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Amid the rising instances of internet shutdowns in the country and criticism around it, the government informed the Parliament that it does not maintain a centralised data on internet shutdowns.

Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha last week, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that temporary suspension of telecom services/internet shutdown is done by the appropriate authorities in the states/union territories in the interest of maintaining law and order in the state or part. 

It is done under the provisions contained in the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017, he added.

Thakur was responding to a question on India leading the country in the number of internet disruption incidents and frequency of shutdowns. 

Earlier this year, Minister of State (MoS) for Communications Devusinh Chauhan also told the Lok Sabha that the government does not maintain records pertaining to internet shutdowns ordered by state governments.

Meanwhile, the number of internet shutdowns in India this year currently stands at 61. In 2021, India saw 101 internet shutdowns, while the number stood at 132 in 2020. 

Some of the recent shutdown incidents in the country took place in the Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan’s Bhilwara and Jodhpur. 

Jammu & Kashmir tops the list of the highest number of shutdowns in the country with 411 such disruptions since 2012. 

At a time when the government is trying to boost connectivity with the Digital India programme and other initiatives to boost IT infrastructure, a lot of questions have been raised on the frequent internet disruptions.

In 2020, India suffered a loss of more than $2.8 Bn due to the suspension of internet, which was also eight times higher than the next most impacted nation, Belarus. 

While the amount of loss the country incurred in 2021 due to internet shutdowns is not clear, as per a report, India topped the list of the highest number of such incidents last year. It was followed by Myanmar, with 15 disruptions, and Sudan and Iran with five shutdowns in each country.