OPEN www.openthemagazine.com 8 MARCH 2021 / `50 VOLUME 13 ISSUE 9 13 ISSUE VOLUME 8 MARCH 2021 CONTENTS 8 MARCH 2021 5 6 12 14 16 18 LO COMOTIF BENG AL DIARY INDI AN ACCENTS TOUH C STONE W HISPERER OPEN ESSAY The politburo of pieties By Swapan Dasgupta The theology of liberation An epic challenge By Jayanta Ghosal Hell is not the other By S Prasannarajan By Bibek Debroy By Keerthik Sasidharan By Kanchan Gupta 22 22 WHO’S AFRAID OF SOCIAL MEDIA? The interface between democracy and the digital noise By Madhavankutty Pillai 27 STANDING UP TO BIG TECH Why Australia is telling Google and Facebook they are not bigger than governments By Sudeep Paul 30 A TOOLKIT FOR THE POST-TRUTH WORLD If you care about democracy and liberty, stop distorting the undistorted By Rahul Pandita 34 KILLING THE SLOW BRAIN How social media feeds unreason By Nitin Pai 36 THE ALGORITHM OF FREEDOM We can either surrender to global tech giants or lead the way By Aprameya Radhakrishna 38 42 38 THE TRIUMPH OF VACCINE DIPLOMACY India shows the world how to move beyond vaccine nationalism even as it confronts new challenges at home and abroad By Siddharth Singh 42 IT’S A DATE, PERIOD A public calendar is breaking the silence around menstruation in rural Haryana 46 60 By Nikita Doval 46 CARTOGRAPHER’S DAY Liberalisation of map-making is a gamechanger for the economy—but with this freedom, too, comes a big responsibility By Sudeep Paul 50 50 54 56 58 60 62 65 66 T GHE PRO RESSIVE T HE ABANDONED FO RGED IN FIRE P AGE TURNER ALL ABOUT VERBATIM HOLLYWOOD STE ARGAZ R IN PARIS Holding institutions The violence in the Browsing alert MY MOTHER Who is the REPORTER By Kaveree Bamzai The pleasures to account formation of the By Mini Kapoor Modernity faces off parasite? Riz Ahmed on his and pains SH Raza By Rohit Chandra Indian nation-state tradition in an By Nandini Nair latest film faced in Europe By Siddharth Singh indie drama set in the Sound of Metal By Yashodhara Dalmia Himalayas By Noel de Souza By Prahlad Srihari Cover by Saurabh Singh 8 MARCH 2021 www.openthemagazine.com 3 OPEN MAIL [email protected] EDITOR S Prasannarajan LETTER OF THE WEEK MANAGING EDITOR PR Ramesh C EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ullekh NP It is the first time in our political history that a prime EDITOR-AT-LARGE Siddharth Singh D EPUTY EDITORS M adhavankutty Pillai minister has openly advocated for the critical role (Mumbai Bureau Chief), private companies play in not only wealth creation R ahul Pandita, Amita Shah, V Shoba (Bangalore), Nandini Nair but development as well (‘Modi in the Marketplace’, CR EATIVE DIRECTOR Rohit Chawla March 1st, 2021). Having said that, it would not be ART DIRECTOR Jyoti K Singh SENIOR EDITORS Sudeep Paul, right to conclude that public enterprises are no Lhendup Gyatso Bhutia (Mumbai), good. It is the corporate performance and return Moinak Mitra, Nikita Doval SENIOR AssT OCIA E EDITOR to shareholders that should count the most at the Antara Raghavan end of the day. Maintaining corporate ethics is AssT OCIA E EDITOR Vijay K Soni (Web) paramount and non-negotiable. With the prime A SSISTANT EDITOR Vipul Vivek CHIEF OF GRAPHICS Saurabh Singh minister’s latest statement, the ball is now squarely SENIOR DESIGNERS A nup Banerjee, in the court of India Inc to do justice to the role people Veer Pal Singh expect it to play and provide sustainable growth PHOTO EDITOR Raul Irani D EPUTY PHOTO EDITOR Ashish Sharma and employment to our youth and accelerate the conditions of weather and pace of wealth creation. Last but not least, the Union civic life. There will be fewer NATIONAL HEAD-EVENTS AND INITIATIVES A rpita Sachin Ahuja Government must also ensure that red tape and petty occasions for engagement AVV P (AD ERTISING) Rashmi Lata Swarup officials do not become hurdles for India Inc, slowing and disengagement. Army GENERAL MANAGERS (ADVERTISING) their growth which in turn slows economic growth. personnel can then be put U ma Srinivasan (South) The journey from investment proposal to clearances to better productive work. NATIONAL HEAD-DISTRIBUTION AND SALES to conducting operations on the factory floor to Their families could live A jay Gupta REGIONAL HEADS-CIRCULATION expansion should not be smooth only happily with less fear. D Charles (South), Melvin George (West), Basab Ghosh (East) in committee reports. Nations too would have less HEAD-PRODUCTION Maneesh Tyagi Bal Govind tension on the borders. SENIOR MANAGER (PRE-PRESS) Padmavati PV Sharad Tailang MANAGER-MARKETING Priya Singh DISRUPTIVE AGENDA CHIEF DESIGNER-MARKETING C hampak Bhattacharjee OVERDUE SHIFT resonated with Indians When disruptive elements CFO & HEAD-IT A nil Bisht Prime Minister Narendra who are now fed up with first distorted the narrative Modi’s open embrace of asking governments that on the new citizenship