Blocking Internet access, especially on mobile phones and devices, impacts those who access programmes such as a rural jobs guarantee and government-subsidised food grains, the 82-page report released Wednesday said. Internet shutdowns also make it difficult for rural communities to conduct basic banking and pay utility bills.
Indian officials often resort to such closures to stem protests, check communal violence, maintain law and order and even to prevent cheating in school and university exams. It was also used when tens of thousands of farmers protested against agricultural laws that Modi’s government was later forced to repeal, during nationwide demonstrations over a citizenship law that critics called discriminatory and to track down a separatist leader in Punjab.