December 3, 2025 • 27 mins
First, The Indian Express' Soumyarendra Barik discusses Sanchar Saathi, the government developed cybersecurity app that has raised serious concerns about privacy and consent.
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Brendan Dabhi who breaks down the case of two young Pakistani couples who crossed the Rann of Kutch, allegedly for love. (16:40)
In the end, we take a look at Jharkhand workers who are set to return home after being stranded in Cameroon for months. (24:50)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Brendan Dabhi who breaks down the case of two young Pakistani couples who crossed the Rann of Kutch, allegedly for love. (16:40)
In the end, we take a look at Jharkhand workers who are set to return home after being stranded in Cameroon for months. (24:50)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode, we look at the case of two
young Pakistani couples who crossed the run of Cutch allegedly
for love. We also talk about five Jarkhan workers who
are set to return home after being stranded in Cameroon
for months. But we begin today with Sancharsati, the government
developed cybersecurity app that has raised serious concerns about privacy
(00:23):
and consent.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I'm Achasharma and you're listening to three Things the Indian
Express New show. It was last week that the Center
had asked smartphone companies in India to pre install the
state developed app Sancharsati, which allows users to report fraudulent
calls and messages and to file complaints about stolen mobile phones.
(00:52):
The Department of Telecommunications had directed manufacturers to ensure that
all new devices come with Sancharsati pre installed, and that
a software update be issued for phones already in use
so the app could be added to them. But after
widespread criticism and concerns over privacy, the government revoked the
order yesterday and also said that the app cannot be
(01:14):
used for snooping years. Telecom Minister Jodha speaking about it
in Parliament.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Hamarak Feedback whose feedback. Who's order may be hamlokoki change
ye he is a harper, not snooping Samba he not
(01:44):
snooping Huga.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Now to understand this application in detail and why it
set off alarm bells, mylique Sashang Pharkov speaks to the
inexpresses samri in ribarek.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Some render for those who might not have even seen
the app up, tell us what exactly does it do?
What is it meant for?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So, you know, as Indians have become more and more online,
as Indians have become more and more Internet pro citizens
along with it, the problem that has come is this
problem which we all face, right, Like you get a
lot of scam calls, you get a lot of spam calls.
There's a lot of fraud that of course happens online.
Many people have fallen pre to it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And they're getting more and more sophisticated, oh.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
One hundred percent absolutely. You know, you see newer and
newer modes. You know, something like a digital arrest for instance.
That's a very new iteration of an online scam for instance. Right, So,
of course the scammers are becoming much more sophisticated. The
means are becoming a lot more cutting edge and of
course you know, on the other side you also have
this big market of like stolen phones, right, a black
market of stolen phones. Phone theft is again very common
(02:51):
in India. So seeing this problem, the government made this
portal which started off life as a web portal called
the Sanchar Sati. Right now, what the poor essentially allows
you to do is that you go on it, you
register with your current number that you're using right now,
and once you're in it, what you can see is,
you know, you can put in the number. You can
see that how many different connections are there under your name,
(03:15):
So that's a good thing people can get to know
about it. You can put in a phone's Imei number.
An Imei number is basically your phones identifier, so you
can put in that fifteen digit Imei code to check
the authenticity the genuineness of a device. You know, when
you receive a spam or a scam call, or a
message or even a message on WhatsApp of that nature,
(03:35):
you know, you can go and report that particular message
on this portal. Right, So that's how this portal started
off in life as.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so after I put that report in the portal,
what will it do with that information.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So basically what that portal will do is that, so say,
if you lose your phone, what you the get set
can do is that you know, you can go, you
can put in the fifteen digit IMEI, your mobile number,
et cetera there and you can essentially immediately block that device.
Right So, once you block that device, one would hope
that even if it finds its way into the black market,
it'd simply be useless, right, like someone else won't be
able to use it.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Essentially, so that is the number one thing that you
can do with it.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
You can also immediately generate like you know, lost complaints
on it, et cetera, which gets shared with the law
enforcement agencies and all, so you don't have to rush
to a police station to file a complaint that I've
lost my phone and things like that. You can do
that from within the portal itself. So that is its
key sort of promise, right and again you can potentially
block some of these scam and spam communication that very
frequently routinely comes to you. Right now, this started off
(04:30):
life as a portal, but of course you know, we
have this fascination of making an app for everything. So
in January this year, the Department of Telecommunications, basically, I think,
working with their other subsidiary, which is called the Sea Dot,
they developed this app called the Sancharsati application, basically with
the same functionalities, but just in an application format which
you can now download from a place store on your
Apple device or a placetore on your Google device.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Right, So that's how this app exists today.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
To all good intentions, it clearly seems like something that
the government has developed to help people, and yet it
has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. And this
is because of this particular directive which was issued by
the government last week. Talk about what exactly this directive said.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So on November twenty eighth, the government sent out an order.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
This order was basically passed.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
The legal backing for this order was this piece of
legislation called the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules twenty twenty five.
These rules were amended in October, notified in October essentially right,
so under this particular islegilation. On November twenty eight the
government sent out a directive to a bunch of smartphone
companies Apple, Samsung, Shami, Google and other players, basically telling
(05:44):
them that you know this phone theft is a big menace.
It endangers India's telecom cybersecurity and we have to do
something about it now. The government's directive in that particular
order was that within ninety days, within three months, what
these companies have to do is that for every new
phone that they sell in the market, phones which haven't
been sold yet, they should all come with this Sanchar
(06:07):
Sati app pre installed on them. Right for every phone
that has already been sold, so phones that you and
I are using at this point in time, those phones
should immediately within ninety days receive a software update and
once that software update is complete, you should be able
to see the Sanchar Satia already installed on your phone.
In the same order, the government also said that these
manufacturers cannot disable or restrict these are important terms. Cannot
(06:32):
disable or restrict the functionalities of this app and they
have to now send a compliance report to the government
within one twenty days. So basically, in effect, what this
government does is that it has now told smartphone companies
which manufacture in India or which import their phones, that
this app is now a mandated app on every single smartphone.
