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Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi


The Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi (CCG) was established in 2013 to ensure that Indian legal education establishments engage more meaningfully with information law and policy, and contribute to improved governance and policymaking. CCG is the only academic research centre dedicated to working on the information law and policy in India and in a short span of time has become a leading institution in Asia.


Through its Technology and Society team, CCG seeks to embed human rights and good governance within information policy and examine the evolution of existing rights frameworks to accommodate new media and emerging technology. It seeks to protect and expand freedom of speech, right to assembly and association, and the right to privacy in the digital age, through rigorous academic research, policy intervention, capacity building, and support to litigation. The Technology and National Security team looks at the role of international and domestic law in India’s national security matters from a legal and policy perspective, with a particular focus on cybersecurity and cyber conflict. It aims to build a better understanding of national security issues in a manner that identifies legal and policy solutions that balance the legitimate security interests and national security choices with the constitutional liberties and the rule of law.


We engage regularly with government institutions and ministries such as the Law Commission of India, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Law and Justice, Parliamentary Committees, Government Committees, Regulators, the Niti Aayog and various United Nations bodies. We work actively to provide the executive and judiciary with useful research in the course of their decision-making.


The Centre organises the South Asia Rounds of the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition and the Law, Media and Technology Symposium every year.


CCG organises an annual International Summer School in collaboration with the Hans Bredow Institute and the Faculty of Law at the University of Hamburg in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Communication at the University of Hamburg, Institute for Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro (ITS Rio) and the Global Network of Internet and Society Research on contemporary issues of information law and policy. We have been the Regional Hub for Berkman Klein's Lumen Database and have also built an online information law and policy teaching and learning resource along with the Programme of Comparative Media Law and Policy, University of Oxford at ccgtlr.org.


We have built an extensive network and routinely work with a range of international academic institutions and policy organisations. These include the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University, Columbia University's Global Freedom of Expression and Information Jurisprudence Project, the Hans Bredow Institute at the University of Hamburg, the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the Singapore Management University’s Centre for AI and Data Governance.


Our work has been influential in critical debates in India on issues such as intermediary liability and we assisted in the landmark judgment of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India regarding free speech over the Internet in which the Supreme Court struck down section 66A of the IT Act. The Centre's report on Online Intermediaries in India which was part of the Berkman Klein led Network of Center's Project on Intermediary Liability was submitted to the Court by the lawyers and was extensively referred to by them. The Centre played a critical role in the net neutrality debate, where language from its submission was adopted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its regulations on differential pricing. We also assisted the legal teams in the cases of Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India (concerning a challenge to the constitutionality of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, pertaining to criminal defamation) and Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas v. State of Gujarat (challenging the Gujarat government’s order to block internet access under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1974).


The Centre assisted the Law Commission of India in organising its biggest ever public consultation, which discussed the issue of Media Law reforms and members of our staff were consultants with the Law Commission on issues of hate speech and media laws and the electoral reforms report. We have been a part of major global Internet governance processes including the United Nations General Assembly World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10) Review, the World Conference on International Telecommunications and the NTIA IANA Functions' Stewardship Transition. Principles from our submission to the UNGA WSIS+10 Review made it into the Outcome Document.


The Centre has also launched the Privacy Law Library, a global database that tracks and summarises privacy jurisprudence emerging in courts across the world, in order to help researchers and other interested stakeholders learn more about privacy regulation and case law.


CCG has raised substantial funding since its inception, from various funding agencies and foundations and government departments including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) South Asia, Omidyar Network and the UNDP to support its research and capacity building activities.


You can contact us at ccg@nludelhi.ac.in and additional details about the Centre are available at ccgdelhi.org


Name Designation E-mail ID
Dr. Daniel Mathew  Faculty Director directorccg@nludelhi.ac.in
Ms. Jhalak Mrignayani Kakkar Executive Director jhalak.kakkar@nludelhi.ac.in
Mr. Shashank Mohan Programme Manager shashank.mohan@nludelhi.ac.in
Ms. Swati Punia Programme Manager swati.punia@nludelhi.ac.in
Ms. Nidhi Singh Programme Officer nidhi.singh@nludelhi.ac.in
Ms. Suman Negi Consultant (Finance) suman.negi@nludelhi.ac.in
Ms. Preeti Bhandari Administrative & Finance Assistant preeti.bhandari@nludelhi.ac.in
Mr. Mahesh Singh Office Assistant mahesh.singh@nludelhi.ac.in

