Staff Writer

The government’s decision to make the Sanchar Saathi app a compulsory, undeletable feature on every smartphone has triggered widespread anxiety. As users brace for the rollout, fears are rising over deep device access, potential surveillance, and the shrinking space for digital autonomy in India.

The French traveller wrote of approaching Shahjahanabad as its red walls “stretched into the horizon.” Inside, the broad avenues and the splendour of Chandni Chowk startled him—its water channels glinting in the sun, its merchants calling out in many tongues. What struck him most, he noted, was the city's restless energy: courtiers in silk, faqirs in ash, and markets where the world seemed to gather each morning anew.

Ibn Battuta’s chronicles reveal a richly textured India—its swift courier system, its street magicians, and its elaborate royal feasts. He adored the jackfruit, marvelled at how mangoes and ginger were salted and preserved, and recorded everyday meals alongside courtly splendour. His most striking observations centre on Muhammad bin Tughlaq, whom he portrays as brilliant yet ruthlessly erratic, even forcing the entire population of Delhi to march to Daulatabad.