Public interest must prevail over parochial interests of government' - Harish Salve & Jesselyn Radack - India Today Conclave 2014

Public interest must prevail over parochial interests of government'

Session – The Limits of Liberty

The increasing reach of the State and its intrusion into individual privacy came under scrutiny at a session titled 'The Limits of Liberty—The Thin Line between National Interest and Individual Rights' at India Today Conclave 2014. Self-described 'defender of whistleblowers' Jesselyn Radack, director of National Security and Human Rights at the US-based Government Accountability Project, said the security versus liberty dichotomy being bandied about in public discourse is a false one. "Listen to the message instead of shooting the messenger," she said about whistleblowers. Radack said the US needs to decide if it wants to be a democracy or surveillance state.

Joining issue, senior Supreme Court lawyer Harish Salve said that public interest must prevail over parochial interests of government. Asserting that all our institutions of democracy have failed us at some point of time or the other, he painted a bleak picture for Edward Snowden-like whistleblowers in India until the entire police apparatus is radically overhauled. Salve advocated against creating power without accountability, railing against the "corruption of the political class, which is the marrow of terrorism" and provides the alibi for despotism.

Source : Equity Bulls

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