There is a retrospective application of this particular order because
(06:54):
it also applies to phones which have already been sold
in the market, that they should now come mandatorily with
this son Jarsati app pre installed.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Right in This cost quite a bit of uproarch, especially
from privacy rights activists. Tell us about some of the
issues that were immediately flagged.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
So you know, this defeats many things.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Number one, it defeats the most basic tenet of privacy protection,
that is consent. I as a smartphone user, should be
able to consent, should be able to have the choice
of whether I want to use Sancharsati app or not.
If an app is already present on your phone, you
can surely maybe at a later stage choose not to
have it anymore on your phone. But why is the
(07:34):
app there on your phone to begin with?
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
And also, you know, let's be very honest, let's look
at some of the history that's happened in India. You
have these allegations about the government using the Israeli software
Pegasus to track people in the civil society, to track journalists,
to track even opposition politicians and even politicians.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
From their own party.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Right, You've had all these allegations, So I think there
is that inherent fear within people that if it is
a government mandated app that's already present on your phones.
I think there is always an inherent fear that what
if it's not as innocent as it seems. What if
this app is not just an app where you can
report your lost phone, where you can just report a
fraudulent communication, et cetera. What if in the future it
(08:14):
doesn't have to happen tomorrow, It doesn't have to happen
two three years down the round. It can happen at
any point in time. You know, in cybersecurity privacy parlance,
we have this phrase called function creep. A function creep
is basically, you know, when an application that you have
it starts doing something which is far beyond its original
intended objective or purpose. Right, And I think people are
always very about these things, and as one should rightly
(08:36):
be as well.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right, and it particularly raised concerns because it made people
wonder that, you know, if the government can install this
app in my phone, what else can it install? And
it is after all this backlash that the government then
issued at clarification before completely going back on its order,
Can you tell us what this clarification was okay.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
You know how previously I spoke about two very important
phrases in that particular November twenty eighth order about how
manufacturers were not allowed to quote unquote disable or restrict
the functions of this particular app, you know, for anyone
with either a legal understanding or to be honest, without
any legal understanding. It was very clear that that particular
statement meant that you cannot delete the app, right, because
(09:18):
how can you delete an app without disabling its functions?
Without restricting its functions? You know, the two can't happen
mutually exclusively. If one happens, the other will automatically happen, right,
So that was like a double vamy on everything that
privacy practitioners and every single privacy principle that's been internationally
recognized as like you know, a standard. You know, do
(09:39):
you not have a choice at the moment that app
lands up on your phone? But at a later stage
also you don't even have the choice or the option
to remove it from your phone? Right So I think
seeing that that particular point was creating probably the biggest
amount of friction the Minister telecom ministers with Rather than
there he clarified that you know, people would be able
to delete the application.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
They were free to not register for it.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
The app would merely appear on their phones after that,
they still have the choice about whether they want to
register for it, whether they want to continue using it,
or never even open it and just simply deleted immediately.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Right and before this order was rolled back, this directive
of course, also got pushed back from smartphone companies. Tell
us how they reacted to it.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
So, you know, I spoke to a lot of people
in the industry yesterday on December second, and it was
very very clear that, you know, Apple and Google was
simply not going to comply with this because you don't know,
you know, an app can be built as something today,
but tomorrow it can turn out to be something completely different.
So there is always that concern about function creep. And
also you know, some of their own internal policies, like
let's take the example of Apple for instance, right, Apple
(10:41):
does not even pre install all.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Its own apps on their iPhones.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Right, and Apple has this very strict policy of not
pre installing any third party application on their phone. That's
why when you buy a new iPhone, for instance, you
will almost never find any bloatware on the phone.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Bloatwear is basically applications that are just there which you
know people would never use it, but they are there
for either marketing or for other purposes, right because someone
has paid money to for their.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
App to be on everyone's phone, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
And also you know they're also afraid that you know,
say okay, now, the software update would have to go
out for every iPhone or for every Android device. A
software update is not like an iOS for India and
Android for India. These are global software, right, These are
global platforms. The iOS version that I'm using in India
at this point in time is the same iOS version
that that another iPhone user is using in the United States.
(11:27):
Is the same iOS version that someone is using in Europe, right,
is the same iOS version that someone's probably using in
other countries as well.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Right, So in order to comply with this directive, they
would have had to make a different standard for India.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
That is the biggest concern. Right, There will be a
customized iOS now for India which will have this Sancha
Sati app pre installed.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
So this is going a level above.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
It is asking for a policy change at a deep
software level where that software change has to happen where
it is the most intimately linked to your hardware, which
is the operating system, and that is not something that
you can ship jurisdiction device, that is not something that
you can ship country wise. You will then reach a
point where an Indian iPhone looks different from an American iPhone.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
No country in the world is ever going to accept that. Right.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
And also, you know what happens is once you give
someone a bit of a leeway, where does it stop.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Right?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
That concern is very real and it always exists.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And now, of course they won't have to do it.
But has the government given such a directive before?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
So the government, at least in India, has asked such
a thing from companies where you know, the mandate is
so strong that every single device would have to have
the Sancharsati application pre installed.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
So this simply has no precedent.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
There has been some post on the government side in
the past, say, for instance, during the coronavirus pandemic, when
this app called the r the Contact Tracing app was
developed in collaboration with the government and the private sector,
there was some insistence that you know, all private employees
and all public sector employees should have this app and
things like that. But even there, you know, you later
(12:56):
had code cases where I think the Karnataka High Court
at one point in time time said that you know,
you can't discriminate against a person simply because they don't
want to have the roc to app. Right, So, there
has been no precedent of this fundamental mandate that you know,
every phone needs to have this and a directive sent
to manufacturers.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
That has never happened.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
In Argo's case, for instance, it did happen that the
government had asked employees private and public to have this app.
