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New Delhi: After a huge political storm, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced that the Sanchar Sathi security is not app is not mandatory, adding that all new smartphones sold in the country should come with the app already installed. The twist is that people will be free to delete it if they do not want it.
This comes following a directive from the Central government to mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install the 'Sanchar Saathi' mobile application ignited a huge debate. Earlier, the government had directed all the phone makers to follow the direction on all handsets manufactured or imported into the country.
"If you don't want Sanchar Sathi, you can delete it. It is optional... It is our duty to introduce this app to everyone. Keeping it in their devices or not is up to the user...," said Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The move rolled back by the Centre faced strong opposition from those opposition parties who call it the government's tactic to widen surveillance, demanding a reversal of the order.
While the government asserts this move is a critical step to safeguard citizens from rampant cyber fraud and aid in the recovery of lost devices, a chorus of opposition, led by the Congress and other parties, has decried it as an alarming leap towards state surveillance, demanding an immediate reversal of the order.
Opposition cries 'Big Brother'
However, the Centre's directive has triggered an immediate and furious backlash from the Opposition, who view it as a grave infringement on privacy.
Congress General Secretary and MP Priyanka Gandhi called Sanchar Saathi a "snooping app" and "ridiculous". She asserted that the citizens of this country have the right to privacy. "Everyone must have the right to privacy to send messages to family and friends without the government looking at everything," Priyanka told reporters outside the parliament.
"It's not just snooping on the telephone. They're turning this country into a dictatorship in every form. The parliament isn't functioning because the government is refusing to discuss anything. It's very easy to blame the Opposition, but they're not allowing any discussion on anything, and that's not democracy. A healthy democracy demands discussion, and everybody has different views, and you hear them out," She said, criticising the government for such directions.
Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal condemned the move as "beyond unconstitutional". "The Sanchar Saathi app is an attack on privacy. This is what it seems to be. In the name of helping the people, the BJP is trying to attack the privacy of the common people," he said.
"We have had an experience with Pegasus here in India. The government is trying to put surveillance on all the people of the country through this app," he told reporters.
Calling it an attack on the fundamental rights of the Indians, Venugopal posted on X (formerly Twitter), "Big Brother cannot watch us. The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution."
He lambasted the idea of a pre-loaded, undeletable government app as a "dystopian tool to monitor every Indian," asserting it is a means to "watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen" and demanded its immediate rollback. "A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen," he wrote in his X post.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Rajya Sabha MP from Shiv Sena (UBT), echoed these sentiments, labelling the directive "another BIG BOSS surveillance moment." She warned of a strong "pushback" if the IT Ministry prioritises "surveillance systems" over "robust redressal systems."
"Such shady ways to get into individual phones will be protested and opposed & if the IT Ministry thinks that instead of creating robust redressal systems it will create surveillance systems then it should be ready for a pushback!" Priyanka posted on X.
Sanchar Saathi: Safety initiative or surveillance
Billed as a key digital safety initiative, the Sanchar Saathi platform, accessible via both app and web portal, offers several citizen-centric services as claimed by the Centre. Its flagship feature, 'Chakshu,' is designed to empower phone users to proactively report suspicious cyber fraud communications.
According to the Sanchar Sathi website, Chakshu's capabilities extend to reporting commercial spam calls, malicious web links, phishing attempts, device cloning, and other malware disseminated via SMS, RCS, iMessage, and popular social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.
The government also points to the platform's impressive track record in combating device theft and fraud. According to the Sanchar Saathi website, the app has successfully led to the blocking of 4.2 million stolen phones and facilitated the recovery of 2.6 million devices. It boasts a significant user base, with over 10 million downloads on Android and nearly 1 million on iOS devices.
A 90-day countdown for phone makers
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), operating under the Ministry of Communications, headed by Jyotiraditya Scindia, had issued the directive on November 28. The department has given 90 days to mobile manufacturers to implement the order. This means that by late February, every new phone entering the Indian market must have the Sanchar Saathi app factory-installed.
"Ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted," the notification says.
The notification further insists that the app must be "readily visible and accessible" to users upon first setup, with its functionalities remaining "not disabled or restricted." For phones already in circulation, companies have been instructed to push the application through mandatory software updates. Non-compliance, the Centre warns, will lead to stringent action.
Tech giants' silence and potential clash
The directive's implementation could also spark a significant confrontation with global tech giants. A Reuters report suggests that the government's mandate might lead to a tussle with companies like Apple. Known for its staunch opposition to such government directives in the past, citing deep-seated privacy and security concerns, Apple has not reportedly given any confirmation to the Indian government. When approached by Reuters, Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi remained silent on the matter, as did the Communications Ministry.
Two anonymous industry sources told Reuters that mobile phone manufacturers were not consulted by the government before this sweeping order was issued. This decision has raised questions about the collaborative process behind such significant policy changes.
