Sanchar Saathi optional, can be deleted: Scindia clears the air

Amid accusations by the Opposition over the Telecom Ministry seeking to snoop on citizens by mandating the pre-loading of an app on phones made or imported into India, the government today clarified that the use of the Sanchar Saathi app was optional and voluntary.

As Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the government move an attempt to muzzle the voice of people, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the Opposition was trying to invent issues for political relevance.

The minister said the app was meant to boost digital security to prevent fraud and those who did not want to use it could delete it.

The app will activate when the user registers on the app.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Scindia said, “The Opposition is looking for issues ‘under the chair, behind the chair, for the chair’. However, removing misconceptions is our duty. In the two years of its launch, the Sanchar Saathi portal and app have helped save crores in frauds. In 2024 alone, frauds worth Rs 22,800 crore happened and were detected,” Scindia said.

He said the Opposition “keeps asking how the government proposes to avert frauds”.

“However, when we offer an anti-fraud app to citizens, the Opposition cries snooping. So die if you do something and die if you don’t,” said Scindia, slamming the Congress.

The minister’s comments came after Kharge called the Department of Telecom’s pre-loading of the app order “dictatorial”.

“The Modi government’s unilateral directions to preload this app without taking into confidence various stakeholders and citizens is akin to dictatorship. Why does the government want to know what citizens talk with their family and friends,” the Congress chief asked.

Through a notification, the DoT has asked phone makers and importers to ensure that the Sanchar Saathi app is pre-installed on devices within 90 days of instructions taking force.

The government, however, said the Opposition was making a mountain out of a molehill.

In a dig at the Congress’ first family — the Gandhis — BJP’s Sambit Patra said the only ones who did not want the app installed on their phones were the ones “out on bail in a massive fraud case”.

Patra’s reference was to the ongoing National Herald court case.

Scindia, meanwhile, reiterated that the objective of the Sanchar Saathi app was to enable each individual to protect their privacy and stay safe from online fraud.

“This is a completely voluntary and democratic system; users may choose to activate the app and avail of its benefits, or if they do not wish to, they can easily delete it from their phone at any time,” he said.

The minister said people’s trust in Sanchar Saathi was rising.

The DoT data reveals over 20 crore people have used the portal so far and over 1.5 crore users are connected to the app.

“When citizens using the app selected ‘Not My Number’, over 1.43 crore mobile connections have been disconnected; 26 lakh mobile phones have been traced, of which 7.23 lakh phones have been successfully returned to citizens; 40.96 lakh fraudulent mobile connections reported by citizens have been disconnected and 6.2 lakh fraud-linked IMEIs (International Mobile Equipment Identity, a unique 15-digit code assigned to each mobile device to identify it on a cellular network) have been blocked.

The initiative, the government said, was a significant step towards strengthening protection and transparency, and was based on the customer-first approach.