. Cyber Crackdown and the Retreat: On the Sanchar Saathi Revocation
Syllabus
- GS-3: Internal Security: Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges.
- GS-2: Governance: Government policies and interventions for development.
Context
The editorial on December 5, 2025, analyzed the government’s decision to revoke the directive mandating the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app on new smartphones, following intense public backlash and criticism from digital rights groups. This swift withdrawal, despite a robust defence of the app’s crime-fighting utility in Parliament by the Minister of Telecommunications, was hailed as a victory for digital constitutionalism but also pointed to the fundamental flaws in the initial policy approach.
Main Body in Multi-Dimensional Analysis
The Principle of Voluntary Adoption
- Backlash as Democratic Feedback: The strong public reaction against the unpublicised and mandatory nature of the order underscored the importance of transparency and consultation in digital policy. The government’s retreat, acknowledging the negative feedback, demonstrated that public opinion and democratic scrutiny can effectively act as a check on regulatory overreach.
- Distinction Between Use and Mandate: The Minister correctly pointed to the app’s success in disconnecting 1.5 crore fake mobile connections and tracing 26 lakh lost phones. The editorial acknowledged the app’s utility as a Digital Public Good (DPG). However, the core issue was the attempt to force its installation. An effective DPG must succeed through voluntary adoption driven by its utility, not through a mandate that sacrifices user choice and autonomy.
- Unresolved Concerns: While the mandatory installation was withdrawn, other intrusive directives issued under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024 remain in place. These include orders to messaging apps to limit access if the SIM card and device do not match and to log out users of web-based applications (like WhatsApp Web) every six hours. The editorial argued these measures still impose undue restrictions on legitimate multi-device usage and digital habits, creating a usability burden disproportionate to the security threat.
Regulating the Digital Ecosystem
- Targeting the ‘Layering’ of Fraud: The editorial also touched upon the Supreme Court’s separate directive to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a pan-India investigation into cyber-crimes, specifically the “digital arrest” scam, which has reportedly caused losses exceeding ₹3,000 crore. The Court’s focus on not just the scammers but also the banking officials who facilitate ‘mule’ accounts is a necessary step to dismantle the operational architecture of financial fraud.
- Need for Institutional Integration: The DoT’s AI and Digital Intelligence Unit, which created these rules, must work in closer coordination with agencies like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to target the financial architecture of fraud. The Court’s instruction to the RBI to use AI/ML to trace the ‘layering’ of proceeds through multiple accounts is the correct, deep-tech solution, rather than the user-facing restrictions imposed by the DoT.
Way Forward
- Focus on Structural Solutions: Policy must pivot from intrusive, user-centric mandates to structural regulatory measures that dismantle the fraud ecosystem—by targeting the banks, telecom service providers, and device supply chains.
- Digital Public Consultation: The government must institutionalize a transparent mechanism for Digital Public Consultation for all technology-related rules that affect user rights, ensuring no further regulatory surprises that compromise digital freedoms.
- Harmonise Legal and Technical Response: The CBI, RBI, and DoT must harmonise their legal and technical responses, leveraging the power of AI/ML for detection and deterrence, as directed by the Supreme Court, to combat complex, cross-jurisdictional cyber-crimes.
2. Freeze and Thaw: Navigating the Complexities of India-Russia Diplomacy
Syllabus
- GS-2: International Relations: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context
The editorial discussed the strategic significance of the high-profile visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to India, which coincided with the Winter Session of the Parliament. Termed a moment of ‘freeze and thaw’ in global geopolitics, the visit underscored the durability of the India-Russia Strategic Partnership despite massive global pressure following the Ukraine conflict. The analysis framed the visit as an exercise in strategic autonomy for India, which seeks to balance its long-standing relationship with Russia (especially for defence and energy) with its growing strategic convergence with the West.
Main Body in Multi-Dimensional Analysis
Geopolitical Balancing Act (Strategic Autonomy)
- The Endurance of Partnership: The visit served as a visible reassurance of the enduring ties between New Delhi and Moscow. For India, Russia remains the most significant and time-tested supplier of advanced defence equipment (accounting for over $65\%$ of India’s military imports) and a crucial source of discounted energy. This reliance makes a complete break with Russia economically and strategically unviable.
- The West’s Gaze: The visit was keenly watched by Western capitals, who have increasingly relied on India as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific strategy against Chinese assertiveness. The editorial noted that India’s diplomacy is a high-stakes balancing act—asserting strategic autonomy by engaging with both Russia and the West simultaneously. The government’s defence of its policy is that it makes its foreign policy choices based on its national interest, independent of external dictates.
- Defence and Technology: Key outcomes of the visit would have focused on expediting delivery of pending S-400 missile systems, co-development of new military platforms, and ensuring smooth mechanisms for payments in national currencies (Rupee-Ruble trade) to bypass Western sanctions.
Economic and Soft Power Diplomacy
- Energy Security: India’s substantial import of discounted Russian oil is a major factor stabilising its domestic energy costs and managing the current account deficit (CAD). The negotiations would have focused on securing long-term, stable supply contracts.
- Cultural and Political Signalling: The timing, amidst global shunning of the Russian leader, was a political signal of India’s non-alignment and its confidence in hosting a complex, high-stakes dialogue. The editorial also noted the symbolic importance of the discussions coinciding with the Parliament’s Winter Session, highlighting the government’s confidence in its diplomatic trajectory.
Way Forward
- Diversification of Defence: While maintaining the Russia partnership, India must accelerate its strategy of diversifying its defence imports from the US, France, and Israel to reduce its dependency on a single source.
- Indigenization: Aggressively pursuing defence indigenization through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, with a focus on co-development and co-production with Russia, will be key to long-term strategic resilience.
- Multilateral Engagement: India should leverage its multilateral platforms (like the SCO, BRICS, and Quad) to manage the geopolitical complexity and continue its push for a rules-based global order that allows for strategic autonomy.
