Govt backtracks on Sanchar Saathi app mandatory pre-installation decision following uproar

Following nationwide uproar over its earlier directive to make the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory on all new mobile phones to be sold in India, the Union government on Wednesday withdrew its previous order. In a fresh announcement, the Centre said pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on mobile phones is no longer mandatory.

Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had earlier in the day sought to assuage concerns in Parliament and said that the app does not have any surveillance capability and will not be activated unless a user decides to register.

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“Snooping is neither possible nor will it happen with the Sanchar Saathi safety app,” he told Parliament.

In its latest order issued Wednesday afternoon, the Centre said it had made the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory in order to empower citizens with the necessary cybersecurity. The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world, the government reiterated.

Govt clarifies: ‘Sanchar Saathi App optional, can be uninstalled’

“It helps in ‘Jan bhagidari’ by all citizens in reporting on such bad actors and actions while protecting users themselves. There is no other function other than protecting the users in the app and they can remove the app whenever they want. This has been clarified by Government,” the release stated.

It may be recalled that following uproar inside as well as outside Parliament yesterday over the initial order, Scindia had on Tuesday evening clarified that while pre-installation had been made mandatory, it did not mean that users cannot delete or uninstall the said application. Further, the minister said, the app would not get activated until the user registered on it, notwithstanding the fact that the application was pre-installed.

Backing its fresh decision to make pre-installation non-mandatory, the government stated that around 1.4 crore users have already downloaded the app and are providing information on about 2,000 fraud incidents every day.

“The number of users has been increasing rapidly and the mandate to install the app was meant to accelerate this process and make the app available to less aware citizens easily. Just in last one day, 6 lakh citizens have registered for downloading the App which is a 10x increase in its uptake. This is affirmation of faith by citizens on this App for protecting themselves provided to them by the Government,” the release further said.

“Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers,” it concluded.

While the government mandated pre-installation of the app on all new mobile phones, for devices already sold it said manufacturers would push the app via future software updates. The government had set a 90-day deadline to comply with the order.

Following the order, several opposition leaders had expressed concerns about privacy and the possibility of government snooping on personal data.