WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN DELHI?
On Saturday, the Union Home Ministry had passed an order temporarily suspending internet services at Delhi borders – Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri – the epicenters of the farmers’ protest from 11 pm of 29 January till 11 pm of 31 January.
The order, released on Saturday, 30 January, said that this was being done “in the interest of maintaining public safety and averting public emergency”.
Even on Tuesday, Haryana extended the suspension of mobile Internet services till 5 pm on Wednesday in seven districts of the state amid the protests, reported PTI.
“The Haryana government has extended the suspension of mobile Internet services (2G/3G/4G/CDMA/GPRS), SMS services (only bulk SMS) and all dongle services etc. provided on mobile networks except the voice calls in seven districts – Kaithal, Panipat, Jind, Rohtak, Charkhi Dadri, Sonipat and Jhajjar – till 5 pm on 3 February,” an official statement said.
This is the same provision used for internet shutdowns from time to time across the country, including, in particular, Jammu and Kashmir, where it is currently being used to keep mobile internet speeds at 2G levels.
Internet services have been crucial in disseminating information from the protest sites for some time now, with protesters running several social media accounts, and digital news media outlets also using internet services to send videos of events on the ground.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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