The number of Internet shutdowns in India was slightly lower in 2024 than in 2023, according to the Software Freedom Law Center (SLFC), India’s annual report. A separate report by the web rights advocacy, Access Now, shows that India continues to lead globally in the number of government-ordered Internet shutdowns. The Union government has maintained that mobile Internet shutdown is an indispensable instrument in the toolkit to control law and order situations. Most of the Internet use in India is mobile.

Paraphrased version … When use of Internet in India is rising continuously, cutting it off frequently incoveniences its large number of users around the country. Statistics revealed by the Software Freedom Law Center (SLFC) show that the number of government-ordered shutdowns in 2024 registered a slight dip compared to the 2025 figure. Nevertheless, India continues to top the list of countries that resort to such a disruptive measure. The covernment’s contention that it switches off the Internet to curb public violence in not very convincing.

A closer examination of the shutdowns imposed even over the last year reveals some disturbing data: 41 of the 84 shutdowns in India in 2024 were imposed during protests, compared to the 23 that were imposed for communal clashes. Five were even issued for cheating during examinations. In situations on the brink of violence where rapidly spreading disinformation may swerve out of control of the authorities, there may be a case for considering restrictions on communications. But no shutdown is without a cost — the delayed information regarding violence can also impede fast response.

Paraphrased version .. An analysis of the factors that forces the authorities to shut down Internet reveals that out of 84 such shutdowns in 2024, 41 were to deter public protests from escalating, while just 23 shutdowns were aimed to rein in communal  strife. Quite intriguingly, five such shutdown were meant to curb copying in examination halls. No doubt, miscreants spread fake news to incite and abet communal violence through messages carried via Internet. While the switching off of Internet seems desirable on such grounds, the fact remains that non-avalibility of credible information due to blacked out news networks triggers more fear among people making them adopt illegal means to protect themselves. So, the best way is to to filter out offensive and fake news from the communication network while keeping its legitimate use for routine activities unaffected. 

The Supreme Court of India recognised this when it ruled, in Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India, that each shutdown must meet the tests of necessity and proportionality. Internet shutdown impedes people’s livelihoods, access to medical care and education. It is a blunt weapon and the least the government could do is to measure its impact and use it sparingly. The government has been urged on preparing such an assessment for years, but no headway has been made here.

Paraphrased version … While delivering the judgement in the Anuradha Bhasin vs. Union of India case, the Supreme Court ruled that arnitrary shutting down of Internet can not be accepted. The authorities have to carefully weigh the length of the shutdown period and the areas that need to be blacked out. It should be as short as possible and cover the minimum possible area. Such calibrated action would minimise public inconvenience resulting from unmet urgent healthcare needs and disruption of students’ studies. Although the government have been time and again told to draw up a guideline for minimal resort to Internet shutdown, there has hardly been any action from the authorities so far.

Even for those in favour of retaining shutdowns as a tool in the repertory of emergency policing, the process being followed is cause for alarm. Many a time, as Access Now and SFLC report, there is no valid order uploaded on government websites detailing the duration and the causes in detail, as required by the Telecommunications (Temporary Suspension of Services) Rules, 2024 and its preceding rules of 2017. Ideally, every shutdown should be followed by a sombre examination of whether it was necessary and what its deployment cost was.

Paraphrased version.. Even the advocates of ready use of Internet shutdown as a tool to limit violence in public, the incidence of frequent use of this tool has been hard to fathom. Although required by the Telecommunications (Temporary Suspension of Services) Rules, 2024 and its preceding rules of 2017, the authorities seldom mention the duration of the clampdown on Internet availibility in government websites. It is desirable that after each shutdown, the justification for such drastic action should be assesed unbiasedly. 

The ideal number of Internet shutdowns in any country is zero. It is especially troubling that 296 of them were imposed on millions around the world last year. India’s case shows that there is an urgent need for circumspection and restraint. The Internet shutdowns index is, after all, one of the indices in which India should not aspire to lead.  (Hindu editorial dated February 28th)

Paraphrased version … Ideally, no country should ever switch off the Internet. Quite worryingly, there were as many as 296 incidents of shutdowns last year causing huge distress to millions of users globally. India’s track record in this regard has been particularly shabby. It necessitates sincere soul-searching by those in power. Being a country that is a top abuser of this stifling power is no doubt disgraceful. 

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ANSWERS 

I had an over- sized woollen sweater that my grandmother had been knit for me when I was in Class 6. The wool she used was obtained by unravelling the old sweater which my great grandfather had got as a dowry some six decades ago. He had gifted it to my father when my father was 16 after my grandmother did some repair to it. So, in a way, my family’s tradition of recycling clothes was embedded in it. I wore the red and white sweater to my friend’s birthday party. The sweater attracted my friend’s mother’s attention. She came and touched it and felt it with her fingers over and over again. Quite clearly, the sweater’s bright look had sparked her curiously. I became upbeat / intrigued noticing her appreciative gaze. In my childlike way, I felt encouraged to narrate the sweater’s three-generation history. Hearing the story, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. She became speechless for a short while. Her feeling of wonder was palpable in her face. She began to narrate her childhood memories when her mother taught her knitting skills.It soon emerged that she too was a firm believer in the idea of recycling clothes. I listened to her account with much pleasure.

List of words ..  Enchanted, Disbelief, Emerged, Sparked, Kindled,Embedded, Knit, Intrigued, Upbeat Unravelling, Bewildered.