- Earlier this month, the Punjab government suspended mobile Internet and SMS services in the State for more than four days as it launched an operation to arrest proKhalistani preacher Amritpal Singh.
- It said that this was “in the interest of public safety, to prevent incitement to violence and to prevent disturbance of peace and public order.”
- Map 1 shows the instances of Internet shutdowns, Statewise, recorded between 2012 and March 2023.
- Put together, the southern States recorded only six such shutdowns in this period. There was no instance of an Internet shutdown in Kerala.
- Elsewhere, except Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim, all the other States recorded at least one such instance, with Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number.
- It is important to note that the Central government does not collate data on Internet shutdowns imposed by the State governments.
- The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, which presented its findings on “suspension of telecom/Internet services and its impact” in 2021, came down heavily on “Internet shutdowns being used as a substitute for enforcing law and order.”
- In 2020, the Supreme Court held that Internet suspensions should “adhere to the principle of proportionality and must not extend beyond necessary duration.”
- The issue is of great significance to India as 60% of all the Internet shutdowns recorded between 2016 and 2022 worldwide took place in India, according to Access Now, a nonprofit that defends digital rights.
- Chart 2 shows the number of Internet shutdowns recorded by Access Now, in India and globally. India’s share ranged between 40% and 70%.
- Over the past five years (Table 3), India has recorded the highest number of shutdowns.
- There is a significant gap between India and the country ranked second.
- Notably, such shutdowns are never or almost never implemented in most parts of Europe, North and South America and Oceania, while they are rampant in Africa and Asia.
- The costs of such shutdowns have been recorded in many reports.
- A report released last year by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that in Kashmir, “longstanding restrictions on connectivity undermined the education of students relying on remote education.”
- It also quoted studies which showed that shutdowns impacted health systems.
- A 2018 paper published by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations estimated that India lost around $3 billion between 2012 and 2017 due to shutdowns.
- However, in a Lok Sabha reply in 2021, the government said that it had no mechanism to assess the socioeconomic impact of Internet shutdowns.