And I think many companies individually from their own and
I remember a Zumato and Swigi for instance, they had
directed all their delivery workers because they were the last
touch point with customers, to mandately have this app on
their phones. And I think when a delivery was coming
(13:35):
to your place, you could see, you know, thats andzo
delivery person has the roc to app installed on their
phones and all. So it was some companies abided by it,
some didn't aby it by it, and it was okay
because it was not a legally backed mandate.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Right. And although this order has now been revoked, people
can still of course download the app, right, So, can
you tell us a bit about sanchar Sati's privacy policy
and how does it compare to other apps out there?
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So you know, I think the one thing that we
have to first establish is that when you go on
the Google Play Store and on the Apple App Store,
you know, there is a section underneath every app which
basically shows what kinds of data that particular app collects. Now,
that is a voluntary declaration. If I have developed an
app which is currently live on these app stores, I
will have to declare that. Okay, you know, I collect
(14:24):
your names, I collect your emails, I collect your phone numbers,
this is how process them and things like that. If
you go to Sancharsati's page on both these app stores,
on the data collection part of it, they say that
we don't collect any data.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That is simply not true.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, I'm on that page right now and it says
no data collected. The developer says that this app doesn't
collect user data.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
That is simply faulse.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
The only way to access Sancharasati's features, the speeches that
we spoke about before, is that you have to mandatorily
register for it with your mobile number. Your mobile number
is again one of the most common but also one
of the most important types of personal data. Right, it's
linked to you, it's linked to a government idea of yours.
If someone has your number, there is a way that
that number can be tracked back to who you are.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
It reveals your identity. So your phone number is one
of the most important types of personal data that you own, right,
so to use the every single feature in the app,
This registration is mandatory. So the first window when you
open the app asks for your phone number and then
basically registers you for it. Right, So registration of the
phone number is mandatory, and also on Android devices. So
what happens is that, you know, when you put in
(15:28):
your phone number on an Apple device, for instance, on
an iPhone, you put in a number, then you say
that you know, send message for registration or whatever something
like that, and then like an SMS window pops up
where you have to then press send to that message,
and then that message gets sent and then whatever like
the verification process happens and then you're registered. On Android devices,
you don't even have to send that message. That message
is sent automatically. The moment you open it, it detects
(15:50):
the mobile number and it sends that message automatically, So
you're automatically registered on Sansasati the moment you open it, right,
So that is.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
A big, big red flag.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Then you come to the applications privacy, which is a
very short privacy policy right now, it's lacking some crucial
elements that are usually considered the industry standard for privacy.
For instance, it has no explicit statement about you know,
what rights users has while using the app. You know,
it does not allow users to request a correction of
their data but also more importantly, deletion of their data.
(16:19):
It has no opt out mechanism. It's not like you've
once shared your data and then can later go and
delete that. This privacy policy simply does not account for it.
And based on the privacy policy, it is very unclear
for how long this data is stored on this app. Right, So,
these are some elements which are otherwise you know, the
industry standard. They are considered as crucial elements in any
privacy policy. Some of these things are missing from the
privacy policy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And next we take a look at two young couples
who cross the run of Cutch on foot from Pakistan,
saying they did it for love. Both their journeys happened
on full moon nights, forty five days apart. Each couple
stepped into the salt desert carrying almost nothing. Toto and
Mina had a few roties, some jagri and a bottle
(17:05):
of water, while Poppet and Gory carried only a single
Pakistani hundred rupee note. When we spoke to the Indian
Expresses Brendan Dabby, he told us both couples said they
were in love, but their families were not willing to
accept their relationship.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Because they were related to each other to some degree,
and that is why their families would not accept their marriage,
and that is why they decided to flee to India.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Having never taken such a journey before, they said all
they knew was to keep walking south, away from their
homes and families. Their statements to the police described long,
hazardous walks across the Marshy salt desert to reach Kutch.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
It's interesting while the second couple, Popat and Gorri, they
come from Mungaria village. It is about five kilometers from
the India Pakistan border. It is the second last village
and just as they crossed the border into India, they
were apparan by the Border Security force. However, the first
couple reached very far into Indian territory. Altho in Mina
are from Laser village, which is just about two kilometers
(18:09):
from the border, and the police said they can actually
you know, using the phone camera, they can see the
village and the people over there, right, it's that close
to the border. And people from the village, they are
from the shepherding communities.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
They come and graze their animals very near to the border.
So these people left on October fourth from their village.
It was a full moon night and they aimed for
this geographical structure indicator. It's called the Merudo Dounger Okay,
So it's a hillock on the Indian side and on
a clear day you can see it very clearly from
the border. So they followed this hilluck. They crossed the border.
(18:43):
They swam in the run of Cutch Lake, which is marshland,
and they swam with the water reaching up from their
waist to their necks also in some places, and they
reached Merudo Doongar and on the second day they reached
another geographical structure that is on the island of Career Bed.
So that's how they crossed fifty kilometers walking and swimming.
(19:05):
They ate wild berries and filled fresh water from the
pools of water filled due to the rains, and that
is how they reached the village of Rathnbur on Kadi Island,
which is in the Run of Kutch Lake, and that
is where they were found by local villagers who then
handed them over to the police.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Now, the authorities say that the timing and proximity of
these crossings have raised red flags. Within a span of weeks,
two couples from neighboring Pakistani villages belonging to the same
tribal community turning up in the same stretch of Kutch,
both claiming to have walked across the border solely for love.
