The Centre for Internet and Society
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Will Darjeeling Regain the Trust of Tourists?
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/will-darjeeling-regain-the-trust-of-tourists
<b>An agitation coupled with an internet ban that left tourists stranded, it looks like a tough time ahead for tourism in the Hills.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Darjeeling, West Bengal: </b>The tourism industry in Darjeeling proved to be as crippled as most businesses operating from the town due to the agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland. With the scenic beauty of the hills and the spectacular views it affords, Darjeeling has always been a major tourist attraction. A substantial part of the town’s employment is attributed to the tourism industry, which took a bloody blow with the ban on internet services that eventually lasted a hundred days.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“The bookings for Darjeeling generally commence four months prior to the annual Hindu festival Durga Puja (usually in September or October), but this time most of the enquiries were for Sikkim. The Hills usually see huge footfall during Puja, but the unrest hit tourism badly and we incurred huge losses,” says Samrat Sanyal, a tour operator.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The tourist season generally starts around April and continues till late October. That the internet shutdown came right in the middle of this period — it was first announced on June 18 and lasted till late September — did not help matters. Sanyal says that in 2016 around 85% of the tourist footfall took place around the time of Durga Puja, but in 2017 it had fallen to around 5-10%. Though things have relatively calmed down, Sanyal believes the flow of international tourists will remain low for a while. Other tour operators this reporter spoke to also echoed Sanyal’s sentiments and said that the aftermath has left tourists with little confidence in the Hills.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Sources in the tourism department say that apart from the internet shutdown, a general response to the strikes and the violence attributed to the agitation played a major role in “maginalising tourist flow”. The tourists who came to the Hills around the time the agitation intensified could not even get in touch with their families as the mobile reception was poor for days, besides no web connectivity. Many who had already arrived at Darjeeling had to cut short their vacation.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">One of them was Kartik Lodha. A tourist from Rajasthan, Lodha was caught unawares by the strike that came just as he prepared to go paragliding in Delo. He had no choice but to return to his hotel midway. With no internet to assist him in looking for a way out, Lodha left Kalimpong the next morning in a state bus with police escort. "It’s the locals who suffer the most during such situations. They are the ones who will have to deal with these problems and difficulties in the long run. Barring a missed vacation, we will be fine," said Lodha.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Blaming the state for imposing the shutdown and creating “unwanted problems” in the Hills, Tapash Mitra, a tourist from Kolkata, said that "the West Bengal government is hindering its own tourism industry”. He had planned a three-day trip with his family, but had to return on the day of his arrival. "I just want the people to have peace in the Hills."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Homestays were also badly hit and saw a spate of booking cancellations in the wake of the agitation and the subsequent network shutdown. Nimlamhu, the owner of Green-Hills homestay at Sangsay, said that more than the owners of hotels or homestays, tourists suffered as they were left stranded, unsure of what they would have to do. “Nothing works when the internet is banned. Even refunds cannot be processed.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">When asked about the arrangements that were eventually made to refund the tourists’ money, he said, "The amount was refunded because we were left with no option, and for those guests who were our regular customers, we adjusted the balance with their future bookings."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">He said, however, that it was difficult to contact those who booked stays in advance but were hit with the news of the strike before they arrived there. "There was no way we could contact the guests as the internet was banned. About 50-60% of our bookings are done online and we couldn’t even refund their money through netbanking. We had to personally call them up and apologise for the unforeseen circumstance, and request hem to bear with us, not knowing that the strike would last as long as it did," said Nimlamhu.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Sweta Neriah, who is in charge of Palighar, a homestay in Ecchay, was preparing their promotions when the town was hit with the blanket-ban on internet. "For international guests we have a system where payment is done only during checkout. We did incur heavy losses this season and I’m sure we will feel the impact of this slump for some years. Incidentally, this happened just when the international tourist flow started to pick up in this part of the world."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Complaining that the internet ban cost them a year’s business, Kabir Pradhan, the owner of the homestay, said, "Internet is the only way to really promote a business these days. We need to keep updating out official pages on every social networking site to market it. Only then can we attract clients and agents."<br /> He now looks forward to the spring season.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile, many tour guides say they suffered huge losses with the internet ban and dip in the number of tourists. Manisha Sharma, who used to work as a tour guide, says she regrets being in the hills as the ban robbed her of three months’ income. “Had I not been here, I could have travelled to some other places with tourists, but the movement of vehicles was also restricted during the agitation, leaving me broke and with few options,” says Sharma.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Roshan Gupta is a Siliguri-based journalist and a member of<a href="http://www.101reporters.com/"> </a><a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
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<p>Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/will-darjeeling-regain-the-trust-of-tourists'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/will-darjeeling-regain-the-trust-of-tourists</a>
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No publisherRoshan GuptaInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-20T16:01:33ZBlog EntryWas there an Unofficial Internet Shutdown in BHU & NTPC?
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/was-there-an-unofficial-internet-shutdown-in-bhu-ntpc
<b>Strap: In Varanasi and Raebareli, residents allege internet bans, while govt denies it all.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Varanasi/ Rae Bareli: , Uttar Pradesh: </b>During the student-led protests at Banaras Hindu University in September, anger over how the university handled a sexual harassment complaint was exacerbated by the police brutality that rained down the protesting female students. Amidst this chaos, many students inexplicably found that they unable to communicate with their parents and peers because they couldn’t connect online.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shraddha Singh, a second-year fine arts student at BHU, had to walk three kilometres to reserve her train ticket home and couldn’t call her mother to talk about the injuries she sustained during the lathi-charge on September 23. The 21-year-old student said, “First, the police came into the hostel to beat us up. Then the internet was blocked. Neither was the hostel WiFi working, nor the mobile internet. Forget about booking tickets, we weren’t even able to make calls.” She felt this was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the protest by those who were “afraid” of where it would lead.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Worse still, the hostel warden had asked the girls to vacate their dorms immediately, and the students were cast into the streets without access to the Internet. Tanjim Haroom, a Bangladeshi political science student at the university, found herself stranded in Varanasi like many of her classmates. "I go home only once in a year but this time, I was forced to vacate the hostel and I could not get in touch with any of my relatives or family due to this sudden shutdown of internet and phone services. I was helpless in this city and just had some Rs 700 ($11) with me. I finally got shelter at the Mumukshu Ashram and was able to contact my family from their landline phone.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Predictably, officials from the university insisted that there wasn’t any clampdown on the internet. The then vice-chancellor, Professor Girish Chandra Tripathi, when asked about this unofficial shutdown, said that there was none. "There could have been a network issue because the internet was working fine in our office. I cannot say what the students have alleged. Making allegations is very easy," he said over the phone to <i>101reporters</i>. Varanasi district magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra also denied that internet or phone services were suspended during the protests.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">But a worrying number of first-person accounts do prove otherwise. According to Avinash Ojha, a first-year post-graduate student at the university, internet and phone services were restricted in the varsity campus soon after the lathi-charge on the students. They weren’t able to get online from the night of September 23 to 25.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The students had to go to Assi Ghat or other far-flung places to talk to their families and make travel arrangements out of the city. Ojha also suspected the hand of the university’s vice-chancellor behind this move.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Another case of suspected unofficial shutdown might have occurred on November 1, when a boiler explosion occurred at the National Thermal Power Corporation plant in Rae Bareili, that has since killed 34 people.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">A senior officer of NTPC, on the condition of anonymity, told <i>101reporters </i>that Reliance Jio was asked to cap their services in the area until things settled down. "I had heard my seniors discussing the need for this in order to avoid panic. There are a large number of Jio users here, so that specific service was asked to restrict its internet speed and calling facility for a while.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Here too, there is evidence that the outage affected several people in the area. Amresh Singh, a property dealer hailing from Baiswara area of Rae Bareli was in Unchahar when the explosion occurred. He discovered that his phone network was not working. "There was no internet on my mobile phone after 4pm. I was able to access internet only after reaching Jagatpur, which is around 10 kilometres away from Unchahar," said Singh. “It felt like the phone lines were deliberately disrupted. I initially thought something was wrong with my phone, but the people with me were also not able to use their phones. Maybe the government quietly shut down the network to prevent panic.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Mantu Baruah, a labourer from Jharkhand working at the NTPC, had a near-identical experience. His Jio network stopped working after 4pm that day, and he was unable to contact his family on WhatsApp to tell them that he was safe. "I tried many times, maybe over a hundred times, to send an image but it didn’t work. Jio network was down. Neither video calls nor phone calls were working. The authorities had made this happen so people outside wouldn’t know what was going on here.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">But Ruchi Ratna, AGM (HR) at NTPC’s North Zone office in Lucknow, tells us that there was a network congestion that day, not a shutdown. "Even we were unable to talk to our officers and were getting our information through the media," she said. Sanjay Kumar Khatri, Rae Bareily's district magistrate said over the phone, "There is no question of an 'unofficial shutdown'. I myself faced issues in sending messages on WhatsApp but my BSNL mobile was working fine and even journalists here were sending images and videos real time.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">However, a senior communication manager at Reliance Jio's Vibhuti Khand office in Lucknow revealed to this reporter that the internet was indeed restricted in both these instances for 12 hours each. "This was only done on the order of the government. I do not hold any written information, but it must be with the head office," the communication manager said. At the time of publishing, our requests for comments from the official spokespeople of Jio had not received a response.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Arvind Kumar, principal secretary (Home), Uttar Pradesh government, said that there were no restrictions or shutdowns during either incident. "There could have been network issues. The government did not ask any service provider to restrict its services. I will look into the matter, about where the orders to restrict Jio were issued from, but it did not come from the Uttar Pradesh government," he said.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">While activists have roundly criticised the <a href="http://www.dot.gov.in/gazette-notification">Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency of Public Safety) Rules, </a>notified in August without public consultation, there is now a better-defined (albeit still vague) protocol for implementation of internet blackouts. For instance, only the central or state home secretary can issue the orders. Prior to this, internet restrictions were issued by various authorities, along with section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, aimed at preventing “obstruction, annoyance or injury”. This wide berth has allowed the administration to quietly get away with short-term internet bans without proper explanation. In fact, those monitoring these shutdowns are only able to maintain such records by tracking media reports; no official records are available to the public. Without official transparency, often, if there is no news story, it is like there was no internet ban.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Saurabh Sharma is a Lucknow-based freelance writer and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr />
