The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) about internet shutdowns in the country and the procedure around them. The committee repeatedly stressed that they want as few shutdowns as possible and bulk of the three-hour meeting on August 11 was devoted to discussing the procedures around suspension of internet and telecom services. India has already seen 55 internet shutdowns in 2020. While on the one hand the committee ruminated over lack of internet access, on the other it questioned the DoT over 5G preparedness of the country and why 5G deployment had been delayed. ‘Kashmir has internet, albeit slow internet,’ says DoT As expected, the issue of the internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir, which is the longest in the world, was raised by committee members. Three sources told us that the DoT said that 2G services had already been restored in the Union Territory because of which Kashmiris already had access to internet, albeit at lower speeds. Dubey (BJP) told the committee that when he had visited Kashmir in July 2020, he faced no problems in accessing the internet, two sources told us. In response, Tharoor (Congress) and Moitra (TMC) talked about how internet was important to exercise free speech and conduct business, both of which are guaranteed by Article 19 of the Indian constitution. While this discussion was going on in the Parliament House, four kilometres away, the Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal,…
