Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B

We are an interdisciplinary think-tank set-up to focus on the policy challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Drawing on field-based research, the talk reflects on emerging urban spaces beyond big cities and their implications for global urban theory and development debates.

We look forward to your participation in this conversation on India’s evolving urban futures.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Join us today for the final CITAPP Seminar of the semester!

Urbanization from Below: India and the Global Urban Question by Chetan Choithani (NIAS, Bengaluru)

📅 May 4, 2026
🕒 3:30–5:00 PM
📍 IIIT-B Campus, R-109

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

The talk examines how small-town urbanization in India is reshaping the way we think about the “urban” in a rapidly urbanizing world.

[IIIT-Bangalore @IIITB_official]

Balaji Parthasarathy presented select findings from the Fairwork India project in the paper "The spatial organization of digital platform work and algorithmic management: “Human in the loop” across hub-based and non-hub based platforms in India", at the session "Platform Labor: The Geographies, Economies and Inequalities under Algorithmic Management and Big data", during the American Association of Geographers Annual Conference in San Francisco, 17-21 March, 2026. Also presenting their papers at the session were former Fairwork India researchers Raktima Kalita and Kanikka Sersia. Their papers were titled, "Towards a spatial understanding of emotional labour in platform work", and "When the black box is open: Platform economy and everyday coding practices", respectively. 

#IIITB #IIITBangalore #Fairwork

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Join us for this month's CITAPP seminar series! Tanveer Hasan from Centre for Internet and Society and IIIT Hyderabad will speak on 'Data Rich - Knowledge Poornima: Building the Commons We Actually Deserve'

📅 Monday, 30 March 2026
🕑 3:45 – 5:15 PM
📍 Room R-109, IIIT-Bangalore

[IIIT-Bangalore @IIITB_official]

Balaji Parthasarathy and V Sridhar have been awarded a grant for their proposal, Furthering Submarine Cable Supply Chains: An Australia-India Framework for Manufacturing, Installation, and Repair Security, under the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership. The Australian leadership will be provided by Dr Samuel Bashfield, of the Australia India Institute (University of Melbourne), and the La Trobe Centre for Global Security, La Trobe University.

Submarine cable networks carry approximately 99% of global internet traffic and form the backbone of the Indo-Pacific's digital infrastructure. However, supply chains for cable manufacturing, laying, and repair face critical vulnerabilities: vendor concentration, limited manufacturing diversity, constrained repair capacity, and geopolitical risks. These vulnerabilities threaten network resilience and digital connectivity across the region, with direct impact on island nations and developing economies.

This project addresses three urgent questions: (1) What are the specific supply chain vulnerabilities affecting submarine cable networks in the Indo-Pacific? (2) How can Australia and India cooperatively diversify dependencies in cable manufacturing, deployment, and maintenance? (3) What policy frameworks and industry partnerships can strengthen regional supply chain resilience?

The project will run between February 2026 and July 2027. It will include participation from Indian Ocean and Pacific Islands experts, building on the successful AICCTP-funded Australia-India Cable Dialogue 2025. Outputs include research publications, a 1.5 Track dialogue in India, and a policy framework for regional supply chain cooperation that will inform government decision-making and industry practice across the Indo-Pacific.

@BalajiPsarathy @vsridhartelecom @citappsays @Lisa_Singh @SSadagopan

#IIITB #IIITBangalore #Grant #ResearchGrant #Research #IIITBResearch

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

The session is organised by @TowardsFairWork and examines the role of labour standards and certification in governing working conditions.

Register here: https://t.co/gZw0cxPQ28

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Balaji Parthasarathy will speak at the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026, at the session on 'AI's Labour Problem: Standards for a Planetary Labour Market'.

📅 February 16, 2026
⏰ 3:30 – 4:25 PM
📍 West Wing Room 4B, Bharat Mandapam

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

The talk seeks to explore how OTPs have a traceable history of colonial and postcolonial data collection and bureaucracy. It also aims to provide context and nuance to the emerging body of work concerned with the politics and dangers of digital and algorithmic governance.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

CITAPP seminar series is back!

