Why is addressing energy inefficiency in residential buildings important?
The Indian government imposed a total of 780 shutdowns between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2023.
According to data collected by the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC).
Shutdowns flared up during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019.
The abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, and the introduction of Farm Bills in 2020.
Internet disruptions in India accounted for more than 70% of the total loss to the global economy in 2020.
Data shows India shut down the internet for over 7,000 hours in 2023.
Indian States and Union Territories can impose an internet shutdown only in case of a “public emergency” or in the interest of “public safety”, according to the Indian Telegraph Act.
However, the law does not define what qualifies as an emergency or safety issue.
The Supreme Court, in the landmark Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India case, reiterated that internet shutdowns violate fundamental rights to freedom of expression and shutdowns lasting indefinitely are unconstitutional.
Moreover, Courts have asked governments to make shutdown orders public, a provision poorly complied with, experts have noted.
What are the primary reasons cited by the Indian government for imposing internet shutdowns?
Regionally, Jammu and Kashmir saw the highest number of shutdowns at 433 in the last 12 years.
The longest blackout in 2023 took place in Manipur from May to December, amid ethnic clashes.
As of February 15 this year, internet shutdowns were active in Haryana amid the farmers’ protests.
The Union government invoked powers under a British-era law to suspend mobile internet as Punjab farmers are holding protests in Delhi.
Activists have pointed out that India failed to meet the ‘three-part test’ in imposing blackouts in J&K and Manipur.
Under international law, to block any access to content or invoke coercive measures that violate people’s fundamental rights, countries should check if the action is provided for by law; pursues a legitimate aim; and follows standards of necessity and proportionality.
The majority of internet outages in the last decade were localised to specific districts, cities and villages.
The trends differ globally: protests are the most common reason for internet shutdowns, followed by information control and political instability.
Between 2015 and 2022, more than 55,000 websites were blocked, according to SFLC data.
The biggest share of content censored was done under section 69A of the IT Act, by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
URLs were blocked due to links to organisations banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Recently, the Ministry ordered news outlet The Caravan to take down a story which alleged abuse, torture, and murderof civilians by the Indian Army in Jammu’s Poonch district.
India and global trends
Global Internet freedom has declined for the 13th consecutive year.
The environment for human rights online has deteriorated in 29 countries.
These data according to the latest Freedom House report.
India’s ranking has hovered around the same benchmark in the last three years.
This is a dip from 2016 and 2017, when India scored 59 points, to 50 points in 2023.
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