<p>Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/was-there-an-unofficial-internet-shutdown-in-bhu-ntpc'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/was-there-an-unofficial-internet-shutdown-in-bhu-ntpc</a>
</p>
No publisherSaurabh SharmaInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T16:05:58ZBlog EntryThe Rising Stars in Music Loath Losing their Only Platform
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-rising-stars-in-music-loath-losing-their-only-platform
<b>Strap: The music from Kashmir wants to find a way out, but shutting internet down only adds to the bitterness.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Srinagar, J&K: </b>Amid the gaudy Old City area of Srinagar, where the air is heavy with the pungent smell of teargas shells, 25-year-old Ali Saifuddin has been busy working on compositions that he will perform at a prominent indie music festival in Pune in December 2017. Pune may be discovering Saifuddin’s music only now, but he has performed in Dubai and London too, owing to the fanbase he has garnered on social media.</p>
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<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKMusic1.png/@@images/f6f403df-e513-4d69-b038-b8e82ba5ac8a.png" alt="J&K Music 1" class="image-inline" title="J&K Music 1" /><br /></th><th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKMusic2.png/@@images/9488b671-1d80-4fa6-94d6-d7202c7c1a4e.png" alt="J&K Music 2" class="image-inline" title="J&K Music 2" /><br /></th><th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKMusic3.png/@@images/19d91b89-13d7-4d2c-a66d-7e3416507f2f.png" alt="J&K Music 3" class="image-inline" title="J&K Music 3" /><br /></th><th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKMusic4.png/@@images/4973863e-49a3-4eba-90c4-1d4eb70e6565.png" alt="J&K Music 4" class="image-inline" title="J&K Music 4" /><br /></th>
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<td style="text-align: justify; "><span class="discreet">Mehmeet Syed’s popularity on social media has taken her <br />to countries like US, UK, Australia and Abu Dhabi <br />(Picture Courtesy: Mehmeet Syed Facebook page)<br /></span></td>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align: justify; "><span class="discreet">Umar Majeed shot to fame with his rendition of Pakistan’s national anthem on the Santoor</span></td>
<td style="text-align: justify; "><span class="discreet">Yawar Abdal, a Kashmiri singer, says he <br />doesn’t see the logic behind keeping the <br />internet shut for months <br />(Picture Courtesy: Yawar Abdal Facebook Page)</span></td>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">It was in 2014 when the budding musician bought recording gear and created a Facebook page. Hours after uploading his first video, Saifuddin became an internet sensation. “I was stunned to see thousands of views on Facebook. People who I had never met with hailed my tunes and encouraged me to produce more,” Saifuddin says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">With 9,000 followers on Instagram and more than 6,000 ‘likes’ on his Facebook page, Saifuddin often gets offers to perform outside Kashmir.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“(As an artist) you need a platform, and in Kashmir, it is the internet that sides with you,” says Yawar Abdal, another popular Youtuber, whose song<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4jchTQ4EeA"> </a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4jchTQ4EeA"><i>Tamanna</i></a> has garnered over 400,000 views since June. “I uploaded a minute-long video on Facebook in April last year. It became viral and made me famous,” Abdal says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The 23-year-old Pune University student has more than 13,000 followers on Instagram and above 10,000 likes on Facebook. “There are no shows organised in Kashmir. Internet is the only platform where people can broadcast what they posses,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Frequent curfews, even online, are like a curse for Kashmiris. Internet services are being clamped down in the Valley quite often, particularly after the killing of militant leader Burhan Wani on July 8. Wani’s killing sparked violent protests resulting in the deaths of 15 civilians the very next day. The clashes killed 383 people - including 145 civilians, 138 militants and 100 state and Central security personnel - and around 15,000 others were injured. While many were also put under<a href="http://brighterkashmir.com/jkccs-releases-human-right-review-of-2016/"> </a><a href="http://brighterkashmir.com/jkccs-releases-human-right-review-of-2016/">illegal detention</a> following the outbreak of deadly violence, the government suspended internet for more than six months in 2016.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">In such a scenario, where shutdowns are stretching from streets to the social media, it is not surprising to see Kashmiris voice their dissent through art whenever they find a window open. In 2017, internet services were blocked<a href="https://www.internetshutdowns.in/"> </a><a href="https://www.internetshutdowns.in/">27 times</a> across various districts of the Valley, either on mobile, or on both mobile and broadband, in the hope that it prevents rumour mongering and instigation of violence.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“This is unnatural and tantamount to choking a person’s right to free speech,” says Saifuddin, who has been criticising the human rights violations in Kashmir with songs that carry a political undertone. Son of medical doctors based in UK, Saifuddin got initiated to rock music through Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin during school days, before heading to Delhi University for a BA degree in 2011. “There I found the treasure of music. I finally had a computer and an internet connection. Youtube became my first, and so far, the only teacher,” recalls Saifuddin. His songs on Youtube include<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_kh_YKoELM"> </a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_kh_YKoELM"><i>Aye Raah-e-Haq Ke Shaheedon</i></a><i>,</i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IO2gNtVb0E"><i> </i></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IO2gNtVb0E"><i>Phir Se Hum Ubharaygay</i></a><i>, </i>and<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1CSL-1OzKw"><i> </i></a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1CSL-1OzKw"><i>Manzoor Nahi</i></a><i> - </i>a song he posted to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kashmir in November 2015.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">For Mehmeet Syed, whose music was limited to CDs since 2004, internet opened new avenues. Her popularity on social media has taken her to countries like US, UK, Australia and Abu Dhabi among others. “Being on social media is very important as it lets people stay updated about my work. My popularity touched new heights after I took to the internet,” says Syed, who owns a verified Facebook page with more than 1.20 lakh followers. On Instagram, she is a novice. But an internet ban means “heartbreak” to her. “Internet is not shut down in other places witnessing violence and conflict…We are very unfortunate to face internet bans,” says Syed.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“As singers, we have to record songs, mail them for editing, or receive content from studio. Without internet, we are stuck, paralysed,” she says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Explaining how internet is more than a means of free expression, Mehmeet says, “Times have changed. This is the era of iTunes and YouTube. The songs we release in Kashmir are watched online across the globe. And this is how you earn today.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The freedom to share content has empowered even the marginalised lot who were only known locally for their talent. Abdul Rashid, a transgender wedding singer popular as ‘Reshma’ in Srinagar’s Old City, became an online sensation after one of her wedding songs was widely viewed on Facebook, and media followed up with stories around her.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“Nobody knew me outside my locality. But today, I get calls from across Kashmir to sing on weddings. This became possible through Facebook. It gave me wide publicity,” Reshma says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Umar Majeed, a Class 12 student from Zainakoot in Srinagar, is keeping the folk tradition of Kashmir alive with the help of internet. While the 19-year-old inherited skills on Santoor from his father, Abdul Majeed, it was social media that propelled him to fame. Umar played the national anthem of Pakistan on Santoor, accompanied by two other musicians on Rabaab. “The instrumental composition was viewed 450,000 times in two days,” says Umar, adding that they are working on a musical theme of the Indian national anthem as well.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">With 5,000 friends on Facebooķ and 2,500 followers on Instagram, Umar has a quite wide network for a schoolkid. “We get a lot of encouragement and confidence when people comment on and appreciate our work online,” he says. But repeated internet ban keeps the young musician away from the much needed feedback.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“When I get an idea, I instantly compose it on Santoor and upload it on Facebook to get viewers’ response… But when there is internet ban, I have no mood to play even when I get an idea, and soon I forget it,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Mehmeet points out that internet not only promises freedom of expression but also provides monetary support to indie artists through platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Pandora, Amazon and Sawaan. She has been generating revenue to support her music through 21 of her tracks uploaded on these platforms, Mehmeet says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The repeated shutdown of internet during the Republic Day and Independence Day also sends a wrong message to Kashmiris, says Mehmeet. “We realise that such attitude is step-motherly, which is unacceptable. And we as Kashmiris have not yet reached the stage where we think we have got independence.” Saifuddin seconds her sentiments. “If it is a democracy, then I have a right to speak my heart out. Why would the government choke my voice?” he asks.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">When asked if the clamping down of internet service affects his music and earning, Saifuddin retorts poetically: “If not for the internet, I wouldn’t be around. So yes, it pains to see Kashmir being sealed on streets and on the cyberspace as well.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“It makes you angry at times to see things that happen nowhere but in Kashmir.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Abdal, on the contrary, wants his music to be apolitical. “I sing the songs of Sufi saints and strive to rejuvenate the dying Kashmiri music,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">But, the ban on internet services leaves him perturbed. “Without listeners, you begin losing interest. I hope one day the government understands that there is no logic in keeping the internet shut for weeks and months,” says Abdal, adding that he also observes a drop in demand for live gigs in the absence of internet.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“When you have a lot to share, but the medium through which you could take it to people is blocked, discomfort is what you’re left with.”</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Umar Shah and Mir Farhat are Srinagar-based freelance writers and members of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
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For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-rising-stars-in-music-loath-losing-their-only-platform'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/the-rising-stars-in-music-loath-losing-their-only-platform</a>
</p>
No publisherUmar Shah and Mir FarhatInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-21T15:59:24ZBlog EntryTaxes in the Time of Internet Shutdown
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/taxes-in-the-time-of-internet-shutdown
<b>Strap: Darjeeling businesses buckle under a bandh, network ban, and GST</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Darjeeling, West Bengal: </b>In mid-June, SC Sharma, a tax lawyer in Darjeeling, was in a fix. Thanks to street protests, he had not left his house for a week. There was an internet shutdown across the district. As a third assault, the finance minister was announcing a new tax regime that confused him. A combination of these factors made Sharma anxious: many of his clients were going to miss the tax deadline and be saddled with a huge fine.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Spurred by the West Bengal government’s new language policy that sidelined minority interests, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, a political party that campaigns for a separate state for Nepali-speaking Gorkhas, had called for <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/darjeeling-unrest-what-you-need-to-know/article18959968.ece">a bandh</a> from June 12 across the northern hills. Schools and offices were closed. Public transport stopped. Banks would be closed for 104 days. GJM activists and the police clashed everywhere.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The state administration shut the internet down in the Darjeeling hills on June 18. A fortnight later, with the lockdown still in place, the central government rolled out the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a pan-India single tax to replace several state-level indirect taxes.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“My clients were jittery because of the penalty issues,” Sharma says. “There was no way I could study the GST, as there was no internet. We were crippled from all sides.” He had also heard reports of GST filing website crashing repeatedly even in regions with regular network services. “Everything was already a mess, and then GST is launched with all the fanfare.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Since the GST was a new concept, it had to be studied before returns were filed. With no internet, most businessmen were in the dark. Even advisors like tax lawyers and chartered accountants were in a soup as they were unable to use the internet or go down to the plains in Siliguri to address the issue.