India drops plans for government control of Internet

Elections see shift in political landscape - and Internet governance perspective

India has dropped its plans to create a new United Nations body that would oversee the Internet, with the country's foremost Internet governance voice telling .Nxt it was "not well thought out".

Govind: Multi-stakeholder supporter

The proposal, made formally to the United Nations General Assembly in October, would have seen a new body - the Committee for Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) - created that which would develop Internet policies, oversee all Internet standards bodies and policy organizations, negotiate Internet-related treaties, and act as an arbitrator in Internet-related disputes.

That vision was also put forward by India at the 2011 Internet Governance Forum, where it met significant criticism from the Internet community. It was not community criticism however but elections and changes to the political landscape that have seen a U-turn in the policy and a shift toward to the "multi-stakeholder" approach that defines Internet policy decision-making.