VK Sanju
In 2022, internet services were cut off 187 times in 35 countries and 84 of them were in India! Ukraine and Iran just after India are far behind. Internet services have been suspended here to prevent copying in exams and also maintain law and order in conflict zones. Of the 84 shutdowns, 49 were in Jammu and Kashmir and North East States. In February last year, the Rajasthan Government snapped internet connectivity to prevent the leak of a question paper for the teacher recruitment test.
The shutdown, which began in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, lasted for 552 days. This was to avoid untoward incidents after the State was bifurcated. But in the years that followed, it was used even where the situation was not as bad as in Kashmir. In the three years from 2020, the method was widely deployed to counter the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the farmers' agitation. Early this year, the Central Government cut internet services at Delhi Jawaharlal Nehru University to prevent the screening of the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots. It is a way to counter conflict in Manipur and was at its peak in May.
The financial angle
A study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India says there were 760 million internet users in the country in 2022. Though this is just half of the country's population (52 per cent), reality is that those who do not have direct access to the Internet are also directly affected by the shutdowns. There is resultant delay in supply of food rations, social security pensions scheme, etc. In the wake of widespread phone-based cash transfers, the shutdown also affects small and big businesses.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) says 96 per cent of internet users depend on mobile net data and this goes to prove how badly it can affect the livelihoods of many.
The Internet Freedom Foundation estimates that India suffered an economic loss of $230 billion due to last year's internet shutdowns.
Press Freedom
On a higher plane, it goes to prove that such internet shutdowns mar the country’s image. Reporters Without Borders has ranked India 161st in terms of press freedom, touted as the largest democracy. Ironically, the list has just 180 countries.
Internet shutdowns are seen as an infringement on press freedom, and can be seen as a ban on the right to information and an obstacle to freedom of expression. Since 2015, the number of websites blocked by the Central Government has crossed 55,000 and over 6,000 social media posts were deleted last year alone.
The internet has been cut off in many conflict zones in the name of preventing the spread of fake news. However, it is argued that this is denying people the opportunity to search for and find true information, which can result in spread of more false news.
No study is yet to prove that shutdowns can help ensure law and order. A research by Jan Rydzak, a former associate director of the Stanford Center for Digital Policy, found that it can only be counter-productive.
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that such steps should be taken only in inevitable situations; and that too should not be indefinite and advance notice should be given. But governments continue to go ahead with such internet shutdowns as like the frequent electricity load-shedding and never ever care to comply with what the country’s highest court says.