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Girish Sharda, owner of Nathmulls Tea, an online-cum-retail business of high value tea, felt lost when the GST was introduced. “We tried to solve the GST issues but we could not go online and find a solution.So we just sat around as all shops were shut too, and waited for the bandh to be declared open. It has been a terrible time for all of us in business.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The June-July season was one for second flush tea, the darker, stronger variety that constitutes 21% of Darjeeling tea exports, and 41% of its revenue. Losses of Rs 250 crores ($39 million) in the season from the triple attack trickled down to the 55,000 permanent and 15,000 temporary workers in the 87 tea gardens in the region.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Ranjeev Pradhan, who runs a construction company in Darjeeling, says those weeks were nightmarish, “The bandh, the internet shutdown, the voice call drops, the sudden introduction of the GST – all this has really taken a toll on me and several others who run small businesses in Darjeeling. Things are still not right. All we need is some peace of mind which is missing right now.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Only small-scale businessmen like Jeevan Sharma, who had dual offices in Darjeeling and Siliguri, managed to file GST. “If I did not have my chartered accountant based in Siliguri, it would have been impossible to file returns. Siliguri was open and the net was available, so the CA didn’t have a problem. Although the process was very slow because of technical snags in the servers.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Businessman Gyanendra, who runs Krishna Service Apartments, was not so lucky. “I was held up in Darjeeling because of the bandh. We had practically zero business for the 108 days of forceful bandh, and yet I had to think about filing GST first. This magnitude of shutdown was unthinkable for us.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Anjan Kumar Kahali, a prominent lawyer who deals with income tax and GST, had a harrowing time during the initial launch. “The system was not stable at all and the GST site kept on hanging after a short duration of use. Entries were taking forever to upload and results were not shown on time and taking really long to verify. The delay was hampering all my other work. Even today, the servers are still far from fast. I have heard that it is not before the end of this financial year that matters will be sorted out.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">In September, the GST council headed by the finance minister Arun Jaitley provided some relief for GST defaulters by extending the July deadline to October first, and then again to November. “I am relieved that I will be getting some extra time to file the returns without paying heavy fines,” says Kahali.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The tea and tourism industries, on which Darjeeling depends most, were severely hit by the bandh. In a politically sensitive time, the double whammy of the internet ban and GST seems to have deepened anger against the state. “The people of the hills feel betrayed, both by the centre and the state,” says Sharma. “They feel they have been taken for a ride once again like they have been several times before.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Avijit Sarkar is a Siliguri-based journalist and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/taxes-in-the-time-of-internet-shutdown'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/taxes-in-the-time-of-internet-shutdown</a>
</p>
No publisherAvijit SarkarInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-20T15:49:31ZBlog EntryStock Brokers Don't Love an Internet Shutdown
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/stock-brokers-dont-love-an-internet-shutdown
<b>Strap: For a trade that rides on price volatility and fast reactions, an internet shutdown is a costly slowdown.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Ahmedabad, Gujarat: </b>An internet shutdown means breaking contact with the lifeline of the stock market: information about share price movement. “The entire momentum for trading and investing comes from the control the trader feels he has on information about share prices," says Minesh Modi, a trader based in Ahmedabad. "The internet puts information on our fingertips, so the trader could play on the stock exchange. It gives you a sense of control on the data, and is also mechanism to trade."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">So, when the Gujarat government shut the internet down for a week during the Patel agitation in September 2015, and for four hours to prevent cheating on phones during a Revenue Accountants Recruitment Exam in February 2016, Modi says, "That intense feeling of connect goes away, and the faith is shaken.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">An obvious fallout of mobile internet shutdown is that terminals connected via phone internet stop working, and mobile trade is not possible. However, many Gujarati investors say that while they check price variations and movements online, they still trade through brokerage houses. Playing the stock market is usually a part-time business activity for most Gujaratis. “I don’t trade online directly. I place actual orders of purchase/sell through my broker," says YK Gupta, an investor in the city. Still, he did struggle during the internet shutdown. “I couldn't keep a tab on the price movement, and had to call up my broker for updates. How many times can I take updates on the phone? The television gives prices of only a few stocks, and there is a delay of three to five minutes of prices on the television. Stock prices being as volatile as they are, that time gap can be life-changing in the stock market.” Not willing to risk a huge mistake, Gupta chose to stay away from making any stock transactions during internet shut down.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The stock market rides on people's aspirations and individual deductions about trends and data, which in turn impacts business valuations. Since internet penetration has increased, traders say there is a premium on speedy reaction as well. Anil Shah, a former director with the Bombay Stock Exchange (2011-14) and a member of the National Stock Exchange, believes that an internet shutdown, however partial, will paralyse the ecosystem that sustains the share market. “Most of our work is on the terminals and when they stop, the smooth flow gets disrupted. The information that is the base in the stock market, the actual trading and fund flow work, all this will stop. When the internet stops, data stops, and the flow of work stops. It's as simple as that,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Recalling the impact of the internet and how it has evolved and woven itself into the stock market ecosystem, Shah adds, “Earlier, when the telephone number was the basis of trading, we could establish connectivity via phones. But since 2006-7, we have slowly moved to the internet to establish interconnectivity. The more reliable, faster and cheaper the internet services got, the more it integrated itself into our trading patterns. More people shifted to it as a connecting platform. About 95% connections are now established online."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">He says that NSE/BSE members now have a dedicated lease line so that they don’t lose contact with the stock market. "Many brokerage firms are connected via VSAT linkages, so that we, as Gujarat state, don’t get disconnected fully with the rest of India. The loss due to internet shutdown is not quantifiable. It will have to be measured as the cost of a missed opportunity."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">It is not just the stocks, but also banking transactions that stop or decrease drastically in volume when the internet stops, Shah says. “During the Patidar<i> </i>agitation, mobile internet services in most areas were shut down. However, broadband services were not stopped, so the brokers managed to keep the ball rolling. But brokers will lose in volumes. It is difficult to put a figure to it, but the movement and momentum of trade goes down.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Echoing a similar sentiment, VK Sharma, head of Public Consulting Group and Capital Market Strategy at HDFC Securities, says that large companies have the facility to call their other branch offices and get the transactions through. So only customers and traders who don’t have a landline fallback option will be affected. However, those who wish to transact on the stock market with help of mobiles will not be able to do so. “This way, the volume of transactions is not stopped completely, but definitely curtailed,” Sharma says. “The decrease can be roughly estimated to be around 3%, but the state-wise breakdown of transactions and impact is not available from the exchange. Moreover, internet slowdown or shutdown results in a lot of disputes among traders and brokers - about the price entered into for transaction and the price that the deal is finalised on.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Sarit Choksi, an investor who trades regularly, lamented the absence of a recovery mechanism for the losses that the people incurred. “When the net shuts off, we have to call the broker, who does not have dedicated phone lines to handle the huge hike in calls, so getting through to him is itself a challenge,” he says. “Then, as we don’t have the information at our fingertips, we cannot adjust the mutual funds choice, ‘stop loss’ and set ‘buy or sell’ limits in tune with the market movement. By the time I see it on tv, and get through to the broker to execute the deal, the price has changed. Who is going to compensate for this loss?”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">It’s impractical to tell the Stock Exchange Bureau of India or the traders that the transactions could not go through due to internet shutdown, or ask them to forgive the price difference due to the long waiting time on the telephone. If brokerage houses makes a mistake, Choksi explains, arbitration is available, but there is no platform to claim or address the kind of losses one incurs due to external limitations like an internet ban.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“If internet connectivity is put on ransom due to political ambitions, it is very disruptive,” Choksi says. “In a society deliberately being pushed to go digital, the impact of such a shutdown is felt in financial and social sectors. When such political decisions are taken without considering the other impacts, our bread and butter is affected, and we are left high and dry, with no recourse or means to compensate the loss.”</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Binita Parikh is a Ahmedabad - based freelance writer and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.<br /><br /></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/stock-brokers-dont-love-an-internet-shutdown'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/stock-brokers-dont-love-an-internet-shutdown</a>
</p>
No publisherBinita ParikhInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T16:20:49ZBlog EntrySorry, Business Closed until Internet is Back On
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sorry-business-closed-until-internet-is-back-on
<b>Strap: Exporters say they lose face with international clients when internet shutdowns block deliveries.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Vadodara, Gujarat:</b><b> </b>A household name in Vadodara, Jagdish Farshan has been famous for Gujarati snacks like <i>Leelo Chevdo</i> and <i>Bakarwadi </i>since 1938. Since the year 2000, they started exporting their snacks to the millions of Gujaratis settled across the globe, especially in Africa, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is one of the many indigenous businesses that helps Gujarat contribute 25% of the total exports from India. But the outfit synonymous with both tradition and modernity for 79 years, was also one of the many exporters to receive an unexpected jolt in August 2015, during the week-long internet shutdown during the Patidar protests for reservations across the state.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Kalpesh Kandoi, the chairman of Jagdish Farshan Pvt Ltd says, “Gujaratis in various countries buy our snacks online through our website, or through email. During the internet ban, we suffered quite a lot due to the blockage of orders and failure of deliveries.” Since nearly 50% of their annual revenue comes from exports, the shutdown threw a significant spanner in the works. Although the government claims it banned only mobile data, many businesses admit to their broadband and WiFi also being hit, or seeing debilitating delays.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“Of course, if there is an emergency from the importers’ side, they can call us directly,” says Kandoi. “But then again, a kind of inconvenience is created to them from our side, which is very shameful. It destroys our trustworthiness and credibility.” Many of their production centres in Gujarat, especially Vadodara, fell back on meeting orders when bank payments were stuck, or orders weren't accessible. Thankfully for the company, its manufacturing unit in Australia was able to meet at least some of the international orders when most districts of Gujarat couldn't access the internet.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The ban seems to have had a domino effect outside India too. Preeti Shah, who imports snacks and sweets from Jagdish Farshan through her small home-based business in the USA, couldn't meet orders there during the internet ban in Gujarat. She told <i>101reporters </i>on the phone from Philadelphia that when she started her business of selling Gujarati snacks 3 years ago, she marketed her service by calling her neighbours, friends and acquaintances personally. “I found that in return they emailed me their snack orders,” says Shah. “During the internet blockages in India, I had to apologise for not delivering the snacks to my clients because my orders were not fulfilled by the Gujarat-based exporters.” She lost 12 to 15 clients, most of them regulars. “The government has to realise the impact of the ban. What if I had lost all my clients just because of the internet ban?” she asks.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Gujarat is a major hub for several industries like dairy, automobile, gems, and pharmaceuticals, but its biggest exports are of cotton yarn, oilseeds, and seafood. With its highly advanced and well-equipped marine fish production techniques, it is able to export fish to UAE, Australia, USA, Japan, China, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, and Germany. Gems and jewellery too, though exported from Mumbai, are processed in Surat, Gujarat, one of the largest diamond hubs in the world. Already severely hit by demonetisation in November 2016, with large-scale closures, layoffs and losses, the diamond industry nearly buckled under the internet ban too.