Will The Busy Icon Be A Spinning Loom Wheel

So I'm doing my usual morning route, reading the Time Of India and drinking a spot of Darjeeling with my biscuits, when I was startled by the tech savvy of the Empire's subjects. The native Indian government has set in motion an ambitious plan to develop its own software to end the reliance on foreign operating systems and anti-virus products. First they infiltrated our call centers, now they're becoming sovereign?

After growing worries over the rise in cyber attacks on Indian establishments, a government taskforce devised a plan for building indigenous software. The panel will also suggest ways to conduct third-party audits on existing software in government offices to prevent online sabotage attempts until the software’s launch. Developing a new OS and trying to crack existing products? That's got to be easier than creating proper sewage ducts and

The overwhelming belief among government bosses is that an indigenous low-grade, but clean, software could nix the chances of foreign states infiltrating the computers of key Indian establishments and compromising the country’s security. Good luck with that. We've seen how you do indigenous low-grade citizen's welfare. “A sanitised, lower level operating system and application software may be preferred to the advanced versions, which necessarily require access to internet for upgrades,” said an official who never thought to use a firewall.

Despite home to nearly 10% of the world’s software developer base, the country still lacks an operating system or security product of repute. Last December, PMO computers were attacked by hackers traced back to China. Similarly, hackers from Pakistan and terrorist organisations too have stepped up attacks on Indian websites in recent years. In order to combat the attack issue, no sensitive information will be stored on systems connected to the internet, and ministries and departments have been told to carry out regular IT systems audits. The government has also established a Crisis Management Plan against cyber attacks to be implemented by all central ministries, state governments and critical sectors, though I wonder who they're calling if there's a tech support issue.

India is also taking further preventive steps. The defense ministry has already removed many of its computers off the internet. Its officers can’t carry pen drives inside offices. The government has also decided to connect all key government ministries and offices to an alternate exclusive communication network that is being built for the armed forces. This will provide a secure backup for over 5000 officials during emergencies, or at times when the networks of private telecom operators cannot be used to transmit sensitive information. Because an inter-interweb has got to be more secure.