Welcome Restoration Of 4G Services In J&K
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-02-08 06:42:03
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
After 18 months, 4G internet services were restored in J&K a couple of days back. Internet services were suspended in J&K when the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Indian constitution and withdrew the special status granted to the state in August 2019. With social media becoming all-pervasive, regimes the world over resort to suspending internet services, ostensibly to prevent miscreants from spreading rumours but in reality to crush dissent. Although the power of social media in making fake news and targeted misinformation viral and inciting trouble cannot be denied, it is also true that internet has become a necessary and unavoidable tool of modern living. Even the Supreme Court has recognized that access to internet is integral to the right to freedom of speech and expression. The government had restored 2G services after the Supreme Court had intervened following several pleas in the matter but in this age of massive content that needs high speed for access, 2G is like bullock cart in the age of supersonic jets. The continued suspension of 4G was a huge blot on Indian democracy and placed it alongside countries like China, Russia, North Korea and Myanmar and others where authoritarian regimes restrict and control how their citizens use the internet.
With the pandemic and the lockdowns having played havoc with academic schedules in schools and colleges, it is the students in J&K who have suffered the most. They have not been able to attend online classes and have lost more than a year's study due to the ban. The worst part was they could not download material and study by themselves as 4G was required. Yet they have not been granted any relief for competitive exams. Other citizens could not use the net even for such basic needs as accessing their bank accounts, solely needed in these troubled times. With the government claiming that it has curbed cross-border terrorism to a great extent and reduced terror financing and with no major disturbances in the union territory, there was no real need to keep 4G suspended. The government needs to ensure that such a blanket ban for the entire union territory does not happen again.
