Understanding data and what it means for India's future

data-sovereignty

If the quest for gold, spices and oil sparked off wars and colonisation and thereby changed the course of world history, it is logical to wonder if data could cause the same in the coming days. Day in and day out we see evidence supporting the oft-repeated recent saying 'data is the new oil' around us—right from the billion dollar fortunes built up by tech giants like Google and Facebook, to the strident reactive movement for privacy online.

By now, we all know of the raging issue of how a person's data can be accessed with or without his/her knowledge (or control) and be used to influence his/her own behaviour and decisions. But what the book 'Data Sovereignty: The Pursuit of Supremacy' does is to go beyond it and link it what this means for India's future, and all of us. It delves into the dynamics of data economy and stridently vouches for the importance of data localisation, something the Indian government has been pushing tech and financial giants to comply with in recent months, but without significant success.

The authors do this shrewdly, linking the many hundred years of India's colonial past—how the once 'Sone ki Chidiya Bharat' had become an economically weaker nation when the British left in 1947 and how history needs to be prevented from repeating itself in the 21st century with 'data colonisation.' To quote from the book, “With the world's prosperity so linked to internal and external trade, data analytics play a savoury crucial role in trade related decision-making. It explains the relevance of the statement 'whoever controls data controls everything'....the concept of storage of data within the local boundaries has taken significance. The reason is that governments and commercial organisations are wary of this data falling into other hands, as they realise that they could lose the commercial, scientific, security and military advantage they presently have if the data is beyond their geographical and legal boundaries.”

Through chapters that detail the importance of data centres, the opportunities and the risks that data offer, the legality and vulnerability, and interestingly enough, how India could pivot itself as a global data centre hub, the writers lay down the agenda, and its importance. To further accentuate it, a bunch of curated articles—from business publications to interviews given by the likes of Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad—have also been included in the book.

While the language of the book is simple enough for anyone to quickly grasp and comprehend the subject and issues at hand, it also has some handy reference material included for anyone with a deeper curiosity, including a copy of the draft national e-commerce policy as well as the Reserve Bank's circular on storage of payment system data within India. You expect nothing less from a book jointly authored by the very men working behind the scenes to ensure India's sovereignty in this modern-day 'gold rush' over data.

Data Sovereignty: The Pursuit of Supremacy

by Vinit Goenka, Lt. Gen V.M. Patil, Lt. Gen Dr D.B. Shekatkar, Lt. Gen Vinod Khandare, Lt. Gen Vinod Bhatia, Jayadeva Ranade & Bharat Panchal (Foreword by A.S. Kiran Kumar, former chairman, ISRO)

Published by: Penman Books

No of Pages: 257

Price: Rs 599 (Hardbound)