RESEARCH & POLICY INPUTS BY THE CENTRE FOR COMMUNICATION GOVERNANCE, NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY - DELHI

Some of the recent academic research, policy inputs, public commentary and reports, CCG has worked on include:


Formal Input / Interventions


  1. Comments submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY) on the Draft Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules], 2018, (2019).
  2. Written Submissions to the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, (2019).
  3. Comments submitted in Response to a Call for Comments by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech and Expression on ‘Surveillance Industry and Human Rights’, (2019).
  4. Comments submitted to the National Security Council Secretariat on the National Cyber Security Strategy 2020, (2020).
  5. Comments submitted to the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the Public Consultation on Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace, (2020).
  6. Comments submitted on the Initial Pre-Draft of the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on Developments in the Field of Information Communication Technologies in the Context of International Security, (2020).
  7. Comments submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on the Whitepaper on Strategy for National Open Data Ecosystems, (2020).
  8. Comments submitted to the Department of Telecom on the Discussion Paper on Indian Artificial Intelligence Stack, (2020).
  9. Comments submitted to the National Health Authority on the Draft Health Data Management Policy for National Digital Health Mission, (2020).
  10. Comments submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the Report by the Committee of Experts on Non-Personal Data Governance Framework, (2020).
  11. Comments submitted to NITI Aayog on its Working Document ‘Towards Responsible #AIforAll’, (2020).
  12. Comments submitted to the NITI Ayog on the Draft Discussion Paper on Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture, (2020).
  13. Comments submitted to the Ministry of Defence on the Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, (2020).

Academic Writing


  1. Eduardo Magrani and Renan Medeiros De Oliviera, The Public Sphere (Forged) In the Era of Fake News and Filter Bubbles: The Brazilian Experience of 2018, National Law University Delhi Journal of Legal Studies (2019).
  2. Smitha Krishna Prasad, It’s A Matter of Trust: Exploring Data Fiduciaries in India, Data Catalyst (2019).
  3. Sharngan Aravindakshan, Cyber-attacks and International Law – A Look at Evidentiary Thresholds, Indian Journal of International Law (2020).
  4. Smitha Krishna Prasad and Sharngan Aravindakshan, Playing Catch up: privacy regimes in South Asia, The International Journal of Human Rights (Issue 1: The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age: Different Perspectives Around the Globe) (2020).

