The government has rolled back its earlier decision mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on all new smartphones, easing concerns raised by mobile manufacturers and digital rights groups.
The Sanchar Saathi app was initially made compulsory for all smartphone makers as part of a broader push to enhance citizen access to cybersecurity tools. However, there were practical and privacy-related concerns associated with mandatory pre-installed software.
Taking these concerns into account, the government has now clarified that while Sanchar Saathi remains an important public safety tool, its installation will not be enforced at the manufacturing stage, a PIB released showed. Users will still be encouraged to download the app voluntarily.
Congress national secretary K C Venugopal remarked that the right to privacy is an integral aspect of the fundamental right to life and liberty.
“Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT direction is beyond unconstitutional. The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.
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,” Venugopal said in a post on X.
The move, he asserted, is part of the lengthy line of "relentless assaults" on the Constitutional rights of Indian citizens, which would not be permitted to continue.
“We reject this direction and demand its immediate rollback,” the Congress leader said.
Venugopal also shared the DoT direction under Telecom Cyber Security Rules, 2024 (as amended), regarding the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in mobile handsets to check their genuineness.
