Lok Sabha Question No. 4342 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Strengthening of Cyber Security Laws
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Smt. Lovely Anand

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4342

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 26.03.2025

## STRENGTHENING OF CYBER SECURITY LAWS

## †4342.  SMT. LOVELY ANAND:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) the measures being taken by the Government to prevent cyber crimes;
- (b) the number of villages provided with internet facility under the Digital India Campaign so far State-wise; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government strengthen cyber security laws?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a)  to  (c):The  policies  of  the  Government  are  aimed at  ensuring  an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet for its users. To help achieve this aim and to strengthen the mechanism to deal with cyber-crimes, including initiatives to strengthen cyber security infrastructure and laws in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken several steps:  as following:

- i. In the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 (AoBR), Ministry of Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  has  been  allocated  the  matters relating  to  Cyber  Laws,  administration  of  the  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  (IT Act) and other IT related laws. Further, the AoBR has been amended on 27.09.2024 to streamline the cyber security posture of the country. Through this amendment, matters relating to security of telecom  networks  has  been  allocated  to  Department  of Telecommunications  (DoT),  matters  relating  to  Cyber  Security  as  assigned  in  the Information Technology Act, and support to other Ministries / Departments on Cyber Security  has  been  allocated  to  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology (MeitY), matters related to cyber-crime has been allocated to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and overall coordination  and  strategic  direction  for  Cyber  Security  has  been allocated to National Security Council Secretariat.
- ii. In  order  to  protect  users  in  India  and  the  Indian  internet  at  large  from  the  emerging harms, criminalities and such other associated risks posed by the misuse of technologies and to ensure accountability towards law of the land, MeitY constantly engages with and receives inputs from the public and stakeholders, including in respect of creation of new  laws,  strengthening  &  enforcement  of  existing  laws  and  monitoring  level  of compliance.  In this regard, the IT Act was notified in year 2000 and is being amended from time to time to safeguard users in the cyberspace.  Further, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) has been enacted which provides the framework for data protection.
- iii. The  IT  Act  defines  several  offences  and  provides  for  penalties  and  punishments  for various cyber offences and data breaches such as penalty and compensation for damage

to computer, computer system, etc., compensation for failure to protect data, punishment for tampering with computer source documents, punishment for computer related offences, punishment for identity theft, punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource, cyber terrorism, and punishment for securing unauthorised access to protected system etc.

- iv. The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  has  been  established under  IT  Act  as  the  Nodal  Agency  which  perform  functions  in  the  area  of  cyber security  such  as  collection,  analysis  and  dissemination  of  information  on  cyber incidents,  forecast  and  alerts  of  cyber  security  incidents,  emergency  measures  for handling cyber security  incidents,  coordination of cyber incidents response activities, issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and white papers relating to information security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents for the incident response.
- v. Additionally, CERT-In operates the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK), a citizen-centric initiative to extend the vision of Swachh Bharat to the Cyber Space, providing botnet cleaning  and  malware  analysis  services.  CSK  helps  detect  malicious  programs, provides  free  removal  tools,  and  educates  users  on  best  cyber  security  practices. Furthermore, CERT-In runs an automated cyber threat intelligence exchange platform that proactively collects, analyzes, and shares tailored cyber threat alerts with organizations  across  sectors,  enabling  them  to  take  preventive  measures  against emerging threats.
- vi. The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) has been established  under  the  IT  Act  as  the  national  nodal  agency  in  respect  of  Critical Information Infrastructure Protection. NCIIPC is responsible for all measures including Research and Development relating to protection of Critical Information Infrastructure.
- vii. With regard to the protection of personal data, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 has been notified prescribing reasonable security practices and procedures on the sensitive personal data or information.  Further,  the  DPDP  Act  mandates  Data Fiduciaries to implement security safeguards as well as robust technical and organisational  measures  while  processing  the  digital  personal  data.  It  holds  Data Fiduciaries accountable for any personal data breach or other violations of the law. The Data  Protection  Board  ensures  this  accountability  by adjudicating  breaches  and imposing financial penalties for non-compliance.
- viii. Further, DoT has notified Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024 and  Telecommunications  (Critical  Telecommunication  Infrastructure)  Rules,  2024 under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, to provide for measures for addressing the cyber- attacks and ensuring cyber security of Telecom infrastructure.
- ix. DoT  has  launched  Sanchar  Saathi  portal  as  a  citizen-centric  initiative  to  empower mobile  subscribers,  strengthen  their  security  and  increase  awareness  about  citizen centric initiatives of the Government. The portal facilitates reporting of suspected fraud communications, requesting the blocking and tracing of stolen or lost mobile handsets, checking  the  genuineness  of  mobile  handset,  and  reporting  international  calls  that falsely display an Indian telephone number as calling line identification.
- x. DoT has developed a system to detect fraudulent mobile connections obtained using fake or forged documents. Additionally, an online Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) has  been  launched  to  facilitate  the  sharing  of  information  related  to  the  misuse  of telecom resources and disconnected numbers with stakeholders to prevent cyber-crimes and  financial  frauds.  To  curb  international  spoofed  calls  falsely  displaying  Indian mobile numbers, DoT and TSPs have devised a system to identify and block such calls, which are often exploited by cyber-criminals for fraud and impersonation.
- xi. MHA has set up the 'Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre' (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber-crimes in the country. As part of I4C, the NCRP

