The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched an innovation competition to encourage developers to build indigenous video conferencing platforms by the end of July 2020.
This move comes after India banned the use of Zoom for virtual government meetings after its cybersecurity agency warned authorities of the app's security vulnerabilities. Virtual meetings and classrooms via Zoom were reportedly also bombed in India.
The government will grant Rs 20 Lakh for the final product and INR 5 Lakh for the prototype. The product will be implemented by central and state government entities for a period of four years. Additionally, developers of the locally built virtual meeting platform can market their product to other companies, organizations, and individual users.
The winning company must be registered in India and more than 51 percent of the property must be owned by an Indian. Furthermore, all data must be stored within India.
"There could be a possibility that the lockout will extend beyond May 3. Along with Zoom's security scare, we also envision a future scenario where remote working and working from home will be the order of the day." Therefore, focusing on indigenous and secure platforms is the right step forward. " said a ministry official
A total funding of Rs 2.3 million has been allocated for this company and the "Make in India, for India" model will encourage more developers to create such technology.
Security measures for Zoom users
The Indian Home Office, in a notice about the use of Zoom, had said that each meeting should be secured with a "New User ID and Password". The notice said: Enable the "Waiting Room" function so that the host user can control who can join. Keep the "Join before host" function disabled. Allow screen sharing only for "Host". Disable "Allow deleted participants to rejoin." Restrict the "file transfer option" and "recording option". And finally, users should "end" the meeting, not "leave" the meeting.