(19:45):
All of this appears suspicious to officials.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
It is quite unusual, especially for those from border villages
to crossover, and for this reason particularly. You know, most
of the people that are in the Joint Interrogation Center
here fishermen who have been caught in Indian waters, just
like Indian fishermen get caught by Pakistani forces. So it
is quite unusual for people you know, especially couples to
(20:09):
cross like this way, and now two cases have happened
within the span of one and a half months, so
it is very unusual.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And Brandon, we know that both couples belong to the
Bill tribal community, so could you tell us a bit
about that.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Yes, so both these couples, one is from Lasri Village
and the other is from Mungaria Village. Both are on
the border with Gujarat, and both are predominantly Bill communities,
which are indigenous tribals. And these people have very close
knit families and they live in very very small villages,
so they are more like hamlets than actual villages. For example,
(20:43):
Lasri Village is a hamlet of just about twenty five
to thirty houses it appears, and there's a temple there,
so it's just that much. So you can see the
level of relationship that each one has with each other,
especially genetic relationship. That is why everyone is very close
to each other, and perhaps that is why they don't
allow marriages within the same village.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
And Brandon, you highlight that the gujar place worry that
two couples arriving so close together from the same testsial
may not actually be a coincidence. So what are the
officials focusing on during their investigation?
Speaker 7 (21:19):
Right, So, primarily it appears that the second couple, that
is Popet and Gorri from Mungaria village, they may have
heard or seen reports that Toto and Mina from Lasari
had crossed over to India to get married, and maybe
that is why they two crossed the Indian border from
(21:40):
their village. But however, investigations are still underway. Multiple national
security national intelligence officials are currently interrogating both the couples
to see whether there is any nefarious motive or not.
Till now, no such public information has come to light
that they had any nefarious motives. Plus, neither of them
were carrying any devices or weapons or any such objects
(22:02):
with them. They just came with the clothes on their back,
so that remains a matter of investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And what's interesting is that the couple claimed to be minors,
but tests showed otherwise. Right, So talk about how doctors
determine their age.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
So it's just the first couple Toto and Mina, they
claim to be minus. So the second couple said they're
in the early twenties. But the first couple said that
they were minus. Now we don't know why they claimed
to be minus, or whether they thought that they would
receive special treatment because they are miners, or they don't
know their age because they had no documentation at the
time of being apprehended by the police, and since these
(22:39):
are border villages, it could be possible that there is
no proper infrastructure on the Pakistani side to register their
birth sentence. But since we don't know that, so the
police decided to carry out a medical age estimation test,
which is a series of tests conducted to check the
legal age of a person through medical means. It happens
(22:59):
in two two processes. One is the bone ossification test
and the other is the dental age estimation test, so
basically dental mineralization that's what they check.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
So these two tests were carried out on Toto and Mina,
and instead of finding them sixteen and fifteen years old respectively,
the tests found them to be twenty and nineteen years
old respectively, and that is why they were deemed to
be adults. Subsequently, they were booked in an affair under
the Passpotact and the Foreigners Act for illegally being on
(23:29):
Indian soil.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And another thing that you highlight is that it was
actually the local communities that informed the surpunch about them.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
Yes, yes, so border communities are very sensitized and very
aware of the dangers of living on the international border,
especially an unstable border like the India Pakistan, and they
are very warry of infiltrators. They are very warrior of strangers,
in spite of so many tourists also going to that
area because of the White Sciens and so on. They
are very worried of outsiders and immediately informed the police
(24:01):
if there is any outsider who is behaving suspiciously, and
the police obviously check these people out, you know, before
taking it easy. Yeah, so everyone is very careful in
these border villages. So that is how they were apprehended.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And of course the authority is still trying to find
out whether something more might be at play here. But
what are some of the next steps they will be taking,
Like could these couples be granted asylum or is deputition
the most likely outcome.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
We don't know the natigrity of that at the moment,
but legal method is currently since they already have an
affair against them and they have crossed the border, illegally
a year without a passport, They have no documentation.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
They are in violation of Indian law.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Now, obviously they will be produced in court and a
trial will take place on whether the charges against them
stand or not.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
If the charges against them stand.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
Then they will be sentenced to prison and after their
prison term is completed, they will be deported back to Pakistan.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
This is the situation as it stands in law.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And in the end we turn our attention to five
workers from Jharkhand who are said to return home after
being stranded in Cameroon. The men, all from Hazaribagh and
Gireth districts, had traveled to Africa earlier this year for
construction work, but later alleged that they were denied their
promised wages and were forced to live in poor conditions.
(25:23):
As reported by The Indian Express's Shubamtiga, the workers were
recruited through a local contractor who promised them employment with
the company in Cameroon. However, upon arrival, they learned they
were instead working under a subcontractor. According to one of them,
Sunil Mahato from Hazaribagh's Unchagana village, the group left for
Cameroon on thirtieth of March, and received wages only for
(25:45):
the first three months, and that too only about twenty
five thousand rupees per month, which is lower than the
four hundred US dollars which were promised to them. Mahato
said the contractor repeatedly delayed their payments, citing that main
company had not paid him. After months of non payment,
the workers stopped working and arranged their own tickets to return.
(26:05):
He added that whatever little was due they cleared in parts,
adding that they had been struggling for food and basic
supplies before deciding to leave. Tiger notes that another worker,
Chandrashaker Mahato from Girid, said he and his father, Dilomahato,
were among those stranded. Chandrashaker, who had earlier worked in Mumbai,
said that at no point either in Jharkhunt, during transit
(26:28):
in Delhi or on arrival in Camroon were they given
copies of their employment agreements. He said the subcontractor had
ignored them for five months after they began asking for
pending wages. The men eventually sent videos from Cameroon appealing
to both the central and state governments for rescue assistance.
Jharkan Bay's social activist Sekundar Ali, who works for migrant
(26:50):
labor issues, said the workers contacted him first. He forwarded
their video appeal to the labor department. Tiga further reports
that Sheikha Lakra, head of the State Migrant Worker Control Room,
set her office coordinated with the contractor and the company
to secure their release and repatriation. Lacra also said that
the company has now booked the tickets using money given
(27:12):
by the workers themselves. You were listening to Three Things
by the Indian Express. Today's show was edited and mixed
by Sish Bavar and produced by Shishang Hagov and me Ichasharma.
