Devendra Fadnavis, during his 1st tenure as Chief Minister of Maharashtra (2014-19), had taken many cybersecurity initiatives in the state in light of the surge in cybercrime. It’s an extension of those initiatives that India’s first Integrated Cyber Command & Control Center was launched in Mumbai on October 11, 2024, under the aegis and in the presence of Devendra Fadnavis, this time as the Deputy CM and Home Minister of the state.
Devendra Fadnavis’s vision and administrative skills are known to all. After Fadnavis took over as the CM of the state in 2014, he took charge of the home ministry as well and initiated the modernization of the police force in the state. The state-of-the-art Cyber Command & Control Center in Mahape, Navi Mumbai, is a crucial step towards ensuring a safe and resilient digital environment to protect the interests of citizens, businesses, and critical infrastructure from cybercrime.
The CCTNS (Cyber Crime Tracking Network & Systems) project was a central government initiative launched in 2009 to create a comprehensive and integrated nationwide network for tracking, detection, coordination, and control of cybercrime by equipping the state and central policing agencies with modern technologies. However, despite the urges from the central home ministry, the then Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra didn’t show any readiness for it. Despite the project being centrally sponsored, it faced apathy from the state government. In stark contrast to the approach, after Devendra Fadnavis came to power in 2014, he took up the task to complete CCTNS activities in Maharashtra with top priority.
Maharashtra Cyber Security Project
Devendra Fadnavis, during his 1st term as the Chief Minister, had launched the cybersecurity projects in the state in 2018. However, the Maharashtra cybersecurity project activities were considerably reduced during the MVA government, which came to power in 2019. In 2022, with Fadnavis coming back in power as the Deputy CM and Home Minister of the state, the cybersecurity project activities in Maharashtra were charged up again. The Cyber Command & Control center in Mahape places Maharashtra at the forefront of cybersecurity, facilitating and fast-tracking cybercrime investigations to improve the conviction rate, raise awareness among citizens, and equip police forces to deal with new types of cybercrime.
Cyber Crime Cells have been started in every district of the state. Through these cells, it is becoming easier to investigate and control cyber crimes at the district level. Along with this, Cyber Forensic Labs have also been started. Such labs have been set up at various places to investigate cybercrimes and collect evidence. Cybersecurity Awareness Programs are as important as other types of police and government activities. Awareness programs are being implemented in different ways to make citizens aware of safe internet use and to provide information about online fraud.
Safe Data, Safe Maharashtra – Cyber security project
The most modern cyber headquarters in the country has been set up at Mahape in Navi Mumbai. The following facilities will be provided from this headquarters.
- Nodal Cyber Police Station
- Command and Control Center
- Technology-assisted investigation
- Protection from cyber attacks
- Cyber Lab and Cyber Network Security
The Mahayuti government is committed to Maharashtra’s cybersecurity. The country’s first integrated cyber platform has been set up in Mahape, Navi Mumbai to protect the information of the people of the state as well as government websites from cyber attacks. Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis had informed the legislature about this platform on December 13, 2023.
Maharashtra Cyber Command Center
Devendra Fadnavis established the Maharashtra Cyber Command Center in Nagpur to control cyber threats in the state. This center is responsible for obtaining confidential information related to cybersecurity, monitoring religiously divisive posts and videos on social media, and controlling and blocking objectionable content circulated by terrorist groups. This center works 24 hours a day. Complaints are investigated and resolved. Sometimes citizens are also guided. Overall, cybercrime and online fraud are detected, and action is taken through this center.
About 5,000 police officers will be trained every year through the Maharashtra Cyber Command & Control Center. The government plans to increase this number further as it is necessary to train all police officers and develop their capabilities to crack cyber cases. Currently, most financial transactions are being done through mobile phones. Therefore, people who are using smartphones or doing online transactions with the help of mobile phones also need to have basic knowledge of cybersecurity, so that they do not get cheated. In the future, every smartphone owner will have to be trained in cybersecurity through this center. To prevent the increasing cyberfrauds, Maharashtra cybersecurity projects are equipping the Maharashtra Police to fight against the cyber criminals under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis.