Eqbal Khan:
Respected Honorable Prime Minister of India
Sir,
With due respect and reverence, I would like to state that the internet is the most important tool in the globe. It has played an important role in our daily life. The importance of the internet in our life is similar to oxygen and it’s very tough to be happy without the internet. Before moving further let me first start about some declarations and resolutions about the right to Right of High-Speed Internet.
a) As Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of human rights says, “Everyone has right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions and expressions, to seek to receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
b) On July 01, 2016, the UN’s Human rights council adopted a resolution in Geneva in which the council affirms that human rights that apply in the non- virtual world must apply with the same strength in cyberspace. It also acknowledged the role of internet in promoting affordable educational opportunities around the globe.
c) More importantly according to our Indian constitution, “Article 19 guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all the citizens of India.” And the supreme court also makes it official that internet access is a fundamental right of every citizen of India.
Internet is more and more involved in medical sciences and our healthcare professionals can’t make their work more convenient, efficient because of limited internet speed and now keeping in the view about the current situation in the country as well as in the whole world, with the new cases of COVID-19 increasing day by day, our health care stakeholders are missing out the latest updates and guidelines regularly updated by the WHO and different health organizations.
In such conditions, healthcare organizations release a slew of new tools aiming to monitor the spread of this pandemic disease and facilitate better treatment but our healthcare professionals lack every such information due to the unavailability of high-speed internet services in Kashmir.
The doctors are finding it extremely difficult to communicate, transform the latest information and awareness about COVID-19 to general masses.
I, as a teacher also face challenges day by day due to the restriction on the speed of the internet. Department of education ordered us to go for online classes but how it will work and how it will provide us the fruitful results with such a low internet speed available with us.
Teachers find it hard to join online classes, students complain of low speed, hence not able to join online classes, they can’t watch videos on youtube related to their subjects. Teachers cannot upload their lecturers or topics on youtube due to the restrictions on internet speed and it has had a worse impact on imparting education to our children. The internet has been crucial in the evolution of our education system. But right now, the education department is facing a huge challenge to cope up with the current situation, where on one side teachers could have been the best counselors as well as entertainers and also imparting education to lakhs of students all over in Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover, the importance of the internet for business development and in media is undeniable but due to the restriction on internet speed the Press, journalists, businessmen, and even a common man’s life is being badly affected for the last eight months.
Sir, let me share your tweet of 2012 when the first strike against our fundamental rights was done by the Congress government, “As a common man, I join the protest against the crackdown on freedom of speech! I have changed my DP ‘ Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan.’ #GOIBlocks”.
If digital India’s dream which you have shown us is just a dream not a reality then I am very sorry to interrupt but if the digital India mission is a reality then such realities cannot be achieved without high-speed internet services.
Now we are in a tough time of pandemic and I look forward to a new hope that the ban on of 4g speed of the internet would be lifted soon.
(The author is a teacher and a social activist. He can be reached at [email protected] )