If you like the show, do subscribe to us wherever
you get your podcast. You can also recommend it to
someone you think may like it, with a friend or
(27:33):
in your family. This is the best way for people
to get to know about us. You can also tweet
us at Express podcast or write to us at podcast
at Indian Express dot com.
In this episode, we look at the case of two
young Pakistani couples who crossed the run of Cutch allegedly
for love. We also talk about five Jarkhan workers who
are set to return home after being stranded in Cameroon
for months. But we begin today with Sancharsati, the government
developed cybersecurity app that has raised serious concerns about privacy
(00:23):
and consent.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I'm Achasharma and you're listening to three Things the Indian
Express New show. It was last week that the Center
had asked smartphone companies in India to pre install the
state developed app Sancharsati, which allows users to report fraudulent
calls and messages and to file complaints about stolen mobile phones.
(00:52):
The Department of Telecommunications had directed manufacturers to ensure that
all new devices come with Sancharsati pre installed, and that
a software update be issued for phones already in use
so the app could be added to them. But after
widespread criticism and concerns over privacy, the government revoked the
order yesterday and also said that the app cannot be
(01:14):
used for snooping years. Telecom Minister Jodha speaking about it
in Parliament.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Hamarak Feedback whose feedback. Who's order may be hamlokoki change
ye he is a harper, not snooping Samba he not
(01:44):
snooping Huga.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Now to understand this application in detail and why it
set off alarm bells, mylique Sashang Pharkov speaks to the
inexpresses samri in ribarek.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Some render for those who might not have even seen
the app up, tell us what exactly does it do?
What is it meant for?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
So, you know, as Indians have become more and more online,
as Indians have become more and more Internet pro citizens
along with it, the problem that has come is this
problem which we all face, right, Like you get a
lot of scam calls, you get a lot of spam calls.
There's a lot of fraud that of course happens online.
Many people have fallen pre to it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And they're getting more and more sophisticated, oh.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
One hundred percent absolutely. You know, you see newer and
newer modes. You know, something like a digital arrest for instance.
That's a very new iteration of an online scam for instance. Right, So,
of course the scammers are becoming much more sophisticated. The
means are becoming a lot more cutting edge and of
course you know, on the other side you also have
this big market of like stolen phones, right, a black
market of stolen phones. Phone theft is again very common
(02:51):
in India. So seeing this problem, the government made this
portal which started off life as a web portal called
the Sanchar Sati. Right now, what the poor essentially allows
you to do is that you go on it, you
register with your current number that you're using right now,
and once you're in it, what you can see is,
you know, you can put in the number. You can
see that how many different connections are there under your name,
(03:15):
So that's a good thing people can get to know
about it. You can put in a phone's Imei number.
An Imei number is basically your phones identifier, so you
can put in that fifteen digit Imei code to check
the authenticity the genuineness of a device. You know, when
you receive a spam or a scam call, or a
message or even a message on WhatsApp of that nature,
(03:35):
you know, you can go and report that particular message
on this portal. Right, So that's how this portal started
off in life as.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so after I put that report in the portal,
what will it do with that information.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So basically what that portal will do is that, so say,
if you lose your phone, what you the get set
can do is that you know, you can go, you
can put in the fifteen digit IMEI, your mobile number,
et cetera there and you can essentially immediately block that device.
Right So, once you block that device, one would hope
that even if it finds its way into the black market,
it'd simply be useless, right, like someone else won't be
able to use it.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Essentially, so that is the number one thing that you
can do with it.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
You can also immediately generate like you know, lost complaints
on it, et cetera, which gets shared with the law
enforcement agencies and all, so you don't have to rush
to a police station to file a complaint that I've
lost my phone and things like that. You can do
that from within the portal itself. So that is its
key sort of promise, right and again you can potentially
block some of these scam and spam communication that very
frequently routinely comes to you. Right now, this started off
(04:30):
life as a portal, but of course you know, we
have this fascination of making an app for everything. So
in January this year, the Department of Telecommunications, basically, I think,
working with their other subsidiary, which is called the Sea Dot,
they developed this app called the Sancharsati application, basically with
the same functionalities, but just in an application format which
you can now download from a place store on your
Apple device or a placetore on your Google device.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Right, So that's how this app exists today.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
To all good intentions, it clearly seems like something that
the government has developed to help people, and yet it
has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. And this
is because of this particular directive which was issued by
the government last week. Talk about what exactly this directive said.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
So on November twenty eighth, the government sent out an order.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
This order was basically passed.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
The legal backing for this order was this piece of
legislation called the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules twenty twenty five.
These rules were amended in October, notified in October essentially right,
so under this particular islegilation. On November twenty eight the
government sent out a directive to a bunch of smartphone
companies Apple, Samsung, Shami, Google and other players, basically telling
(05:44):
them that you know this phone theft is a big menace.
It endangers India's telecom cybersecurity and we have to do
something about it now. The government's directive in that particular
order was that within ninety days, within three months, what
these companies have to do is that for every new
phone that they sell in the market, phones which haven't
been sold yet, they should all come with this Sanchar
(06:07):
Sati app pre installed on them. Right for every phone
that has already been sold, so phones that you and
I are using at this point in time, those phones
should immediately within ninety days receive a software update and
once that software update is complete, you should be able
to see the Sanchar Satia already installed on your phone.
In the same order, the government also said that these
manufacturers cannot disable or restrict these are important terms. Cannot
(06:32):
disable or restrict the functionalities of this app and they
have to now send a compliance report to the government
within one twenty days. So basically, in effect, what this
government does is that it has now told smartphone companies
which manufacture in India or which import their phones, that
this app is now a mandated app on every single smartphone.
