Some well-known academics based in the US have written an open letter to top technology firms on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slated visit to Silicon Valley in September-end to promote the Digital India campaign, expressing their concern over “lack of safeguards about privacy of information, and its potential for abuse''.

The letter, signed by Wendy Doniger, Partha Chatterjee, Arjun Appadurai, Akeel Bilgrami, Ajantha Subramanian, ​and Meena Alexander ​Kamala Visweswaran, among 100 others and published in the Economic and Political Weekly , said: “Indian entrepreneurial success also brings with it key responsibilities and obligations with regard to the forms of e-governance envisioned by 'Digital India'.

The letter, sent to Google, Adobe and Microsoft, among others, expresses concern that the Digital India project’s potential for increased transparency in bureaucratic dealings with people, “seems to ignore key questions raised in India by critics concerned about the collection of personal information and the near certainty that such digital systems will be used to enhance surveillance and repress the constitutionally-protected rights of citizens.”

“Those who live and work in Silicon Valley have a particular responsibility to demand that the government of India factor these critical concerns into its planning for digital futures,” it says, while acknowledging that Modi, as Prime Minister of a country that has contributed much to the growth and development of Silicon Valley industries, “has the right to visit the US, and to seek American business collaboration and partnerships with India''.

The group of academics also urged: “Those who lead Silicon Valley technology enterprises to be mindful of not violating their own codes of corporate responsibility when conducting business with a government which has, on several occasions already, demonstrated its disregard for human rights and civil liberties, as well as the autonomy of educational and cultural institutions.”

Citing examples, the letter mentions the Gujarat violence of 2002 when 1,000 died, “well-publicised episodes of censorship and harassment of those critical of his policies, bans and restrictions on non-governmental organisations leading to a constriction of the space of civic engagement,” adding that “academic freedom is also at risk: foreign scholars have been denied entry to India to attend international conferences, there has been interference with the governance of top Indian universities and academic institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institutes of Technology and Nalanda University; as well as underqualified or incompetent key appointments made to the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Film and Television Institute of India, and the National Book Trust.”

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