Reports and Books


  1. Privacy and the Indian Supreme Court, (2020).

Public Commentary


  1. Yesha Tshering Paul, Fake News: Misguided Policymaking To Counter Misinformation, BloombergQuint, 14 January 2019.
  2. Smitha Krishna Prasad, How Press Note 2 will Govern Ecommerce Marketplaces In India, Medianama, 4 February 2019.
  3. Sarvjeet Singh, WhatsApp’s message limit isn’t enough to halt the spread of fake news, NewScientist, 7 February 2019.
  4. Gunjan Chawla, Strike on Pakistan: Did India err by invoking the doctrine of pre-emptive self-defence to justify IAF strike?, Scroll.in, 5 March 2019.
  5. Gunjan Chawla, Errors and omissions may have weakened India’s case on Kulbhushan Jadhav, The Wire, 12 March 2019.
  6. Gunjan Chawla and Nidhi Singh, Election advertising on social media platforms: Is the Election Commission of India outsourcing regulation to the private sector?, The Leaflet, 7 April 2019.
  7. Gunjan Chawla and Nidhi Singh, Khamosh! Is the chatter of surrogate election campaigns on social media silencing election silence?, The Leaflet, 16 April 2019.
  8. Gunjan Chawla, Do “national security elections” imperil national security institutions?, The Leaflet, 10 May 2019.
  9. Kritika Bhardwaj, Facial Recognition Is Unreliable And The Police Shouldn’t Be Using This Technology, HuffPost, 2 August 2019.
  10. Kritika Bhardwaj, #RethinkAadhaar: Children continue to be perversely targeted, National Herald, 25 September 2019.
  11. Gunjan Chawla, India’s new Defence Cyber Agency—II: Balancing constitutional constraints and covert ops?, Medianama, 1 October 2019.
  12. Gunjan Chawla, Respond to the Cyber Intrusion, Within Law, The Hindustan Times, 14 November 2019.
  13. Smitha Krishna Prasad, Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019: Protecting Children’s Data Online, Medianama, 16 January 2020.
  14. Sanya Kumar and Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj, The publication of COVID-19 quarantine lists violates the right to privacy, The Caravan, 5 April 2020.
  15. Sharngan Aravindakshan and Radhika Kapoor, The Potential and Hurdles of Fighting Atrocities in the Age of Social Media, The Wire, 27 April 2020.
  16. Smitha Krishna Prasad and Kritika Bhardwaj, Surveillance Without Safeguards In The Pandemic, article 14, 30 April 2020.
  17. Sharngan Aravindakshan, Press Note 3 of 2020: FDI Policy and the Expanding Sphere of National Security, Medianama, 1 May 2020.
  18. Smitha Krishna Prasad, Aarogya Setu app lacks clear legal backing and limits, tends towards surveillance, Deccan Herald, 9 May 2020.
  19. Shashank Mohan, No Covid-19 silver bullet: Aarogya Setu endangers India’s privacy – and its usefulness is uncertain, Scroll.in, 12 May 2020.
  20. Sarvjeet Singh, Supreme court’s order on Kashmir internet shutdown: Judicial abdication or judicial restraint?, The Times of India, 13 May 2020.
  21. Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj, Supreme Court Verdict on 4G in Jammu and Kashmir Undermines the Rule of Law, The Wire, 14 May 2020.
  22. Pallavi Bedi, Rahul Narayan and Smitha Krishna Prasad, Amidst COVID-19, Who is Watching Over Children’s Data on Ed-Tech Platforms?, The Bastion, 30 June 2020.
  23. Gunjan Chawla, The Contours of India’s ‘Sovereign Cyberspace’, The Seminar Magazine, July 2020.
  24. Gunjan Chawla, Does India have Offensive Cyber Capabilities?, Medianama, 11 July 2020.
  25. Gunjan Chawla Vagisha Srivastava, What are Offensive Cyber Capabilities?, Medianama, 7 August 2020.
  26. Smitha Krishna Prasad, State Sovereignty in the Cyberspace and the Free Flow of Data in Regulating the Cyberspace: Perspectives from Asia (KAS, September 2020).
  27. Gunjan Chawla, Can Offensive Cyber and Information Control Capabilities be Simultaneously Measured?, The Diplomat, 16 September 2020.
  28. Gunjan Chawla and Vagisha Srivastava, On Cyber Weapons and Chimeras, Medianama, 25 September 2020.
  29. Gunjan Chawla, TRILA in the Shadow of ‘National Security’: Developing TWAIL Approaches to the International Law of Cyber Space, AfronomicsLaw Blog, 1 October 2020.
  30. Gunjan Chawla and Sharngan Aravindakshan, Four Predictions for India’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, The Bastion, 10 December 2020.
  31. Kritika Bhardwaj, Digital Surveillance Systems to Combat COVID-19 May Do More Harm Than Good, Economic and Political Weekly (2020).
  32. Sharngan Aravindakshan and Sarvjeet Singh, The Bio-Cyber Norm in Cyberspace: Emergence and Operationalization, KAS and Digital Asia Hub (Forthcoming).

Lectures and Presentations


  1. Gunjan Chawla delivered a lecture on ‘Understanding Encryption Law and Policy in India’ at the Medianama Policy Bootcamp on Understanding Encryption at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 4 October 2019.
  2. Gunjan Chawla delivered a lecture on ‘International Law and National Security in the Cyber Domain’ at the ISIL Winter School in International Law at the Indian Society of International Law at New Delhi on 1 January 2020.
  3. Gunjan Chawla delivered an online guest lecture on ‘The Indian Armed Forces: A Legal Primer’ for students of Legal Foundations of Public Policy course in the Masters in Public Policy and Governance programme at Azim Premji University, Bangalore on 4 May 2020.
  4. Gunjan Chawla was a panelist in a Webinar on Discussing a National Cybersecurity Policy on 25 July 2020 organized by the Internet Freedom Foundation, accessible here.
  5. Gunjan Chawla was a panelist in the Online Symposium on India and Digital Worldmaking organised by the Centre for Internet and Society on 12 August 2020, accessible here.
  6. Gunjan Chawla delivered a lecture to students of the PG Diploma Course in International Humanitarian and Refugee Law at the Indian Society of International Law on Non-International Armed Conflict and Combatant Immunity on 19 November 2020.
  7. Gunjan Chawla made a presentation on Existing and Emerging Threats in Cyberspace to the United Nations Open Ended Working Group’s (OEWG) Informal Inter-sessional on 7 December 2020. Accessible here.

For further details on the work CCG undertakes, please visit https://ccgdelhi.org