{"id":81234,"date":"2021-02-09T10:22:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T04:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=81234"},"modified":"2021-02-09T10:52:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T05:22:18","slug":"internet-shutdowns-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/internet-shutdowns-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet shutdowns in India: impacts and way forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GSL88JQ9F.1&amp;imageview=0\">The Hindu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gs2: <\/strong>Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> Frequent internet shutdown by the state has many negative consequences. Governments must find alternatives to balance civil liberties and security.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017 under the <strong>Indian Telegraph Act <\/strong>contains the procedure to restrict internet access.<\/li>\n<li>The Rules empowers the central and state governments to suspend internet services during <strong>public emergencies or for protecting the public interest.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>However, this provision has been frequently used in India. In the past 4 years, India has witnessed more than <strong>400 internet shutdowns<\/strong> throughout the country. Which is the highest compared to any democracy in the world.<\/li>\n<li>For instance, after the <strong>abrogation of Article 370<\/strong>, J&amp;K witnessed the longest Internet shutdown across the world.<\/li>\n<li>Most recently, Internet services were shut down in Delhi NCR following the violence that erupted during the <strong>Farmers protes<\/strong>t on Republic day.<\/li>\n<li>Many civil society organizations including UN rights groups have termed these shutdowns a form of <strong>collective punishment<\/strong> for people, and an overreach of governments on citizens\u2019 <strong>rights and liberties.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>What are the views of the Supreme court in this regard?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In January 2020, the Supreme Court has declared that the <strong>right to access the Internet<\/strong> is one of the fundamental rights.<\/li>\n<li>It is a part of Article<strong> 19 of the Constitution<\/strong> along with the freedom to carry on any trade, business or occupation over the medium of the Internet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What are the negative impacts of Internet shutdown?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arbitrary internet shutdowns have many undetermined consequences. Particularly during the crisis of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>First,<\/strong> Lack of internet connectivity or <strong>digital illiteracy<\/strong> will force many citizens to be excluded from social and economic systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second,<\/strong> Blanket bans on digital connectivity during the COVID-19 crisis will widen <strong>digital inequalities<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third,<\/strong> it will cut off the most vulnerable i.e. the elderly, and pregnant women, from accessing vital digital health services, health and welfare alerts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fourth,<\/strong> it denies <strong>access to learning for students<\/strong> as most of the classes are shifting online to maintain physical distancing norms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fifth,<\/strong> internet shutdown will cause large-scale disruptions in the economy. Many white-collar employment sectors, including IT, financial and consulting services, have resorted to <strong>working from home option. <\/strong>For example, according to an estimation India has lost over \u20b920,000 crore in 2020 because of Internet shutdowns.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>What is the Way forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Internet bans should be used as a <strong>last resort<\/strong> and must be enforced following well-formulated protocols.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Emergency response and relief systems<\/strong> for the vulnerable should be planned in advance before enforcing internet shutdowns.<\/li>\n<li>Other alternatives should be used. Cyber divisions of law enforcement agencies can be upgraded to use new-age innovations such as <strong>mass surveillance systems and communication interceptors<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The government should focus on <strong>balancing civil liberties with security concerns. For that<\/strong> modern, independent institutions having expertise in this domain, can be created.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu Gs2: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation. Synopsis: Frequent internet shutdown by the state has many negative consequences. Governments must find alternatives to balance civil liberties and security. Background: The Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety)&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/internet-shutdowns-in-india\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Internet shutdowns in India: impacts and way forward<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[1293],"class_list":["post-81234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-sec_1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}