POLICY AT ODDS- DIGITAL INDIA VERSUS INTERNET SHUTDOWNS

Abstract

The government of India, in 2014, launched a flagship programme called Digital India, with a vision to transform India into a ‘digitally empowered society and knowledge economy’. A similar intention is reflected in another initiative called BharatNet. The USO Fund was established with the fundamental objective of providing access to telegraph services, including mobile services, broadband connectivity and ICT infrastructure creation in rural and remote areas. However, it is interesting to note that India has also been notorious at shutting down the internet. In Access Now’s report (2021), India has consistently raked number one, in the total number of hours spent under internet shutdown. In India, shutdowns have occurred during citizen protests like the anti- CAA protests in late 2020, and early 2021, and the Farmers Protest in 2021. When we look at these two actions by the government- one, to digitise governance and provide connectivity to all citizens to digitally empower them allow for the participation in networked economy; and two, to disrupt these very connections when citizens use networks to express dissent. In this paper I take a closer look at the policy documents and the building of information infrastructure that is written into it. While also studying how infrastructure gets suspended during dissenting movements led by citizens. I use the case of the two protests to understand this disruption. Using newspaper analysis and interviews, I examine how infrastructure gets denied and disrupted to citizens when digital networks are used in ways that are unintended by the government.