Centre for Internet and Society

Days to Derail Work of Two Generations?

Mahesh Kumar Shiva — 2017-12-21T16:18:57Z

Strap: How an internet shutdown hurt a family woodwork business.

Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh: It was reportedly Bahlul (Bahlol) Lodi, the founder of Lodi dynasty, who in the 15th century first settled some Afghani craftsmen and their families on the outskirts of the old town in Saharanpur. Today, this area houses the Lakdi Market, home to world-famous wood art and handicrafts. From large fretwork screens and doors to trays, bowls and trinket boxes, these intricately carved wooden objects are called for from as far as Europe, the Middle East and Australia. The woodworking industry is the mainstay of thousands of artists, workers and entrepreneurs here, many of whom are part of small mom-and-pop operations.


Craftsmen at Furqan Handicrafts in Saharanpur

Mohammad Aarif, 28, heads one such business which has been in the family since two generations. Founded by his father four decades ago, Furqan Handicrafts has survived several challenges, such as rising prices of the fast exhausting raw material and middlemen, but the losses caused by a 10-day-long internet shutdown jolted him. He lost around Rs 7 lakh ($10,900) during this time. Six months on, he is still dealing with the repercussions, uncertain if he would ever recover the money.

Dalits and Thakurs in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur district had their daggers drawn since violence first broke out in the village on May 5. The increasing friction led to a revenge cycle of violence, and subsequently to indefinite suspension of internet services on May 24, which went on till June 2, under the orders of the district magistrate to avoid rumour-mongering and hate messages being circulated on social media and messaging apps. The suspension of services in this west Uttar Pradesh city brought life to a standstill and Aarif’s business is just one of those which suffered dramatic losses during this one week.

Furqan Handicrafts is famous for its handicraft items and furniture, both in the country and abroad. Their products go as far as Malaysia, Finland and China. Aarif uses his mobile to make payments for the raw materials as he travels a lot, and this helps him conduct his business on the go.

“We have employed around 20 workers,” says Aarif. When the shutdown came into effect without warning on May 24, he had only around Rs 20,000-30,000 ($310-470) cash in hand. “Can you imagine running a business of this size, with a weekly turnover of Rs 10 lakhs, with so little cash in hand and having the liability of over 20 families on your head?” Aarif asks. “I ran out of cash on May 26 and then the real problems began. The banks were closed and the internet was shut down. We were left with no options. The situation was so tense outside that we could not even think of going to other districts to transact or to even our own banks when they eventually opened after two days,” the businessman says.

Moreover, Furqan Handicrafts has been accepting a good chunk of their orders online - either through their website or on WhatsApp. So the shutdown also affected the demand side of the business adversely. All the little consolatory lies he told himself to steel against the mounting panic didn’t help for long with the shutdown stretching on indefinitely. “I told my workers that the media said the situation would return to normal soon, and that helped us keep calm initially. We were hopeful that we would be able to conduct transactions in the next two days, but the situation worsened when the shutdown continued for over a week,” Aarif says.

“Our suppliers refused to sell us the raw materials without being paid first. Sometimes we may get some materials on loan, but most times only money does the talking. The chemicals that we get from Delhi have to be paid for fully in advance. We had more difficulties when we weren’t able to move our finished product. They were just lying there, collecting dust, and we incurred further losses in re-polishing them. And we were not able to pay our workers for the hours they had put in,” Aarif recalls.

It was not just his business that suffered, his employees felt the sting of the shutdown as well. Najeer Ahmad, a woodworker at Furqan Handicrafts, says that everything was normal in the beginning but situation started worsening after two days. “After the second day, work started slowing down and eventually, stopped completely. Our boss told us that we couldn’t get any raw materials because we weren’t able to pay the suppliers. Whatever little materials we had in the workshop, we used up, but then when there was none left, there was no work… since there was no work, there was no money. The boss usually settles our wages at the end of every week and gives us walking-around money every day. Without either of these, it became quite difficult to manage.”

Another of his employees, Rashid, was able to weather the shutdown because he had some cash lying around at home. “Aise to jumme ke jumme hisaab ho jaata hai (Usually, we get paid every Friday).” So, even though he wasn’t paid that Friday like he usually is, he made do. But he still lost wages because of the lack of work during that week.

