NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee, on ‘Cyber Security and Cyber Crime’ in New Delhi.
Addressing the meeting, Shah said that efforts are underway to use Artificial Intelligence for identifying mule accounts, in coordination with the RBI and all banks, to establish a system for their detection. “We will ensure the closure of mule accounts before they are even operational.” He stated that the government has also ensured that people are made aware of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra ‘STOP-THINK-TAKE ACTION’ in order to make them more vigilant against cybercrimes.
The minister stated that a total of 1.43 lakh FIRs have been registered on the I4C portal, and over 19 crore people have used this portal. For national security reasons, 805 apps and 3,266 website links have been blocked based on I4C’s recommendations. Additionally, 399 banks and financial intermediaries have come on board. Over 6 lakh suspicious data points have been shared, more than 19 lakh mule accounts have been caught, and suspicious transactions worth ₹2,038 crore have been prevented.
Amit Shah said cybercrime forensic training labs have been established in 33 states and UTs. On the ‘CyTrain’ platform, a “Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)” platform, 101,561 police officers have registered, and over 78,000 certificates have been issued.
In recent years, there has been an expansion of digital infrastructure in India, which has naturally led to an increase in the number of cyber attacks. “When we look at cyberspace from a different perspective, it forms a complex network of ‘software,’ ‘services,’ and ‘users.’ Until we consider controlling cyber fraud through ‘software,’ ‘services,’ and ‘users,’ it will be impossible to resolve the issues of cyberspace,” Shah remarked and stated that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken several significant steps towards making India a cyber-safe nation.Noting that cybercrime has erased all geographical boundaries, Shah stated that it is a ‘borderless’ and ‘formless’ crime, as it has no limits or fixed form. “While India has witnessed a ‘digital revolution’ in the last decade, without understanding its size and scale, we cannot face the challenges in the cyber domain,” he said.
The Home Minister said that today, 95 per cent villages in the country are digitally connected, and one lakh gram panchayats are equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots. In the past 10 years, the number of internet users has increased by 4.5 times. In 2024, a total of 246 trillion transactions worth ₹17.221 lakh crore were made through UPI and 48 per cent of the global digital transactions took place in India. In terms of the startup ecosystem, India has become the third-largest country in the world. In 2023, the contribution of the digital economy to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was around ₹32 lakh crore, which is 12 per cent, and nearly 15 million jobs were created.
Highlighting that today India has become the third-largest country in terms of digital landscape in the world, the minister stated that the digital economy contributes 20 per cent to the total economy of India. He reiterated that the Ministry of Home Affairs’ goal is to ensure zero cybercrime cases and their FIRs.
“To tackle cybercrime, we have adopted four types of strategies, which include Convergence, Coordination, Communication, and Capacity. All of these are being implemented with clear objectives and a strategic approach,” Shah said and added that inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination within the Ministry of Home Affairs has been strengthened, ensuring seamless communication and smooth flow of information.
Amit Shah said that a healthy tradition of exchange of information between the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, CERT-IN, I4C, and departments like Telecom and Banking has led to successfully tackling many cybercrime cases.
The minister emphasized the importance of raising awareness among the public to prevent cybercrime and requested all the members of the committee to promote the I4C helpline number 1930. He stated that in light of cyber financial fraud, the ‘1930’ helpline provides a one-point solution offering various services, such as blocking cards.
The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, members of the committee, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, and senior officials. The committee discussed various issues related to ‘Cyber Security and Cyber Crime’ during the meeting.
The committee members gave their suggestions on issues related to cyber security and cyber crime and appreciated the important steps taken by the government for enhancing cyber security.
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