CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -In 2019, India’s forced internet blackouts lasted well over four thousand hours, resulting in an economic loss of over 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, third in the world’s most economically affected countries, after Iraq and Sudan.

Detailed explanation-2: -“In 2021, authorities deliberately shut down the Internet at least 182 times across 34 countries. India is the world’s largest offender, and blacked out the internet at least 106 times, ” the report states.

Detailed explanation-3: -The economic toll of deliberate internet shutdowns by governments reached nearly $24bn globally in 2022, following 114 major outages across 23 countries, research has found.

Detailed explanation-4: -According to a report, India was amongst the most impacted nations, losing more than US $2 bn to internet shutdowns, almost double the combined loss of 20 other countries mentioned in it.

Detailed explanation-5: -But researchers and digital rights advocacy groups have found that such instances have only grown over the past 10 years, earning India the tag of being the “Internet shutdown capital of the world”.