New Delhi: Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday tested ‘BharOS’, an original operating system developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT).
“Congratulations to all those involved in the development of the system. The very first time our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji talked about Digital India eight years ago, some of our friends scoffed at him, but today technocrats, innovators, industry and policymakers, and academic institutions of the country have embraced his vision after eight years,” he said.
Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was also present at the event.
Tested Indian ‘Operating System’ – BharOS developed at @iitmadras with @dpradhanbjp Ji; Leap forward on PM @narendramodi Ji’s #AatmanirbharBharat journey. pic.twitter.com/eOt3un5okm
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 24, 2023
“There will be trouble on this path and there are many people all over the world who will bring trouble and will not want any such system to succeed,” Vaishnaw said.
BharOS, a new mobile operating system, focuses on privacy and security. A mobile operating system is a software that is the basic interface on a smartphone, such as Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.
BharOS is an Indian government-funded project to develop a free and open-source operating system (OS) for use in government and public systems.
The project aims to reduce the dependency on foreign OS in smartphones and promote the use of locally developed technology. It is a giant leap forward to create a native ecosystem and a self-sustaining future.
BharOS services are currently provided to organizations that have strict privacy and security requirements and whose users handle sensitive information that requires confidential communication in restricted applications on mobile devices. Such users require access to private cloud services via private 5G networks.
BharOS was developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which was incubated by the IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation, a Section 8 (Non-Profit) company set up by IIT Madras.
The foundation is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber and Physical Systems (NMICPS). It aspires to make India equal to the few countries that currently have such capabilities.
Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, at a press conference on January 19 to announce this Indian mobile operating system, said, “BharOS is a mobile operating system built on trust with a focus on providing more freedom to users. , control, and flexibility to choose and use only the applications that suit their needs.
This innovative system promises to revolutionize the way users think about security and privacy on their mobile devices.”
“IIT Madras looks forward to working closely with many other private industries, government agencies, strategic agencies, and telecom service providers to increase the use and adoption of BharOS in our country,” he added.
BharOS comes with no default apps (NDA). This means users are not forced to use apps they may not know or trust. Additionally, this approach allows users to have more control over the permissions that apps have on their devices, as they can choose to allow only apps they trust to access certain features or data on their devices.
According to Karthik Ayyar, director of JandK Operations Pvt Ltd, the start-up that developed this mobile operating system, “BharOS also offers ‘Native Over The Air (NOTA) updates that can help keep devices secure.
NOTA updates are automatically downloaded and installed on the device without the user having to initiate the process manually.
This ensures that the device is always running the latest version of the operating system, including the latest security patches and bug fixes. With NDA, PASS, and NOTA, BharOS ensures that Indian mobile phones are trusted.”
BharOS provides access to trusted applications from organization-specific Private App Store Services (PASS). PASS provides access to a select list of applications that have been thoroughly vetted and meet certain security and privacy standards for organizations.
This means users can be confident that the apps they install are safe to use and have been reviewed for potential security vulnerabilities or privacy concerns.