ICANN85 Community Forum |ForumIAS

News: The ICANN85 Community Forum is being organized from 7th to 12th March 2026 at Jio Convention Center in Mumbai.

About ICANN85 Community Forum

It is a platform that brings governments, technical experts, and industry stakeholders together to discuss how collectively they can keep the internet open, secure, and accessible for everyone.
Organised at: Jio Convention Center in Mumbai
Organized by: It is organised by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and hosted in collaboration with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) under MeitY.
Features: It comprised more than 200 sessions focused on key issues related to the secure and stable operation of the Internet, including the evolution of the Domain Name System, cybersecurity practices, and the upcoming expansion of generic top-level domains (gTLDs).

It is a non profit public benefit organization with participants from around the world.
Established in: 1998
Mission: Its mission is to keep the global Internet stable, secure, and unified.
How it works: A user must enter a unique address (a name or number) on a device to connect with another person on the Internet,
- These addresses must be unique so that computers can correctly find and communicate with each other.
- ICANN coordinates and manages these unique identifiers worldwide.

It is a not-for-profit organization under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013.
Nodal Ministry: It was set up under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Role: It plays a critical role in strengthening India’s Internet infrastructure.
- It facilitates efficient exchange of domestic Internet traffic, managing the .IN and .भारत (.Bharat) country-code top-level domains, and promoting the adoption of Internet services across the country.
- It supports a secure, resilient, and inclusive Internet ecosystem aligned with India’s digital growth ambitions.