No data on internet shutdowns: Centre

THE CENTRE DOES NOT COLLATE DATA ON INTERNET SUSPENSION AS IT FALLS IN THE DOMAIN OF STATES, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY SAID

NEW DELHI: The Union government said it does not have information about internet shutdowns in the country, as per a response by the ministry of communications, which cited information from the ministry of home affairs to say that the Centre does not collate such records since it pertains to law and order and falls in the domain of states.

The ministry was responding to questions by Congress Lok Sabha members Shashi Tharoor and Gaurav Gogoi, who sought details of how many times and for what reason internet services were curtailed in India over the last three years. “States are responsible and empowered to issue orders for temporary suspension of internet service to maintain law and order in the State. Ministry of home affairs has informed that records pertaining to internet shutdowns ordered by states/uts are not centrally maintained by MHA,” the communications ministry said in its reply.

The Congress MPS also sought to know the economic impact of such shutdowns but the ministry said it had no mechanism to assess socio-economic impact of internet shutdowns. However, it added: “The contribution of internet for the well-being of citizens has to be balanced with social platforms being misused by anti-social elements requiring temporary shutdowns as per rules based on the assessment by local authorities”.

Tharoor shared a screenshot of the ministry response on Twitter and said that in 2020, internet shutdowns in parts of India went on for 8,927 hours and cost the taxpayers $2.8bn. “As usual, the Govt has no data on issues that matter… Why is the govt so afraid of the internet and the freedom it bestows on citizens? Alarming, undemocratic, unsurprising.”

Experts said the stand violates judicial directions. Raman Jit Singh Chima, senior international counsel and the Asia Pacific Policy director at Access Now, said that it was shocking that the MHA or their colleagues in the ministry of telecom did not have data on rules they are governing.

“Supreme Court had directed the Centre to review the rules by which internet shutdown had been ordered in Jammu and Kashmir in the Anuradha Bhasin case in 2020. If they haven’t reviewed the impact, they wouldn’t have reviewed the rules either. That is contempt of the Supreme Court,” he said. Internet shutdowns are governed by the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rules 2017 which stipulates that internet shutdowns can only be valid for 15 days.