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Most of all, it is the unpredictable, ad hoc, and unannounced nature of the internet shutdowns that frustrates exporters, who liken it to annoying roadblocks traffic policemen install to allow VIP movement. For instance, in February 2016, the state suspended mobile internet services suddenly for four hours <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/gujarat-shuts-down-internet-during-exam/article8294672.ece">to prevent cheating during a revenue service exam. </a></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Chandresh Shah, president of the Exporters and Importers (Exim) Club and the founder of Madhav Agro Foods, says that the entire export industry relies on the internet for over 95% of its business. “It is absurd on the part of government to ban internet for any reason especially when they know that it will hamper exporters to a great extent. They have to provide alternatives, or announce beforehand. People who are importing our products consider us unprofessional and we look foolish in the international markets. So such policies need to be revamped and rationalised properly.” He adds that the rising economic cost of such shutdowns must be factored in. A <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/intenet-shutdowns-v-3.pdf">2016 study by Brookings Institution </a>that looked at 81 instances of internet shutdowns across 19 countries between July 2015 and June 2016 found that they had cost the world economy a total of $2.4 billion. India, at a conservative estimate of $968 million due to 22 shutdowns (as much as Iraq), was <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Industry/HBa7uLVF6xO7mKbAIN9X5L/How-much-does-internet-shutdown-cost-India-Brookings-says-.html">one of the biggest losers</a>.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">As the digital economy grows, the cost of frequent internet shutdowns will only accelerate. As the central government pushed the ‘Make in India’ initiative, Surat-based Falguni Patel (name changed) was inspired to start an online boutique in late 2014. A textiles student and first-time entrepreneur, she invested nearly Rs 10 lakhs ($15,600) through loans and savings. Unfortunately, a few months into her business, an internet ban was put in place. “It was a sheer coincidence that I received an order from Madhya Pradesh, along with an advance payment, just two days before the week-long internet ban. After that they mailed me four times – first with some requirements, then two follow-up emails and a final one demanding a refund of the advance –but I didn’t receive any of these due to the ban. Meanwhile, I used the advance to purchase raw materials needed.” After the ban was lifted, Patel realised what had happened. “When I called them personally and explained the situation, they called me unprofessional. When I said I would repay their money in 3-4 instalments, they filed a police complaint against me for theft.” Only a single order had turned bad, but it delivered a strong enough blow. Discouraged by the experience, and pressured by her parents who didn't want her to invest in the business anymore, Patel shut her website, and shelved her e-commerce dreams.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Some companies, like Dinesh Mills, one of Vadodara’s oldest textile companies, prevented losses by invoking their brand value and stepping up customer relations during the ban. Uday Shitole, General Manager – Sales, at Dinesh Mills, says the internet is a boon for the export industry due to its speed, web orders, low cost, and proper documentation. But he admits that in India, it's mandatory to have traditional back-up systems, even if this is much costlier, because political realities make even something as advanced as the internet unpredictable. Sudhir Purohit, Vice President (Exports), Dinesh Mills Ltd, says their decade-long relationships with suppliers and purchasers, initiated in the pre-internet days, stood the company in good stead. “We export the materials through digital orders too, but in our system, the negotiation of contracts has to be handled in person and non-negotiable ones can be done wholly through the internet. Without this, we will be vulnerable to any disruption, like internet ban, or accidents, that will definitely lead to delays and losses.”</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Nalanda Tambe is a Vadodara- based freelance writer and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sorry-business-closed-until-internet-is-back-on'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/sorry-business-closed-until-internet-is-back-on</a>
</p>
No publisherNalanda TambeInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T16:25:24ZBlog EntrySilence on the Dera Front
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/silence-on-the-dera-front
<b>Strap: How DSS followers, accused of violent protests after their leader was sentenced, manage without the internet.
</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Sirsa, Haryana</b>: Raj Rani’s two expensive smartphones are her whole world. But the 32-year-old entrepreneur from Haryana’s Hisar district found them entirely useless when she needed them most – on August 25, during the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/gurmeet-ram-rahim-singh-rape-latest-convicted-3-dead-violent-protests-followers-india-spiritual-a7912341.html">violent protests by members of the spiritual group Dera Sacha Sauda</a> (DSS) after their leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted of rape.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“My family follows DSS, and had gone to attend the monthly congregation on August 15 (which also happened to be Ram Rahim’s birthday), when were told that ‘Pitaji’ asked us to stay back in the premises, in case of an adverse verdict by the court in rape cases against him,” she says. This is understood to have been done as a show of support that could put pressure on the judiciary and state for a favourable verdict.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Along with lakhs of other followers, Rani was present in Dera’s Sirsa headquarters with her two children. She stayed in constant touch with her husband Sunny Kumar, a businessman based in New Delhi. "Every day, I showed him the Dera premises and religious activities through WhatsApp video calls,” she says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">She recalls “the nightmarish moment” on the night of August 24 when the Haryana police and the Indian army surrounded the Dera. They imposed a curfew in the town, and restricted people from coming in and going outside the premises spread over 700 acres.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Rani says that the government blocked the internet on August 24 – a day before the self-styled godman appeared in the Panchkula court. Service providers of different companies, including mobile phone and landline services, were also barred at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters. As a result, Rani lost all contact with her husband. “I was confident until I was connected with my family over WhatsApp call and video chat, but as soon as this went away, I started losing faith, and felt afraid,” she says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">After the curfew was imposed and internet was shut down, Rani says the devotees started to panic. They demanded that the DSS management permit them to go to their respective homes after Gurmeet’s arrest on August 25. After his conviction for rape, Rani says the politically influential and funds-flushed DSS fell like a house of cards. “There was chaos all around,” she says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Fearing that Dera followers would vandalise public property to protest their leader’s conviction, the police had restricted public transport. Private vehicles were being allowed to move only after multiple security checks. On the morning of August 27, hundreds of devotees started to leave the Dera premises by foot. Rani walked about 50 kms along the national highway 10 (Hisar-Sirsa) up to Fatehabad district.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">It was a coordination committee of police, legislators, and bureaucrats from Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, under the chairmanship of Punjab governor and union territory administrator VP Singh Badnore, that took the decision to ban the internet. After the order on August 24, all the SMSes, dongle, and data services provided on mobile network were suspended. The government only allowed phone calls during the internet shutdown in affected districts in these states.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Dissing the police’s claims that Dera followers started the violence first, provoking the cops to fire, 32-year-old shopkeeper Gaurav Soni, an ardent DSS follower for seven years, insists that things went out of control because the internet connection was snapped. He says that senior members in the Dera’s internal WhatsApp groups couldn’t send messages to calm angry followers. “Whatever happened was a result of a communication gap,” says Soni, who joined the protests. “No one asked the followers to get violent, and followers never attempt such things without proper instructions. But since there was a leadership gap, thanks to the break in communication, all this occurred.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Vikas Kumar, an IT expert of the Dera Sacha Sauda agrees, "As soon as we came to know about the conviction, we tried to send a message from Dera chairperson Vipasana Insan, requesting followers to maintain peace, and keep faith in the judicial process. But we couldn’t upload this message because mobile internet and broadband services were banned." They also tried to call key Dera leaders. “But it was too late by then, and followers clashed with law enforcement agencies," Vikas adds.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The Dera’s protests, and the related internet and transport shutdown seemed to have impacted the group’s own followers too.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Those outside Haryana received misleading or panic-inducing forwards and videos, worrying them, but also worsening the anger against the state administration. Rajat Singh, a 65-year-old Dera follower from Mansa district, Punjab, says his son Rishipal Singh, had gone with several followers to the court in Panchkula, Haryana, where Gurmeet’s case was being heard. Rajat Singh says that since the internet was not banned at Punjab’s Mansa, he continuously received photographs of bullet-ridden bodies, charred cars, massive fires, and vandalism on WhatsApp. It’s unclear how Dera members from Haryana were able to send these pictures, overriding the blocked internet. “I was so disturbed,” he says. “As soon as we came to know that the Haryana police had opened fire on the followers, I started calling my son,” he says. But phone networks were constantly busy or spotty. “My son’s phone was not reachable. I asked relatives to send him text messages, or messages on WhatsApp, but the internet was not working.” It was much later, when Rishipal made a rushed call, that they were assured of his well-being.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Unaware of the violence at the Dera, 37-year-old Rakesh Kumar, a DSS follower from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was visiting Sirsa on August 24. “I booked a hotel in Sirsa district through an app, and chose to pay at the hotel. When I reached Sirsa, the internet was off.” Kumar went to the Dera taking lifts from a few vehicles plying on the sly, but soon returned to his hotel after followers went on a rampage. He wanted to leave Sirsa, but “got stuck” because the hotel didn’t allow him to leave without paying. ATMs were closed, vandalised, or not working, and it was generally unsafe to go out. “I had some balance on PayTM, but that was also not working as there was no internet connection,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Without Facebook or Twitter accounts, the Sirsa police had no way to counter rumours, discourage violence, or call for peace, says additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Sirsa, Munish Nagpal. A ban, he says, was the only way for them to nip crowd mobilisation in the bud, and curb rumours from spreading to Dera followers in other states of north India.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“The ban controlled the situation to a certain extent, but it handicapped us, and slowed the process of our communication with seniors in Chandigarh,” admitted Ashwin Shenvi, the superintendent of police (SP).</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The Haryana police, chief minister and health minister are usually active on social media, and the government too prides itself on being digitally savvy, but during the ban, every account was inactive. This despite the state offices having broadband.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">It is worth pointing out that DSS is credited for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s first ever win in Haryana in the 2014 state elections. Gurmeet Ram Rahim and CM Manohar Lal Khattar have even shared stages multiple times for photo-ops. Many believe this to be the reason behind the state government not being very vocal, online or offline, in condemning the violence by Gurmeet’s followers. It could have ticked off DSS’s over 50 million followers, a large votebank. The political dynamics, hence, were also responsible for internet becoming a victim of the violence unleashed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Sat Singh is a Rohtak-based journalist and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/silence-on-the-dera-front'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/silence-on-the-dera-front</a>
</p>
No publisherSat SinghInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-20T15:58:44ZBlog EntryOnline or Offline, Protest Goes On
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/online-or-offline-protest-goes-on
<b>Strap: Kashmiris say internet blockades have no effect on uprisings</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Srinagar, J&K: </b>Ahead of the Srinagar parliamentary by-polls held on 9 April 2017, the Jammu & Kashmir state government suspended mobile data services to prevent protests around the election. The constituency went to polls with strict restrictions on movement, and with no access to mobile internet. As soon as the electoral staff reached their respective polling booths, however, there <i>were </i>protests. People at dozens of locations in central Kashmir’s Budgam district began to gather to demonstrate against the central and state governments, which they believed had not safeguarded Kashmiri interests.</p>
