'The recitation of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poem by students protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on campus last year was “unsuitable to the time and place”, a committee set up by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur has concluded. It has also found the role of five teachers and six students, who participated in the protest, “to be less than desirable” and recommended that the institute should “counsel” them...'
'The unprecedented telecast ban imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Malayalam news channels Asianet News and Media One TV is vitiated with apparent legal errors. As a result of the ban, both the channels went off air at 7.30 PM on March 6, and can resume telecast only at 7.30 PM on March 8. The ban orders issued in respect of these channels' coverage of the Delhi riots reek of arbitrariness and vagueness and are glaringly disproportionate...'
'Six hours after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a 48-hour ban on Asianet News over their coverage of the Delhi riots, the Malayalam news channel is back on air. On Friday, Asianet and MediaOne were barred for 48 hours by the ministry which alleged that their coverage of the recent Delhi riots had been biased, critical of the Delhi police and could have incited violence. While Asianet News is back on air, MediaOne has not resumed transmission.
'Malayalam news channels Asianet News and Media One came back on air on Saturday morning, a day after the Centre placed a 48-hour ban on them for their coverage of the Delhi riots. The channels were taken off the air at 7.30 pm on Friday and were to resume broadcast only at 7.30 pm on Sunday, March 8. In its unprecedented orders, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry cited “siding” with one community and being “critical towards Delhi Police and RSS” as reasons for its decision.
'The Modi government on Friday banned two Malayalam news channels – Asianet News and Media One – for 48 hours starting 7.30 pm today for their coverage on the violence in North East Delhi. An order issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the coverage of Asianet News was done in a manner which “highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community”.
'Malayalam channels Asianet News and MediaOne have been barred for 48 hours by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for their 'coverage of the Delhi riots'. Both the channels have been showing a black screen since 7.30 pm on Friday, March 6, when they were taken off air. The channels can resume broadcast only at 7.30 pm on March 8. The order from the Ministry alleges that Asianet News and MediaOne were provocative, could have incited violence, critical of police, sided with a particular community and showed those who supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in poor light.
'Indian authorities lifted a ban on social media and restored full internet access in Kashmir on Wednesday evening, seven months after the disputed region was locked down and stripped of its partial autonomy. The order, which still places certain restrictions on mobile internet services, is only valid till March 17, unless extended... Access to broadband internet in the restive region comes with a condition; MAC-binding. This forces a particular device to access internet from a specific IP address.
'The number of preventive internet shutdowns enforced by the central and the state governments in India saw a major spike between 2017 and 2019, and as many as 95 of these lasted for more than 24 hours. There were at least 147 instances over these three years for which there is no data on the duration of the shutdowns as there is lack of any form of communication on these blockades, according to data available in public domain and compiled by Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC)...
'After struggling to connect and use VPN (virtual private network) apps over the last three days, Nasir was shocked to see his smartphone light up with unexpected 4G connectivity on Sunday night. He sprang out of bed with excitement and dialed a number of his friends to see whether it was really 4G or a dream. Some of his friends woke up to pick his calls and rushed to quickly check their smartphones. It has now been seven months since residents of the Jammu and Kashmir union territory have had proper Internet connectivity.
'Months after the government restored low-speed internet with access to “whitelisted” websites in Kashmir, local people in the region are again grappling with limited access after a moment of breather provided by Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) has ended. The administration Kashmir has enforced a crackdown on the use of VPNs with nearly all of them being blocked by telecom companies. Residents say that with the blocking of VPNs the access to even those “whitelisted” websites seem to have been curtailed as these websites do not open due to abysmally low bandwidth...'
