Home Minister Amit Shah Calls For AI-Led Revamp Of National Cybercrime Helpline

Union home minister Amit Shah has directed officials to utilise AI to revamp the system powering the National Cybercrime Helpline ‘1930’.

After reviewing the national helpline to report cybercrimes, the minister asked officials to provide multilingual support to ease the process of reporting cybercrimes, especially as cyber frauds become more complex in nature. He asked central government officials to work closely with states to pivot each of the reported incidents to their logical end. 

Besides, he also directed that grievances arising from freezing of bank accounts linked to financial frauds be addressed promptly. The direction comes amid increased instances of bank account freezing in recent years, especially when an account holder receives money from an account part of a cyber fraud trail.

The issue is further aggravated when the cybercrime complaint is registered in one state while the frozen account is registered in another. In January, the Supreme Court in January agreed to hear a plea that requested the Centre and the RBI to formulate a uniform SOP governing the freezing and defreezing of bank accounts during cyber crime investigations. 

However, the Karnataka High Court held on Tuesday that banks cannot freeze an account completely, when investigating agencies have directed only a partial freeze limited to a specified amount.

Government Leverages AI Across The Board 

This is the latest instance of the central government’s use of AI to revamp legacy systems and improve productivity of government agencies. For instance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is using AI through initiatives like virtual assistant Kisan e-Mitra that informs citizens of government schemes, and the use of satellite data, weather inputs, and soil analysis to provide real-time advice that improves yields and income security. 

Earlier this year, it also announced the launch of multi-lingual AI-powered tool Bharat-VISTAAR, which integrates ICRA advisories with the central AgriStack for hyper-localised farming support. Other AI integrations to the digital public infrastructure include voice-based Aadhaar assistance using native language models. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also uses AI to forecast rainfall, fog and extreme weather, while tools like the Advanced Dvorak Technique support cyclone intensity assessment and MausamGPT is being developed to offer real-time advisories.

In 2022, the government launched AI-powered language translation platform BHASHINI that offers speech tools in multiple Indian languages, aiding citizens in accessing digital services easily.

These initiatives are part of the Digital ShramSetu Mission, which seeks to deploy frontier technologies at scale for the country’s informal sector. 

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