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<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKStonepelters1.png" alt="JK Stonepelters 1" class="image-inline" title="JK Stonepelters 1" /><br /><span class="discreet">Faizan, a 12-year-old schoolboy, was killed in the Dalwan shooting</span></td>
<td><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKStonepelters2.png" alt="JK Stonepelters 2" class="image-inline" title="JK Stonepelters 2" /><br /><span class="discreet">Abbas, 21, was one of the victims of the shooting in Dalwan</span></td>
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<td><span class="discreet"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKStonepelters3.png" alt="JK Stonepelters 3" class="image-inline" title="JK Stonepelters 3" /><br />Abbas’ home in Dalwan</span></td>
<td><span class="discreet"><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/JKStonepelters4.png" alt="JK Stonepelters 4" class="image-inline" title="JK Stonepelters 4" /><br />The school in Dalwan where the shooting occurred</span></td>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Picture Courtesy: Junaid Nabi Bazaz</i></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">In Dalwan village, a picture-postcard village atop a hill 35 kms from Budgam town, no votes were cast: the officers fled the polling station, and the paramilitary forces and police shot at protesters. Two people – a 21-year-old son of a policeman and a 12-year-old schoolboy – died on the spot.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">People of Dalwan have been voting in droves in every parliamentary, legislative and local body election, even on occasions where much of Kashmir boycotted polls. But in April, residents said they were fed up with legislators not working to ensure uninterrupted power, water supply, concrete roads, or even a permanent doctor at its only dispensary. So, a village that has never demonstrated or produced any militants in the last 30 years of uprisings in the Kashmir Valley erupted in protest that election day. Now, the cemetery in which the two killed civilians are buried has been renamed as Martyr’s Graveyard.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Bazil Ahmad, a resident of Dalwan, says that nothing could have prevented the protests that day. “We protested against state, it was a spontaneous response,” says 22-year-old Ahmad who threw his first stones that day. “If the government believes that an internet blockade could prevent protests, they’re living in a fool’s paradise.” He sees the internet only as a free platform to express his anger and disappointment. “The actual trigger for the anger comes from the denial of rights and state aggression, not because of the internet,” says Ahmad.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">As the news about the killings spread to neighbouring villages word-of-mouth, residents there too protested. Journalists in these villages updated their newsrooms. In a few days, all newspapers in Kashmir carried the news of eight deaths, scores of injuries, and the appalling 6.5% voter turnout in Budgam and Ganderbal districts.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">After the ban was lifted, videos captured on polling day were posted on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. One of them was a video of Farooq Dar, a voter returning from the polling booth, tied to the front bumper of a military vehicle as it patrolled villages. A paper with his name was tied to his chest, and a soldier announced on the loudspeaker, “Look at the fate of the stonepelter.” The video created an uproar internationally. The armed forces were accused of using a civilian as “a human shield”, pushing it to hold an inquiry, and the police to lodge an FIR.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">After these videos emerged, the government on April 26 officially banned 22 social media sites and apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, for over a month. Once again, it seemed to have little effect on the protests – and protestors.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Sajad, who has been throwing stones for the past eight years at the armed forces, says, “The government is miscalculating the use of internet and the occurrence of protests.” The 28-year-old refers to the protests using the Kashmiri phrase <i>kani jung</i>, loosely translated as ‘stone battle’, which to him conveys a revolutionary zeal. Youths like Sajad who participate in the protests insist that they are provoked each time by an instance of human rights violation that exacerbates the long experience of militarisation, aspiration for “azadi”, and conflict in Kashmir. Internet shutdowns do nothing to erase this trigger, he says, and sometimes heighten their anger.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">In just 2017, there have been 27 internet or social media bans in J&K, according to<a href="http://internetshutdowns.in/"> </a><a href="http://internetshutdowns.in/">internetshutdowns.in</a>. In the absence of evidence or study about its effects, it’s unclear if these blockades curb the spread of misinformation at all, or prevent the mobilisation of people for protests. For instance, on 15 April 2017, students from Degree College in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district protested against the armed forces for firing teargas and beating them. Though there was an internet ban in place, the incident went live on Facebook. It led to more student protests across the state. Schools, colleges and universities had to be closed for weeks.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Due to the frequency of blockades, several Kashmiris, including ministers, bureaucrats, civilians, protesters and police officers, have found a way out: they have turned to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks).</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">A VPN allows users to remain secure online and also enables them to access content or websites that are otherwise blocked. Sajad says, "A selective ban on the internet does not help, because we use VPNs. A person gains access to a network, and everyone in the area finds out how. Let the government block everything, it won’t stop protests.” To illustrate his point, Sajad gives the example of uprisings in the summer of 2016, during which internet, pre-paid and post-paid connections were shut for months. “Were there not protests?” he asks. “Kashmir was resisting Indian forces even before the internet existed, so why would it be difficult for us to use the same means now?”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Gulzar, a 30-year-old who has joined protests since he was 15, says the internet is more often used to disseminate information about the injustice, and not to organise protests. “A guy from Srinagar will only protest in Srinagar, and not go to other places. So, it is not too difficult to find out where protests are going on,” says Gulzar.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">A DSP-rank police officer in the cyber crime cell of the J&K Police, on the condition of anonymity, says that bans have not yielded absolute results, but have been useful in preventing small-scale protests. He cited the example of district-level territorial internet blockades, done during gunfights between militants and the armed forces, to prevent immediate information sharing that may lead to the operation being compromised. “Say some militants are caught during an encounter in a village in Pulwama district. We block the internet as a precautionary measure in that area,” he says. “In case the district is violence-free, we reduce the bandwidth. That has now become the standard operating procedure.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The police officer adds that accustomed to the bans, people now record the protests and later post videos on social media once the ban is lifted. “So, in effect, what the internet ban achieved is neutralised as soon as the internet is back on,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i> </i></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Names changed to protect identity.</i></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i> </i></p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; "><b>J</b>unaid Nabi Bazaz is a Srinagar-based journalist and a member of <a href="https://101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. He has been working as a journalist in Kashmir since 2010. He has covered human rights, economy, administration, crime and health over these years. He has also written for contributoria.com, an independent division of The Guardian.</p>
<hr />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/online-or-offline-protest-goes-on'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/online-or-offline-protest-goes-on</a>
</p>
No publisherJunaid Nabi BazazInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-21T14:53:51ZBlog EntryMobile net ban during peaceful protest leaves farmers confused
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/mobile-net-ban-during-peaceful-protest-leaves-farmers-confused
<b>Strap: Administration says it was done to prevent rumours from spreading, protesters insist they needed internet to fight it.</b>
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<p><span style="text-align: justify; ">In Sikar district, about 15,000 farmers had staged a protest at Krishi Upaj Mandi on 1 September 2017 under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha. Their major demands were farm loan waiver, pension for farmers and implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission. The protest had the support of students, traders' associations, anganwadi workers, transport unions and a few other organisations. About 100,000 people joined farmers in a solidarity march during the next 13 days.</span></p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify; ">The demonstrations continued and when talks with the government failed, thousands of farmers set out to lay siege to the district collector's office and block highways on September 11. </span></p>
<p><span style="text-align: justify; ">Accordingly, the district administration clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code, restricting assembly of five or more people, and blocked mobile internet in the district.</span></p>
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<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/RajasthanFarmerProtest1.JPG/@@images/a7bca141-ad0d-452a-a64d-4ac73fd20801.jpeg" alt="Rajasthan Farmers Protest " class="image-inline" title="Rajasthan Farmers Protest " /></p>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Kishan Pareek, district secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) which took part in the protest, contended that though the government says the ban was enforced to check the spread of violence, the actual motive was something else. He says the administration was vying to stifle their movement but couldn’t use force as the protesters were peaceful.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">"So, they resorted to spreading rumours to provoke us to commit any violent activity. If internet was working that time, we could have easily denied those [rumours],” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">According to Pareek, the rumours that circulated that day included: the protest has turned violent at some location, police have fired bullets/charged baton at the protesters, additional force has been called in from Jaipur etc. As broadband was operational, the organisers managed to counter falsehood with facts and the misinformation didn't spread outside Sikar. Pareek says whichever protest-spot the rumours portrayed as violence-ridden, their social media team shared videos from there on Facebook to counter them.</p>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Pictures above: </i><span><i>Thousands of farmers held a protest at Krishi Upaj Mandi, Sikar in September 2017</i>.</span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><span>Nevertheless, in the absence of mobile internet, farmers’ teams that had gathered at various highways to block roads had difficulty processing the false information that was trickling in. Though it created much confusion among them, it failed to instigate them.</span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Rajpal Singh, a Sikar-based member of CPI(M)'s social media wing, informed that the mainstream media didn't give much attention to the protest. He says it were local websites and newspapers that covered the event, which is why the administration banned internet, hoping restriction on the flow of information would throw a spanner in the works. Apart from local news websites, local Facebook pages -- Sikar Aapno, Sikar Sandesh, We love CPIM- Dhod and CPIM Sikar, etc. -- were giving minute-by-minute updates of the farmers' protest.<span> </span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The internet services were resumed in Sikar a day later as the protest did not get violent and the protesters were not found circulating any provocative content.<span> </span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">A former CPI(M) MLA, president of All India Kisan Sabha and leader of the farmers' agitation, Amara Ram, told 101Reporters that one of the very reasons their movement enjoyed humongous public support was its peaceful nature. He says as their movement unfolded, people from Sikar and outside realised this protest would not turn violent and it’s a cause that needed support.<span> </span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">As cautious as the government might have been about the September 11 protest, police presence indicated that the law-enforcement agency did not perceive it as a threat. One of the protesters, Nemichand, says only 50-odd policemen had been deputed for the protest march of 15,000+ farmers to the district collectorate. He claimed that the number of men in khaki dwindled to 20 by the afternoon.<span> </span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">He alleged that the real reason for internet shutdown was stopping the dissemination of news about their protest as it exposes the Modi government's inconsiderate approach towards farmers.<span> </span></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“Everybody in Sikar was talking about the internet ban. Since there was no legitimate reason for the ban, the government couldn’t continue with it, fearing how they will justify,” he says.</p>
