Internet shutdown in India 2019

Internet shutdown in India 2019
Restrictions on fundamental rights cannot be done by arbitrary exercise of power, said Justice Ramana while reading out the verdict. Freedom of speech and expression includes right to internet within Article 19 of the Constitution of India.Internet shutdowns are more than merely an inconvenience, they are also having an economic impact on the country.
A new study says that India lost over $1.3 billion in internet shutdowns across the country — lasting 4,196 hours in 2019 — making it the third-most economically affected country after Iraq and Sudan, among 21 countries where major internet shutdowns happened last year. This is a result of internet shutdowns in regions like Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.
The report, titled The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns, in 2019 by internet research firm Top10VPN, worked on calculating the data in major regions of the world using the COST tool.India imposes internet restrictions more often than any other country, with over 100 shutdowns documented in 2019. An April 2018 report by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier) estimated the economic impact of internet shutdowns in India from 2012-17 at $3.04 billion, and the overall number of hours of shutdown worked to 16,315 hours.
It has been reported globally that the internet shutdown in Kashmir, which was imposed on 4 August, is the longest-ever internet block imposed by any country.Most recently, shutdowns have been imposed in the northeast in relation to the Citizenship Amendment Act resulted in around $102 million of economic impact.