Centre for IT and Public Policy, IIIT-B

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

The session is organised by @TowardsFairWork and examines the role of labour standards and certification in governing working conditions. Register here: forms.office.com/pages/response…

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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: aii.unimelb.edu.au/maitri-fellows…

Balaji Parthasarathy was invited to deliver the talk The Implications of Algorithmic Management of Digital Platforms in India, at the International Symposium on Shaping the AI Landscape: A Multidisciplinary approach to Technology, Society and the Future, organised by the Indian Institute of Technology, Palakkad, and York University, Canada, 3-4 March, 2025. @BalajiPsarathy @YorkUniversity @PalakkadIIT @janasrin @vsridhartelecom @SSadagopan @TowardsFairWork @geoplace #IIITB #IIITBangalore #DigitalPlatform #Technology

An Accessible Resource Centre (ARC) was inaugurated at IIIT-Bangalore earlier today. A CSR initiative of Bosch Global Software Technologies in partnership with Vision Empower (VE) and the Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS), IIIT-Bangalore, ARC will cater to the accessible educational needs of students with visual impairments in Grades K-10, with a particular emphasis on STEM subjects. Foundational skills for children with visual impairments in the pre-school age will also be a focal point. This initiative aims to deploy various educational aids and assistive technologies, with research-based interventions for teachers and students too. #IIITB #IIITBangalore #accessibility #resourcecentre #STEMEducation #STEMLearning

Balaji Parthasarathy was invited to deliver a talk on Technology, Emerging forms of Work, and Social Protection at the workshop on Migration, Informality and Development. The workshop was organised by Work Fair and Free Foundation and Aajeevika Bureau, and hosted by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) Bangalore, for doctoral students and activists from across the country. @BalajiPsarathy @AajeevikaBureau @workfairandfree @ISECBengaluru @KalitaRaktima @TowardsFairWork @janasrin @vsridhartelecom @citappsays @SSadagopan #IIITB #IIITBangalore #InvitedTalk

Balaji Parthasarathy was invited to speak on the panel Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Lessons for DPI of the Future at the Delhi Digital Conclave VI hosted by the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi on Friday, 21 February 2025. @BalajiPsarathy @janasrin @vsridhartelecom @citappsays @SSadagopan @IIITDelhi #IIITB #IIITBangalore #DigitalConclave #DPI #DigitalPublicInfrastructure #IIITD

Balaji Parthasarathy was invited to speak at the workshop on Understanding Platform Economy and Gig Work in India hosted by the Moturi Satyanarayana Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, Krea University, on 14 February 2025. Balaji spoke on the Dynamics of Platform Work: Perspectives from the Fairwork India Project. @BalajiPsarathy @kreauniversity @TowardsFairWork @citappsays @janasrin @KalitaRaktima @SSadagopan @geoplace @AlgoLabour @vsridhartelecom