There is a retrospective application of this particular order because
(06:54):
it also applies to phones which have already been sold
in the market, that they should now come mandatorily with
this son Jarsati app pre installed.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Right in This cost quite a bit of uproarch, especially
from privacy rights activists. Tell us about some of the
issues that were immediately flagged.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
So you know, this defeats many things.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Number one, it defeats the most basic tenet of privacy protection,
that is consent. I as a smartphone user, should be
able to consent, should be able to have the choice
of whether I want to use Sancharsati app or not.
If an app is already present on your phone, you
can surely maybe at a later stage choose not to
have it anymore on your phone. But why is the
(07:34):
app there on your phone to begin with?
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Right?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
And also, you know, let's be very honest, let's look
at some of the history that's happened in India. You
have these allegations about the government using the Israeli software
Pegasus to track people in the civil society, to track journalists,
to track even opposition politicians and even politicians.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
From their own party.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Right, You've had all these allegations, So I think there
is that inherent fear within people that if it is
a government mandated app that's already present on your phones.
I think there is always an inherent fear that what
if it's not as innocent as it seems. What if
this app is not just an app where you can
report your lost phone, where you can just report a
fraudulent communication, et cetera. What if in the future it
(08:14):
doesn't have to happen tomorrow, It doesn't have to happen
two three years down the round. It can happen at
any point in time. You know, in cybersecurity privacy parlance,
we have this phrase called function creep. A function creep
is basically, you know, when an application that you have
it starts doing something which is far beyond its original
intended objective or purpose. Right, And I think people are
always very about these things, and as one should rightly
(08:36):
be as well.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right, and it particularly raised concerns because it made people
wonder that, you know, if the government can install this
app in my phone, what else can it install? And
it is after all this backlash that the government then
issued at clarification before completely going back on its order,
Can you tell us what this clarification was okay.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
You know how previously I spoke about two very important
phrases in that particular November twenty eighth order about how
manufacturers were not allowed to quote unquote disable or restrict
the functions of this particular app, you know, for anyone
with either a legal understanding or to be honest, without
any legal understanding. It was very clear that that particular
statement meant that you cannot delete the app, right, because
(09:18):
how can you delete an app without disabling its functions?
Without restricting its functions? You know, the two can't happen
mutually exclusively. If one happens, the other will automatically happen, right,
So that was like a double vamy on everything that
privacy practitioners and every single privacy principle that's been internationally
recognized as like you know, a standard. You know, do
(09:39):
you not have a choice at the moment that app
lands up on your phone? But at a later stage
also you don't even have the choice or the option
to remove it from your phone? Right So I think
seeing that that particular point was creating probably the biggest
amount of friction the Minister telecom ministers with Rather than
there he clarified that you know, people would be able
to delete the application.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
They were free to not register for it.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
The app would merely appear on their phones after that,
they still have the choice about whether they want to
register for it, whether they want to continue using it,
or never even open it and just simply deleted immediately.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Right and before this order was rolled back, this directive
of course, also got pushed back from smartphone companies. Tell
us how they reacted to it.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
So, you know, I spoke to a lot of people
in the industry yesterday on December second, and it was
very very clear that, you know, Apple and Google was
simply not going to comply with this because you don't know,
you know, an app can be built as something today,
but tomorrow it can turn out to be something completely different.
So there is always that concern about function creep. And
also you know, some of their own internal policies, like
let's take the example of Apple for instance, right, Apple
(10:41):
does not even pre install all.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
Its own apps on their iPhones.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Right, and Apple has this very strict policy of not
pre installing any third party application on their phone. That's
why when you buy a new iPhone, for instance, you
will almost never find any bloatware on the phone.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Bloatwear is basically applications that are just there which you
know people would never use it, but they are there
for either marketing or for other purposes, right because someone
has paid money to for their.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
App to be on everyone's phone, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
And also you know they're also afraid that you know,
say okay, now, the software update would have to go
out for every iPhone or for every Android device. A
software update is not like an iOS for India and
Android for India. These are global software, right, These are
global platforms. The iOS version that I'm using in India
at this point in time is the same iOS version
that that another iPhone user is using in the United States.
(11:27):
Is the same iOS version that someone is using in Europe, right,
is the same iOS version that someone's probably using in
other countries as well.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Right, So in order to comply with this directive, they
would have had to make a different standard for India.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
That is the biggest concern. Right, There will be a
customized iOS now for India which will have this Sancha
Sati app pre installed.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
So this is going a level above.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
It is asking for a policy change at a deep
software level where that software change has to happen where
it is the most intimately linked to your hardware, which
is the operating system, and that is not something that
you can ship jurisdiction device, that is not something that
you can ship country wise. You will then reach a
point where an Indian iPhone looks different from an American iPhone.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
No country in the world is ever going to accept that. Right.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
And also, you know what happens is once you give
someone a bit of a leeway, where does it stop.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Right?
Speaker 5 (12:14):
That concern is very real and it always exists.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
And now, of course they won't have to do it.
But has the government given such a directive before?
Speaker 4 (12:23):
So the government, at least in India, has asked such
a thing from companies where you know, the mandate is
so strong that every single device would have to have
the Sancharsati application pre installed.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
So this simply has no precedent.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
There has been some post on the government side in
the past, say, for instance, during the coronavirus pandemic, when
this app called the r the Contact Tracing app was
developed in collaboration with the government and the private sector,
there was some insistence that you know, all private employees
and all public sector employees should have this app and
things like that. But even there, you know, you later
(12:56):
had code cases where I think the Karnataka High Court
at one point in time time said that you know,
you can't discriminate against a person simply because they don't
want to have the roc to app. Right, So, there
has been no precedent of this fundamental mandate that you know,
every phone needs to have this and a directive sent
to manufacturers.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
That has never happened.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
In Argo's case, for instance, it did happen that the
government had asked employees private and public to have this app.
