And for the third weeks GD Monday discussion on 'The Odd-Even Formula Mooted By The Delhi Government Is A Great Initiative' - Week 3, click here.
For last week's GD Monday - 'Life Is A Chair' - Week 4, Click here.
This week's topic is 'Net Neutrality in India'. Discuss.
This is how it will work:
1) Users can post their arguments in the comments section below by logging in through their www.insideiim.com user id.
2) You can argue and counter-argue on the topic for the entire week.
3) The thread will be moderated by Team InsideIIM to ensure the discussion is kept relevant and is not abusive.
4) On Saturday, experts and industry professionals at InsideIIM (all ex-IIM, XLRI, ISB only) will rate each argument on the thread on the scale of 10 with some guidance.
This cannot replace the experience of the actual GD but this exercise will surely help you shape your line of thought. While we may not be able to help you here with your delivery, we ensure that if you go through these next few weeks with us on this thread you will markedly improve your content. Hopefully, there will be more substance when you actually speak in a GD after going through this exercise.
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Comments
pooja rawat
Internet has unleashed the creativity of the masses, which we see in form of innovative startups blooming in every corner of the country. One of the main reason by internet has become such a great platform is because anyone anywhere cannot just use it to receive but give information to anybody anywhere. That is whether it is an MNC’s website or a small startup’s website everyone is equal in the eye of the Internet. To elaborate more we can say that Net Neutrality stands for equality when comes to providing various website to the user at different charges or different speed. Net neutrality states that you cannot differentiate among the user one the basis Now if we talk about net neutrality in India we realize that it is of utmost importance reason being: 1. It checks monopoly: because if one out of two rivals is given advantage of price or speed eventually it will take over the market. 2. It encourages the Startup culture in India. As everyone get equal platform on net. 3. It allows the customer to have an access to all the information and best deals available in the market.
19 Jan 2016, 12.12 PM
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Team InsideIIM
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Good start. You have made a few decent points. There are however a few grammatical errors. 6.5/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.00 PM |
Gargi Priyadarsini
The Term Net neutrality was coined by a columbia University professor in 2003 which stands for free data Access on the internet.Net neutrality is essential for free and competetive market.The debate has raged in america and europe for several years.Now the debate with airtel zero plan and Facebook Free basics is on the floors in India.Many People in India do not have Internet Access because it is Expensive.The intention of providing certain apps for free to people so that atleast they have access to the internet is Good.But the differential pricing and the preference to one firm over the others has serious ramifications for competitive business and is violation of Net Neutrality.The trai had received more than 10 lakh emails objecting to the zero plan and saw an unprecedented support of netizens for Net neutrality.The efforts of All india Bakchod(viral video people),and the endrsements by likes of shahrukh khan and others led to this public outcry and support.Internet has flourished in a largely deregulated space and most regular laws apply to over the top (OTT) services like facebook, whatsapp and youtube regulation of the net for Social equality to poor people would be a violation of basic free Rights of an individual.Curbing the Net for Certain apps is not an otion.We need a more nuanced and meaningful discussion to maintain net neutrality as well as provide internet Access as a basic utility to all.With Innovation and Cloud technology on its peak it is not too Big a dream...
19 Jan 2016, 12.35 PM
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Team InsideIIM
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A lot of very interesting aspects brought out by you. Since the topic is net neutrality in India, you have lent focus on the various facets of it here and given good points to take the discussion forward. One tip, you should sound less like you are giving information and more like you are analysing facts in a gd. 7.5/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.05 PM |
Prateek Kurkanji
The ongoing debate about net neutrality was triggered by the recent launch of Free Basics (formerly marketed as internet.org). The telecom regulatory authority of India or TRAI recently released figures which showed immense support for Free Basics. This support can be attributed to the use of word "FREE" in its advertisement campaigns. After all, who doesn't adore free stuff? From an economic standpoint. predatory pricing is a strategy often employed by larger firms to get a bigger piece of the pie(market share). But according to fair trade practices, it is banned in almost all of the free markets. This is done to ensure there are no monopolistic firms. Many renowned scholars such as Tim Berners-Lee have also not taken kindly to facebook's attempt to undermine net neutrality. That being said, Facebooks has agreed to include its rival companies like Google, Twitter onto its scheme and is open to third party audits. India's literacy rate is about 74% and its mobile phone penetration is even more. Free access to some sites will most definitely help out the underprivileged sections of our society by offering them a chance at educating themselves. A lot depends upon the individuals themselves but a great deal can be achieved if there is initial handholding. Definitely, there are issues - differential pricing, data tracking but people sitting in the comfort of their air-conditioned homes and offices cannot possibly comprehend the benefit of free internet to low income groups. Moreso, because it is often taken for granted. The internet is a huge space where many businesses can co-exist but novelty and innovation are still very much valued. Google did manage to replace AOL and Facebook dethroned Orkut only because they offered something that was better than the alternatives. An important presumption here is the fact that people always go for the free stuff. But, people do buy mineral water at railway stations in spite of regular water being freely available and the fact that people do prefer to go to restaurants rather than eat at a "langar". The deciding factor being the affordability of options according to one's income. For a nation with an under-equipped education system and struggling with poverty, we can try to be open to options which are not ideal. *WAT essay.
