The government on Thursday said it has “taken note” of the comments made by US State Department on farmer protests in the country.
Earlier, the US had called for a “dialogue” with the farmers of India, urging the Indian government to recognise “peaceful protests” and allow “access” to the internet. On the issue of reports of internet shutdown in areas around the protest sites at the Delhi border, the US government emphasised that access to information was the “hallmark” of a thriving “democracy”.
Responding to this, the Indian government, on its part, through a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said “any protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, and the ongoing efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse”.
On US's response to internet ban in areas around the protest sites at the Delhi border, the MEA said: “the temporary measures with regard to internet access in certain parts of the NCR region were understandably undertaken to prevent further violence”.
Read the full statement of MEA:
We have taken note of comments of the US State Department.
It is important to see such comments in the context in which they were made and in their entirety. As you can see, the US State Department has acknowledged steps being taken by India towards agricultural reforms.
Any protests must be seen in the context of India's democratic ethos and polity, and the ongoing efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse.
India and the United States are both vibrant democracies with shared values. The incidents of violence and vandalism at the historic Red Fort on 26 January have evoked similar sentiments and reactions in India as did the incidents on the Capitol Hill on January 6 and are being addressed as per our respective local laws.
The temporary measures with regard to internet access in certain parts of the NCR region were therefore understandably undertaken to prevent further violence.
WHAT US STATE DEPARTMENT SAID ABOUT FARMERS PROTESTS IN INDIA
The US government had earlier called for a “dialogue” with the farmers of India and emphasised that access to information was the “hallmark” of a thriving “democracy”.
“We recognise that peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy, and note that the Indian Supreme Court has stated the same. We encourage that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue,” a US State Department spokesperson.
“We recognise that unhindered access to information, including the internet, is fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy,” the spokersperson said.
More than 400 internet lockdowns in last 4 years in India; average cost of each shutdown Rs 2 crore/hour
The year 2021 has started with a series of internet lockdowns in India. The country has seen seven incidences of internet shutdowns – including five cases at the farmers' protest site in Haryana and the national capital region in the last one month. The suspension of internet services around the protest site has attracted attention across the world even as the government has not extended the internet shut down at the farmers' protest site.
The US State Department said that it considers unhindered access to information, including the internet, fundamental to the freedom of expression and a hallmark of a thriving democracy.
Jhajjar, Sonipat, and Palwal districts in Haryana have borne the maximum brunt of the recent internet shutdowns. However, internet shutdowns are not uncommon in India. The country has witnessed more than 400 internet shutdowns in the last four years.
In fact, the world's longest internet shutdown was also reported in India. The internet was shut down in Jammu and Kashmir after Article 370 was abrogated in the parliament between August 4, 2019, and March 4, 2020, – for 223 days.
India shuts its internet down more frequently than any other democracy in the world, said a report by Forbes. Within India, Jammu and Kashmir faced the maximum internet outage. Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, and Maharashtra follows Jammu and Kashmir. The shutdown lasts for days in many cases. 21 shutdowns in 2017, five in 2018, and six shutdowns in 2019 lasted for more than three days.
Indian laws include the provision to shut down the internet. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) provides ‘Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017,' which allows temporarily suspending the telecom services, including that of the internet in an area. The suspension order can either be issued by the Union Home Secretary or the State Home Secretary in an event of public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
Countries, such as India, which have laws that facilitate and legalise shutdowns tend to order more shutdowns, said a report by AccessNow. The internet shutdowns in India have not only been imposed due to undesirable events. Out of the 79 shutdowns in 2017, 61 were preventive while only 18 were reactive, according to internetshutdowns.in. Further in 2018, 67 incidents of internet shutdowns were preventive while the same number of shutdowns were reactive.
Internet shutdown also hurts the economy. A report by top10vpn revealed that the cost of the internet shutdown in India was $2.7 billion in 2020 as it continued for 8,927 hours, including hours of simultaneous shutdowns at different places. Considering the per dollar rate of Rs 73.3, it means that the cost of internet lockdown in India is more than Rs 2 crore every hour.
