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“Centre Doesn’t Maintain Data On Internet Shutdowns”: Govt Tells Parliament

internet shutdowns

Responding to questions on internet shutdowns across the country, the central government today informed parliament that it does not maintain data about the same.

Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had posed question to the government regarding internet shutdowns.

Mr Singh asked following questions:

(a) whether India is the leading country in number of incidents of internet disruption and frequency of shutdowns;

(b) the total number of internet shutdowns by Government in the country during the last five years, year-wise;

(c) whether internet shutdowns have been regularly used as a tool for routine policing and even administrative purposes and not for public emergencies; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor?

Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, answered the questions on internet shutdowns. Responding to Mr Singh’s questions, Mr Thakur said: “Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that temporary suspension of telecom services/internet shutdown is done by the appropriate authorities in the States/UTs concerned in the interest of maintaining law and order in the State or part thereof under the provisions contained in the (Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017. Centralized data of internet shutdown is not maintained by the Government.”

According to Internet freedom and tech policy organisations, India is the leading country (by number) for Internet disruption incidents and frequency of shutdowns. This year, 59 shutdowns have been enforced, according to SFLC, which determines shutdowns based on government orders and media reports.

 

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Mumbai: West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday pounced at the Centre and urged the people to turn the 2024 elections into a “rejection election” to brush off BJP from power.

On Martyrs Day, the TMC leader took a protest march to Delhi with the youths. Referring to the fall of the Thackeray allied regime in Maharashtra she said,  “They think, now that they’ve broken Mumbai, they will break Chhattisgarh and then Bengal. I warn them. Don’t come here. There is a huge Royal Bengal Tiger here.”

TMC’s Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre’s move of imposing GST on food products, she said, “The BJP has lost its mind. They have put GST on muri (puffed rice), mishti (sweets), lassi (buttermilk), and curd.”

“What will people eat?”, she asked. “If a patient gets admitted to hospital, they’ll charge GST now.”
On the Agnipath scheme, Mamata slammed the BJP, saying the Centre is depriving armed forces in the name of a new recruitment scheme.

She accused the central government of withholding money from the state. “Listen, BJP. If you don’t give us our due, we will end up in Delhi. Don’t try to scare us with ED, CBI (central probe agency). We are not cowards. We will fight and we will win.”

The Chief Minister of West Bengal has accused the center of trying to rewrite history, saying: “Those who played no part in the country’s struggle for independence are now trying to rewrite India’s history.”

The police has arranged thousands of officers to manage the crowd and the traffic as July 21 is observed as Martyr’s Day to honour the day in 1993 during the leftist government, 13 people were killed when the Calcutta police fired on a protest of the Youth Congress led by Mamata Banerjee.

 

 

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