BharOS, a Made-in-India mobile operating system tested successfully.

Union
Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini
Vaishnaw and Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday tested 'BharOS', a
made-in-India mobile operating system, developed by the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Madras.
"Congratulations
to everyone involved in developing the system. For the very first time when our
Prime Minister Narendra Modiji talked about digital India eight years ago, some
of our friends mocked him, but today, technocrats, innovators, industries and
policymakers, and academic institutions of the country have accepted his vision
after eight years," said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
While
Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "There will be difficulties
in this journey and there are many people around the world who will bring
difficulties and will not want any such system to be successful."
BharOS
is an indigenously made mobile operating system that focuses on privacy
and security just like the other existing operating systems on a smartphone
like Android by Google and iOS by Apple.
It
is an Indian government-funded project to develop a free and open-source
operating system (OS) for use in government and public systems whose ultimate
aim is to promote the use of locally developed technology and become self
sufficient and contribute towards 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' rather than being
dependent on foreign made operating systems.
BharOS
Services are currently being provided to organisations that have stringent
privacy and security requirements and whose users handle sensitive information
that requires confidential communications on restricted apps on mobiles. Such
users require access to private cloud services through private 5G networks.
The
BharOS was developed by JandK Operations Private Limited (JandKops), which has
been incubated by IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation, a Section 8
(Not for Profit) Company established 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-Physical Systems (NMICPS). It
aspires to put India on par with those few countries that currently possess
such capabilities.
Addressing
a press conference on January 19 to announce this Indian mobile operating
system, Prof V Kamakoti, Director, of IIT Madras, said, "BharOS Service is
a Mobile Operating System built on a foundation of trust, with a focus on
providing users more freedom, control, and flexibility to choose and use only
the apps that fit their needs. This innovative system promises to revolutionise
the way users think about security and privacy on their mobile devices."
"IIT
Madras looks forward to working closely with many more private industries, government
agencies, strategic agencies and telecom service providers to increase the
usage and adoption of BharOS in our Country," he added.
BharOS
comes with No Default Apps (NDA) unlike Android or iOS. This means that users
are not forced to use apps that they may not be familiar with or that they may
not trust. Additionally, this approach allows users to have more control over
the permissions that apps have on their device, as they can choose to only
allow apps that they trust to access certain features or data on their device.
According
to Karthik Ayyar, Director, JandK Operations Pvt Ltd, the start-up that
developed this mobile operating system, "In addition, BharOS offers
'Native Over The Air' (NOTA) updates that can help to keep the devices secure.
NOTA updates are automatically downloaded and installed on the device, without
the need for the user to manually initiate the process. This ensures that the
device is always running the latest operating system version, including the
latest security patches and bug fixes. With NDA, PASS, and NOTA, BharOS ensures
that Indian mobile phones are trustworthy."
BharOS
provides access to trusted apps from organisation-specific Private App Store
Services (PASS). A PASS provides access to a curated list of apps that have
been thoroughly vetted and have met certain security and privacy standards of
organisations. This means users can be confident that the apps they are
installing are safe to use and have been checked for any potential security
vulnerabilities or privacy concerns.
BharOS is yet to announce when the operating system will be available to the public.
(Source- ANI/Special Service and Features )
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