Right to privacy

By overruling its own cases delivered in 1954 and 1961 on the right to privacy, the nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has steered the course of jurisprudence in such a way that it is in tandem with the evolving values of a progressive society (“Right to privacy is ‘intrinsic to life and liberty,’ rules SC”, August 24). The court is aware that its verdict will have a bearing on other issues such as the criminalisation of homosexuality and the abortion rights of women. It will have to brace itself to tackle a flurry of petitions challenging various laws that allegedly violate the right to privacy.

The government has not crowned itself with glory by blowing hot and cold on the privacy issue, arguing once that there is no fundamental right to privacy and now saying that privacy is a right subject to reasonable restrictions. It has its task cut out to formulate a credible and robust data protection law so that the Aadhaar scheme passes muster with the court as privacy-compliant.

V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

It is premature to understand the impact of this judgment on Aadhaar; that’s for a separate day. The linking of Aadhaar to PAN, mobile numbers and so on will raise the amount of direct and indirect tax collections as it will provide the government with an effective tool to manage fraudulent practices. Even after the government’s aggressive push to ensure transparency, there are still many who oppose Aadhaar. Only time will tell if the Supreme Court will back these people or not.

Jai Prakash Gupta,

Ambala

We rejoice that the right to privacy has been unambiguously and emphatically declared a fundamental right. It easily ranks as one of the most significant rulings of the country’s top court since January 26, 1950. Thanks to the verdict, the right to privacy is now inalienable, paramount, and inviolable. It lends a new dimension to the notion of personal liberty and marks the beginning of a new era for individual freedom. It recognises privacy as something at the core of human dignity. It helps us shed the fear of our private lives being intruded upon.

The right to privacy may appear to be “amorphous”, but it inheres in almost all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. “The right to be left alone’’ or “the right to choose solitude if I want solitude or the freedom to socially cohabit, that is, if I want it”, to borrow from Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, is now made sacrosanct. Most importantly, it redefines the relationship between the state and the citizens and keeps others out of one’s kitchen and bedroom, thus pre-empting the emergence of a totalitarian state. Surveillance and invasion of privacy will be the last to have constitutional or legal sanction.

The ruling does not come in the way of delivery of benefits to the impoverished through welfare schemes. It does not dispense with the Aadhaar scheme and PDS, but requires the government to put in place a robust data protection mechanism in order to prevent the misuse of biometrics and personal details collected from the common people.

G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Tragedy on tracks

The gimmick of the Railway Minister, of gaining high moral ground while the Cabinet reshuffle is being facilitated, cannot whitewash the stain on the Railways’ image (“Prabhu offers to quit, but Modi says ‘wait’”, August 24). The Indian public is not so naïve so as to be fooled into believing that good governance means introducing bullet trains and Wi-Fi while the quality of services offered remains poor and safety remains a huge concern. The solution does not lie in Suresh Prabhu resigning. Concrete action needs to be taken on the ground and accountability has to be established across the board.

Varghese George,

Secunderabad

It is good that the Railway Minister offered to resign. It reminds me of how Lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned following the Ariyalur train disaster in 1956. Such a crop of politicians is seldom found these days.

K.V. Seetharamaiah,

Hassan

Suresh Prabhu’s resignation offer is laudable. At a time when even State Ministers are glued to their seats and refuse to resign in the wake of a scam or a tragedy, he must be complimented for volunteering to demit office. However, the Railways needs to introspect and take some hard decisions to address the serious deficiencies in track maintenance and safety protocols. Unless sustained efforts are taken to improve operational efficiency, it will be difficult to instil confidence among the travelling public. More importantly, such tragedies would have a dampening effect on the Prime Minister’s vision of introducing bullet trains.

P.K. Varadarajan,

Chennai

There have been a lot of expectations from this government and especially from the Railway Minister, which is why these episodes cause great disappointment. With GST, travelling AC and first class became more expensive. In 2016, the Railways doubled the ticket cancellation charge. The year before that Tatkal ticket charges went up for AC and sleeper class. What is the point of all this if we are not able to prevent accidents? Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not hesitate to relieve Suresh Prabhu of this portfolio. If he doesn’t, then the people of the country will feel that Mr. Modi only preaches about corruption and inefficiency but doesn’t act on it.

N. Mahadevan,

Chennai

On Macaulay

It is a fact that our policy planners, educationalists, and teachers usually miss the total universal context in which Macaulay had advised his colonial administrators to shift gears of the Indian education system and introduce English in schools and colleges (“A minute for Macaulay”, August 24). It would, he said, work as the code to understand and execute the policies of the empire, yes, but also enable the Indian elite to interact and assimilate distant and alien cultural practices and gain from them. No doubt it was not an entirely selfish objective because it produced world-class personalities to lead the country’s freedom movement and put India on the path to progress. I think the argument against English started from Uttar Pradesh/Bihar where teaching of English fell into disrepute, and in a decade or so began to be called a ‘foreign’ language more forcefully. However, in the present international scenario vis-a-vis trade, IT, business, aviation, etc. one cannot function without knowledge of English. This, however, is not to suggest any dilution in efforts to develop and promote other languages including Sanskrit and Urdu.

Mohan Singh,

Amritsar