“We have lost money in lakhs already. If something like this were to happen again it would ruin us,” says Aarif. But he still manages to see the silver lining in this suffering, and is glad that he did not lose his clients. “Allah ka shukar tha ki hamara koi bhi client toota nahi. Nuksaan ki bharpaayi to ab tak nahi ho paayi hai, lekin Allah chahega to jald hi ho jayegi (Thank god that we didn’t lose any of our clients. We haven’t been able to recover the losses yet, but god willing, we will be able to make up).”

Mahesh Kumar Shiva is a Lucknow - based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. With inputs from Saurabh Sharma, a Lucknow-based reporter.

Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/days-to-derail-work-of-two-generations

Darjeeling’s e-commerce Crumbles after 100 days sans Internet

Avijit Sarkar — 2017-12-20T03:16:40Z

Strap: The shutdown on ground and that of the internet have together hurt the economy critically

Darjeeling, West Bengal: Chitra Dutta, 80, owner of a courier service in Darjeeling called Turant, says the 108 days of bandh (strike), including the 100-day ban on internet, had almost paralyzed her business. The shutdown on ground and that of the internet led to courier packages being undistributed for three months. Despite suffering severe loss of revenue, Dutta says she had to pay her employees’ salaries during the bandh, and “it won’t be before March next year” that she will be able to make up for the losses.

When Darjeeling suffered 108 days of bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to press their demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, the worst hit were businesses in the hills. What made it even more difficult for traders to cope up with the loss was the complete absence of internet services, as several of them depended on the medium to run their operations.

GJM’s movement for Gorkhaland picked up momentum when Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) government tried to impose Bengali as a compulsory subject for all schools in West Bengal in early 2017. GJM party chief Bimal Gurung called for an indefinite bandh of all activities in the hills from June 15. It led to several incidents of arson, violence and deaths in retaliatory police action. From June 18, internet services were banned in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. The ban was lifted on September 25.

Dutta’s Turant, a third-party firm, has a tie-up with major courier service providers Bluedart and Ecospeed to distribute their consignments in Darjeeling and around. Another major player in the delivery business, Amazon, had finalized Turant as its service provider in the hills just before the internet ban, but the deal remained in a dicey state after the situation worsened and Darjeeling was cut off from rest of the state, she says. Her business largely depends on a software to track the goods and communicate with business providers and customers, but the prolonged breakdown of internet has brought it to a halt. Dutta says they used to deliver around 40 parcels per day before the shutdown, but no business materialized during the bandh.

Bitter days for tea trade

Girish Sarda, a third generation owner of Nathmulls Tea and Sunset Lounge, an online-cum-retail business outlet that exports Darjeeling tea, says he is disappointed with the state of affairs in the hills.

“Ninety per cent of my business is internet-based. In international trading if you stop supplies to your client for three months, they will source tea from elsewhere to run their business. Clients from Japan started asking me how I was surviving,” says Sarda.

Explaining the losses he faced due to the internet shutdown, he says, “Only 5% of my business is operational at present. I have six months of tea produce and I don’t know how I am going to sell that. It will take months for me to get back on my feet. I’m gone. Things are still hazy here and god only knows when the situation will return to normal.”

The harvest season’s second plucking (of tea leaves), called the second flush, is considered to provide high quality premium tea, and draws the best price. The shutdown in Darjeeling overlapped with the second and the third flush, which occur between the months of June and August, and October and November, respectively. Sarda says, “The bandh ensured there was no second flush and a poor third flush. The entire tea industry has seen the worst phase ever. It may take three years to get back to normalcy.”

Darjeeling produces around 8.9 million kg of tea per annum. Of this, around 20 lakh kg is premium tea and sold at high price, according to S K Saria, owner of Rohini and Gopaldhara Tea Estates. While 80% of the tea produce is sold through auction in Siliguri and Kolkata, the rest is sold directly by traders in Kolkata and Darjeeling, including the 45-60kg tea per day sold online.

Hotel business too saw a downfall in the Darjeeling hills. Vijay Khanna, secretary of Gorkha Hotel Owners Association, says, “Most of the hotel bookings are done online, and we need the internet to check these. The sudden shutdown has left the hotel industry in a bad shape. Clients from abroad could not be informed of the sudden closure of all establishments and few even failed to understand what a bandh is.”