(https://cybercrime.gov.in) has been launched to enable the public to report cyber-crime incidents. As 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of  the  Constitution  of  India,  States/UTs  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes including cyber-crime, through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).

- xii. The  Massive  Open  Online  Courses  (MOOC)  platform,  namely  'CyTrain'  portal  has been  developed  under  I4C,  for  capacity  building  of  police  officers/judicial  officers through  online  course  on  critical  aspects  of  cyber-crime  investigation,  forensics, prosecution etc. Furthermore, I4C has launched a Suspect Registry of cyber criminals in  collaboration  with  Banks  and  Financial  Institutions,  strengthening  efforts  to  track and prevent cyber fraud.
- xiii. The State-wise statistics on the number of villages with Mobile Internet coverage is at Annexure-I.

*******

State/UT wise Village Mobile Internet coverage Status as on 31-12-2024

| Sr No   | State / UT                         |   Mobile Internet covered out of list 6,44,131 villages |
|---------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| 1.      | Andaman &Nicobar Islands           |                                                     389 |
| 2.      | Andhra Pradesh                     |                                                   16285 |
| 3.      | Arunachal Pradesh                  |                                                    4141 |
| 4.      | Assam                              |                                                   25969 |
| 5.      | Bihar                              |                                                   44781 |
| 6.      | Chandigarh                         |                                                       0 |
| 7.      | Chhattisgarh                       |                                                   19123 |
| 8.      | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu |                                                      95 |
| 9.      | Goa                                |                                                     344 |
| 10.     | Gujarat                            |                                                   17932 |
| 11.     | Haryana                            |                                                    6640 |
| 12.     | Himachal Pradesh                   |                                                   20112 |
| 13.     | Jammu and Kashmir                  |                                                    6062 |
| 14.     | Jharkhand                          |                                                   31725 |
| 15.     | Karnataka                          |                                                   29134 |
| 16.     | Kerala                             |                                                    1438 |
| 17.     | Laddakh                            |                                                     225 |
| 18.     | Lakshadweep                        |                                                      23 |
| 19      | Madhya Pradesh                     |                                                   53899 |
| 20.     | Maharashtra                        |                                                   41570 |
| 21.     | Manipur                            |                                                    2211 |
| 22.     | Meghalaya                          |                                                    6324 |
| 23.     | Mizoram                            |                                                     740 |
| 24.     | Nagaland                           |                                                    1202 |
| 25.     | NCT of Delhi                       |                                                      55 |
| 26.     | Odisha                             |                                                   48573 |
| 27.     | Puducherry                         |                                                      96 |
| 28.     | Punjab                             |                                                   12532 |
| 29.     | Rajasthan                          |                                                   44389 |
| 30.     | Sikkim                             |                                                     441 |
| 31.     | Tamil Nadu                         |                                                   16424 |
| 32.     | Telangana                          |                                                    9964 |
| 33.     | Tripura                            |                                                     702 |
| 34.     | Uttar Pradesh                      |                                                  105461 |
| 35.     | Uttarakhand                        |                                                   15901 |
| 36.     | West Bengal                        |                                                   40951 |
| Total   | Total                              |                                                  625853 |