Internet shutdowns cost state ₹659 crore in 3 years: Report
ALARMING Mobile internet shutdowns alone added up to 594 hours between 2015 and 2017 JAIPUR:
Seventeen instances of internet shutdowns over 2015, 2016 and 2017, cost Rajasthan ~659.37 crore , shows an April 2018 report by think tank, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
Between 2015 and 2017, 904 hours of mobile and fixed-line Internet shutdowns in state cost the economy nearly ~659.37 crore, said the report which analysed the economic impact of such shutdowns.
Mobile internet shutdowns alone added up to 594 hours in the period and cost the state economy approximately ~637.26 crore, the report said.
Rajasthan is at the third position after Jammu and Kashmir in terms of mobile and fixed lines shutdowns. According to a tracker maintained by the Software Freedom Law Centre, Rajasthan suspended broadband and telephone internet services at least 25 times since 2015. In the same duration, in Jammu and Kashmir, internet services were shut down for 32 times.
In terms of economic losses due to the mobile and fixed line internet shutdowns, Rajasthan is at fifth spot after Jammu and Kashmir and North-Eastern states. During 2015 and 2017, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed 652 hours of internet shutdown and economy of ~1259.78 crore was affected while NorthernEastern states suffered a loss of ~1052.41 crore .
Gujarat (~8345.22 crores) tops the list in terms of economic losses due to suspension of mobile services, followed by Jammu and Kashmir(~2984.40 crores), Haryana(~2509.50 crores), West Bengal(~1289.99 crores) and Rajasthan (~637.26 crores). The data of economic loss comprise of two categories; suspension of mobile internet services and suspension of mobile and fixed line services.)
Police cite law and order as the reason to justify the shutdowns. “To ensure peace during communal tensions and to conduct fair government examinations, we are forced to resort to banning of internet,” said NRK Reddy, special director general of police, law and order.
However, economic experts have a different view. Director of Budget Analysis and Research Centre of Rajasthan, Nesar Ahmad said, “The usage of internet is increasing and nobody can deny the fact that digital economy is affected during shutdowns. Dependence of internet has been increasing in day-to-day activities like ordering food, online gadgets, shopping, booking cab, transactions of money, etc.”