“It was and still is a very difficult time for the industry. Neither the state nor the central government is interested in our plight. There are just a handful of tourists here. Darjeeling hills are out of business,” Khanna says.

Restraining GJM's 'message'

Bimal Gurung, the GJM chief who floated the party in 2007 to capitalize on the growing public disenchantment with Subhash Ghisingh’s way of leading Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), realised the power of internet and social media early on, and utilized the medium to push the propaganda for Gorkhaland statehood through his party.

Several audio and video messages, where Gurung alleges the present TMC government and the chief minister of dividing the hill people by creating separate bodies for each tribe and taking them for a ride, had been going around on WhatsApp and other platforms before his call for an indefinite strike in Darjeeling. West Bengal government responded to the GJM’s call for strike with a heavy hand, initiating police action against protesters and raiding Gurung’s home and offices. However, the Gorkha community residing in the Dooars and Terai region kept on getting his messages throughout the shutdown period as internet was on in these regions.

The movement only kept the Gorkhas away from critical resources like internet that fortify their market, it has not led to any productive dialogue towards statehood yet. The combined effect of internet ban and indefinite strike has hurt the economy of the hills so bad that it will take months to recover. However, people are still unsure about the recovery.

Avijit Sarkar is a Siliguri-based journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.

Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/darjeeling2019s-e-commerce-crumbles-after-100-days-sans-internet

Business Woes from Saharanpur's Internet Ban

Mahesh Kumar Shiva — 2017-12-29T13:24:35Z

Strap: Three businessmen reveal the price they paid

Saharanpur: The violence between groups of Thakurs and Dalits that engulfed Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh between April and June 2017 continues to haunt its residents. The UP administration had ordered an internet shutdown for 10 days, reportedly to prevent the spread of rumours that had erupted after another caste clash on May 23 in Shabbirpur.

Those running businesses in Saharanpur say they were affected in unexpected ways. They struggled to make regular transactions and incurred losses they haven't yet recovered from.

Forty-eight-year-old Rajkumar Jatav has been manufacturing ladies' shoes for 25 years in Saharanpur town. Helped by his sons Sushant and Rajkkumar, he runs a small-scale factory which employs 15 workers who make flat slippers, sandals, heeled shoes and joothis for the local market. Jatav says he suffered a loss of about Rs 1.25 lakh ($2000) during the 10-day internet shutdown.

"I did not get raw materials like paste solutions, synthetic leather, heels and sequins from my suppliers based in Kanpur and Agra when I failed to pay them the 50% advance through online transfer," says Jatav. "The situation outside the town was also tense. So there was no chance I could go or send someone to the banks either."

Jatav had started using the digital payment system only after demonetisation. "I started doing online payments after November 8, 2016, after I faced a lot of problems with cash availability during that time. Internet payments came as a boon for me and also for my suppliers," he says. But within six months of getting used to online transactions, Jatav faced this new hurdle: an internet shutdown. "To complete the shoe order, we have to invest from our pocket first, but when I couldn't, my suppliers refused to send me the material, which meant I could not complete a big order," he says. He calculates that the cancelled order cost him Rs 2 lakhs. In addition, a few of Jatav's reliable and talented shoe workers quit because he was unable to pay their wages on time.

Jatav's annual business turnover is around Rs 24 lakh (Rs 200,000 a month), and he gets his raw material from the markets of New Delhi, Bareilly and Agra. "I even tried to give my suppliers an account payee cheque but they declined it saying that it will take a lot of time to clear. I requested them again and again but to no use. For a supplier there are thousands of Rajkumar Jatavs. I am no special client to get the raw materials on credit," he says. Jatav admits that he is not prepared for another shutdown, and he would not be able to run his business if it happened again.

Many traders in Saharanpur city say narrate similar experiences. In May, a family business of trading edible oil wholesale saw its most unfamiliar financial challenge yet. It had been only three years since Shailendra Bhushan Gupta had taken over his elder brother's 26-year-old store. Gupta started to expand and diversify too, by launching an agency to trade the Fortune brand of oils. He employs five people, and his monthly turnover ranges between Rs 30-40 lakhs ($46,600-62,200). The 40-year-old also modernised some of the business practices, shifting much of the payments to suppliers online, for speed and ease of use.

