Amidst the political turmoil over Sanchar Sathi app, the Central Government has taken a big decision. The government withdrew the order from Russia to make mandatory installation of this app in phones. To strengthen cyber security, the government had made it mandatory to pre-install the Sanchar Sathi app in all new smartphones, but now this order has been withdrawn.
‘It was made mandatory to avoid fraud incidents’
The popularity of the app was increasing rapidly so it was decided to make it mandatory so that security could easily reach even the less aware people. In the last 1 day itself, 6 lakh people registered to download this app, which is 10 times more than before. The government said that till now 1.4 crore users have downloaded this app and about 2000 fraud incidents are being reported every day. Congress had expressed concern in the Rajya Sabha about the Sanchar Sathi mobile application, saying that it is a violation of every person’s right to privacy.
Congress raised questions on the intentions of the government
During Zero Hour, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said that there are apprehensions about many features of the app that it can monitor every user’s real-time location, search history, financial transactions and conversations through SMS and WhatsApp.
According to the central government’s order dated November 28, it was made mandatory for all mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Sathi app through software updates in new handsets sold in India as well as in older devices. The order also said that mobile phone companies should ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is easily visible and available to users at the time of first use or device setup.
Center rejected the possibility of espionage
Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday (December 3) that snooping is neither possible nor will be possible through the Sanchar Sathi app. He said this during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha amid the controversy over the government’s directive to preload this app in all new mobile devices for cyber security reasons.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants to put powers in the hands of the people of the country so that they can keep themselves safe. He said that this experiment has been done on the basis of success achieved by public response and in future, the government is ready to make changes in it based on the suggestions of the public.