Skip to main content

Gujarat govt "firewalls" top sites ending gujarat.gov.in for outside India, "fears" of Russian, Chinese spammers

Is Gujarat government not interested in non-resident Indian (NRI) supporters to officially know what’s happening in Gujarat, propagated as India’s model state? Facts have come light suggesting that the state’s information technology (IT) establishment has firewalled several Gujarat government websites’ access worldwide, except India, for security reasons.
A top Gujarat government insider confirms, this is the handiwork of a decision taken on state websites. He says, "Just checked. For some foolish reason or rank stupidity all sites with gujarat.gov.in have been denied access to outside India. Instead of taking preventive protective action, a ham-handed approach is used. I am amused and startled... In this age!"
It all began when someone from Gujarat, who is now in US, tried accessing the state finance department site, http://financedepartment.gujarat.gov.in/, on the day the state budget was presented in the state assembly, February 23. “I was shocked”, the NRI said. “For two days I tried to access the site, but failed. I tried it on different browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer – but failed.”
He adds, “Then, I tried to open three other sites, two of the industries department sites -- http://www.imd-gujarat.gov.in/ and http://ic.gujarat.gov.in/ -- and one of the NRI department, http://nri.gujarat.gov.in/, but could not access them.”
An NRI based in Melbourne, Australia, found that none of the above sites could be accessed, also finding it “really strange.” Editing South Asia Times, Neeraj Nanda says, the sites are “redirecting” but thereafter “nothing happens” on Chrome, while Internet Explorer just says, “the page cannot be found.”
A Gujarati NRI based in US, a software engineer, after using available site tools, told Counterview that, the Gujarat government’s official website -- http://www.gswan.gov.in/ -- could be accessed; but the moment on goes to http://www.gswan.gov.in/SitePages/Government-Sites.aspx for accessing the sites of respective state departments, the ones with the "gujarat.gov.in" tag did not work.
He checked four sites on https://www.site24x7.com/ -- of industries and mines, industries commission, NRI and general administration department (GAD) sites.
“I find it really strange. While I could easily open www.gujaratindia.com, the state government portal, those with the tag gujarat.gov.in could not be accessed. I do not know the reason, though the problem appears to be with the state IT service providers”, he says (click HERE  for one of the results).
Roshan Shah
He wonders, “Is this accidental? They should solve this problem. People do want to know from the state government sites about what is happening in the Gujarat government.”
A software engineer in Ahmedabad, Pratik Sinha, told Counterview, after using “different tools” to find out which sites open where, “Except in India, the gujarat.gov.in sites are “not available anywhere in the world.” Currently, he is investigating what could be the “real reason.”
A computer engineer and NRI, who is now in Ahmedabad, Roshan Shah, suspects that the state government “may have done IP blocking” in order to “filter traffic only local to India.” Also a well-known political activist, he strongly believes, “This prevents from spammers, usually Russian and Chinese spammers, seeking to hack website.”
Shah says, “They should have used better technology and firewalls and have better tools to detect and prevent this spamming”, suspecting, “They may not have competency and 24x7 support in place. Perhaps, to them, NRIs/NRGs are not wanted.”
Calling this “lame, very lame”, Shah comments, “We call ourselves democracy but act like a dictator. If an investor wants to invest in Gujarat and wants to get info from government sites, he gets none. No wonder Vibrant Gujarat is going every single day for a big toss.”
Pointing towards how Gujarat has long claimed to have the best internet network anywhere in India, with global outreach, Roshan wonders, “who decides which site goes global and which local, and what is the logic”, adding, after all, it is “all public money on the basis of which these sites are created.”

Comments

TRENDING

Instilling sense of insecurity among 'fearful' millions, Modi to win comfortably

  This was one of the most interesting reports I read on the Lok Sabha elections. Titled, "If Sangam Pilgrims Are Bellwether, They Indicate Clear Majority for Modi",  published  in what is considered to be an anti-Narendra Modi site, "The Wire", it reports on interaction with boatmen and pilgrims from across India, even as pointing towards why Modi would get a "clear majority."

India's 78% firms think achieving net zero is cost to business, 52% say it's risky: Report

 A leading global management consulting firm working with more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500, as well as with government bodies and nonprofit organizations, has said that while vast majority of Indian businesses surveyed (91%) claim they have set targets to reach net zero, with 51% of them viewing these targets as “highly achievable”, ironically, most of them (78%) consider sustainability as a cost to business rather than opportunity.

Anti-Rupala Rajputs 'have no support' of numerically strong Kshatriya communities

Personally, I have no love lost for Purshottam Rupala, though I have known him ever since I was posted as the Times of India representative in Gandhinagar in 1997, from where I was supposed to do political reporting. In news after he made the statement that 'maharajas' succumbed to foreign rulers, including the British, and even married off their daughters them, there have been large Rajput rallies against him for “insulting” the community.

India 'not keen' on legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic production

  Even as offering lip-service to the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA) for the need to curb plastic production, the Government of India appears reluctant in reducing the production of plastic. A senior participant at the UNEP’s  fourth session  of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), which took place in Ottawa in April last week, told a plastics pollution seminar that India, along with China and Russia, did not want any legally binding agreement for curbing plastic pollution.

'Modi govt's assault on dissent': Foreign funds of top finance NGO blocked

  In a surprise move, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has cancelled the foreign funding license of the well-known advocacy group, Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), known for critically examining India's finance and banking sectors from human rights and environmental angle.

'28% rise in sedition cases': Top global NGO alliance rates India's civil space 'repressed'

  Rating India's civic space as  repressed , Civicus, a global civil society alliance, in its new  report  submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on the state of civic space in the country has said that the use of sedition law against the Modi government’s critics continues. "Under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sedition cases have increased by 28 per cent with over 500 cases against more than 7,000 people", it says.

Urban Naxal to Amit Shah, AAP Bharuch candidate tops ADR's Gujarat criminal cases list

  Refusing to go beyond the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the Lok Sabha candidates’ own declarations of their criminal record, educational qualification and assets, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a top-notch advocacy group, has declared Aam Aadmi Party candidate Chaitar Vasava, 35, having the highest number of criminal cases of all those fighting the electoral battle on 26 seats in Gujarat.