portuguese and Dutch all making inroads into its millenia old cultural fabric; and what we see today as a vast expance of cultural symbols and expressions, is perhaps the rare example of peaceful acculturation through sanskritization, reconciliation and indegenization. Even after going through centuries of sufferings and subjugation, the continuity of our cultural miliu remained intact and we learnt not to suffer from the what Arnold Toynbee said “the mirage of immortality” in a multicivilizational world. We always believed in “collective Representations”, as Sociologist and thinker, Emile Durkheim will put it.

If I apply present day’s World Systems Theory, we have continuously been following ‘cultural homogenization through exchange of information’ and “inter-cultural communication”. Today the world is devising ways and means to prepare ground for “Uncertainty avoidance”; we have achieved the same ages ago, may be not in terms of economic and political power due to being worse victims of colonial subjugation and imperialistic terror, but certainly in the sphere of our cultural and community living.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

The list of commonalities and linkages between Indonesia and India is quite long, if we describe the sources and analysis of various archeological, numismatic, epigraphic and literary remains. Right from today’s textile, woodcraft, sculptures, Islamic and Sufi traditions, Ramayana and Mahabharata traditions, symbols of Ganesha, Vishnu and Garuda, architectural similarities, food habits, day-to-day family chores and norms, methods of worship to the centuries old trade relation proved by the remains of Rouletted Ware found in the excavations of Sembilan in the north coast of Bali, existence of “Klingas” in Java and colonies of old Dravidian settlers in West Sumatra.

I, therefore, have taken help of projecting some of the very important and relevant details on the screen before you so that I can end my presentation within the designated time period. I’ll keep my domain restricted to a brief introductory analysis of the possibility of Silk Route being one of the first facilitators of our contacts;

·      Few details of the remains found and the revelations thereof;

·      What we are today in the light of our past historical and cultural linkages; and

·      What all can be achieved to forge a better understanding and ground for cooperation.

As rightly indicated by Samuel P. Huntington in his famous book “ The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World order”,“.…economic exchange brings people into contact; it doesn’t bring them into agreement….”whereas in case of Cultural interaction it is the other way around. Culture being a socially shared activity and developed empirically over the years, it doesn’t carry any angularity of conflict; it rather enlightens ways to keep people engaged and sharing the finer and aesthetical aspect of each other without any malice or prejudice.

Today with our respective phases of development vis-à-vis the world order, we are in a whirlpool of an extremely complicated multi-cultural, multi-civilizational and multi-interest world, where he, who lacks a cultural core, would perish. Any country ever attempting to disavow their cultural heritage and shift the identity of their country from one civilization to another has only created a schizophrenic torn nation. Here, it’s appropriate to remember the prophetic suggestion of Mahatma Gandhi that let the air of all cultures and environ pass through my window. The interaction and exchange should cause a healthy homogenization therby strengthening the existing cultural core, and not destroy or uproot the same.

Fortunately, both Indonesia and India, through millenia of cultural interaction and sharing have earned a society having a strong cultural core of their own, which only needs to get further cemented in making us to learn to navigate the shallows, endure the miseries, moderate their ventures, and safeguard their culture. We wish and work diligently for a better and healthier understanding of our commonalities and cultural affinities.

Let our people to people contact flourish further through tours, travels, exchange of scholars and studies, research and development in various subjects of common interest, preservation and popularization of our common heritage, and continuous connectivity to keep our youth and future generations aware enough about the virtue of respecting the well nourished and preserved cultural core.

बहुत देर कर दी!

"बहुत देर कर दी आते-आते 
हुज़ूर, बहुत देर कर दी आते-आते !"
कह रही है सरबजीत की बहन,
उग आया है सहसा घटनाओं का वन:
घटनाएँ
जहाँ हमारे देर से आने से
हमारा घर लुटा है,
आपस की सीनाजोरी से
भला क्या जुटा है?
घटनाएँ,
जहाँ मन में बिलबिला कर भी
हम कुछ नहीं कर पाए
बहुत उदार हुए
तो बस मांगी दुआएँ।
घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ!!

घटनाएँ
मुँह खोलती हैं जब भी
हमारी घिग्घी बंध जाती है,
हम व्यक्ति से मनुष्य बन जाते हैं
समस्याओं को जीवन-दर्शन सिखाते हैं
कि कैसे सब कुछ
जैसे प्राकृतिक है,
हम ही वर्ज्य हैं,
बाकी तो सब नैसर्गिक है।
घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ!!

घटनाएँ ही चला रही हैं
हमारी जाति को
पुरखों की थाती को,
सभ्यता तो सिर्फ़
ऐतिहासिक शोध की तरह,
विचारों से लटके
अलसाए बोध की तरह
हमें रात में
अच्छी नींद दे जाती है,
भारत की विद्रूप महानता के
सपनों से बींध जाती है।
घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ, घटनाएँ!!

घटनाएँ,
जैसे एक सुर-असुर संग्राम हैं,
चिरंतन चल रहे आणविक विस्फोट के
जैविक परिणाम हैं;
इनमें सीमा-सरहद नहीं होते
खोने-पाने की ज़द्दो-जहद से परे
इन्होंने सबको देखा है खोते,
मुख पर कालिख पोते।
जैसे हमने चमेल
और सरबजीत को खोया
अनगिनत को तो न कोई जाना,
ना रोया।
रोता बस वही है
जो जीता है पीछे,
जैसे पड़ी है सरबजीत की बीबी
निढाल, आँखें मींचे,
और गुहार कर रही है उसकी बहन:
"बहुत देर कर दी आते-आते
हुज़ूर, बहुत देर कर दी आते-आते!"

मृत्युंजय
३ मई , २०१३

चाँदनी की धनक

साफ़-सुथरे आसमान पर 
खुलके पसरने की सनक,
आज दिखी है चाँदनी की धनक।
कुछ सितारे झिलमिलाए 
अलसाए, आंखें चुराए,
बहुत दिन हुए, ऐसी देखी ना दमक।
आज दिखी है चाँदनी की धनक!          (मृत्युंजय)

तुम्हारा ख़त

आज फिर तुम्हारा एक ख़त मिला 
संदूक के खुरदरे कोने से चिपका 
कुछ यतीम, आवारा यादों का सिलसिला।
लफ़्ज़ों में जड़ा प्यार, थोड़ी दानाई,
लिखावट में घबराहट की छाया-सी फैली रोशनाई,
बेतरतीब भावों की कुछ सूखी कलियाँ 
इधर-उधर खींची लकीरें
जैसे भरमाये पलकों पर ख़ुमारी की शहतीरें।
भौरों के गुंजन-से लरज़ते हरफ़
पर जमी तुम्हारे छुअन की बरफ
गल कर धीरे-धीरे
मेरे उम्र की नसों में लुढ़क आई है।
(Mrityunjay)