During the internet shutdown in Saharanpur, Gupta did not expect to be affected, given the stability of his store and the large sale volume of his agency. But unexpectedly, his supplying company cancelled his order of 1000 litres of oil when he could not make the payment. "As per the agreement, I have to deposit at least 50% of the order amount in advance, and the rest of the payment is made when the oil is delivered to us. But during those 10 days, I could not make payment through any means, and my order was declined by the supplying company," he says. Gupta also tried to make the payment through RTGS but couldn't do that. The oil trader says that he ended up suffering a jolt of Rs 18 lakhs ($28,000).

Gupta is slowly trying to make up for the monetary loss and credit worthiness with his suppliers. "How can an internet shutdown be a solution for anything?" he asks. "I seriously don't know what to do if it happens again."

A property dealer in same central market faced a direct hit during the internet ban. Ashok Pundeer, who has been selling and renting commercial and residential properties for the past five years, estimates that he suffered a loss of Rs 22 lakhs ($34,200) during the internet shutdown as he could not get many properties registered in that period. "I had to return the token money to many buyers because there was no internet," he says. "All of us know that registry (property) and documentation is now done online in Uttar Pradesh. The clients were new and they refused to take the deal forward."

A property dealer is not easily trusted, admits Pundeer. This means he is paid only after the deal is done, and a lot of word-of-mouth business depends on his image and credibility. Every lost client is a potential loss of more. "It's not just me, but many dealers have incurred huge losses due to shutdown," says Pundeer. "Koi ration ki dukaan to hai nahi property dealing. Jo kuch hona hai online hi hona hai. Ab kya batayein, dekha jayega jo hona hoga," he throws his hand up in frustration, saying the real estate business is no grocery shop, and if there's no access to online transactions, then very little can be done.

Trying to keep an optimistic outlook, Pundeer says, "Jitna kuan khodo, utna paani milega". For his business to recover, he will have to double down with more focus and effort.

(With inputs from Saurabh Sharma)

Mahesh Kumar Shiva is a Saharanpur-based journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. has been reporting for 23 years on crime, healthcare, society, politics, culture, sports, agriculture and tourism in his city. He has previously worked with publications like Dainik Janwani, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Ajit Samachar and more.

Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.

Video

Rajkumar Jatav talks about the challenges his shoe manufacturing business faced during the shutdown. Video Courtesy: Mahesh Kumar Shiva

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/business-woes-from-saharanpurs-internet-ban

Amid Unrest in the Valley, Students See a Dark Wall

Aakash Hassan — 2017-12-21T14:07:46Z

Strap: Frequent, prolonged restrictions on internet have kept many from using the learning resource.

Srinagar, J&K: On November 18, Srinagar lost 3G and 4G connectivity after a militant and a sub-inspector of the Jammu & Kashmir police force were killed, and one militant caught alive in a brief encounter on the outskirts of the city, near Zakoora crossing. District authorities said data connectivity was snapped to “maintain law and order”.

Students in Srinagar’s SPS Library. Picture Courtesy: Aakash Hassan

But to Jasif Ayoub, an aspiring chartered accountant, it seemed like an obstruction to his exam preparations. Not being able to access lectures and texts online, Ayoub was perturbed. He had moved from Anantnag in south Kashmir, to Srinagar, only to have an easy access to the vast pool of information on the world wide web. “My hometown witnesses internet shutdowns very frequently. That is why I moved to live with relatives in Srinagar to prepare for my exams. But the internet speed here too is getting worse by the day,” says Ayoub.

The internet is usually the first administrative casualty when any law & order situation arises in the Kashmir Valley, which has been restive and agitated over the last two decades. Despite the frequency of shutdowns, the state still does not issue a prior warning, or offer emergency connectivity measures. Residents know the pattern now: the mobile internet and SMS are the first to go down, and then broadband and other lease-line service providers follow.

J&K tops the list of Indian states that have witnessed most number of internet shutdowns, with 27 being the count from 2012 to 2017, according to internetshutdowns.in, run by Software Freedom Law Centre. There has been a sharp rise in the curbs on internet imposed this year, with over 30 shutdowns until November 22. Government authorities who issue and implement these bans say it is the only way to undercut the strength of social media in organising movements and resistance. The prime example is Burhan Wani, the 21-year-old Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander who had used his Facebook account to popularise and justify militant resistance. Wani’s death saw protests erupting across the Valley, which made the state snap internet services for about six months on prepaid mobile networks. For four months, there was no internet access on postpaid mobile networks too. These have been the longest intervals of ban. However, day-long, hour-long and even week-long periods of non-connectivity are alarmingly common.

