As J&K goes offline, India leads in the world in internet shutdown

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As per Mary Meeker's 2019 internet trends report, there are about 3.8 billion internet users out of which 12 per cent are in India. Similarly, India has had a whopping 67 per cent share of the total internet shutdown in 2018, which means that the Indian government has ordered 134 such bans of 196 that were ordered last year world over.

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To narrow it down further, a major chunk of the shutdowns in India that is 47 per cent of them took place in Jammu and Kashmir. As per the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Telecommunications data, it has 5.81 million internet users in 2018.

Right now Jammu and Kashmir was facing its 53rd internet shutdown in 2019, as the Kashmir Valley earlier this month was imposed with Section 144. There has been heavy deployment of paramilitary forces and local police since then, wherein the region sees a clampdown on the internet as well as incoming and outgoing telephone calls.

According to Internetshutdowns.in that is a tracker of internet shutdowns in India, which is run by Software Freedom Law Centre went on say that mobile and broadband internet services were suspended in Kashmir and that there would be heavy deployment of local police and paramilitary forces with curfew under Section 144 that is imposed in the valley.

The Indian government last year had blocked internet in J&K 65 times, wherein the total number of such shutdowns was 178 over the last eight years that also includes six months ban in 2016.

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