Globally, cyberattacks on digital public infrastructure and the commercial sector have grown in scale and sophistication, making cybersecurity and resilience a core governance and business imperative. For India, with 900 million internet users, the stakes are particularly high. A digital stack spanning Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker and an expanding array of government platforms represents both an extraordinary governance achievement and a significant vulnerability. The government has responded by making cybersecurity a policy priority through the implementation of several regulatory measures and the establishment of institutional mechanisms.
This proposed online discussion organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), as part of the Mission Karmayogi Sadhana Saptah will locate cybersecurity within the Mission Karmayogi framework — not as a technical afterthought, but as a foundational competency for the citizen-centric, future-ready government machinery and civil servants. It will explore how AI-powered tools, zero-trust architectures, and whole-of- government coordination, along with enhanced cyber hygiene practices, can strengthen the government’s cyber posture, and how resilience must ultimately be measured by tangible citizen outcomes — reduced fraud, faster grievance resolution, and uninterrupted service delivery.
Guiding Questions:
1. What key trends in the global cyber threat landscape should we monitor to safeguard India’s digital public infrastructure?
2. What steps are required to integrate cybersecurity as a core governance competency rather than a specialised technical concern? Can public private partnership play a role?
3. In what ways can AI-powered tools, predictive analytics, and automation improve threat detection, incident response, and public service continuity?
4. How critical are cyber hygiene practices and AI literacy as core competencies for civil servants to build resilience?
