India Internet Governance Forum announced, scheduled for October 20-21, 2021

The Government of India has announced its plan to host the first India Internet Governance Forum. Scheduled between October 20 - 22, 2021, the theme of the forum is 'Inclusive Internet for Digital India.' Over 10,000 participants are expected to participate in this 3-day event and will have over 25 workshops across the digital economy, digital governance, Trust, Security, Stability, Sustainability, to name a few.

The IIGF is the Indian chapter of the United Nations based Internet Governance Forum, which is an Internet Governance policy discussion platform to bring representatives together from various groups, considering all at par to discuss public policy issues related to the Internet.

The basic objective of the forum is to generate discussions about policy formation. The forum will also become a starting point for identifying the bottleneck and trying to resolve bottlenecks one by one.

"India is the second-largest broadband subscription country in the world and also has the highest data consumption per user per month. Therefore, the aspirations of the Indians should be reflected in International policy formation and stakeholder discussion. India Internet Governance Forum is the correct initiative for the country to ensure that the growth of broadband adheres to the lifestyle and requirements of the Indian community. IIGF 2021 is adopting the multi-stakeholder concept in organizing the event as per the true spirit of global IGF. The coordination committee has apt representation from civil society, Government, Industry, Industrial association, trust, and other stakeholders," says Anil Kumar Jain, the Chairman of Coordination Committee, India Internet Governance Forum 2021 (IGF).

According to the description of the Forum on the IIGF website, as a region with enormous internet economy potential (800 mn Internet users and over 1.2 bn mobile users), India comes with the most diverse internet-related stakeholders and issues (e.g. cybersecurity, net neutrality, online rights, youth and digital innovation). In a global setting, following such a need to include, consider, and invite these stakeholders' perspectives, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) initiated the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2006 and has since been holding the Forum annually. Therefore, with the aforementioned internet economy size and users, as well as diverse stakeholders' views, the Indian Government, along with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and other stakeholders, perceive the region is at the importance to host its own India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF).

Earlier, the third annual IGF Meeting was held in Hyderabad, on 3-6 December 2008 with the theme 'Internet for All'. However, the 16th annual IGF meeting will be hosted by the Government of Poland in Katowice from 6-10 December, under the overarching theme: Internet United.

Also Read: Starlink satellite internet by Elon Musk is now as fast as fiber broadband. Almost

Also Read: Japan sets new Internet speed world record with data transfers at 319Tbps