New Delhi: The central government has withdrawn its order making it mandatory to pre-install the 'Sanchari Saathi' cyber security app on all smartphones sold in the country, in a rare victory for the middle class against the Modi government.
The central government had earlier ordered all mobile phone manufacturers to make the 'Sanchari Saathi' app mandatory on all mobile phones sold in India and on mobile phones already in use through a software update. This had led to a heated debate at the international level.
Authoritarian regimes usually spy on their citizens. But it is very difficult to think that democratic countries would consider such a step. The Sanchari Saathi app has been around since January. But it was difficult to find out why the government suddenly decided to force citizens to use it. Even worse, it chose the path of secrecy.
There was no prior consultation for any such action. And there was a complete lack of transparency. The order went to the cell phone manufacturers, that's all. No public announcement was made. There was no order given to the people that this app should be installed on their phones.
Before this notice was issued, all the phone manufacturers were ordered to make it mandatory to install the 'Sanchari Saathi' app through a software update on the phones we bought.