New Delhi, Dec 03: The government on Wednesday said it has withdrawn the mandate requiring mobile manufacturers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones, citing a sharp rise in voluntary user registrations and growing public trust in the platform.

The Ministry of Communications said the app — designed to protect citizens from cyber fraud and telecom-related crimes — has been gaining strong acceptance, making a compulsory installation rule unnecessary.

“So far, 1.4 crore users have downloaded Sanchar Saathi, helping report nearly 2,000 fraud incidents every day,” the ministry said.

“In the last 24 hours alone, six lakh citizens registered to download the app, marking a tenfold jump in its uptake,” it added.

The government said the mandate was originally intended to ensure that less-aware citizens also had access to cybersecurity tools.

But with the recent spike in voluntary adoption, the rule has now been rolled back.

“Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, the Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers,” the Centre said.

The ministry emphasised that the app is secure, carries no surveillance feature and serves only one purpose — protecting users from fraudsters and helping them report cyber wrongdoing.

It added that people are free to delete the app whenever they want, and that it supports “jan bhagidari” by enabling citizens to participate in fighting cybercrime.

The announcement came hours after Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia strongly refuted snooping allegations in Parliament.

Addressing the Lok Sabha during Question Hour, he said the app cannot monitor users and remains inactive unless someone chooses to register.

“Snooping is neither possible nor will it happen with the Sanchar Saathi safety app,” Scindia said, adding in Hindi, “Sanchar Saathi app se na snooping sambhav hai, na snooping hoga.”

He underlined that the app is meant only to help people protect themselves from digital threats such as fake mobile connections, fraud calls and lost or stolen phones.

Jammu, Dec 03: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to brief all political parties on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to address lingering concerns and ensure full transparency in the electoral process.

He said elections must always be fair and transparent, leaving no room for any complaint or suspicion, which is the responsibility of the EC.

“If there are apprehensions with regard to SIR, the EC should call all political parties and brief them about the exercise and address all the concerns,” Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

His remarks come in the backdrop of objections raised on the SIR exercise by many non-NDA parties.

The chief minister said he had never raised a finger of suspicion on electronic voting machines because “I do not believe that these machines can be manipulated”.

However, he said it is also true that the election can be manipulated in some other way. “If you see the delimitation which was done here (following the Reorganisation Act of 2019 and completed in 2022) was also an election manipulation. You increased six seats in Jammu (region) to benefit one party.

“Maybe that is why we have some concerns about SIR. It would be better if the EC calls us and explains what SIR is. And there is no need to worry about it,” he said.

Asked about a BJP delegation from J-K meeting Union Health Minister J P Nadda over the controversy related to MBBS admissions in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence in Reasi and demanding reserving all seats for Hindu students, the chief minister said, “…If you want to distribute seats on the basis of religion, then keep that place for minorities. We will invest the grant-in-aid that you get from the government somewhere else.”

“We have no objection. You pay the price of the land that was allotted there. Stop taking the grant-in-aid that you get. Change your status. Come as a minority institution. After that, if you want to distribute seats on the basis of religion, then do it; who can stop you? But till now, you have accepted the NEET exam, and in the NEET exam, you only look at the ability and merit,” he said.

Abdullah said that if any student failed to get through in the merit list, “how can you blame someone else for that? “

New Delhi, Dec 03: Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday flagged concerns related to Sanchar Saathi mobile application in the Rajya Sabha, saying it completely negates the right of privacy of every individual.

Raising the issue, he said a clear apprehension is that features of the application would point out real-time geo-location of every user, monitoring of the search history, financial transaction and a possible monitoring of conversations through SMS and WhatsApp.

“Government of India, Ministry of Communication has purportedly issued an order whereby all cellphone manufacturers and importers of cellphones are compulsorily obliged to upload Sanchar Saathi app. It is also directed that this app has to be pushed into every cell phone and smartphone,” Surjewala said.

The ministry’s order dated November 28, mandates all mobile phone manufacturers to pre-install Sanchar Saathi app in all handsets to be sold in India as well as in existing devices through a software update.

It also mandates mobile phone companies to ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup.

Surjewala said pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app is a clear breach of privacy of every smartphone and cell phone users of India.

“Would this not completely negate the right of privacy of every individual? And a possible kill switch, sir, will turn every cellphone into a brick. If the government then wants, then every cellphone of every journalist, every opposition leader, every dissident, it will become a pure simple brick by use of a kill switch,” said the Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.

Surjewala said all passwords, information, bank account numbers, personal information of every user stored on the cell phone becomes susceptible, either with a government agency or a hacker, or both in this case.

“It also can possibly give a hacker full device control. Look at the implications it is fraught with. Also, sir, it leaves millions of devices exposed for months, for it depends on an upgrade that would be pushed by the government.

“To give you an example, the government pushes an upgrade, Samsung doesn’t do it for three months. For three months, all cellphones of that make will be susceptible to be hacked by any hacker in any manner whatsoever, completely compromising the data of every single person,” he said.

Surjewala demanded that the government clarify the legal authority for mandating a non-renewable application and push a compulsory software update and disclose “what independent security audit and safeguards and misuse prevention mechanisms are in place” for it.

New Delhi, Dec 03: Two Delhi University colleges received bomb threats via email on Wednesday morning, Delhi Police said.

The threat was sent to Ramjas College in North Campus and Desh Bandhu College in Kalkaji. The bomb squad and Delhi Police reached the sites immediately.

According to the Delhi Police, no suspicious objects have so far been recovered.

Further details are awaited.

A private school in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri received a hoax bomb threat last month.

After a thorough search, Delhi police officials found nothing suspicious, according to an official statement.