Our Advocacy Statements

IT for Change's Submission to the Call for Comments on the Draft Convention on the Right to Development

2021

IT for Change responded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (UN OHCHR’s) call for comments and textual suggestions on the Draft Convention on The Right to Development. Our submission focused on strengthening obligations on State Parties by specifically addressing the development challenges of the digital…

IT for Change's Response to the Public Consultation on the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020

2021

IT for Change responded to the call from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020.

Read the full submission here.

In light of the growing recognition of the dominance of certain platforms in the e-commerce domain, the Draft Rules are an…

Just Net Coalition's Comments and Suggestions to the Zero Draft of the Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries

2021

The Just Net Coalition (JNC) made a submission with comments and text suggestions to the Zero Draft of the Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries. The Zero Draft was released by the co-chairs of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), Bangladesh and Canada, on July 12, 2021.

The…

IT for Change's Comments to the Draft National Geospatial Policy, 2021

2021

IT for Change inputted to the public consultation on the Draft National Geospatial Policy, 2021 put out by the Department of Science and Technology.

Our submission emphasized on the fact that physical locations are a shared public resource and the policy supporting wider democratization of geospatial data should allow for equal digital…

IT for Change's Response to the Public Consultation on India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)

2021

IT for Change responded to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare public consultation white paper for the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA). The key points of our submission are summarized below.

The full submission may be found here.

IDEA will prevent corporate capture of core structures of the digital…

Representation Against NUE Licenses for Corporations like Amazon

2021

IT for Change is part of a coalition of NGOs and labor unions that has called on the Reserve Back of India (RBI) to not proceed with licensing corporations to run parallel financial infrastructures like Universal Payment Interface (UPI) on a for-profit basis. This coalition includes the workers' union of the State Bank of India, the largest…

Input at the Civil Society Consultation for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries

2021

On behalf of the Just Net Coalition, Anita Gurumurthy presented the following input at the Consultation of Civil Society with the Co-Chairs of the Preparatory Committee for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) on May 20, 2021.

Respected Co-Chairs,

Digital technologies have emerged as an…

IT for Change's Feedback to the Draft Digital Markets Act, 2020

2021

The draft Digital Markets Act envisages the obligations of data sharing by large gatekeeper platforms along with ex-ante oversight by the regulator of such platforms, in the EU. This regulation is framed as a part of the Digital Services Act Package, being discussed by the EU to regulate the digital economy.

The feedback by IT for Change…

Over 170 Civil Society Groups Worldwide Oppose Plans for a Big Tech Dominated Body for Global Digital Governance

2021

Just Net Coalition, along with more than 170 civil society groups addressed an Open Letter to the UN Secretary General urging him to shelve plans for a High Level Multistakeholder Body which, if set up, can be expected to become the default apex global digital governance and policy body. This body is to be privately funded, with strong hints…

Press Release: Open All Primary Schools Now to Avoid a Learning Crisis

2021

IT for Change has drafted a statement, endorsed by a group of educationists and social work organizations, about the urgent need to open all primary schools to avoid a crisis of learning. Read it below:

1. The Karnataka education department has opened schools selectively. Classes 9-12 have regular classes, and 6-8 have intermittent…