Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has written a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, urging him to withdraw India’s proposal to UN seeking governance of Internet control. In his letter, Chandresekhar has said that India’s proposal for setting up a United Nation Committee for Internet-Related Policies (UN CRP) is against the open, democratic, inclusive and unhindered growth of the internet, and harms India's reputation. He has also said that the proposal was submitted without any public consultation involving stakeholder groups, members of the civil society, private sector, technical and academic communities and others, since it represents their interests and would change their role completely, if accepted. He has pointed out that the internet was not built by governments and should not be regulated by them, and that there was no reason to change what is currently free, open and working well. He has said that the proposal doesn't explain the reasons for the shift in the government's stand. Chandresekhar has expressed concern over the government's proposal of establishing a body comprising of 50 politicians/ bureaucrats controlling the internet, while multi-stake holders move to an advisory role. He has called for the strengthening of the multi-stakeholder model, instead of letting a government body with the UN logo taking charge. While we're in agreement that there should be some focus on multi-stakeholder-ism, Pranesh Prakash of the Centre for Internet and Society, during an interview with MediaNama had shed some light on how the proposal might actually change the shape of things, and dilute the role of…
