Modi Govt Blocks Website Campaigning Against Controversial Draft Green Law
The website of
LetIndiabreathe.in was blocked weeks after a sample letter criticising the new
draft of India’s main law for environment clearance,
posted on this site, was emailed over a thousand times to the union environment
ministry, according to documents accessed by HuffPost India. LetindiaBreathe is a
collective campaigning on environmental issues.
The website was
blocked by the National Internet Exchange of India (NiXi), a public sector
company controlled by the Narendra Modi-led
government. Two more websites
involved in similar campaigns have been blocked. NiXI further blocked
access to FridaysforFuture.in - the India chapter of the international movement
led by climate change activist Greta Thunberg - and ThereisnoEarthB.com, according to
the Internet Freedom Foundation.
The decision to block
these sites has prompted fears among environmental collectives of an undeclared ‘internet censorship’ and ‘digital
lockdown’, imposed by the Indian government, to prevent Indian citizens from
accessing information that is critical of the Modi regime’s attempts to
drastically alter India’s environmental laws and other green policies.
Previously, HuffPost India has reported how environment
minister Prakash
Javadekar tried to give a very narrow window of time for public
feedback on the proposed law even as a strict coronavirus lockdown
was in place nationally....
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/eia-2020-news-narendra-modi-government-environment_in_5f0e0f66c5b63b8fc10f9fb6