If VPN is banned, the Digital India scheme will fail

- Seven-fold increase in the use of virtual private networks in the country during epidemic times

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has suggested that India should ban the Virtual Private Network (VPN). VPN could potentially accelerate anonymous online activities. The committee has therefore directed the Home Ministry to develop a synergy system in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. If the ban on VPNs in the country is lifted, India will join the list of Russia, China, Belarus, Venezuela, Turkey and the Gulf countries. This proposal will also be very difficult from an economic point of view. Many studies conducted during the epidemic show that the use of VPN has increased seven times in the country. VPN is essential for easy operation of many modern businesses such as high value service areas etc. They help branch offices work with proper integration into the corporate network and allow employees to make transactions and approvals with proper data security in this new era of remote working. Many trading platforms also need a home VPN for trading and making connections. It is a misconception that VPNs are used not by contributors to the economy but by criminals, therefore, the committee should reconsider its suggestions.

Any action against VPN will have a very sweet effect on Digital India. Trying to ban VPN is no small matter. Even in China, where a comprehensive and well-trained bureaucracy has been trained to protect its Internet from the rest of the world, VPNs are banned even if they have little credibility. In other countries where government capacity is lower than in India and which has tried to ban VPNs, their overall telecommunication capacity has been negatively affected.

For example, Iran's Internet is extremely slow because every Internet traffic that passes through the VPN there is monitored.

Over the past year, the Department of Telecommunications has consistently liberalized the operating standards of other service providers. This was done in part so that the service centers could properly integrate the international call and data network with the use of VPN. This is expected to reduce costs and improve competitiveness while the IT services sector is also in dire need of improvement. In these circumstances, the government should set aside the committee's recommendation and focus on the Digital India campaign. All kinds of businesses need this type of network nowadays. Thus, IT experts believe that if such a network is banned, it will not only reduce business activity but also adversely affect the economy.