Best of BS Opinion: Storm over social media, Covid-19 vaccination & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Thursday

WhatsApp has challenged the new social media intermediary rules in the Delhi High Court. It claims a provision, which forces service providers to identify “the first originator of information” in posts, is unconstitutional and violates privacy. On its part, the government was quick to clarify that it respected the "Right of Privacy" and had no intention to violate it. It also justified the new information technology rules by saying that no fundamental right, including the “Right of Privacy”, was absolute and was subject to reasonable restrictions. In this context, our lead editorial notes that the right of privacy may not be absolute but arbitrary rules can't be the answer. Read here  

The answer to the question of how to vaccinate a billion Indians is perhaps to be found in basic economics, writes K P Krishnan

Looks like India’s demand curve has shifted downwards for a couple of years at least, writes Shailesh Dobhal

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“World over, countries had started vaccinating their people. But in India, rather than vaccinating our own people, the vaccines were sent abroad. Had we started the vaccination programme earlier, we could have saved many people from the second wave."

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal