A fiery startto the day

A fierce debate ensued between West Bengal MP Mahua Moitra and RSS activist Desh Ratan Nigam during the first panel discussion of the second day of the literature festival. Moderated by former BBC anchor Mark Tully, the session began with the question: What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism? “Nationalism is when we try to create an artificial enemy, an unseen dark force we are all supposed to hate. Patriotism is an innate love for the country, which is almost an instinct,” said Moitra. To this, Nigam retorted that Moitra’s definitions were western concepts. On the sidelights of this discussion, Tully said he believed balance was essential to keep up the spirit of the Indian ethos. Donning a secular tie, one with logos of all major religions of the world, he said, “it is regrettable that India should discriminate against one religion in the manner it has done with the CAB.”

Almost all sectors including government and private are under the threat of cyber attack and the only way to protect your data is to restrict the amount of sharing on cyberspace. The panellists during a discussion on ‘Spymasters and Cyber Intelligence in War and Peace’ echoed this sentiment. KC Verma, former director of RAW, said a cyber attack will become the source of maximum damage done to any nation during war in the future. Former cabinet secretariat additional secretary Jayadeva Ranade said cyber intelligence had added new dimensions to espionage and also added to the vulnerability of data.

Correction

Mr RK Kaushik is a serving Punjab IAS officer, not as rendered in a report in HT on December 14.