India is the latest inclusion among the nations who have dedicatedly allocated budget for cyber security. Earlier, it was never so important aspect as far as budget is concerned but some obnoxious events took place in India, post demonetization forced the government to allocate cyber security budgets in different categories. There is a promise from our honorable finance minister to focus on cyber capabilities, including developing and researching new technologies that can be leveraged for the future.
The budget announced Rs. 110 crore for cyber security projects, including the National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre and others. This center will monitor both inbound and outbound internet traffic and any possible cyber security threats. The allocation of budget for 2018-19 will be implemented for NCCC Phase-II, providing financial support to three ongoing R&D projects for NCCC and continue support to ongoing projects.
The focus on cyber security is a growing concern in the digital era where nearly all aspects of our lives are online. However, the allocations are presumably not enough to make any significant impact on cyberspace. The funds allocated for cyber security have been distributed among several ministries and government departments including the Ministry of Electronics, Home Affairs, and Information Technology.
The Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT, the national agency that reports cyber incidents and the Cyber Appellate Tribunal were allotted Rs 40.48 crore in the Union Budget of 2017, under the head of cyber security in MeitY. The National Emergency Response System and Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children under the Ministry of Home Affairs were allotted Rs 313.30 crore.
To conclude, expectations from Budget 2018 are quite high. Now we will have to wait and see how the budget fares and towards which direction. However, people have a logical expectation from this budget which allocated funds in the newly emerging and significant sectors, to broaden the allies of digitization.
