Ex-DRDO chief Subrata Rakshit stresses ethical balance between privacy and democracy

Bengaluru, Aug 19 (PTI) As individuals have their right to keep some information private, a democracy needs to find ethical ways -- or correct policies -- to maintain the delicate balance that a society needs to function, said Subrata Rakshit, former Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday.

Rakshit was addressing a plenary talk on ‘Technology Driven Capacity Challenges to Public Policy Formulations -- a Relook at Education, Identity, Privacy and Democracy’ organised at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB).

“Individuals have the privacy option, to withhold information. Democracy has to determine the correctness of policy and its execution,” he said.

The plenary talk was part of the inaugural session of the 20th International Conference on Public Policy & Management, being hosted by the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) from August 19 to 21 at the IIMB campus.

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Rethinking State Capacity in Delivering Public Policy’.

“Digital identities in cyberspace is a whole new game. This is where public policy has to come in. Policy making has to balance costs, benefits and accountability. Verifiable (live) biometrics like Aadhaar need to be understood and leveraged correctly,” said Rakshit, touching on the challenges posed by technology in the policy space.

According to him, in the era of artificial intelligence, short term benefits outshine long term implications in democracy.

“To determine what qualifies as a ‘right’, it is not enough to just have a desirable outcome; it should have consistency when applied to all members of the society. Rushing into the policy space without paying any heed to sustainability, cannot be the way forward,” he pointed out.

Noting that technology solutions may eliminate labour and service of humans, he said unemployed humans cannot generate demand.

“This calls for policy level interventions beyond normal market dynamics. The history of human civilization has shown that the rich and learned often take control, leaving the weaker sections uncared for, which leads the society towards decline,” he said.

Delivering the welcome address, Prof Gopal Naik, Chairperson, Senior Fellow and Jal Jeevan Mission Chair Professor at the CPP, said, “Today, CPP is not just a forum for academic rigour, but also for practice orientation, involved significantly with public policy design and implementation.” He also spoke about the CPP’s flagship Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM) and the achievements of its alumni. “PGPPM alumni, including Hasmukh Adhia, who has been credited with the Jan Dhan Yojana project of the Government of India, have proved to be great assets for the nation,” he added.

He said CPP received 170 submissions for the conference this year, out of which 60 papers were selected for presentation.

The annual CPP Conference on Public Policy & Management is an interdisciplinary conference which draws scholars representing diverse perspectives on public policy issues and provides a forum for showcasing the latest developments in policy research and practice. PTI JR ROH