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<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/RajasthanFarmerProtest3.png/@@images/3258a626-8fce-4784-9977-098c720496af.png" style="text-align: justify; " title="Rajasthan Farmers Protest " class="image-inline" alt="Rajasthan Farmers Protest " /></p>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The administration confirmed that the ban was imposed fearing threat to law and order in the district due to the gathering of thousands. “Though they were protesting peacefully the initial ten days at the <i>mahapadav,</i> they had planned to block the district collectorate on September 11 in thousands. To restrict their movement, internet was suspended in Sikar. During such situations, no one writes positive about the administration. We didn’t want to provide them a platform for spreading rumours that could have made the protestors violent. If there had been no internet ban that day, something big would have happened,” Jai Prakash Narayan, additional district collector and additional district magistrate, told 101reporters.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“Broadband was made working during the internet ban so that the private and government offices were not affected. While giving order for internet ban, it is made sure that normal call and broadband facilities are not debarred. General masses are affected but internet shutdown is the only option we have,” he added. “While their blockade continued for three days, we restricted internet services only for first 24 hours as the protest had gained stability till then.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Even three months after the high-powered ministerial committee was formed to look into the farmers’ demand, nothing has been done. Now, they plan to stage a protest in February 2018 when the state assembly will be in function.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Former CPI(M) MLA Pema Ram says, “Preparation for February protest has already begun. Kisan Sansads are being organised in Sikar, where active farmers from each village participate to raise demands regarding implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report, a solution to the menace of stray cattle, complete farm loan waiver and pension for farmers. They then discuss it with other farmers in their villages.”</p>
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<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><strong> </strong></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Pictures above: Apart from local news websites, local Facebook pages - Sikar Aapno, Sikar Sandesh, We love CPIM- Dhod and CPIM Sikar, etc. - were giving minute-by-minute updates of the farmers' protest. </i>Pictures courtesy: Shruti Jain</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><strong><i>(Shruti Jain is a Jaipur-based journalist and a member of </i></strong><a href="https://101reporters.com/"><strong><i>101Reporters.com</i></strong></a><strong><i>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)</i></strong></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/mobile-net-ban-during-peaceful-protest-leaves-farmers-confused'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/mobile-net-ban-during-peaceful-protest-leaves-farmers-confused</a>
</p>
No publisherShruti JainInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2018-01-19T15:20:14ZBlog EntryIt Hurts Them Too
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-hurts-them-too
<b>Strap: Internet shutdown robs security forces' social media lifeline in J&K.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Srinagar, J&K:</b> For Mahender*, a member of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) posted in Srinagar for the last two years, the internet has been a way to feel virtually close to his children and wife in Bihar, nearly 1,900 kms away. After duty every day, he finds a quiet corner to start video-calling his wife. At the other end, she ensures their two children are beside her. “We discuss how our day went. Most of our conversations revolve around the kids, their schooling and food, and about my parents who live near our house,” says Mahender, who identified himself only with his first name.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">However, Mahender and thousands of security personnel like him posted in the Kashmir Valley haven't found this easy connectivity always reliable, courtesy the government's frequent internet shutdowns, phone data connectivity cuts, and social media bans.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Jammu & Kashmir has faced 55 internet shutdowns between 2012 and 2017, as recorded by the Software Freedom Law Centre. The administration justifies this crackdown by citing "law-and-order situations" that occur during encounters of security forces with militants and, later, when protests and marches are carried out by civilians during militants' funerals.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by security forces and police on 8 July 2016, triggering a six-month-long “uprising” among civilians in Kashmir. Immediately after the shootout, security agencies shut the internet down. With 55 internet shutdowns in 2017 itself, it is something of a standard practice in Kashmir today to block social media or internet in a district or entire Valley each time there is an encounter. It is also a recurring practice of precaution against protests on Independence and Republic Day every year.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Security forces and police are not untouched by these shutdowns though. There are 47 CRPF battalions posted in the Kashmir region. “Our jawans experience difficulties during internet bans as they are not able to communicate with their families and friends as frequently as they do when internet is working,” says Srinagar-based CRPF Public Relations Officer Rajesh Yadav.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The J&K police, who are at the forefront of quelling protests and maintaining law & order in the Valley with a strength of nearly 100,000, also suffer. There have been growing instances of clashes between the Kashmiri police and protesters who believe their home force is being brutal during crowd control. The policemen have had to hide or operate in plain clothes. A senior police officer in Srinagar, who does not want to be named, says, “Our families are worried about our well-being when we are dealing with frequent agitations. In such a situation, when there is a ban, we find it difficult to stay in touch with our families.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">More dangerously, internet bans also hit the official communication of cops in action. Their offices are equipped with BSNL landline connections, which are rarely shut down, and they usually communicate through wireless; but for mobile internet most of them depend on private internet service providers, owing to their better connectivity, as the rest of the state. A senior police officer who deals with counter-insurgency in Kashmir speaks of the impact of cutting off phone data connectivity. "We have our own WhatsApp groups for quick official communication. We use broadband in offices only and can’t take it to sites of counter-insurgency operations.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Yadav of the CRPF says, “While we have several effective means of communication for official purposes, social media is one that has accentuated our communication network. During internet bans, our work is not entirely hampered, but there is a little bit of pinch, since that speed and ease of working is not there.” Nevertheless, he defends the ban, insisting that Facebook and WhatsApp are handy tools for people to "flare up" the situation and "mobilise youths" during protests. "So, it becomes a compulsion for the administration to impose the ban."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Counter-insurgency forces have in the last few years created social media monitoring and surveillance cells. They say it is to equally match the extremists, including those in Pakistan, who use social media services like Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp now, instead of their phones which can be tapped. It is also to keep an eye on suspected rumour-mongers and propagandists. For instance, 22-year-old Burhan Wani had gained the attention of security forces precisely because of the way he used his huge following, amassed through Facebook posts and gun-toting pictures, to inspire young Kashmiris to militancy.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“There is always monitoring and surveillance. If militants are using it, then they are within the loop,” says Yadav.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">There is widespread public outrage against the state government and agencies who impose frequent net bans in Kashmir, but the CRPF official says it hampers their attempts to build an image and do public relations in Kashmir too. “We promote and highlight programmes like Civic Action and Sadhbhavana online, and that's not possible when there's no social media.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">"The public's criticism of the ban is justified,” the counter-insurgency official says. But they are compelled to use it in situations like during the recent scare around braid chopping, which was caused due to “rumour-mongering by persons with vested interests”. Kashmiri civil society had suggested that the police keep the internet up to issue online clarifications trashing the rumours, but it was not to be.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">"The internet has made it possible to identify culprits while sitting in an office. But we have to shut it down in case of communal tensions which have the tendency to engulf the whole state,” says the senior cop. “When we have no option left, we go back to traditional human intelligence.” </p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Name changed to protect identity.</i></p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Mir Farhat is a journalist from Jammu & Kashmir, with an experience of reporting politics, conflict, environment, development and governance issues. His primary interests lie in reporting environment and development. He is a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr />
<p>Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-hurts-them-too'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/it-hurts-them-too</a>
</p>
No publisherMir FarhatInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T15:12:31ZBlog EntryISPs in Kashmir Grappling with Mounting Losses Amid Recurrent Shutdowns
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/isps-in-kashmir-grappling-with-mounting-losses-amid-recurrent-shutdowns
<b>Strap: Internet savvy youth taking to alternative routes to access the world wide web.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Srinagar, J&K: </b>CNS Infotel Services, once a buzzing cybercafé in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk, is now a prominent internet service provider (ISP) for the town. It is popular for providing uninterrupted, fast internet connection, but that reputation has been tough to maintain as the Kashmir Valley has witnessed 56<a href="https://www.internetshutdowns.in/"> </a><a href="https://www.internetshutdowns.in/"> internet shutdowns</a> since 2012, 38 over the last two years alone. This has pushed the economy downhill and discouraged new enterprises from emerging.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Once the internet is blocked, executives at ISPs either skip calls to avoid public ire, or express their helplessness over the sudden disruption of internet ordered by authorities in the wake of some security situation.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">An executive at CNS, Imran says how a sudden ‘police directive’ often forces them to apply the internet ‘kill switch’. “In May this year,” says Imran, “we received a circular stating that authorities want us to block 22 social media and messaging sites, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Skype, Telegram and Viber, with immediate effect.” That day, CNS executives were only repeating a prohibition procedure that has become a norm in the Valley. In the post-2008 Kashmir, as street protests became the popular<br /> mode of dissent, the state’s observation has been that resistance is being “fuelled by social media.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“There’s a perpetual struggle for us to grapple between police orders and annoyed customers,” says Owais Mir, an executive of G Technologies, another ISP in Srinagar. “The frequent internet gags hamper our operations… annoyed customers often threaten to either switch over to another service provider or to deactivate their connections.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Mobile data and broadband services in Kashmir were banned 10 times between April 8 and July 13 in 2017. “By then,” Imran says, “we were running into huge losses.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">While Imran does not have an actual figure to quote about the loss he faced, mobile ISPs were decrying daily losses to the tune of Rs 2 crore between April and July 2017.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">According to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), mobile service providers in Kashmir suffered losses worth<a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/business/in-3-months-internet-banned-10-times-in-kashmir/254706.html"> </a><a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/business/in-3-months-internet-banned-10-times-in-kashmir/254706.html">Rs 180 crore</a> during that period. When such orders are passed, usually, except the state-run BSNL, other service providers — Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone and Reliance (Jio) — promptly shut down their operations. The postpaid BSNL numbers, which are mainly with police, army and government officials, continue running.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Alternative access</b><b> </b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The repeated loss of communication in the Valley has prompted Kashmiri netizens to explore solutions. Many of them have learnt to access the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), mostly through broadband internet and state-owned BSNL, in order to continue using messaging services and social media.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">A<a href="https://gizmodo.com/5990192/vpns-what-they-do-how-they-work-and-why-youre-dumb-for-not-using-one"> VPN</a> uses proxy servers to securely access a private network while allowing users to change location and share data remotely through public networks. It secures a connection through encryption and security protocols, and enables access to content that is otherwise blocked. VPN keeps the ISP from placing restrictions on access.