If you own a smartphone, you know the state of the Indian mobile internet. The speed is pathetic, the access is limited, and the prices are high. The options are limited too as the major companies are monopolistic with the prices being increased unanimously across the board. In the age of heavy inflation, the data charges are a severe blow to the pocket. So the young folks in Kerala are going for an innovative way to protest against these arbitrary rises in data charges by organizing an internet hartal.
Today on the 31st of October, the data subscribers will be disconnecting from their data connections. It is called the All Kerala Internet Hartal. The organizers have said that the reason behind the hartal is to protest against the day to day increase in the prices of data packs. The protest is specifically targeted at AVoId ( Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) who have now become mind-bogglingly huge with a massive number of users dependent on them.
The folks are fed up with their inability to share their grievances with the companies, to which the companies tend to lend a deaf ear. Hartals are a proven way of civil disobedience, and this will definitely make the point across to the other side.
The reason behind the massive leap in prices is the advance of messaging apps like Whatsapp, Hike, Snapchat and others who have caused a severe dent in the SMS revenue. The telecom companies have to pay a heavy sum for renting the spectrums to provide the services, and they want to squeeze every last penny of profit for the sum they invested. But they can also do this by providing cheaper internet and count on the massive users they will bring for the company, specially at the speed Indians are buying smartphones.
People participating in the protest have also used the analogies from history. One of them has given the reference of bread strike in England. “…once in England when bread companies increased their prices, the whole country did not buy bread for few days, and the company had to decrease their price,” says a message.
The sorry state of the internet in India calls for protests like this. We at iGyaan understand the need for a real internet revolution in this country. In the coming days, we’ll be announcing a massive initiative demanding a model internet which compliments a nation that sends spacecrafts to Mars. Keep checking the space for more details in the future.
As for the hartal today, if you agree with the stand of the folks in Kerala, you can support them by switching off your data packs for the day. You can also organize a hartal in your own state. It is also a great way to get rid of all that noise in the digital world and have a glance at the beautiful 3D physical world, at least for a day.
