I don’t understand the restrictions on photography in India. Today when I went to see my alma mater – earlier called VRCE now VNIT (Visvesaraya National Institute of Technology) – and was taking some photographs of the main building and other places, I was told that it is illegal to take photographs. I was told that one can be fined and jailed for taking photographs. When I asked that there are no signs to that effect – I was told that this is known to everybody. I was given example that somebody took a photo of Nagpur High Court and was brought back from Delhi and fined RS. 5000.
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Having been to different parts of World with my camera – even to China earlier and recently – I find this practice intriguing. In fact I find it so silly that I feel bad about it. I remember long time ago – in 1976 Prof. Nagel in Germany said to me in a conversation about India and other similar poor countries that the problem in these countries is less with material resources more with tradition-bound culture that discourages thinking and changes. Is that still true in modern India?