The Congress and the Left parties have urged the Centre to ensure impartial services in the Internet. Criticising the Centre’s stand on the issue, the parties urged the government and the TRAI not to get weighed down by pressure from service providers.
Congress leader Ajay Maken said his party unequivocally supports ‘Net neutrality’. “We believe that ‘free Internet’ is a founding prerequisite not only for dissemination and flow of ideas but also sustenance and growth of ‘idea of freedom’ in the 21st Century,” he told newspersons here on Tuesday.
Maken said Internet and telecom service providers and government should treat all data on the Internet equally — not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment or mode of communication.
“We strongly deprecate and reject attempts towards licensing or fixation of discriminatory pricing of Internet applications and Web services,” he added. He alleged that TRAI and the telecom industry want to favour one kind of content or media over the other on the Internet, which is against Net neutrality. Accusing the ruling BJP of doublespeak, Maken said despite nationwide online uproar and protest, a generic statement has been made by Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that a committee has been set up to look into the issue.
“But why prolong the process, what’s the need for a committee when the Central Government has wide powers to resolve the issue? Under Section 25 of the TRAI Act 1997, the Centre has powers to issue any directions to TRAI in the interest of the public and such directions will be final. “Ask TRAI to scrap the 118-page consultation paper and also disband the committee set up by the Telecom Ministry,” he said.
CPI General-Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy asked the Centre and TRAI to come up with a concrete action plan to protect open Internet and Net neutrality. “TRAI is a body set up by the Government of India and, if necessary, the latter has to give the direction. The government should not fall prey to corporate pressures,” he said in a statement.