When the Union government launched the Sanchar Saathi app in 2023, it was introduced as a citizencentric platform to fight cyber fraud and trace stolen devices. The initiative delivered impressive outputs in its first year—over 42 lakh mobile phones blocked, more than 26 lakh lost phones traced, and 10 million app downloads—making it an important pillar of India’s cyber safety framework. But the debate escalated sharply when the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), acting under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024, directed manufacturers and importers to pre-install the app on all smartphones without an uninstall option. This triggered a national debate about surveillance, privacy, and user autonomy. Responding to widespread criticism from the Opposition, digital rights groups, legal experts, and technology companies, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has now clarified that Sanchar Saathi will remain optional, not mandatory.

Why Sanchar Saathi Was Introduced: The first objective behind launching Sanchar Saathi is crime prevention. India has witnessed a steep rise in cyber fraud, phishing and impersonation calls, and users often become victims due to low digital awareness. The Chakshu module inside the app enables citizens to report suspicious calls and fraudulent links, helping the DoT block numbers used in cybercrime. The second objective concerns handset legitimacy. With the proliferation of cloned phones, tampered IMEI numbers, and black-market imports, the app verifies device authenticity and helps authorities track phones that change hands in criminal networks. These two purposes, cybercrime control and device verification, form the declared rationale for its nationwide rollout.

Concerns That Sparked Pushback: The earlier mandatory-installation directive opened three major concerns. The first was the erosion of informed consent. A pre-installed,........

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