Respected TRAI,

I, a citizen of India, am writing to express my concern against the actions telecom carriers are taking to restrict fair access to the internet i.e. Net Neutrality. 

As a thriving and growing nation, the internet is a vital resource! It helps me communicate, work, and thrive as a citizen. It helps me stay connected with friends and family across the globe. It helps me stay up-to-date with the happenings around the world. It helps me enlighten myself & thus my peers, it empowers me. 

If telecom operators are allowed to discriminate the flow of internet traffic solely on the basis of which services pay the most, we are allowing telecoms control over a vital and necessary technological resource. We allow them to define what information we can view, what entertainment we can access, and what budding young innovators can innovate. This is completely unfair and harms India's long term role as major player in the global market. In a sense, we are enslaving our nation and its access to free and vast expanse of knowledge and connectivity by restricting fair access to the internet. 

I understand the concern that regulation may deter telecoms from expanding access and speeds, but I strongly believe the growth of telecoms and the well-being of the internet can go hand-in-hand. I'm not asking for regulation so strong as to stifle progress, but only a framework to ensure long term and fair access for all services regardless of size. Net Neutrality laws have already been enacted successfully in The Netherlands after a public agitation. We can certainly take some learnings from there to understand how to go about implementing Net Neutrality. When our major attention should be focussed on improving our below par internet infrastructure, we are stuck in a battle to keep the internet neutral. 

Please understand that the internet is an important resource and vital to me. I would like to see it protected under Net Neutrality to ensure fair and equal access for myself and every single person in this great nation of ours.

I hope the government would take an appropriate decision and help keeping this medium as free as possible! 

Regards,

Shomin Pradeep Naik

+91-9820540630