Why was there a shutdown?

Shutdown of the internet by a government is a decision taken to prevent some untenable situations like civil unrest, but it can also lead to human rights abuses in forms such as silencing the press and obstructing peaceful protests or cutting off access to information.
A report disclosed that there was continuous on and off internet access in India combined with the blackout within the Kashmir region which took months, made up of 8,927 hours and also affected as much as 10 million Indians.
A report published by Top10VPN a virtual provider network (VPN) review platform, termed “Global cost of internet shutdowns in 2020” show the curation of instances of internet manipulation across the globe in the past year and a total loss of $4 billion from 21 countries including Belarus, Yemen and Myanmar. India's cost accounted for three-fourths of the total global costs.

Ways by which shutdown can occur

These were some ways by which internet shutdowns took place globally. They were in the forms of total blackout, social media shutdowns and internet throttling i.e when internet service providers limit users' bandwidth or internet speed.
In some of those countries where shutdowns occurred globally such as Myanmar and Yemen, the internet disruptions could have prevented people especially from rural areas access to important information and updates concerning Covid-19.
The economic cost of the global internet shutdown in the year 2020 was down by 50% when compared to the shutdowns in 2019 derived from the annual analysis by Top10VPN which showed $8 billion.

During the period between 2019 and 2020, India displayed the longest recorded internet shutdown in a democratically governed country with the Kashmir region being in darkness for seven months. When there was restoration of internet, users had access to only 2G speed, which give credence to internet throttling by the government, over an extended time.

Reports about global internet shutdowns is to make the government have a rethink before imposing deliberate digital disruptions.