New Delhi: India’s frequent internet shutdowns came up for discussion at the recent G20 meet on cybersecurity, with panelist Nneena Nwakanma saying that India should “stop shutting down the internet anytime”.Nwakanma, associated with Geneva-based International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative, was part of a panel discussion on ‘Internet Governance-National Responsibility and Global Commons’. “I haven’t seen any case of internet shutdowns being taken to Parliament, nor is there any empirical evidence of economic returns (by imposing bans). Still, if law enforcement agencies need to impose a ban, they must follow the due process of law and elected representatives should be able to explain to their voters the reasons for such bans. Internet ban is one of the greatest dangers in building trust among the public,” Nwakanma said, according to the Economic Times.India has the dubious distinction of being the internet shutdown capital of the world. As research by Access Now has shown, since 2016, India has accounted for approximately 58% of all shutdowns documented in the Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP database). India is the only G20 country that has imposed an internet shutdown more than twice. Russia and Brazil are the other two courtiers that enforced two and one internet shutdowns respectively in 2022.Most recently, in Manipur the government has indefinitely suspended internet services after ethnic violence broke out on May 3. The Supreme Court is hearing pleas against this suspension.Responding to a query on the frequent internet bans in India, former Intelligence Bureau chief and member of National Human Rights Commission Rajiv Jain reportedly stated that the right to life is sometimes in conflict with the right to freedom of expression and right to privacy. “When there is a threat to life of a large group of people or in a large geographical area, primacy has to be given to Right to Life as the state acts as repository of all the rights and takes a call on temporary suspension of Internet,” he said, according to Economic Times.