India’s Internet Shutdowns Leave Vulnerable Communities Disconnected

India‘s Internet Shutdowns Hurt Vulnerable Communities

Overview

India‘s frequent internet shutdowns, which are used as a policing tool, disproportionately affect the country’s poorest and most vulnerable communities, according to a joint report by Human Rights Watch and the Internet Freedom Foundation. The report reveals that since 2018, India has shut down the internet more often than any other country in the world. In light of India‘s “Digital India” programme, which is designed to ensure universal access to the internet, this represents a fundamental contradiction, the report notes. The shutdowns impair crucial activities and adversely affect economic, social, and cultural rights. Indian authorities, in the name of maintaining public order, have ignored court orders to ensure that internet suspensions are lawful, necessary, proportionate, and limited in scope and territory. The report identifies 127 shutdowns in the three years between January 2020 and December 31, 2022, in 18 of India‘s 28 states. 

The Effects of Internet Shutdowns

The lack of access to the internet poses a significant challenge for communities dependent on the Indian government’s social protection measures for food and livelihoods. According to the report, internet shutdowns make it difficult for rural communities to conduct basic banking, pay utility bills, and apply for and access official documents. For example, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which provides vital income security for over 100 million households in rural areas, requires adequate internet access to digitize its attendance checks and wage payments. Internet shutdowns also impact a key social protection policy that provides subsidized food grains under the National Food Security Act through a targeted public distribution system. 

Philosophical Discussion

The Indian internet shutdowns are emblematic of the global tension between state power and digital information. Access to the internet is widely recognized as an indispensable enabler of a broad range of human rights guaranteed in international human rights law. Internet shutdowns also violate the Indian government’s commitments to digital freedom. The Indian government’s unpersuasive argument of maintaining public order has disrupted people’s entire lives, in some cases, causing irreversible harm. Shutdowns also exacerbate the digital divide between urban and rural areas, with 94% of fixed-line connections concentrated in urban areas while 96% of subscribers use mobile devices to access the internet. Internet shutdowns are increasingly used the world over as a policing tool that subverts basic human rights principles, such as freedom of expression and access to information, to march political interests or address public safety concerns. As such, they illustrate the global struggle to balance the mediating role of the state and the overarching value of a digital public realm. 

What Next?

The authors of the report emphasize that cutting off access to the internet should be the last resort with safeguards to ensure people aren’t deprived of their livelihoods and basic rights. The Indian government must re-evaluate internet shutdowns and address the cultural, social, and economic factors that render the government prone to such repressive security measures. India has made an unprecedented commitment to promoting online literacy, enhancing digital infrastructure, and providing the vast majority of its citizens with cheap mobile connectivity through opening up trade and foreign investments. It behooves the Indian government to put those promises into practice and understand that digital inclusion should align with fundamental human rights standards as enshrined in the ICCPR.