Yet to make his debut on social media, Rahul bats for net neutrality

Nasscom sends suggestions to Trai

After slamming the Narendra Modi government of being “anti-farmer” at a public rally on Sunday, and accusing it of favouring the corporates on the land acquisition issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday charged the government with handing over the internet space to some corporate groups.

The Congress vice-president, yet to debut on social media, was immediately rebutted by Modi government ministers. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked Gandhi not to make “insinuations”, while Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government stood for Digital India and internet was available to people in a non-discriminatory manner. The Speaker reminded Gandhi that Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s M B Rajesh had raised the issue on Tuesday.

In a related development, information technology sector body Nasscom sent its suggestions on net neutrality to the telecom regulator. The last date for doing so is Friday.

“Any restrictions placed on access to platforms of data are tantamount to a restriction of freedom of expression because my freedom of expression includes my freedom to be heard. You can say something as long as nobody heard you is not freedom of speech,” said R Chandrashekhar, president, Nasscom.

Nasscom said any discrimination in giving access to the internet amounts to violation of freedom of speech and expression. Nasscom is against all platforms that discriminate access to the internet mainly on basis of payments, including zero rating plans, Chandrashekhar said.

In the Lok Sabha, Gandhi had given notice for suspension of Question Hour to take up an adjournment motion on the issue, which the government found interesting as adjournment motions are demanded to discuss urgent matters like a natural calamity or firing, etc. But it was amenable to concede to Gandhi’s demand. But he could take up the issue only in  Zero Hour, as he was absent at the start of the Question Hour at 11 am. A member of parliament has to be present in the House at the beginning of Question Hour to move an adjournment motion.

Outside the House, Gandhi said the net neutrality debate was a trial balloon floated by the government to hand over internet space to corporates, which he vowed to oppose tooth and nail. He said the PM was betraying those youth who had supported him on social media during the Lok Sabha campaign.

Gandhi said the US was home to the biggest corporate groups, and its President has, for the first time in 60 years, praised an Indian PM. “Possibly, the Americans haven’t praised somebody as much after (Mikhail) Gorbachev... Gorbachev had helped the US.”   

Bharti Airtel’s launch of the Airtel Zero platform on April 6 had triggered a debate on the issue of net neutrality and many said the launch was against the principles of net neutrality.

On the Airtel Zero platform, companies, including start-ups, can offer apps for free. The app maker will pay for the customer's free usage to the operator and users don’t have to pay any data charges. Net neutrality means all internet sites to be treated equally, without any discrimination in terms of speed and cost of access.

Meanwhile, the telecom regulator is in the process of framing regulations on this and over apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Viber. The department of telecommunications has also set up a committee to look into the issue of net neutrality. Both the reports are expected to come out next month.

Chandrasekhar said over-the-top (OTT) players do not need licensing regime, as they already fall under the ambit of IT Act. "If applications will be brought under licensing regime, India will not have access to innovative applications and people have no reason to subscribe to internet packs, and data revenue of telecom operators will also suffer," Nasscom Internet Council Chairman Sanjeev Bhikchandani said. The industry body also said there should be no double dipping by telecom service providers -- charging of data from both consumer and application/platform provider.

In another related development, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, and Anshul Tewari of Youth Ki Awaaz will hand over 0.28 million petitions, received from citizens on change.org, in support of net neutrality to Trai on Thursday.

More than 0.28 million citizens responded to the petition started by a netizen, Sandeep Pillai, on change.org asking Trai not to permit violation of net neutrality principles in India by allowing private telcos from introducing differential pricing of data packets used over the internet, according to a statement from the MP's office.