New Delhi: Amid massive backlash from the opposition, the government has announced that it will no longer require mobile manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on all new smartphones. "Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, the Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers," the Ministry of Communication said in a press release.
"The Government with an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens had mandated pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world," the statement read.
"It helps in 'Jan bhagidarı' by all citizens in reporting on such bad actors and actions while protecting users themselves. There is no other function other than protecting the users in the app and they can remove the app whenever they want. This has been clarified by Government." the release read.
Giving data on the downloads, the government said, "So far 1.4 crore users have downloaded this app and are contributing to information on 2000 fraud incidents per day. The number of users has been increasing rapidly and the mandate to install the app was meant to accelerate this process and make the app available to less aware citizens easily."
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The government also said that just in the last one day, 6 lakh people have registered for downloading the app.
"Given Sanchar Saathi's increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers," the government said, concluding the release.
The decision comes hours after Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia addressed the Lok Sabha, clarifying that “Snooping is neither possible, nor will it ever be.” The clarification came after a directive asking smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the app on new phones to be sold in the country sparked privacy concerns and fears of potential surveillance.
