Bhubaneswar: For Anisha Pereira, a first-year B Tech student here, it’s her first Christmas far away from home. Even though a curious Anisha is eagerly waiting to have a view of the Christmas celebrations at her parent’s new home, Internet remaining suspended in her home city, Lucknow, is all set to spoil her plan.
Amidst the ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), several cities in India saw Internet shutdown citing ‘security concerns.’ With festive season around, a large number of students studying here are facing a harrowing time as the clampdowns deny them digitally connecting with their loved ones.
“I had a connecting flight via Delhi which got cancelled due to protests there. So, I couldn’t be with my family this year. However, I thought I would stay in touch with them through Skype and WhatsApp. But with no Internet even that is out of the question,” complains Anisha.
Following protests against CAA and NRC, Internet shutdowns were observed in entire Meghalaya, 10 districts of Assam, 22 districts of Uttar Pradesh and in Jaipur. While services have resumed in many cities, disruptions have thrown life out of gear across the country. E-commerce too has been affected largely.
Anne Pyngrope, a native of Shillong studying here, is having a tough time to track her order of Rs 5,500 Sambalpuri Saree which she had parceled as a surprise gift for her sister. “I had saved some pocket money and planned to present my sister a Christmas gift. But after the Internet disruption, I have no clue about the whereabouts of my order as it is not being updated on the website,” Anne lamented.
According to a recent report by a Delhi-based non-profit Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC), which tracks such shutdowns nationally, a total of 95 such shutdowns have been reported in the country this year. Of these, 55 were in Jammu and Kashmir alone. It observed that India has become the Internet shutdown capital of the world with 67 per cent of the world’s documented shutdowns happening in the country.
The reports have come in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi vociferously promoting Digital India campaign. In a paper released by SLFC, these shutdowns have largely affected the common people as out of 446 million Internet subscribers in India, 424 million are mobile Internet users.
Moreover, apart from the students, many NGOs involved in rescuing migrant workers and human trafficking have said to have lost vital contacts with their sources due to disruptions in Internet services. Sources said that apart from sharing important information in various WhatsApp groups, updation of day to day activities has come to standstill due to no communication with their informants.
“We are in touch with our people who are in Northeastern states through phone, but sharing information such as list of victims, their present address or their photos have become almost impossible with no Internet. We are living in 21st century and but such situation makes us feel as we are still stuck in 19th century,” said Pratyush Ranjan Behera, who works for an NGO here.