Talk by Dr. Claire Crawford, Chief Researcher, University of Cambridge:
'The Sociopolitical Logics of One-Time Passwords'

📅 Monday, 19 January 2026
🕑 3:45 – 5:15 PM
📍 Room R-110, IIIT-Bangalore

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Balaji Parthasarathy was invited to speak on "Exploring Collaborative Research Opportunities between Universities from India and East Asia" at the East Asian Summit Countries Conclave of Heads of Higher Education Institutions held at Nalanda University, Rajgir, Bihar, 17-19 Sept.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

Please see the poster for the abstract and speaker details. We look forward to your participation!

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

CITAPP seminar series

Talk by Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan, Chief Impact Officer, Sambhav Foundation:
'From Skills to Sustained Livelihoods: Reimagining India’s Labour Market through Training and Technology'

📅 Thursday, 9 October 2025
🕑 2:00 – 3:30 PM
📍 Room R-110, IIIT-Bangalore

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

The talk will explore how integrated skilling, technology, and ecosystem partnerships can bridge structural divides in India’s labour market and enable dignified, future-ready livelihoods.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

This talk explores how more people, households, and jobs are moving to the suburbs of Indian cities—and what this shift means for growth, services, and everyday life.

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

CITAPP Seminar Series

📅 Thursday, 25 September 2025
🕑 2:00 – 3:30 PM
📍 Room R-110, IIIT Bangalore

The monthly series continues with a talk by Prof. Kala S. Sridhar: Indian Cities or Suburbs? Trends and Causes of Suburbanization.

[IIIT-Bangalore @IIITB_official]

Balaji Parthasarathy delivered the opening keynote address titled "Inclusion and Exclusion in the Multiple Trajectories toward Digital India: The Means and the Modes", at the "Digital Demos: Data, Democracy and Regulations at the EU and India" conference organised by the Jean Monnet Module on Digital Democracy and Data Governance in the European Union, Human Sciences Research Centre, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH), in collaboration with the Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad, September 9-10.

Asilata Karandikar and V Sridhar also presented a paper at the conference titled "An Emergent Social Contract for a Digital World: A Comparative Analysis of Data Privacy Legislations in India and the European Union".

@BalajiPsarathy @citappsays @vsridhartelecom @iiit_hyderabad @uohpolsci @SSadagopan

#IIITB #IIITBangalore #KeyNote #IIITH

[Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B @citappsays]

CITAPP Seminar Series for 2025-26 opens with a talk by Anant Kamath: Untouchable Cellphones? Old Caste Exclusions and New Digital Divides in Peri-Urban Bangalore.

🗓 Thursday, 21 August 2025
🕑 2:00 – 3:30 PM
📍 Room R-110, IIIT-Bangalore

We look forward to seeing you there!

[IIIT-Bangalore @IIITB_official]

Balaji Parthasarathy and Sridhar Varadharajan, with Samuel Bashfield of the Australia India Institute (AII), led the discussions at the 1.5 track Australia-India Cables Dialogue 2025, in Perth on 31 July 2025. It was held as part of the AII-IIIT-B Strengthening Submarine Cable Connectivity, Resilience and Supply Chains project, which is supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and runs from December 2024 to June 2026 The Dialogue brought together key Australian and Indian academics, policy analysts, and representatives from the cable industry and the government, to determine how the two nations can better promote Indo-Pacific submarine cable connectivity, digital resilience and supply chains.

#IIITB #IIITBangalore #AustraliaIndiaInstitute

@BalajiPsarathy @vsridhartelecom @SamuelBashfield @AIinstitute @Lisa_Singh @dfat @CGIPerth @AusCGBengaluru @citappsays @SSadagopan

[Australia India Institute @AIinstitute]

The Institute has received funding from the Centre for Australia-India Relations Maitri Fellowship Program for 2025, which will bring Dr Preeti Mudliar from Bangalore to Melbourne to work with Aii on digital governance.

Read more here: https://t.co/Ud3LDvbDcP