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“VPNs help us to overcome the irrational social media blockade,” says Shagufta Mir, a college student from Srinagar. “More than a political statement, using VPN sends out a positive message that Kashmiris have evolved to tackle repeated restrictions imposed on them.” Most users have learnt about VPNs from their tech-savvy peers.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“When the government banned social media earlier this year,” says Shafat Hamid, a trader, “my friend taught me how to access a VPN. I felt empowered to be able to overcome the frequent gag on online activities.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>‘India worse than Iraq’</b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Jammu & Kashmir has<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/behind-the-info-curtain-kashmir-has-learnt-to-work-around-social-media-bans/articleshow/58438207.cms"> </a><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/behind-the-info-curtain-kashmir-has-learnt-to-work-around-social-media-bans/articleshow/58438207.cms">higher internet penetration</a> than the all-India average with 28.62 internet subscribers per 100 people compared to the national figure of 25.37.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Although broadband was functioning, the suspended mobile internet for over five months from July 9 to Nov 19, 2016 (data services on pre-paid mobiles remained suspended until January 27, 2017) saw many operators winding up. During that period,<a href="https://internetshutdowns.in/"> internetshutdowns.in</a>, a website run by Delhi-based non-profit Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) to track incidents of internet shutdowns across India, recorded that Kashmir had no internet access for “over 2,920 hours”. This made India worse than Iraq and Pakistan in terms of number of days without internet, according to a<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/intenet-shutdowns-v-3.pdf"> report</a> by the Brookings Institution.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">According to a<a href="https://thewire.in/158719/internet-shutdowns-kashmir-business-start-up/"> </a><a href="https://thewire.in/158719/internet-shutdowns-kashmir-business-start-up/">report</a>, out of the 14,000 local youth employed in the IT sector in the Valley, an estimated 7,000 people lost their jobs due to the frequent internet shutdowns imposed last year. Online businesses incurred losses worth<a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/front-page/online-business-faces-onslaught-of-internet-ban-restrictions/228618.html"> </a><a href="http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/front-page/online-business-faces-onslaught-of-internet-ban-restrictions/228618.html">Rs 40-50 lakh</a> on a daily basis during that period.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">During the internet shutdown last year, COAI had written to the department of telecommunications that such communication bans have an adverse impact on the subscribers and result in losses to telecom operators. “Kashmir lost around 4.5 lakh active subscribers during the 2016 unrest,” says Sameer Parray, an area manager for Vodafone.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">But service providers say they have to comply with the orders, lest their licenses be cancelled.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Safeena Wani is a Srinagar-based freelance writer and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/isps-in-kashmir-grappling-with-mounting-losses-amid-recurrent-shutdowns'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/isps-in-kashmir-grappling-with-mounting-losses-amid-recurrent-shutdowns</a>
</p>
No publisherSafeena WaniInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-20T15:54:06ZBlog EntryInternet Shutdowns: A Modern-day Siege
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdowns-a-modern-day-siege
<b>Strap: Technology activists, lawyers, politicians and NGOs weigh in on the spate of internet shutdowns in India in 2017. </b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Bangalore, Karnataka:</b> For thousands of years, military sieges have been an effective means of depriving a population into submission. Attackers would surround the fort or city and simply wait for the food to run out. In today’s connected age, you can mount a successful siege remotely with a single signed order that can shut down the internet and practically bring life to a standstill.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">So, it’s not surprising that inter-governmental organisations and NGOs around the world are starting to promote the idea that access to internet is a fundamental right, and watchdogs declare any deliberate interference to this access to be a violation of human rights. “In today’s modern digital world, shutting down mobile and internet networks is a drastic action that infringes on everyone’s rights and is inherently disproportionate. Internet shutdowns cut off everyone’s ability to speak and access information, regardless of whether they have done anything wrong. Considering the broad harm to rights that shutdowns can cause, government officials should certainly take them more seriously as a human rights violation,” says Cynthia Wong, senior internet researcher at Human Rights Watch.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">But in India, there is no legal recourse yet against such decisions. In 2015, a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Gujarat High Court against a week-long internet shutdown was dismissed (as was a Special Leave Petition filed in the Supreme Court in 2016 challenging this decision). In fact, tech entrepreneur and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekar attributes the dramatic increase in the number of internet blocks in 2017, which has doubled since last year, to this ruling. “This dramatic increase in the number of internet blocks can be attributed to the Supreme Court ruling in February 2016 which upheld the right of districts and states to ban mobile internet services for maintaining law and order .”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Typically, mobile internet bans were enforced under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which can prohibit assembly of more than four people and is usually invoked by a district magistrate. “Indeed, mobs come together due to the spread of misinformation over internet services such as Facebook and WhatsApp,” says Chandrasekar. “However, internet shutdowns also disabled authentic news organisations who can dispel such misinformation. I have argued that governments and administrations do have the right to shut down internet or take down content consistent with the Constitution’s Article 19 guarantee of fundamental right to free speech being subject to reasonable restrictions. So, the debate is not whether the government has a right to temporarily shut down the internet or not, but does the government or administration use this right reasonably and with clear guidelines,” he warns.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Enter the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency of Public Safety) <a href="http://www.dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/Suspension%20Rules.pdf">Rules</a> that were released in August. The primary concern of tech activists is that these ‘Suspension Rules’ set a dangerous precedent because they legalise internet shutdowns where ideally there should be none. But these rules also received a wary welcome.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">"Use of an archaic law like Section 144 of CrPC for shutting down the internet is not justified. The new rules seem to have been hastily put together without much forethought," according to Prasanth Sugathan, legal director at Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). “There is no transparency on how these rules were drafted as there was no consultation with the stakeholders. These rules are not conducive to ensuring the right to internet access of citizens which is essential for the success of initiatives like Digital India. As regulations go, these aren’t particularly robust, giving central and state governments the power to shut down telecom services, without having to cite further reasoning than “public safety” and “national security”. In fact, the rules don’t even specify a maximum duration after which services must be restored."</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Calling the whole deal shoddy, Sugathan says it seems like they were put out just to subvert the illegality of Internet shutdowns.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Chandrasekar also feels the process should have been more consultation-driven. “The rules can and must be improved to remove adhocism and arbitrary use. As I say repeatedly, these kinds of government policies run the real risk of straying from the reasonable restrictions acceptable to our Constitution to an infringement of the Right to Expression. Governments, especially political leadership, should be careful that bureaucratic lack of imagination or paranoia or simply laziness doesn’t cause that crossover from right to wrong.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">According to SFLC, which has been tracking internet shutdowns in the country over the past five years, authorities in India have shut down networks 60 times just in 2017, spelling a staggering cost to the economy beyond the incalculable harm to human rights. Brookings estimated that the 22 network shutdowns in India from 2015-2016 cost the country’s economy $968 million. It’s baffling that while the government is pushing citizens to embrace ‘Digital India’ on one hand, they are concurrently pulling the rug from underneath these same users with these total and partial internet shutdowns. “From the perspective of promoting India’s digital economy, if people learn they cannot rely on their mobile phone service because of arbitrary disruptions, they are less likely to adopt digital technologies. If the Indian government truly wants to be a global leader in the digital age, it should cease all arbitrary and overbroad restrictions on internet access,” says Wong.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Osama Manzer, founder of Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), has an ever-expanding roster of people who were keenly affected by the shutdowns in their regions, irrespective of whether it last three days or three months. “One of the biggest impacts is that residents must live with is that their access to basic services becomes very limited. In Darjeeling, many state government employees were not paid their salaries because the banking system is online and centralised.<b> </b>The livelihood of sim card sellers and recharge shop owners, internet cafes and mom-and-pop shops that offer printing, scanning, online form filling services took a huge hit. It is especially detrimental to them since they rely on daily sales for their income,” he says.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">While the economic impact of internet shutdowns has been documented, the social and psychological impact is just as crucial to investigate, says Manzer, especially in cases where these shutdowns are frequent and long term. DEF is in the final stages of releasing a report based on such a research. “We've found through our research that when shutdowns are ordered for a few days, residents can reason it out and some even find justifications for it. They may say the security and safety circumstances warranted it. But prolonged shutdowns have an acute negative impact on residents psychologically. Residents of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and J&K feel the impact of internet shutdowns acutely. They feel doubly isolated from the rest of the country and their faith in the government erodes. People we've interviewed have said they feel helpless and panicked. Some interviewees in Kashmir went so far as to question the democratic process and their right to it.”</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Ayswarya Murthy is a Bangalore-based journalist and a member of <a href="https://101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdowns-a-modern-day-siege'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-shutdowns-a-modern-day-siege</a>
</p>
No publisherAyswarya MurthyInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T16:29:41ZBlog EntryInternet Shutdown Stories
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-shutdown-stories
<b>A collection of stories of the impact of internet shutdowns on the lives of Indian citizens.</b>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-shutdown-stories'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-shutdown-stories</a>
</p>
No publisherAmbika TandonInternet AccessInternet ShutdownDigital Rights2018-05-17T10:45:20ZFileInternet and the Police: Tool to Some, Trash to Others
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-the-police-tool-to-some-trash-to-others