19 Jan 2016, 03.51 PM
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pooja rawat
I guess we are just saying that 'something is better than nothing' and so at least let those underprivileged population have free basic net instead of no net. But we must consider a scenario that for having an access to net the person must have an phone and that to with internet facilities and also good supply of electricity so that he can charge that phone. And if a person can afford this much then if he wish to use internet he can afford a 200-300 mb pack which cost less than 100. But most of the poor people in India doesn't have the 'Basic Needs' of life , free food and education will do them more good then free basic net. Secondly for people who will be using free basics the exposure to net will such be limited to few sites and thus they will be missing on lot of information,innovation and better deals available on the Net. By introducing free basic and going against net neutrality we will just be harming our nation because it will puncture the growing boom of startups which are responsible for creating lots of employment and thus eventually helping the underprivileged.
19 Jan 2016, 05.00 PM |
Sivani Mallajosyula
by supporting free basics its like we are crippling our generations to come. Internet is a vast ocean of knowledge and free basics limits its access to all.Knowing half the story from select sites is never helpful.Had it not been for free unlimited internet we wouldn't be discussing free basics and net neutrality here openly with so many different views and thoughts about it.Internet has replaced books in our day to day lives and we all know reading half a book has never done anyone good. Coming to the market scenario we all agree competition is good to get the best of people. So when we support free basics and in turn are settling for monopoly aren't we paving a path for lower quality products.
20 Jan 2016, 01.18 AM |
Team InsideIIM
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Always brave to bring in the less popular opinion. It works only if you can back it with strong analyses. Your contribution does both these things. 8/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.15 PM |
Team InsideIIM
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Points are not well explained even though you bring in new things here. A few grammatical errors as well. 6/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.17 PM |
Team InsideIIM
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Good, short point. Decent articulation. Try and tone down emotion and stick to data as much as possible 7/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.19 PM |
VV Krishna
Yes, people sitting in the AC Rooms and offices can't possibly fathom the benefits of free internet. That's exactly what Facebook wants us to believe. If one observes the websites that are freely available through "Free Basics" we can definitely say that they are not basics. It's like giving a sample to taste for attracting the customers. The search engine provided is Bing because Microsoft has a partnership with facebook. India is an untapped market when it comes to internet, so Facebook is using India's potential to eliminate competition. Till now Internet is the only pure democracy, if we allow companies like facebook & reliance to control it we'll be back at square one. If Facebook really want to provide basic internet to India then provide it at an affordable price.
19 Jan 2016, 04.08 PM
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Prateek Kurkanji
Was just trying to play the devil's advocate in order to improve my thought process. I know it is not right. Also, there are options to include other services on Free basics which could be beneficial to those who can't afford it.
19 Jan 2016, 04.21 PM |
VV Krishna
No problem, continue with your side(If it's OK). A pro argument gives a great insight.
19 Jan 2016, 05.08 PM |
Team InsideIIM
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You don't make any new points here. This late into the discussion, it's important to bring in a new aspect or add significantly to existing aspects. 6/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.22 PM |
Team InsideIIM
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No need to justify your stance. You can accept a good point made by someone else without being defensive. 5/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.24 PM |
ashish verma
Our friend Vikash has explained the term net neutrality to us very clearly. The point is clear that all of us here supports net neutrality in india because it prevents the monopoly of a particular organization on the internet. In the short term, if we see, I agree with Gargi's point that free basics may help someone who doesn't have access to internet but if we see the broader picture then it will lead to the polarisation of the internet. Groups will be formed luring the net user with free basics which will not be free if we consider the tangible benefits. As we know that nothing comes for free, therefore, free basics is merely a strategy adopted by wealthy companies to take over internet. Imagine a time where you want to buy online a book which may be available at a cheaper cost on some other website but you are not able to view that website because you are using the internet which does not gives you access to all the websites. How would you feel ? Discriminated, I guess. So its better to keep the net neutral for everyone and provide a level playing field to all the developers and users.
19 Jan 2016, 09.44 PM
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Team InsideIIM
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Bringing in points made by others and acknowledging them is good strategy for a late entrant. But you fail to build on them. 5/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.26 PM |
arnav bahadur
A decent discussion going on. My two pence to this is to run a thought experiment. Lets say that Free Basics and Airtel Zero are implemented. If Facebook is available on Free Basics, then millions of people who do not use the internet will suddenly have access to Facebook as the only social networking site. Once they sign up, the monopoly will come into work. Facebook will not allow any other social networking site to join Free Basics, essentially killing the competition. It is not about the under-privileged people. Even people who can afford net packs will take up free basics. Who doesn't want free Facebook today? But what it essentially does is kill any threat of competition to the company in the future. Ever. It is a dis ingenious ploy, and frankly not even that original.
21 Jan 2016, 03.18 PM
Team InsideIIM
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No new points made here. If this is not an original ploy then you should have shown references from the past and gleaned learnings from it to analyze the current problem. 4/10
25 Jan 2016, 03.28 PM