http://scroll.in/article/824538/the-daily-fix-what-will-happen-to-digital-india-when-the-government-shuts-down-the-internet
What will happen to digital India when the government shuts down the internet? 2 hours ago Rohan Venkataramakrishnan Black out A storyline that has become all too familiar this year is currently playing out in Manipur. Tensions over the killing of three police personnel led to a call for a bandh, which then caused even more unrest. This prompted the government to impose a curfew and also suspend mobile internet services to prevent the spread of rumours. Just as the rest of the country is adjusting with a government push to switch from cash to digital payments, people in Manipur have to contend with no mobile internet at all. This is no isolated incident. The Centre for Communication Governance reported in October that 11 states had shut down the internet 37 times since 2015, with 22 of those cases coming in the first nine months of 2016 alone. The Brookings Institute, an American think tank, estimated that India had lost as much as $968 million as a result of 22 shutdowns between July 2015 and July 2016, only counting for disruption in economic activity – without covering lost taxes or the drop in investor and business confidence. Those numbers are from before the Centre announced its big demonetisation push which, after beginning as a drive against black money, has pivoted into an effort to move India’s transactions online. Ever since the government decided that its currency exchange effort has been a digital push, it has championed mobile payment systems and gone so far as to demonise users of cash, almost suggesting that anyone using it must be up to no good. What happens to those who have made the shift, and suddenly find themselves unable to transact because of an internet shutdown? The shutdowns are almost always decisions made by local authorities, but states and the Centre seem happy to go along since the prospect of a law and order situation going out of hand seems more ominous. But in a digital India, an internet shutdown will amount to a serious attack on individual rights: Beyond free speech, a suspension of internet services would also make it impossible to transact – thereby arresting all economic activity. The potential fallout from this could mean many more millions lost every time a local authority decides to take the quick-fix route of the shutting off the internet. The Centre and states need to work together and create a clear, transparent doctrine – that includes post-facto audits – governing the decision to shut down the internet, and also find ways to ensure economic activity can continue nevertheless. What use is digital India if the internet has been turned off? -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