And I think many companies individually from their own and
I remember a Zumato and Swigi for instance, they had
directed all their delivery workers because they were the last
touch point with customers, to mandately have this app on
their phones. And I think when a delivery was coming
(13:35):
to your place, you could see, you know, thats andzo
delivery person has the roc to app installed on their
phones and all. So it was some companies abided by it,
some didn't aby it by it, and it was okay
because it was not a legally backed mandate.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Right. And although this order has now been revoked, people
can still of course download the app, right, So, can
you tell us a bit about sanchar Sati's privacy policy
and how does it compare to other apps out there?
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So you know, I think the one thing that we
have to first establish is that when you go on
the Google Play Store and on the Apple App Store,
you know, there is a section underneath every app which
basically shows what kinds of data that particular app collects. Now,
that is a voluntary declaration. If I have developed an
app which is currently live on these app stores, I
will have to declare that. Okay, you know, I collect
(14:24):
your names, I collect your emails, I collect your phone numbers,
this is how process them and things like that. If
you go to Sancharsati's page on both these app stores,
on the data collection part of it, they say that
we don't collect any data.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
That is simply not true.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, I'm on that page right now and it says
no data collected. The developer says that this app doesn't
collect user data.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
That is simply faulse.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
The only way to access Sancharasati's features, the speeches that
we spoke about before, is that you have to mandatorily
register for it with your mobile number. Your mobile number
is again one of the most common but also one
of the most important types of personal data. Right, it's
linked to you, it's linked to a government idea of yours.
If someone has your number, there is a way that
that number can be tracked back to who you are.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Right.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
It reveals your identity. So your phone number is one
of the most important types of personal data that you own, right,
so to use the every single feature in the app,
This registration is mandatory. So the first window when you
open the app asks for your phone number and then
basically registers you for it. Right, So registration of the
phone number is mandatory, and also on Android devices. So
what happens is that, you know, when you put in
(15:28):
your phone number on an Apple device, for instance, on
an iPhone, you put in a number, then you say
that you know, send message for registration or whatever something
like that, and then like an SMS window pops up
where you have to then press send to that message,
and then that message gets sent and then whatever like
the verification process happens and then you're registered. On Android devices,
you don't even have to send that message. That message
is sent automatically. The moment you open it, it detects
(15:50):
the mobile number and it sends that message automatically, So
you're automatically registered on Sansasati the moment you open it, right,
So that is.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
A big, big red flag.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Then you come to the applications privacy, which is a
very short privacy policy right now, it's lacking some crucial
elements that are usually considered the industry standard for privacy.
For instance, it has no explicit statement about you know,
what rights users has while using the app. You know,
it does not allow users to request a correction of
their data but also more importantly, deletion of their data.
(16:19):
It has no opt out mechanism. It's not like you've
once shared your data and then can later go and
delete that. This privacy policy simply does not account for it.
And based on the privacy policy, it is very unclear
for how long this data is stored on this app. Right, So,
these are some elements which are otherwise you know, the
industry standard. They are considered as crucial elements in any
privacy policy. Some of these things are missing from the
privacy policy.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And next we take a look at two young couples
who cross the run of Cutch on foot from Pakistan,
saying they did it for love. Both their journeys happened
on full moon nights, forty five days apart. Each couple
stepped into the salt desert carrying almost nothing. Toto and
Mina had a few roties, some jagri and a bottle
(17:05):
of water, while Poppet and Gory carried only a single
Pakistani hundred rupee note. When we spoke to the Indian
Expresses Brendan Dabby, he told us both couples said they
were in love, but their families were not willing to
accept their relationship.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Because they were related to each other to some degree,
and that is why their families would not accept their marriage,
and that is why they decided to flee to India.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Having never taken such a journey before, they said all
they knew was to keep walking south, away from their
homes and families. Their statements to the police described long,
hazardous walks across the Marshy salt desert to reach Kutch.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
It's interesting while the second couple, Popat and Gorri, they
come from Mungaria village. It is about five kilometers from
the India Pakistan border. It is the second last village
and just as they crossed the border into India, they
were apparan by the Border Security force. However, the first
couple reached very far into Indian territory. Altho in Mina
are from Laser village, which is just about two kilometers
(18:09):
from the border, and the police said they can actually
you know, using the phone camera, they can see the
village and the people over there, right, it's that close
to the border. And people from the village, they are
from the shepherding communities.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
They come and graze their animals very near to the border.
So these people left on October fourth from their village.
It was a full moon night and they aimed for
this geographical structure indicator. It's called the Merudo Dounger Okay,
So it's a hillock on the Indian side and on
a clear day you can see it very clearly from
the border. So they followed this hilluck. They crossed the border.
(18:43):
They swam in the run of Cutch Lake, which is marshland,
and they swam with the water reaching up from their
waist to their necks also in some places, and they
reached Merudo Doongar and on the second day they reached
another geographical structure that is on the island of Career Bed.
So that's how they crossed fifty kilometers walking and swimming.
(19:05):
They ate wild berries and filled fresh water from the
pools of water filled due to the rains, and that
is how they reached the village of Rathnbur on Kadi Island,
which is in the Run of Kutch Lake, and that
is where they were found by local villagers who then
handed them over to the police.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Now, the authorities say that the timing and proximity of
these crossings have raised red flags. Within a span of weeks,
two couples from neighboring Pakistani villages belonging to the same
tribal community turning up in the same stretch of Kutch,
both claiming to have walked across the border solely for love.
(19:45):
All of this appears suspicious to officials.
Speaker 6 (19:49):
It is quite unusual, especially for those from border villages
to crossover, and for this reason particularly. You know, most
of the people that are in the Joint Interrogation Center
here fishermen who have been caught in Indian waters, just
like Indian fishermen get caught by Pakistani forces. So it
is quite unusual for people you know, especially couples to
(20:09):
cross like this way, and now two cases have happened
within the span of one and a half months, so
it is very unusual.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And Brandon, we know that both couples belong to the
Bill tribal community, so could you tell us a bit
about that.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Yes, so both these couples, one is from Lasri Village
and the other is from Mungaria Village. Both are on
the border with Gujarat, and both are predominantly Bill communities,
which are indigenous tribals. And these people have very close
knit families and they live in very very small villages,
so they are more like hamlets than actual villages. For example,
(20:43):
Lasri Village is a hamlet of just about twenty five
to thirty houses it appears, and there's a temple there,
so it's just that much. So you can see the
level of relationship that each one has with each other,
especially genetic relationship. That is why everyone is very close
to each other, and perhaps that is why they don't
allow marriages within the same village.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
And Brandon, you highlight that the gujar place worry that
two couples arriving so close together from the same testsial
may not actually be a coincidence. So what are the
officials focusing on during their investigation?