law, CHIEF EXECUTIVE & PUBLISHER Neeraja Chawla the private sector was a never completely fulfil the coronavirus put paid All rights reserved throughout the long overdue shift from the even their basic demands. to their schemes (‘Fixing world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. well-rehearsed apologetic Government-controlled the Narrative’ by Minhaz Editor: S Prasannarajan. Printed and published by Neeraja Chawla on behalf approach all governments in businesses have run out of Merchant, March 1st, 2021). of the owner, Open Media Network Pvt India have displayed so far steam and the aspirations of But they soon found a new Ltd. Printed at Thomson Press India Ltd, 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road, (‘Modi in the Marketplace’, the crores of youth can only cause célèbre in the protests Faridabad-121007, (Haryana). Published at 4, DDA Commercial March 1st, 2021). The 2021 be met through the market. against the new farm Complex, Panchsheel Park, Union Budget has made a In a country where everyone legislation. And they would New Delhi-110017. Ph: (011) 48500500; Fax: (011) 48500599 strong pitch for privatisation wants to become rich, find something again even To subscribe, WhatsApp ‘openmag’ to of public assets. Banks and it’s amusing to see if the Government were to 9999800012 or log on to www.openthemagazine.com Life Insurance Corporation some politicians would take back the legislation. or call our Toll Free Number 1800 102 7510 are apparently on their way want to blame the rich for All these activities seem by or email at: to the market, rumour has it. India’s problems. design, not spontaneous. [email protected] For alliances, email Those who came up with Ashok Goswami As someone once said, that [email protected] For advertising, email the ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ jibe we would need to invent [email protected] would never have expected SATELLITES FOR BORDERS god if he didn’t exist, these For any other queries/observations, email [email protected] that Modi would bite Satellites monitoring borders disruptive elements invent the bullet on lauding the is a saner way to go in this reasons to protest where D isclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing private sector. In contrast modern era (‘Across the there aren’t any. Despite initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using to the predictions about a Fence’, March 1st, 2021). This the Government’s promise products or services advertised in the magazine populist backlash that the will reduce the incidents of to delay implementation, opposition’s spin doctors encroachment, trespassing, protestors are refusing to V olume 13 Issue 9 F or the week 2-8 March 2021 were hoping for, Modi’s firings and the need for have a constructive dialogue. T otal No. of pages 68 support for businesses has soldiers to stay in inhuman Bholey Bhardwaj 4 8 MARCH 2021 LOCOMOTIF By S PRASANNARAJAN THE POLITBURO OF PIETIES E SEEM TO HAVE exhausted our semantic Our complaints are selective, and we are hardly honest options to categorise the shifts in the history whenever we try to moralise our motives. The governments’ of freedom. The Cold War lasted longer, with paranoia is an old story: they all feel so fragile—and behave as a grander theme and a matching territorial if nations too are equally fragile—whenever some “seditious” division. After the hot war that ended with minds out there dare to tell a bad story. Is it that, after the reign Wthe world partitioned between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, the Cold War of the Book—of gods’ and men’s—technology is the ideal launched the clash of ideologies. Two versions of freedom liberator, the unifier? Forget the panopticon for a while; assume jostled for space in the global mind, each with its own set of that we can overcome the dark arts of hackers from Russia moral certainties. The inter-changeability of truths and lies, the and North Korea; and think that we have enough strength to real and the fantastical, was the chosen method for domination. survive the hypnotic powers of the machine. And see how we When the Wall finally came down, and when one part of the have become active citizens with more questions to ask, more world was proved to be the most comforting mythology man ideas to exchange, and more knowledge to share, in a world ever built, history did not end. It took a pause. What followed of interconnected destinies? Think of how we have become was equally divisive; the old ghosts of nationalism came to conscience-keepers and muckrakers, debunkers and storytellers, haunt the space just vacated by ideology. The new wars were liars and illuminators. How we have become the most audible fought along religious and ethnic lines, and the nationalist noisemakers of democracy.