The incessant disruption of internet services prevents students from accessing online education resources. Class IX student Haiba Jaan in Srinagar depends on lectures from Khan Academy, an online coaching centre, to clarify a lot of concepts. A resident of Hyderpora in Srinagar, Haiba points to the i-Pad in her hand. “This is the best way of learning," she says. "I was not satisfied with my teachers in school or tuition classes. I found studying on the internet quite useful. But, the problem with that is the regular internet shutdowns." Her parents got a postpaid broadband connection the previous year to help Haiba. "But even that gives up many times during total internet shutdowns," says Haiba.

In May this year, the government suspended the use of 22 social media and messaging platforms in Kashmir for a month. Skype was one of the messaging services banned. This put Mehraj Din through great trouble. Shortlisted for a summer programme at Istanbul, Turkey, this scholar of Islamic Studies at Kashmir University, had to appear for the final interview via Skype. "The ban could have ended all my chances to get selected had the organisers not agreed to an audio interview considering the ground situation here," says Mehraj, who is currently compiling his dissertation for the university. "I have a deadline to meet, but repeated shutdowns have affected my work," he says. "This a punishment from the State."

Full libraries, half studies

When home and mobile internet connections are snapped, the state government's e-learning initiative in public libraries provides some respite. Mehrosha Rasool wants to secure an MBBS seat through the NEET competitive exam. She visits the SPS library in Srinagar religiously to access the study material that has been downloaded and made available on computers. The 17-year-old resident of Nishat in Srinagar says libraries are useful since one never knows how long the internet services at home will stay stable. Irshad Ahmad, another student utilising the facilities at SPS library, says he moved to Srinagar from Pattan town of north Kashmir because "this facility of accessing education material is not available at the library in my tehsil."

Most prominent libraries in Srinagar have computers and tablets for students’ access, "But the rooms often become overcrowded as hundreds of students have registered at the libraries for internet facilities," says Mehrosha.

Schools in the Valley, meanwhile, rely on traditional means in the absence of the e-learning systems. Javaid Ahmad Wani, a political science teacher from south Kashmir’s Anantnag, believes that with little time in the year to even complete the basic syllabus thanks to frequent and sudden school closures during periods of unrest, supplementary e-learning is a distant possibility. Even when teachers and students do have access to these resources to stay updated, internet shutdowns make them unreliable. Therefore, teachers and schools stick to conventional means. Javaid admits that he has himself lost opportunities to an internet shutdown. “I could not submit the form for the main exam of the J&K public service last year because there was no Internet,” he says.

Curbs pinch civil service aspirants

Many among the civil service aspirants are dependent on the internet for preparations. Anees Malik, a resident of Shopian, is preparing for the civil service exams. "I cannot afford coaching, so I rely on the internet," he says, especially for mock exams and previous question papers. "In such a situation, losing connectivity almost every other week is the worst thing to happen.”

Sakib Wani, a Kupwara resident who is currently studying chemistry in Uttarakhand, notices a marked indifference in Kashmir to using online resources. "Those applying for scholarships and pursuing higher education may be using it but not to the extent that students in other states of India do it,” Sakib says. He believes that the repeated internet ban could be a possible reason for students to not opt for online educational resources. With colleges and schools shut for weeks during conflict periods, the internet could have been a great way to continue education formally and personally, but the repeated shutdowns have closed that door of opportunity too.

Aakash Hassan is a Srinagar-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. He has reported on conflict, environment, health and other issues for different publications across India.

Shutdown stories are the output of a collaboration between 101 Reporters and CIS with support from Facebook.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/amid-unrest-in-the-valley-students-see-a-dark-wall

‘Hurt sentiments’ cost Udaipur internet access for four days

Shruti Jain — 2018-01-19T13:51:51Z

Strap: Authorities suggest it was more than a Facebook post that led to shutdown.

