The rising tension between India and China has led India to take steps to protect its sovereignty, integrity and to safeguard its borders. Recently, India banned over 100 applications hosted by China. Some of the prominent applications include We Chat, Tik Tok and Sharechat among many others. The advancement of technology and its widespread availability has led to exposure of sensitive and personal information of individuals at stake. It is claimed by the leading industry experts that China has breached and utilized data of Indians through illegal means.
The sovereignty and security of India has been put to stake because of the use of these applications, which often contain sensitive and intimate information in forms of documents, text messages, photos and videos. Therefore, the central government in the view of protection of personal private information decided to ban most of the Chinese applications under 69A of Information Technology Act.
Owing to enormity of the data and no accountability towards it, these Chinese apps transfer personal sensitive information of the citizens of India without permission, which amounts to gross privacy and human rights violation. The collection, transfer and use of data for purposes other than authorized ones have led to theft of data posing a threat to privacy and sovereignty of India and its citizens. The susceptible transmission of user’s data and unauthorized of such personal private sensitive information in the wake of registration under these applications impinges upon the right to privacy of Indian citizen and India as a whole. Therefore, an immediate action of restricting access to public information had to be taken by the Central government. The ban on these applications have a strong baseline raging concerns on the aspects relating to safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indian.
With recent news on sale of data of over 10,000 Indian who’s who, including Prime Minister, Cabinet minister, Supreme Court judges and top bureaucrats, by a Chinese data mining firm called Zhenhua Data, there is very little safeguard that protects the rest of the Indian citizens’ data from such violations. Strict actions are, thus, the need of the hour to protect one from such blatant violations and breach.
India-China relations have been dubious due to the oppressive actions of the Chinese and its infiltrations into the Indian lands. When the Chinese troops infiltrated the Galwan valley attacked and killed 20 Indian army personnel, desynchronized and disrespected Indian friendship, integrity and sovereignty, which have been volatile for decades. China’s persistent efforts of infiltration into the Indian land, massive theft of data and concern on its economic, political and cultural stands including violation of international peace treaty raised the brows of Indian government leading to a ban of Chinese apps, which have been controlling and sharing data. The unfaithful actions of Chinese worsened the ties between the countries leading to heating international debates.Through these bans, India has signaled that it is not going to be a victim of anyone’s pendulate strategies and bring negotiations to the table with reluctant China.
Moreover, the social media content creators and the Indian economy have a humongous growth perspective after the ban on these Chinese apps.The “Made in India” or the Atmanirbhar Bharat Yojna of the Government is aiming at creating these technological applications in India in the view of safeguarding data privacy and sovereignty of India.
Applications such as Bolo Indya, Jio Meet, Jia mart and others can be a great Indian substitute to Tik Tok and other applications. In this way India can also strengthen the data security architecture as in today’s time date streams and digital technology are a new currency of global power and economy. This is huge opportunity for the growth of Indian IT sector and professional. This move by the government has raised a thousand hopes in the hearts of the citizens that the government will always safeguard the privacy and security of the nation without compromising its stand on the national boundaries. It has also ensured that those who will disrespect the sovereignty and integrity of India will be given a befitting reply to the extent of gathering international support as required. Therefore, the Indian government aims at enhancing awareness on the vitality of self-reliance. Its recent decisions serve a huge opportunity for the Indian creators and technological minds to prosper and create employment opportunity. This is a perfect time to boost the entrepreneurial spirit and skills leading to overall advancement of India.
Diwali is synonymous with greetings, good fortune and good beginnings. This year, people in India will make a new beginning of spreading Diwali greeting using indigenous Indian Apps. The families of soldiers guarding our frontiers at sensitive places may use Indian APPS to connect with their brave ones, without thinking of compromising security. Time has come when Indian consumers can use their broad base to provide an alternative of social connect using Indian technological interface. The Indian connectivity and sharing tools, guarantying data security and privacy of users, may further become a reliable alternative to consumers around the world.