The government’s sudden retreat from its demand that every new smartphone must come factory-fitted with the Sanchar Saathi app is being sold as a magnanimous gesture in the face of ‘wide user acceptance’.
In truth, it is an escape from a clumsy plan that provoked the sort of alarm usually caused by unknown numbers promising bonus credit cards.
For all the assurances by Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Parliament that snooping is ‘neither possible nor will it happen’, users are not foolish to worry about what may sit inside an app they never sought, and never consented to.
A digital Trojan horse
We live in a digital bazaar where cyber scams constantly mutate. In such a space, any software with deep permissions is one careless update away from becoming a silent intruder.
The government says Sanchar Saathi is a friendly tool to track and block stolen phones. But even a well-meaning safety device can become a vulnerability. That is simple cybersecurity logic, not paranoia.
A pre-installed app with elevated access is a hacker’s gift. A Trojan horse supplied not by back-alley scammers, but by official policy.
Security by ambush
India’s cybercrime enterprise runs from hobby-level impersonations to organised fraud mills. If these actors can exploit banking apps, what prevents them from exploiting a state-sanctioned shortcut installed on millions of devices?
The bigger concern is not just capacity, but compulsion. Security cannot be forced by stealth. And trust cannot be demanded with a paternal ‘nothing will happen’.
Citizens have survived enough whisper networks of surveillance, Pegasus cameos and unofficial tapping to know that denials usually begin the story, never end it.
Mandatory no more
The withdrawal of the mandatory rule is welcome. But it must not be a tactical pause before a second attempt. If people trust the app, they will install it. Consent must be earned, not embedded by decree.
Cybersecurity requires transparency, not coercion. Tools, however noble, must face audits, disclosures, and safeguards. Otherwis,e even a protective app carries the risk of a threat.
Sanchar Saathi may help recover stolen phones. But a government pushing an app into every citizen’s device? Not a smart idea, dear Scindia.
