INDIA’S CYBERCRIME CRISIS CANNOT BE SOLVED BY SURVEILLANCE THEATRICS
INDIA’S CYBERCRIME CRISIS CANNOT BE SOLVED BY SURVEILLANCE THEATRICS
Introduction
India’s rapid digital leap has created unprecedented opportunities — and equally unprecedented vulnerabilities. As the State increasingly resorts to surveillance tools such as Sanchar Saathi, its approach mirrors a parental instinct to “protect” through constant oversight. However, cyber-insecurity arising from structural, economic, and policy gaps cannot be solved by performative or intrusive surveillance. What India needs is institutional capability, legal safeguards, and a citizen-centric digital architecture.
How Did We Reach This Crisis?
Policy Overreach and Unprepared Digitisation
Forced Digitisation:
Mandatory adoption of the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan–Aadhaar–Mobile) exposed citizens to systems they were not trained to navigate.
Identity Trading Market:
Absence of robust data protection for years enabled a thriving market for stolen personal data.
State exemptions from privacy protections weakened the credibility of digital governance.
Weak Data Security in Government Systems:
Repeated leaks from public databases eroded trust and created raw material for cybercrime networks.
Cybercrime as an “Industry”
Recycling of Stolen Identities:
Reused to open SIM cards, bank accounts, wallets, loan profiles.
Creation of Fraud Products:
Digital arrests
Fake investment apps
Courier/customs scams
KYC frauds
Narcotics-style Distribution Networks:
Funds routed through wallets, gaming platforms, crypto exchanges, and shell companies.
Cryptocurrencies remain inadequately regulated despite clear risks.
Socio-Economic Drivers of Cybercrime
A Young Population Under Pressure
India’s transition from agrarian economy to a services economy skipped labour-intensive industrialisation.
Job creation has lagged behind population growth.
Many small towns became bases for cyber “foot soldiers”, driven not by criminal instinct but economic compulsion.
Technological “Magical Thinking”
Policymakers assumed that:
Digital inclusion = Social mobility
Data-rich = Income-rich
Reality:
Frictionless data led to frictionless exploitation.
The rise of the “Fraud Stack”, a dark parallel to the India Stack, enabling MLaaS (Money Laundering as a Service).
Social Denial of Structural Problems
Technology became a psychological escape—an illusion of progress.
Deeper issues like unemployment, inequality, and regulatory weakness remained unaddressed.
Surveillance Theatrics: The Case of Sanchar Saathi
Lack of Transparency and Accountability
Unclear whether Sanchar Saathi is fully government-owned, operated, and accountable.
Past controversies like DigiYatra heighten public concerns about data stewardship.
Intrusive Governance
Mandates for smartphone manufacturers imply:
State access to personal devices
Erosion of individual autonomy
Potential global distrust in India-made devices
“Adopt or exit the market” becomes a pressure tactic, not policy.
Weak Institutional Policymaking
Lack of:
Parliamentary debates
Public consultations
Multi-stakeholder engagement
Surveillance becomes a face-saving measure, not a solution.
Why Surveillance Cannot Solve Cybercrime
Surveillance ≠ Security
Cybercrime is rooted in:
Poverty
Data insecurity
Unemployment
Regulatory gaps
Monitoring devices cannot fix structural issues.
Strong States Rely on:
Capability, not coercion
Consent, not control
Trust, not transactions
Like parents who eventually learn that protection comes from building competence, not confinement, governments too must choose capacity-building over intrusive supervision.
Conclusion
India’s cybercrime crisis reflects deeper structural, economic, and governance failures. Surveillance theatrics such as Sanchar Saathi create a false sense of control while eroding citizen trust. A resilient digital India requires legal safeguards, institutional capability, economic opportunity, and transparent governance, not omnipresent digital “guardians”. True security arises from empowerment — not authoritarian oversight.
Mains Questions
“India’s cybercrime challenge is socio-economic as much as technological.” Discuss with reference to recent policy approaches.
Evaluate the merits and risks of surveillance-based digital governance tools such as Sanchar Saathi in ensuring cyber security.
