Manish Singh, TechCrunch, India gets more aggressive with internet shutdowns to curb protests "India, the world’s largest democracy, continues to normalize shutting down internet and suspending mobile communications for tens of millions of citizens in the country to thwart protests."
The Wire, India's Internet Shutdowns Draw Praise From at Least One Country: China "The article in People’s Daily titled “India’s internet shutdown shows normal practice for sovereign countries” uses internet shutdown in Assam and Meghalaya to defend against US criticism of Chinese orders to stop all internet services in the volatile province of Xinjiang."
Tom McKay Gizmodo, Indian Authorities Order Internet Shutdowns Amid Mass Protests, Outrage Over Citizenship Law "India leads the world in internet lockdowns, with the internet shutdown tracker showing 95 such orders have been ordered this year alone. Kashmir, which was India’s only Muslim-majority state until Modi’s government revoked its autonomy in August, and its 60 million citizens have been cut off from the web since then. "
CNN, Indian military deployed and internet shut down as protests rage against citizenship bill
Guardian, India: protests grow against citizenship law seen as anti-Muslim "Ashok Swain, a professor at Sweden’s Uppsala University, said the scale of the protests had caught Modi’s government, which is presiding over a serious slowdown in economic growth, off-guard."
Ravi Krishnani, Opinion, CNN, India: The world leader in Internet shutdowns "This week, after the Indian Parliament passed a controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill that excludes Muslims from fast-tracked citizenship for immigrants from the region, violent protests ensued in northeastern Indian states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh -- and a familiar story played out. As unrest mounted, the government took a leaf out of the authoritarianism playbook and shut down the Internet in all four states. Initially for a few hours, and then for days. It won't be a surprise to see more districts and states plunged into digital repression over the next few weeks as protests spread."
Also see Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Guardian, ‘They will lock us up or just kill us’: Muslims fearful in West Bengal "While 10 new detention centres are currently being built in Assam, and even more in West Bengal, questions remain over what the BJP government intends to do with the millions of detainees it will have on its hands after the NRC is rolled out. While it has publicly spoken of deportation, this will be impossible because neither Bangladesh, Pakistan nor Afghanistan has agreed to take them. It will similarly be too costly and impractical to keep everyone in prisons. One suggestion, already being proposed to companies in Assam, is that the detainees could be used as a huge cheap labour force in factories and industrial plants."

Tags: India Internet, India, Hindu-Muslim Relations