NEW DELHI: A day after a furore erupted over its decision to mandate pre-loading of state-run Sanchar Saathi app on all new smartphones, the govt softened its stance on the matter, saying that users are free to delete the application if they do not want to have it on their devices.Amidst concerns around state surveillance and violation of user privacy due to the mandated installation of the app, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia emphasised that the fears were unconfounded and added that the app was to protect the users from cyber frauds. “If you want to delete it, then delete it,” Scindia told reporters outside Parliament after the opposition Congress also raised the matter. “But not everyone in the country knows that this app exists to protect them from fraud and theft.” Dismissing the charges of the Opposition, Scindia asserted that there is no chance of snooping or call monitoring through the app. “It is our responsibility to make this app reach everyone. If you want to delete it, then delete it. If you don’t want to use it, then don’t register it. If you register it, then it will remain active. If you don’t register it, then it will remain inactive.”However, the Nov 21 order of the department of telecom (DoT) mandates the pre-install of the app under the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024, and its further amendments. Not doing this will lead to action under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, the Telecom Cyber Security Rules, 2024 (as amended). Also, the govt order had clearly mandated not just the pre-installation of the app but also instructed that “its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.” So whether users will be allowed to delete it — and remove it from the device — still remains a question.However, govt sources said that the phrase — “ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible … and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted” –is a direction to manufacturers, and not a restriction on users. “It simply means manufacturers must not hide, cripple or pre‑install a non-functional version of the app and later claim compliance. Nowhere it has been mentioned in the above clause that the Sanchar Saathi App cannot be uninstalled by the end user. It is up to the citizen if he wants to enable and register Sanchar Saathi Mobile App or wants to uninstall it. Users remain free to uninstall or delete the Sanchar Saathi if they do not wish to use it, as clearly clarified by the govt.”The move has already seen critics find a parallel to a similar mandate issued by the Russian govt in August requiring pre-install of state-backed messaging app, MAX. Scindia, however, denied the Opposition’s charges, and dismissed fears that it was an app for snooping. “There is no snooping on the basis of this, nor is there any call monitoring. If you want, then activate this. If you don’t want to, then don’t activate it.”The Minister claimed that Sanchar Saathi is an app and a portal on the basis of which a smartphone owner is able to protect their devices. “This is a step towards public participation. In this, people should not object, people should welcome. On the basis of this, when you buy a mobile phone, on the basis of that, whether the IMEI number is fake or genuine, you can recognise it on the basis of the Sanchar Saathi app.” The minister said that there have been more than 1.5 crore downloads of the Sanchar Saathi App, and added that to date, approximately 2.75 crore fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected, and approximately 20 lakh stolen phones have been traced.
