Government rolls back mandatory Sanchar Saathi app order after backlash

Amid massive uproar,  the government has rolled back the mandatory pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app order.

Transcript

00:00Big breaking news coming in. It seems that the government has decided to roll back its decision

00:05of mandatory inclusion and uploading of the Sanchar Satri app that it was sending out to

00:11the manufacturers. So there was a lot of uproar over this Sanchar Satri app and now the central

00:17government has decided to take back its order. Now, early order said that there should be a

00:23pre-installation of the app, which the manufacturers should do within 90 days and a compliance report

00:30was supposed to be submitted within 120 days. But now the government says this is not mandatory.

00:37The government is saying this is an app for people's betterment to help them and it is not

00:44compulsory anymore. There is a change as far as the mandate was concerned for pre-installation of

00:51for this app on mobiles. It has been removed and now people can take the app or download the app

00:58at their will. Joining us right now is India Today's Aishwarya Paliwal. Aishwarya, a U-turn from the

01:07government? Well, definitely, you know, it's a big U-turn because we did see how the opposition

01:12leaders yesterday spoke about the fact that this, they believe, is a kind of a snooping that was

01:17being done by the government. The government in India, let me tell you, gave a lot of clarification.

01:21The minister himself, Jukhara Atta Sindhya, came out and said that it's not mandatory. But, you know,

01:26we have seen how AI and the use of what, or the use of the apps is something that everyone has been

01:33speaking about, Anjali, not just in India, but across the globe. And we have seen how spyware,

01:38that is also something which a lot of experts have been speaking about. So just if there is an app

01:42that comes pre-installed, then it could actually lead to massive stealing of the data. So this is

01:48what the opposition was speaking about. The government now has done a massive U-turn and

01:51they have removed the mandatory thing that they had asked a lot of companies to do. In fact,

01:56we also understand that some of the big companies were not in line with what the government was

02:01saying. Some of the big manufacturers, they, in fact, were saying that this is something that

02:05they cannot do. So there was a tussle there also. And the opposition also was up in arms and

02:10against this very directive. The government has now taken this directive back.

02:14Right. But Aishwarya, the government has said that this app had been helpful as far as stopping

02:22frauds or digital frauds was concerned. And it has given out some numbers to try and tell people

02:28and educate them that this app, if downloaded, could be of their help only.

02:34Well, definitely. This is what the government said. And they said that you need to see this as

02:40your friend. Do not see this app as an enemy. The government said that all that they were

02:43trying to do through the app was to make sure that your phone remains safe. And we've also

02:47seen how, which is also a fact in the past few years, the siphoning off of funds, that's

02:52something which has increased many folds. The fraud that takes place, that has also increased

02:57many folds. So the government was of the opinion that through this app, they will be able to curb

03:01this menace that we have seen. You know, Anjali, you would also know someone who has seen

03:07the, through these kinds of links that come in, a lot of money from the accounts being siphoned off,

03:13being wiped off. So that's something that the government was speaking about. But yes,

03:16this is a massive u-turn because there were concerns that were being raised, not just by

03:20the opposition, but experts also, what exactly was the use of the app. And now we are seeing

03:25this massive u-turn coming around. All right. Thank you, Ashwarya, for all those details. So

03:29now the government has taken back its order as far as the mandatory preloading of the app was concerned.