The DOT is looking to revamp the Indian Telegraph Act to upgrade it to a modern law. If we had a blank slate to reimagine the law what would it look like. I suggest that we do away with the license regime and put all the regulations into the law. This way services providers just sign up a single document signifying that they are bound by the law and the regulations. Then we should simplify the entire system by simply dividing all telecom services into either carriage or access services and prescribing obligations in that manner. Lets make it technology neutral - especially when it comes to distinctions between voice and data.

The PM-EAC has recommended reforms to India’s patent system that primarily involved ramping up the work force (from about 800 to 2800 in a couple of years) and also introducing the utility system of patents as appropriate. I suggest we go a bit further and try and tweak the term of patent so that it is more appropriate for the invention being protected. So 20 years for pharma but no more than 5 for tech patents that in any event evolve to the next generation within that time.

There are parallels between the myth of the Tower of Babel and the modern linguistic challenge of the internet. In this India has a unique need for translation technology, given its linguistic diversity. Bhashini may be the answer.

Intellectual property boundaries are being streteched with companies claiming exclusive rights over specific colors and the extension of copyright terms. Its time for a re-evaluation of how intangible property is protected, given modern technologies and commercial realities.

There is a parallel between the use of barbed wire in the American prairies to establish property rights and the modern challenge of protecting intangible assets like intellectual property. Barbed wire allowed landowners to enforce title by fencing off land instead of branding ownership onto cattle. Decentralized technologies, such as blockchain, could transform the way intangible assets are protected, just like erecting fences around real estate, made it inherently resistant to trespass.

There are many benefits that can be derived from space investments - including communication satellites, GPS technology, weather prediction, and various innovations. We need broad-based participation in the space sector, including private investments and to this end the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) is a positive step.

This article was first published in The Mint. You can read the original at this link.

Last week, my timeline lit up with some of the most gorgeous photographs of space that I have ever seen. The first images from the James Webb telescope included stunning visuals of what the universe looked like soon after its birth and clear evidence that there was water in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star.

We need to understand how Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) fit into the modern 2-tiered banking system. While CBDCs offer potential benefits, such as banking the unbanked, do we even need a CBDC in the Indian context.

We need technological disruption in India’s legal system. I believe this would reqire us to maximise the potential of online dispute resolution (ODR). The upcoming GST Appellate Tribunal could be a unique opportunity to leverage ODR, transforming the legal profession through efficiency and accessibility.

The US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Medical overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the guaranteed right to abortion since 1973. The ruling challenges decades of jurisprudence, threatens civil liberties, and impacts personal privacy. It also raises questions about the doctrine of stare decisis and the frailty of judge-made law.

We believe that internet platforms are too dominant to fail. But this is not true when you think of the evolution of internet search and curation - suggesting that technology evolves in cycles. We may be on the cusp of a major cyclical transformation - in which case we may challenge the notion that Big Tech is too big to fail.