Modi's digital India has plunged into Kashmir due to
prolonged internet shutdown. Citing the reason for the shutdown of the internet
in the state, according to the Indian website The Wire, Puppet administration
spokesman Rohit Kansal said, "We are afraid that Pakistan could use the Internet
to worsen the situation in Kashmir," a journalist said. Pakistan will
always be here and when has the government delegated powers to Pakistan in this
regard? Kansal expressed great indignation at the journalist's question.
After facing tough questions, Kansal closed the press
conference saying that time would pass. Ten days have passed since this press
conference, after which Kunal did not dare to speak to the media again. Sunday
was the 49th day of internet shutdown in Kashmir, yet the government has not
been told how long the internet will be closed, Kashmir's connection with the
world has been cut off. On August 15, Narendra Modi, while giving the day to
digitalize India in the Red Fort, said that people should pay through digital
means instead of cash. Modi's dream of empowering the common man through the
internet and transforming India into a digital society has been a thief in the
800 km distance from Delhi.
Within a few hours after Article 370 was eliminated, police
cracked down on Internet service providers in Srinagar and other areas to
enforce tougher sanctions, a government official said. Internet services are
currently down. Without the Internet, four-year-old Aisha can't see a favorite
cartoon on her father's phone, even the television is locked in her house, as
there is no way to charge a set-top box. Mohamed Mohsen, 16, failed to submit
an online form for the Graduate Admission Test by the due date. Imtiaz Hussain,
29, an IT professional in Srinagar, has been fired.
Azhar Baba, 27, of Budgam district, says that the common man
has been deprived of the right to use social networking websites and to know
the facts of the Internet world, to get you a better education through
internet, an IT company. I am not allowed to get a job or even watch any good
and favorite series. Azhar was preparing for the ISA exam, a ban on the
Internet has badly affected his studies. Azhar said he has been thinking of a
New Delhi shift for some time. Media closure has also adversely affected media
work, with some reporters sending their news via USB to passengers at the
airport.
Journalists working for a foreign news agency said that in
the first week of banning communication, they put news in USB and handed it to
travelers arriving in New Delhi. People in the Delhi bureau could get USB.
Photojournalists working for foreign news agencies also put photos into USB and
handed them to passengers at the airport. After severe criticism, the
government opened a media center in Srinagar, where there is only one computer
and nine internet connections, and journalists have to wait a long time to send
their reports and check their mailboxes.
Kashmiri youths want access to social media websites,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. With the closure of the
internet, some of the most important programs of the Indian government have
also been frozen, registration for insurance has stopped half the work, many
health schemes have been suspended for an indefinite period, causing severe
illness to the patients. Have trouble Traders and industrialists are also
anxious to extend the history of income tax and tax return filing, said
businessman Abdul Majeed Bhatt, adding that the fact in Digital India Kashmir
is that I am not able to submit my tax return. The closure of the Internet in
Kashmir is not new, but it is the longest Internet shutdown, even after five
months of protests and unrest in Kashmir, the internet was closed for only 10
days.
The condition of anonymity said in 2016, the Internet was
shut down for 240 to 280 hours, while the recent internet shutdown lasted more
than 4,730 hours. In 2008, when there was intense public protests against Amar
Nath board of forest land in the valley, the Internet was shut down most often
in Kashmir compared to other states. There is an armed conflict in Kashmir all
the time, during which it is normal for the internet service to shut down for
four days throughout the district.
According to a study by the Think Tank International Council
for Research in Delhi, the continuous shutdown of the internet during the last
6 years has seriously damaged the economy of Kashmir by 4,000 crores. According
to the research, 63 times the Internet was shut down in Kashmir during this
period, 34 times in 2017 alone, the loss of 1,776 crore. Regarding the closure
of media communication in Kashmir, Interior Minister Amit Shah said in an
interview, "This is nothing new, anyway, Internet came to Kashmir after 16
years of arrival in India and mobile phone came 17 years later". ۔ On August 28, the occupied Kashmir Governor Satya Ram Pal
defended the closure, saying, "The facility has been used as a weapon
against the country.
