India tops the world in terms of internet outages

Digital rights activist group Access Now said in a report released on Tuesday that governments are now using internet shutdowns as a weapon to curb freedom of expression and government criticism. Last year, the authorities in 35 countries blocked the Internet at least 187 times, which is the highest number of shutdowns in a single year.

Access Now, active from New York, has said in the report that in 2022, India alone blocked the Internet 84 times. “Due to political instability and violence in Kashmir, authorities cut off people’s Internet access at least 49 times, including during a three-day curfew-like shutdown in January and February 2022,” the report said. Later the other 16 orders are included.”

In August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party government abrogated the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two centrally administered parts. The government has since imposed frequent blackouts on the Internet, citing security reasons. Human rights organizations have been constantly criticizing this.

The report said that since 2017, India has been leading the world in terms of internet shutdowns. “This is a big warning sign about the deteriorating human rights situation,” said Liz Thrussell, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office. is seen.”

“This is a form of repression,” said Srinivas Kodali, an activist at the digital rights activist Free Software Movement. will not be allowed to stay.”

Meanwhile, several areas of Haryana and Rajasthan, located a few kilometers away from the national capital Delhi, after the incident of two persons named Nasir and Junaid being burnt alive for cow slaughter allegedly by miscreants belonging to extremist Hindu parties. Internet is blocked.

The Rajasthan government has imposed an internet shutdown for the next 48 hours from Tuesday to “maintain law and order situation” in Bharatpur district. In Haryana’s Muslim-majority Noh district, internet shutdown continues.