When the Union government launched the Sanchar Saathi app in 2023, it was introduced as a citizencentric platform to fight cyber fraud and trace stolen devices. The initiative delivered impressive outputs in its first year—over 42 lakh mobile phones blocked, more than 26 lakh lost phones traced, and 10 million app downloads—making it an important pillar of India’s cyber safety framework. But the debate escalated sharply when the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), acting under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024, directed manufacturers and importers to pre-install the app on all smartphones without an uninstall option. This triggered a national debate about surveillance, privacy, and user autonomy. Responding to widespread criticism from the Opposition, digital rights groups, legal e

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