Indian government’s plans to prioritize addressing unwanted calls and messages

Source: The post Indian government’s plans to prioritize addressing unwanted calls and messages has been created, based on the article “Ineffective Interventions–Spam calls must be stopped” published in “Business standard” on 13th May 2024.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3– Economy-Infrastructure (telecommunication)

Context: The article discusses the Indian government’s plans to prioritize addressing unwanted calls and messages. It highlights ongoing issues with spam despite existing regulations and mentions new measures to improve control, such as technology upgrades and stricter enforcement policies, as part of a 100-day agenda by the new government. Indian government on unwanted calls and messages

What is the current situation with spam calls and messages in India?

Persistent Issue: Despite various regulations, India continues to struggle with a high volume of spam calls and messages.

Regulatory Efforts: Initiatives like the “Do Not Disturb Registry” and the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations have been implemented, but spammers and some telecom providers have been quick to find loopholes.

Truecaller Statistics: Truecaller reports India as its largest market, with 272.6 million users facing spam issues.

Currently, telecom service providers can be fined up to ₹34.99 crore if they fail to control spam on their networks.

What are the new plans?

100-Day Agenda: The Department of Telecommunications aims to prioritize tackling spam as part of the new government’s initial plans.

Inter-Ministerial Panel: A new panel is proposed to coordinate actions against spam across different sectors.

Chakshu Portal Updates: Enhancements to this portal are planned to improve monitoring and enforcement against unsolicited communications.

AI and Digital Consent: The implementation of AI technology for digital consent acquisition is on the agenda to reduce spam effectively.

Separate Numbering Series: Considering distinct series for transactional and marketing calls to clearly differentiate them.

Question for practice:

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Indian government’s current regulatory efforts and proposed new plans in addressing the issue of spam calls and messages in the country.