Speaker 7 (21:19):
Right, So, primarily it appears that the second couple, that
is Popet and Gorri from Mungaria village, they may have
heard or seen reports that Toto and Mina from Lasari
had crossed over to India to get married, and maybe
that is why they two crossed the Indian border from
(21:40):
their village. But however, investigations are still underway. Multiple national
security national intelligence officials are currently interrogating both the couples
to see whether there is any nefarious motive or not.
Till now, no such public information has come to light
that they had any nefarious motives. Plus, neither of them
were carrying any devices or weapons or any such objects
(22:02):
with them. They just came with the clothes on their back,
so that remains a matter of investigation.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And what's interesting is that the couple claimed to be minors,
but tests showed otherwise. Right, So talk about how doctors
determine their age.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
So it's just the first couple Toto and Mina, they
claim to be minus. So the second couple said they're
in the early twenties. But the first couple said that
they were minus. Now we don't know why they claimed
to be minus, or whether they thought that they would
receive special treatment because they are miners, or they don't
know their age because they had no documentation at the
time of being apprehended by the police, and since these
(22:39):
are border villages, it could be possible that there is
no proper infrastructure on the Pakistani side to register their
birth sentence. But since we don't know that, so the
police decided to carry out a medical age estimation test,
which is a series of tests conducted to check the
legal age of a person through medical means. It happens
(22:59):
in two two processes. One is the bone ossification test
and the other is the dental age estimation test, so
basically dental mineralization that's what they check.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
So these two tests were carried out on Toto and Mina,
and instead of finding them sixteen and fifteen years old respectively,
the tests found them to be twenty and nineteen years
old respectively, and that is why they were deemed to
be adults. Subsequently, they were booked in an affair under
the Passpotact and the Foreigners Act for illegally being on
(23:29):
Indian soil.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And another thing that you highlight is that it was
actually the local communities that informed the surpunch about them.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
Yes, yes, so border communities are very sensitized and very
aware of the dangers of living on the international border,
especially an unstable border like the India Pakistan, and they
are very warry of infiltrators. They are very warrior of strangers,
in spite of so many tourists also going to that
area because of the White Sciens and so on. They
are very worried of outsiders and immediately informed the police
(24:01):
if there is any outsider who is behaving suspiciously, and
the police obviously check these people out, you know, before
taking it easy. Yeah, so everyone is very careful in
these border villages. So that is how they were apprehended.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And of course the authority is still trying to find
out whether something more might be at play here. But
what are some of the next steps they will be taking,
Like could these couples be granted asylum or is deputition
the most likely outcome.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
We don't know the natigrity of that at the moment,
but legal method is currently since they already have an
affair against them and they have crossed the border, illegally
a year without a passport, They have no documentation.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
They are in violation of Indian law.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Now, obviously they will be produced in court and a
trial will take place on whether the charges against them
stand or not.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
If the charges against them stand.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
Then they will be sentenced to prison and after their
prison term is completed, they will be deported back to Pakistan.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
This is the situation as it stands in law.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And in the end we turn our attention to five
workers from Jharkhand who are said to return home after
being stranded in Cameroon. The men, all from Hazaribagh and
Gireth districts, had traveled to Africa earlier this year for
construction work, but later alleged that they were denied their
promised wages and were forced to live in poor conditions.
(25:23):
As reported by The Indian Express's Shubamtiga, the workers were
recruited through a local contractor who promised them employment with
the company in Cameroon. However, upon arrival, they learned they
were instead working under a subcontractor. According to one of them,
Sunil Mahato from Hazaribagh's Unchagana village, the group left for
Cameroon on thirtieth of March, and received wages only for
(25:45):
the first three months, and that too only about twenty
five thousand rupees per month, which is lower than the
four hundred US dollars which were promised to them. Mahato
said the contractor repeatedly delayed their payments, citing that main
company had not paid him. After months of non payment,
the workers stopped working and arranged their own tickets to return.
(26:05):
He added that whatever little was due they cleared in parts,
adding that they had been struggling for food and basic
supplies before deciding to leave. Tiger notes that another worker,
Chandrashaker Mahato from Girid, said he and his father, Dilomahato,
were among those stranded. Chandrashaker, who had earlier worked in Mumbai,
said that at no point either in Jharkhunt, during transit
(26:28):
in Delhi or on arrival in Camroon were they given
copies of their employment agreements. He said the subcontractor had
ignored them for five months after they began asking for
pending wages. The men eventually sent videos from Cameroon appealing
to both the central and state governments for rescue assistance.
Jharkan Bay's social activist Sekundar Ali, who works for migrant
(26:50):
labor issues, said the workers contacted him first. He forwarded
their video appeal to the labor department. Tiga further reports
that Sheikha Lakra, head of the State Migrant Worker Control Room,
set her office coordinated with the contractor and the company
to secure their release and repatriation. Lacra also said that
the company has now booked the tickets using money given
(27:12):
by the workers themselves. You were listening to Three Things
by the Indian Express. Today's show was edited and mixed
by Sish Bavar and produced by Shishang Hagov and me Ichasharma.
If you like the show, do subscribe to us wherever
you get your podcast. You can also recommend it to
someone you think may like it, with a friend or
(27:33):
in your family. This is the best way for people
to get to know about us. You can also tweet
us at Express podcast or write to us at podcast
at Indian Express dot com.
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