Udaipur: In April 2017, a Facebook post led to 21-year-old Ibrahim* getting arrested and Rajasthan’s Udaipur city losing its mobile internet for four days (broadband banned only for first day). The authorities say the hateful content proliferating after Ibrahim’s social media post in praise of neighbouring nation Pakistan could be tackled only by curtailing internet service. Ibrahim’s family has since left the Fatehnagar locality where they were residing.

“On April 19, an FIR was filed by Fatehnagar resident Rahul Chawda” stating that Ibrahim “is a Muslim and has commented on Facebook ‘Pakistan zindabad tha, Pakistan zindabad hai aur Pakistan zindabad rahega’, which had hurt their religious sentiments. People from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Shiv Sena had also come along with Rahul to press that a case of sedition be filed,” Subhash Chand, head constable of Fatehnagar police station, told 101reporters.

A case under section 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, etc.) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 67 of the Information Technology Act (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) was registered. “However, sedition charges were not registered as their report did not have sufficient basis for it,” Chand says.

Ibrahim, an undergraduate, lived in a slum in Fatehnagar and did odd jobs to earn money. His father works as a taxi driver to support a family of four children. “Ibrahim had no past criminal record. His family left the locality after the incident. Their house is locked since past few months. He was arrested the same day when FIR was registered, but is presently out on bail,” says Gopal Lal Sharma, station house officer, Fatehnagar police station.

In his locality though, Ibrahim’s reputation was that of a “notorious” boy. “His family was fed up with him. He used to post useless content on Facebook. The atmosphere in the city was tensed between the communities at that time. So, his post triggered the religious sentiments,” says Nadir Khan, 40, a neighbour.

Udaipur police say the content posted by Ibrahim on social media was hateful and could’ve lead to clashes between communities. “Isn’t it enough to say the post was inflammatory?” replied Anand Shrivastava, inspector general of police (IG), Udaipur, when questioned about the content of Ibrahim’s post. “Such messages get easily viral on social media. Some people use Facebook and WhatsApp to spread hatred, but there is no particular site, or content that is blocked during internet shutdown. Accessibility to the internet is completely restricted,” he added.

“Messages that could outrage the religious sentiments of the Hindu community were circulated, and we had to shut down internet in the district for four days,” Shrivastava says. When asked what happens if such inflammatory content finds its way back on internet once it is restored, the IG says, “We review the situation. If it is still in circulation, we can continue with the shutdown.”

‘More than an FB post’

Then Udaipur district magistrate Rohit Gupta, however, doesn’t attribute the shutdown to the post by Ibrahim. “It was not because of a particular kid. There were other reasons. Some incidents had happened in the city which led to a lot of improper posts being circulated on social media,” says Rohit Gupta, who is now the district magistrate for Kota.

Explaining the administrative procedure behind an internet shutdown, Gupta says, “Based on a report from the police, many agencies, including intelligence and the affected party, are consulted about the decision to implement internet shutdown. Curtailing internet doesn’t allow the situation to aggravate further. Its fallout affects the general masses, too, but that happens even in the case of a curfew when we restrict people’s movement.”

Gupta says internet shutdown is a preventive action to keep the situation from escalating into a full blown law and order problem. “People will then question why the administration didn’t act in time to prevent it.”

While the administration ensured that banking and lease-line providers were not affected during the internet ban, several other businesses dependent on internet were affected.

“Why all of us?”

“If four people post hateful content on social media, why should 20 lakh others be punished? When police are unable to control a situation, the easiest way they have is to curtail the internet. I couldn’t work for four days. Many others, who depend on internet for work like me, were affected. They should ban only the social media,” says Chhatrapati Sarupria, an online graphic designer who petitioned the sessions and district court against the arbitrary suspension of internet services in Udaipur.

Cyber experts feel there can be other ways to keep social and business activities out of the purview of ban during such law and order situation, but the competent authorities fail to make any attempts in this direction.

“Internet shutdown is not the only solution. Since, there is no procedure to stop only the hateful content on social media, the only option left is to turn off the internet completely. Facebook has a ‘report abuse’ mechanism, which allows review and removal of any post that goes against the Facebook community standards. We need to work on better alternatives to control inflammatory content on social media. Only if such alternative ways are initiated now, they can be regulated as we progress,” says Mukesh Choudhary, a cyber expert.

*Name changed to protect identity.

(Shruti Jain is a Jaipur-based journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/2018hurt-sentiments2019-cost-udaipur-internet-access-for-four-days