<b>Strap: Disconnection with colleagues discomforts one part of the administration, but the other quips, what’s the big deal?</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Panchkula, Haryana: </b>Suspension of internet facilities to “prevent mishaps” has been a frequent exercise in Haryana during various agitations, but probing its effect on those responsible to maintain the law & order in the state shows a gap in acceptance of the information tool. There are some who understand its importance in bridging human interaction, and then, there are others who consider it nothing but an easy way to watch porn.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The tricity of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali witnessed chaos and violence when Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in two rape cases on August 25. Mobile internet services were shut down across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for 72 hours as over one lakh followers of the much-revered “godman” started pouring into Panchkula, camping around the district court complex where the special CBI court was hearing the case. The ban was later<a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/mobile-internet-services-to-remain-suspended-in-haryana-punjab/article9832262.ece"> </a><a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/mobile-internet-services-to-remain-suspended-in-haryana-punjab/article9832262.ece">extended</a> for another 48 hours to last till August 29.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Reports claimed that 38 people<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/rape-convict-gurmeet-ram-rahim-sentenced-to-10-years-in-jail/articleshow/60257535.cms"> </a><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/rape-convict-gurmeet-ram-rahim-sentenced-to-10-years-in-jail/articleshow/60257535.cms">died</a> in the interim violence between August 25 and 29. The internet shutdown, evidently, didn’t serve the purpose. But it did affect the efficiency of the mechanism put in place to control the law and order situation.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Shutdowns obstruct us too: Cops</b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Panchkula police commissioner Arshinder Singh Chawla said they faced challenges in ascertaining size of the crowd gathering at various locations after the mobile internet communication was temporarily killed. “We were until then sharing information and photos on WhatsApp to figure out the number of people pouring in the city from various points as it helped identify problem areas. DSS followers had started gathering August 22 onwards,” said Chawla, who was heading the operations when DSS followers went on a rampage in Panchkula.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Unavailability of internet had hindered police operations during the Jat agitation in 2016 as well. Jagdish Sharma, a retired DSP who was part of the team countering agitators at the Munak canal when they targeted the chief source of Delhi’s water supply, said his team faced challenges in gathering strength due to the absence of mobile communication. “The protesters had a much larger count than our personnel at the canal, but they weren’t aware of this. We were fearful that our wireless messages asking for reinforcements may be tapped into by them. We could have easily conveyed the message if WhatsApp was working then,” said Sharma. The cops retained control over Munak canal by remaining at their position for two days, until the reinforcements arrived, while posing as if they were prepared to take on the Jat agitators, Sharma added.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The Panchkula police commissioner said that the drone they were using to take photographs and videos during the DSS violence also fell out of use once mobile internet was curtailed. With drones in operation, their tasks would have been much easier, Chawla said.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Panchkula deputy commissioner Gauri Parashar Joshi faced the brunt when her security staff could not communicate with the security personnel at the district court complex. SP Krishan Murari, who was heading a commando squad on the day, said they had to help Joshi scale a wall to escape the court complex as they could not ascertain a safe escape route. The DSS supporters had surrounded the entrances to the complex and were ready to clash with police authorities, he said. Joshi said she could not reach out to her colleagues in the administration to share important messages and orders as the mobile internet services didn’t work.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>‘Ban can’t always be boon’</b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Ram Singh Bishnoi, who was cyber security in-charge with the Haryana police until January 2017, believes a medium like internet should not be broken down. “I agree that rumours spread like wildfire, but the government should devise other ways to counter the problem than imposing a ban on net services,” he said.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">IG (Telecommunication) Paramjit Singh Ahlawat, however, said there is not much use of the internet when the situation turns volatile in the region. Things like internet don’t matter to people when their lives and property are in danger; these services are enjoyed when law and order is under control, he said.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The cops in Haryana, where internet has been shut down over 11 times in the past two years, may find some learning in the way former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria avoided a scuffle from turning into a communal riot. Maria was<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/mumbai-news/putting-lid-on-rumours-helped-control-situation-in-lalbaug-rakesh-maria-723212"> </a><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/mumbai-news/putting-lid-on-rumours-helped-control-situation-in-lalbaug-rakesh-maria-723212">lauded</a> for using WhatsApp and SMS service to convince people not to believe rumours being circulated on their phones when clashes broke out between two communities in Lalbaug during Eid celebrations in early 2015.<b><i> </i> </b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Former Haryana DGP Mahender Singh Malik does not believe a ban on internet prevents any untoward incident. Government authorities take such a step in the name of maintaining law and order, but the real reason behind clamping internet is to avoid the masses from being aware of the blunders committed by the same authorities, alleged Malik, terming the decision to ban internet as “unwise” and “against the digital India” initiative of the Centre.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Malik also suggested that people should get compensation when internet shutdown is forced on them.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>‘Internet is for the jobless’</b></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">However, not all officials in the police department seem to agree with the benefits of internet.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">SP (Telecommunication) Vinod Kumar of Haryana Police said: “How does it (internet) matter to a common man? Internet is for those who have no serious job. It is for those who have time to kill on mobile phones, laptops and at cyber cafes.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">In nearby Uttar Pradesh as well, some cops were of the view that internet shutdown did not have much of an impact on their job or general administration. Sub-inspector Vijay Singh was posted in Saharanpur when internet was banned from May 24 for 10 days following caste clashes. “<i>Internet band hone se farak sirf un logon ko pada jinhe din bhar keval mobile hee chalana hota hai. Kaam karne wala aadmi mobile aur internet par samay nahi bitata </i>(Only those who have no work suffer because of internet ban. Those who have work in hand do not spend time on mobile and internet),” said Singh, who is now posted in Lucknow.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“<i>Internet matlab kya - video, Facebook, blue film... aur kya? Agar itne bade gyani hai jinhe internet band hone se farak pada to wo yaha kya kar rahe hai, kahe nahi jakar ke IIT me admission le liye? </i>(What does internet mean - videos, Facebook, porn films… what else? If you are so affected with internet being banned, why not go and study at IITs,” said Kaushlendra Pandey, another SI-rank policeman from Azamgarh district in UP.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The government of India, on the other hand, is campaigning to promote digital inclusion and accessibility across the country.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>With additional inputs from Sat Singh and Saurabh Sharma, both members of </i><a href="http://www.101reporters.com/"><i>101Reporters.com</i></a><i> </i></p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Manoj Kumar is a Chandigarh based freelance writer and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. He has reported on a wide range of civic issues over the past 12 years. He has written for Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Outlook, etc.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-the-police-tool-to-some-trash-to-others'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-the-police-tool-to-some-trash-to-others</a>
</p>
No publisherManoj KumarInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T15:52:26ZBlog EntryInternet and Banking: A Trust Broken
http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-banking-a-trust-broken
<b>Strap: Some cut down their daily meals and some lost their jobs as the banking sector took a major hit during internet shutdowns.</b>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>Darjeeling, West Bengal: </b>As the Internet shutdown in Darjeeling touched the notorious landmark of 100 days in late September, its impact was felt by members of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) — the party agitating for a separate state of Gorkhaland. The state government’s move had managed to impair the communication and coordination among the agitators.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">However, for most residents, lack of access to the internet meant months of crippled bank transactions and mounting financial strain. The impact of the move was felt by all sections of society and most services experienced a slowdown or complete paralysis.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Students from the town were among the worst hit as the internet ban cut off a steady flow of money from home for academic purposes.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“I had to cut down my daily meals to once a day to save whatever little currency notes I had, especially since it was not clear when the ban would be lifted,” said Shradha Subba, a resident of Darjeeling who is pursuing her Bachelors degree in Kolkata.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Her parents were not able to send her money due to the ban and arranging cash from another state was also not an option. “I had no option but to borrow money and even that was difficult as all my friends were from the hills and faced the same problem,” said Subba.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The parents of many students also felt hard done by the shutdown and said they often found it difficult to communicate with their children. Transferring money for their monthly educational needs was also impossible. “We were able to make phone-calls to our children once in a while, but we could not see them as video-calling was out of the question. We also could not send the money for their semester fees on time and had to ask our relatives in Sikkim to arrange cash for them,” said a concerned mother whose daughter was studying in Delhi.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The ban on mobile internet was imposed on June 18, 2017. Two days later, broadband service was also restricted. The initial shutdown was meant to last for only a week but it had since seen several extensions owing to non-cessation of agitations. Banks were left helpless especially in the face of uncertainty regarding when the restrictions would be lifted.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">“None of the banking services were functional and no transactions were done during the period of internet shutdown. Even the ATMs were closed and people could not be provided normal service,” said Jagabandhu Mondal, district branch manager, State Bank of India.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">People routinely missed bill payments and no online transactions were done during the course of the ban. Reports emerged of people travelling over 80 kilometres, either to Siliguri or to Sikkim, just to withdraw some money.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Those who had purchased new vehicles found themselves struggling to pay their monthly instalments despite having cash in their accounts. Travelling to Siliguri to pay the instalment was also daunting as the road transportation was restricted by agitating political parties and supporters picketing on the streets.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Santosh Rai, a resident who had purchased a car just before the internet ban, said: “I could not go to Siliguri or even pay online. Now I’m facing claims for penalty. It was very hard for the vehicle owners to pay the EMI for three months along with a penalty. I asked for help from my friends but how long will they pay.”</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">He claimed that several people were forced to default on payments due to the blanket ban imposed by the government. “We could have deposited the EMI but the banks were closed, and that is not our fault,” said Rai.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Another victim, Mukesh Rai, also echoed Santosh’s sentiments while describing how he had to default on EMI payments towards his new car. “I used to walk towards Melli, Rangpo, or Singtam (all small towns in Sikkim) to withdraw money as my family and I were in need of liquid cash. Even that became difficult mid-monsoon,” he said.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Experts also pointed out that the ban was enforced even as the rest of the country discussed Digital India and a push towards cashless economy.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Another resident, Pema Namgyal, said he had lost a job because of the ban on internet services. He had opted to work from home for an advertising agency based out of Bangalore. “I had taken up an editing and copywriting job with an advertising agency. I had an issue with my spine and since long leaves are not possible in creative agencies, I opted to work from home. Five days after I reached here, an indefinite strike was called and the internet was shut down. I couldn’t work as per my client’s schedule and when I could not coordinate with him, he looked for another copywriter and asked me to refund an advance payment he had made,” said Namgyal.</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">The manager of an HDFC bank branch, Paul Tshring Lepcha, said, “We use BSNL connections usually for banking work and once the network was down we had a hard time updating our system… there are alternative portals like Airtel and Vodafone but even that was of no use at the time,” recalls Lepcha,</p>
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Book size of private banks too saw a drop in these 100 days and the regulation regarding monthly maintenance of ₹5,000 in their customers’ accounts could not be continued. Officials from Indusland Bank said that people even started preferring government banks as they have a lower maintenance requirement. “During the ban period, no new account holders were registered and the mutual funds market also experienced a lull,” said an official from a private bank.</p>
<p class="callout" style="text-align: justify; ">Roshan Gupta is a Siliguri-based journalist and a member of <a href="http://www.101reporters.com/">101Reporters.com</a>, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.</p>
<hr style="text-align: justify; " />
<p class="normal" style="text-align: justify; ">Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-banking-a-trust-broken'>http://editors.cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/internet-and-banking-a-trust-broken</a>
</p>
No publisherRoshan GuptaInternet ShutdownInternet Governance2017-12-19T16:10:43ZBlog Entry