With 106 shutdowns of the internet in 2021, India has emerged as the leading country with the highest number of internet shutdowns for reasons ranging from curbing protests to preventing online fraud for the fourth straight year.
Apart from India, the others at the top of the list include Myanmar (at least 15 times), Sudan and Iran (both at least five times each). In 2020, India saw the highest number of internet shutdowns at 109 out of the overall 155 instances across the world.
According to Access Now report released on Thursday, of the 106 shutdowns, 85 were found in Jammu & Kashmir alone. Internet shutdowns topped in Jammu & Kashmir, where authorities continue to impose intentional disruptions that last for extended periods due to cross-border terrorism threats. “Authorities continue to impose intentional internet disruptions that last for long periods, disrupting and endangering people’s lives for months on end,” it said.
“The Indian Government has been reluctant to create and maintain a centralised repository of data on the shutdowns authorities order across the country. This represents a failure to meet the requirements of the 2017 Suspension Rules and the Supreme Court order backing them.
The lack of a centralised repository continues to make it difficult for civil society and other actors to effectively monitor and document shutdowns, and some are likely to go unreported,” the report said.
Data compiled for the report also shows that Governments across the world imposed internet shutdowns some 182 times in total in 34 countries, a slight uptick compared to at least 159 shutdowns in 29 countries in 2020.
The report further said that the shutdowns Indian authorities imposed in 2021 drew international attention and condemnation.
The Government cut internet access in a clear attempt to suppress the farmers’ protests, a movement opposing Parliament of India’s passage of three farm acts the previous year.
Authorities plainly sought to prevent protesters from communicating with one another, and to obstruct press reporting. Despite the disruptions, the Government was not able to conceal its violent.
There has been a constant trend in the number of internet shutdowns in the country, usually for law and order, or security considerations, as requested by the home secretaries of States, or the Union Home secretary.
The report also stated that Governments in the Asia-Pacific region implemented at least 129 internet shutdowns in seven countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
Recently, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology in its report highlighted the misuse of internet shutdowns and the impact on rights and freedoms. Taking into account countries that have shut down the internet during protests, the report highlighted that India is among such countries too.
“India is also among at least 18 Governments that imposed mobile internet shutdowns during protests, including in a clear attempt to suppress the large-scale farmers' protests. The continued trend of long shutdowns (in Ethiopia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, and elsewhere) is an agonizing indicator of the willingness of the Government authorities to disconnect and deepen the suffering of their own people”, the report said.