The challenge of India’s digital sovereignty

📌 Summary:

• Context: Two incidents expose India's digital dependence — (April 2026) Indian CCTV networks were compromised by hostile entities to access data on strategic defence assets via the Chinese software platform EseeCloud; (July 2025) Nayara Energy abruptly lost access to its corporate email, collaboration tools and cloud data when Microsoft unilaterally enforced EU sanctions (Nayara is part-owned by Russia's Rosneft)
• Core argument: India lacks digital sovereignty — critical infrastructure (authentication systems, productivity suites, cloud platforms) runs on technology owned and operated by foreign tech giants
• Causal chain: (1) foreign-owned hardware/firmware (e.g., Chinese CCTV software) can serve as an espionage backdoor; (2) even data physically stored in India can, under foreign data-governance regimes, be compelled out to a provider's home government; (3) foreign firms enforcing their home jurisdiction's sanctions can cut off Indian entities' access overnight
• India's vulnerability: effective control over digital infrastructure shifts from Indian entities to overseas corporations and foreign governments — a national-security and economic-continuity risk
• Solutions (implied): build sovereign/indigenous cloud, authentication and collaboration stacks; stronger data localisation and procurement vetting; diversify away from single foreign vendors

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Internal Security/Tech — cyber security, critical-infrastructure protection, data sovereignty and supply-chain risk

🔑 Key Term: Digital Sovereignty — a nation's ability to exercise effective control over its digital infrastructure, data and technology stack, independent of foreign corporations or governments