Regional shutdown
Broadband, Mobile, Landline
Police district of Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir
Internet, mobile, and landline services were shut down for various lengths of time in Jammu and Kashmir from 5 August 2019 to 5 February 2021 to curb backlash during the state’s special status consideration under Article 370. Landlines were allowed from 18 August 2019. Postpaid mobile services were allowed from 14 October 2019. Broadband services for essential purposes were restored on 15 January 2020. 4G services were restored on 5 February 2021. Overall, the region experienced 213 days of no Internet and 550 days of partial or no connectivity, the longest shutdown in a democratic country at the time. Internet shutdowns during civil unrest impact the ability of citizens to get accurate information from government sources when they need it most. It also becomes harder for citizens to contact family members and friends in other parts of the country, or in other countries. The impact of this shutdown was compounded also by COVID-19 stay-at-home laws. Between August 2019 and July 2020, the economy of Kashmir lost INR 400,000 million and more than 100,000 jobs—mostly in the sectors of handicrafts, tourism, and information technology. Schoolchildren were particularly hampered during this time, as they weren't able to participate in online learning due to the reduced Internet speeds. Global climate change researchers were also impacted, not able to get access to important data from the sensitive Himalayan region.
- Total Duration 545 days
India
- Population
- 1,438,069,596
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free
Local impact
Internet, mobile, and landline services were shut down for various lengths of time in Jammu and Kashmir from 5 August 2019 to 5 February 2021 to curb backlash during the state’s special status consideration under Article 370. Landlines were allowed from 18 August 2019. Postpaid mobile services were allowed from 14 October 2019. Broadband services for essential purposes were restored on 15 January 2020. 4G services were restored on 5 February 2021. Overall, the region experienced 213 days of no Internet and 550 days of partial or no connectivity, the longest shutdown in a democratic country at the time. Internet shutdowns during civil unrest impact the ability of citizens to get accurate information from government sources when they need it most. It also becomes harder for citizens to contact family members and friends in other parts of the country, or in other countries. The impact of this shutdown was compounded also by COVID-19 stay-at-home laws. Between August 2019 and July 2020, the economy of Kashmir lost INR 400,000 million and more than 100,000 jobs—mostly in the sectors of handicrafts, tourism, and information technology. Schoolchildren were particularly hampered during this time, as they weren't able to participate in online learning due to the reduced Internet speeds. Global climate change researchers were also impacted, not able to get access to important data from the sensitive Himalayan region.
Social media
The central plot, however, is not the restoration of 4G services. Of far greater cardinal significance is the fact that for 18 months, severe to partial communication blockade, more stringent in its form in Kashmir and hill districts of Jammu, disrupted life and livelihoods in the erstwhile state without due redressal...Four districts of Jammu province and the entire Valley – involving roughly between 9-10 million people – had neither operational mobile phones, internet connectivity or the basic landline phones. By sheer bulk of state power and stealth, large swarths of the population were invisibilised and pushed behind an iron curtain. It has been a journey of one and a half years – 213 days of absolutely no internet and 550 days of partial or no connectivity – earning India the notorious distinction of the longest internet ban among democratic countries in the world. Source: The Wire Atoofa Feroze, 15, is a resident of a village in southern Kashmir's Pulwama district. She says her last regular day at school was in August 2019 after which she attended a few days in March 2020 before another lengthy closure. "I was in eight grade when the lockdown was imposed in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370 and now, I am in tenth grade and I have not been to school for nearly two years," she said. "I cannot explain how big a loss this is." Atoofa said the ban on high-speed mobile internet meant students also lost out on online educational opportunities. "We were not able to connect or understand our teachers who were trying hard to help us. The experience of struggle on low-speed internet was mentally traumatizing," she noted. Source: DW G N War, an educationist and the head of Private Schools Association in Kashmir (PSAK), told DW that "it is very difficult to assess the loss of education" in the region. "When schools were shut all over the world amid the pandemic, education continued online but here either we had no internet or only low-speed internet, which hampered education. So our students were at a disadvantageous position," he said. Source: DW
Media coverage
The central plot, however, is not the restoration of 4G services. Of far greater cardinal significance is the fact that for 18 months, severe to partial communication blockade, more stringent in its form in Kashmir and hill districts of Jammu, disrupted life and livelihoods in the erstwhile state without due redressal...Four districts of Jammu province and the entire Valley – involving roughly between 9-10 million people – had neither operational mobile phones, internet connectivity or the basic landline phones. By sheer bulk of state power and stealth, large swarths of the population were invisibilised and pushed behind an iron curtain. It has been a journey of one and a half years – 213 days of absolutely no internet and 550 days of partial or no connectivity – earning India the notorious distinction of the longest internet ban among democratic countries in the world. Source: The Wire Atoofa Feroze, 15, is a resident of a village in southern Kashmir's Pulwama district. She says her last regular day at school was in August 2019 after which she attended a few days in March 2020 before another lengthy closure. "I was in eight grade when the lockdown was imposed in 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370 and now, I am in tenth grade and I have not been to school for nearly two years," she said. "I cannot explain how big a loss this is." Atoofa said the ban on high-speed mobile internet meant students also lost out on online educational opportunities. "We were not able to connect or understand our teachers who were trying hard to help us. The experience of struggle on low-speed internet was mentally traumatizing," she noted. Source: DW G N War, an educationist and the head of Private Schools Association in Kashmir (PSAK), told DW that "it is very difficult to assess the loss of education" in the region. "When schools were shut all over the world amid the pandemic, education continued online but here either we had no internet or only low-speed internet, which hampered education. So our students were at a disadvantageous position," he said. Source: DW