Parliament Question: Beneficaries under Cyber Aware Digital Naagrik Campaign

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2961

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 05.08.2026 BENEFICARIES UNDER CYBER AWARE DIGITAL NAAGRIK CAMPAIGN †2961. SHRI BHAUSAHEB RAJARAM WAKCHAURE:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to

state:

(a) whether a large segment of the population remains vulnerable to cybercrimes due to a lack of digital literacy as indicated by recent surveys;

(b) the number of beneficiaries in rural areas under the Cyber Aware Digital Naagrik campaign and the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Phase-III including the concrete results achieved thereby along with the details thereof; and

(c) whether the Government proposes to launch campaigns in regional languages in collaboration with regional Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and local Panchayats to expand the reach of staysafeonline.in? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (c): The policies of Government of India are aimed at ensuring open, safe, trusted and accountable cyberspace for users in the country. The Government is cognizant of the risks and harms arising from the misuse of digital technologies including Cyber Frauds. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, The Information Technology Act, 2000, The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and other related laws together established a framework to address cyber frauds.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”): • Section 66C prescribes an imprisonment of up-to three years and fine which may extend to rupees one lakh for identity theft; • Section 66D prescribes an imprisonment of up-to three years and fine which may extend to rupees one lakh for cheating by personation by using computer resource;

• Section 66 prescribes a punishment of upto three years or with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees or with both for computer related offences; • Section 43 prescribes penalty and compensation for damage to computer, computer system etc.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021: • The IT Rules cast specific obligations on intermediaries to make reasonable efforts to ensure that users of their computer resources do not host, display, upload, modify, publish,transmit, store, update or share any information that deceives or misleads, impersonates another person or that violates any law for the time being in force.

• Intermediaries are required to remove any unlawful content within three hours of the receipt of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction or on receipt of a reasoned intimation by the Appropriate Government or its authorized agency.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 • The BNS, 2023 addresses the offences involving Organized Crime (Section 111), Cheating by Personation (Section 319), Forgery (Section 336 / 337), etc., and other cyber- enabled frauds.

To monitor and to strengthen the mechanism to deal with cybercrimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include the

following: • The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (“I4C”) as an attached office to deal with all types of cybercrimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

• The ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (“NCRP”) has been launched, as a part of the I4C, to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cybercrimes, with special focus on cybercrimes against women and children. The portal is accessible at

https://cybercrime.gov.in. Cybercrime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies concerned as per the provisions of the law.

• The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’ (CFCFRMS), under I4C, has been launched in year 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. A toll-free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.

• A State of the Art, Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) has been established at I4C where representatives of major banks, Financial Intermediaries, Payment Aggregators, Telecom Service Providers, IT Intermediaries and representatives of States/UTs Law Enforcement Agency are working together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle cybercrime.

The Central Government has taken various initiatives to create public awareness and expeditious grievance redressal in order to protect citizens from cyber financial fraud which, inter-alia,

include: - • MeitY is implementing a project on ‘Information Security Education and Awareness

(ISEA)’ for generating human resources in Information Security and creating general awareness on various aspects of cyber hygiene & cyber security among the masses. Key

highlights of the project include: o So far, 6,650 awareness workshops have been conducted across the country covering

11.37 lakh+ participants, including school/colleges students, teachers, law enforcement agencies, Government personnel, and general public. It includes 4,371 awareness workshops conducted across the country on Safer Internet Day observed on 10.02.2026 and 11.02.2025 respectively engaging 6.78 lakh citizens directly and around 9.78 crore citizens indirectly.

o Around 20 crore estimated beneficiaries have been covered through indirect mode through 5 Cyber Safety and Cyber Security awareness weeks organized in selectstates/cities jointly with State Police / Municipal Departments; 37 mass awareness programs broadcasted on Doordarshan/All India Radio, etc.

o Awareness material in the form of handbooks, short videos, posters, brochures, cartoon stories for children, advisories, e-learning courses, etc. on various aspects of Cyber Hygiene & Cyber Security are disseminated through portals such as www.staysafeonline.in and www.csk.gov.in.

o Under the project, 487 programs in regional languages broadcasted by 61 community radio stations (NGOs) across 12,079 villages in 16 states covering approximately 40 lakh beneficiaries to promote cybersecurity awareness at the grassroots level.

• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) regularly shares safety and security tips and awareness posters, info-graphics and videos on its official websites and social media handles. It is aimed at sensitizing internet users on Cyber Security attacks and frauds including online safety measures for children.

• Caller Tune Campaign: I4C in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications

(DoT) has launched a caller tune campaign with effect from 19.12.2024 for raising awareness about Cybercrime and promoting the Cybercrime Helpline Number 1930 & NCRP portal. The caller tunes were also being broadcast in English, Hindi and 10 regional languages by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). Six versions of caller tunes were played which cover various modus-operandi, namely, Digital Arrest, Investment Scam, Malware, Fake Loan App, Fake Social Media Advertisements.

• The Central Government has launched a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams which, inter-alia, include; newspaper advertisement, announcement in Delhi Metros, use of social media influencers to create special posts, campaign through Prasar Bharti and electronic media, special programme on Aakashvani.

• In partnership with DD News, I4C conducted a cybercrime awareness campaign running through Weekly Show Cyber-Alert starting from 19th July, 2025 for 52 Weeks. • To further spread awareness on cyber-crime, the Central Government has taken steps which, inter-alia, include; dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account i.e. X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook (CyberDostI4C), Instagram

(CyberDostI4C), SMS campaign, TV campaign, Radio campaign, School Campaign, advertisement in cinema halls, celebrity endorsement, IPL campaign, campaign during Kumbh Mela 2025 & Suraj Kund Mela 2025, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organizing Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, digital displays on railway stations and airports across, etc.

‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes including cybercrime through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).

The Central Government supplements the initiatives of the States/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for capacity building of their LEAs. ******