State misses central aid to tackle cyber-crimes
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 07 2023: In-spite of the Central government providing assistance since the past four years to combat cyber-crimes with the formulation of State Action Plan, the government of Manipur has, been unable to get the Central assistance for the past two financial years, 2020-21 and 2021-22, primarily due to state government's inability to utilise the assistance received in the past.

In a written reply to a question on 'cyber crimes' in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra said that the Central government allocated Rs 10.33 crore for Manipur state to combat cyber-crimes in the year 2018-19 but only Rs 5.99 crore was released.

The state, however, utilised Rs 10.75 crore in the year 2019-20 against the central allocation of Rs 9.55 crore for the year.

In the following two consecutive financial years (2020-21 and 2021-22), Rs 9.55 crore each was allocated for Manipur but not a single rupee has been released till date as state government could not utilise the allocations made in the past, the minister informed.

According to the minister, it is responsibility of the states to tackle all forms of crimes including cyber-crimes as enshrined under the Constitution and accordingly states/UTs are primarily responsible for prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes including cyber-crimes through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) .

The LEAs take legal action as per the provisions of law against people involved in cyber-crime.

The Central government supplements the initiatives of the states/UTs through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for their capacity building, the minister informed the Parliament.

To strengthen the mechanism of dealing with cyber-crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, the Central government has taken various steps.

Accord ingly, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal was launched on August 30, 2019 to enable public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with special focus on cyber-crimes against women and children.

Cyber-crime incidents reported on this portal, their conversion into FIRs and subsequent action thereon are handled by the State/UT Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) concerned as per the provisions of the law.

Since inception of Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System, more than 7 lakh complaints have been registered including in Odisha till January 31, 2023 .

So far, financial amount of more than Rs 235 crore had been saved in more than 1.90 lakh complaints.

More than 52,000 complaints have been disposed of, the minister informed.

Ministry of Home Affairs has provided central assistance under 'Assistance to States for Modernization of Police' Scheme to the State Governments for the acquisition of latest weaponry, training gadgets, advanced communication/forensic equipment, Cyber Policing equipment, etc.

The state governments formulate State Action Plans (SAPs) as per their strategic priorities and requirements including combating cyber-crimes.

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