India Leads the World in Internet Shuts Downs
India has been ranked as the leader of Internet Shutdowns. India’s regressive attitude towards suppressing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act has been criticized by the international com
In 2014, when PM Modi won the election, at the India Digital Summit he said that, “I dream of a digital India
where access to information knows no barriers.” However, what is happening in India right now is completely
the opposite. Many people in India are against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The state of Assam has been
extremely against the CAA as well. Hundreds of people were out on the street protesting. All over India as
well many states are protesting the CAA.
Due to the protests, the Indian government has been shutting down internet in Various parts of India.This is
why India has become the country to have the largest number of internet shutdowns in the world. No other
country in the world shuts down internet so many times like India. Look at this image.
When there were violent protests in Assam, on 12th December PM Modi Tweeted and said that "I want to
assure my brothers and sisters of Assam that they have nothing to worry about the CAB. I want to assure
them - no one can take away your rights, unique identity and beautiful culture. It will continue to flourish and
grow. The only problem? There was no internet there on that day. So we do not know if the thousands of
people protesting were able to read his tweet or not. Many people started saying how could the PM shutdown
internet in Assam and send a Tweet telling them not to worry. It is very ironic.
Internet Shutdown Tracker is a website that tracks internet shutdowns in India.The website has said that in
India, the internet has been shutdown 93 times.According to Indian laws, the government has the power to
order direct telecom companies to shut down internet services, communication, remove websites,etc. During
various protests in the country, the government has shut down the internet. For example, in Assam, some
districts of West Bengal, Aligarh, Delhi, UP, the government shut down the internet. However these
shutdowns are only temporary.
But in Kashmir, the Internet and all communication has been shut down for 4 months. The government has
not said when the internet will start.In 2018 as you can see in the photo, there were 134 internet shutdowns in
India. No where in the world there internet has been down so many times.Compared to India, in Pakistan,
Internet was shut only 12 times.Such longer internet shutdowns have only occurred in countries like China
and Myanmar. This is the first time an Internet shutdown like this is happening in a democracy like India.Many
Indians have criticised the government and said that the government is trying to control people's right of
“freedom of Speech”. Whenever the government sees there is a protest or if there is a problem, they
immediately shut down the internet which is very wrong.
