Punjab Police’s cyber-crime division on Tuesday launched Cyber Jago, a flagship statewide programme aimed at spreading awareness on internet safety and safe online use among school children.
The initiative was inaugurated by Special DGP (Community Affairs Division) Gurpreet Deo in the presence of senior police officers, educators, and representatives from partner organisations, according to an official statement.
The initiative, being conducted in collaboration with NGO Space2Grow and cybersecurity firms Starlight Data Solutions and Cybercops Compliance Solutions, aims to reach nearly five lakh school children across Punjab through workshops.
The first training of trainers (ToT) workshop was attended by 75 teachers from government schools. A poster and brochure on online safety for children were also released on the occasion, the statement said.
Addressing the inaugural session, Punjab’s Special DGP (Cyber Crime) V Neeraja highlighted the urgent need for collective responsibility in ensuring online safety for children. “The present generation of children are deeply immersed in the digital world. The COVID pandemic brought internet and smartphones into every household through online classes, making children more tech-savvy than their parents. While this connectivity brings opportunities, it also exposes children to significant online risks,” she said. Quoting recent data from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2025, Neeraja said that 76 per cent of children aged 14-16 years in India now use smartphones for social media, and 57 per cent use them for education.
“The widespread availability of digital content has also increased exposure to inappropriate material and cyber threats,” she added.
Explaining the concept behind the initiative, the Special DGP said, “The ‘Cyber Jago’ programme emerged from the idea that as guardians of the next generation, we must understand these dangers and take proactive steps to protect children online. Teachers and parents must engage in open conversations with children about online safety and initiate conversations on online threats.”
She said that the programme will help in capacity building of teachers from 3,968 government high schools across Punjab through training of trainers’ workshops, imparting them with knowledge to guide students on cyber hygiene and safe online practices, understanding AI-related threats, and identifying and responding to online child sexual exploitation, among others.
Under the programme, teachers will further educate students in their respective schools, empowering them to identify potential dangers and respond effectively when faced with online threats, the statement said.
This includes around 130 square km of pristine forest inhabited by the Nicobarese, a Scheduled Tribe (ST), and the Shompens, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), whose population is estimated to be between 200 and 300.
In their detailed letter to Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, over 70 scientists, environmentalists and former bureaucrats said it was “disingenuous to label what is essentially a commercial project as a strategic one and invoke national security whenever questions on the project are raised”.
They cautioned that the massive diversion of forest land and displacement of indigenous communities due to the project would cause “grave and irreversible” ecological and social damage.
“The only component of the proposed project that was made defence-related, and that too after the public hearing, is the dual-use military-cum-civilian airport,” the letter said.
“The remaining 160 square km, including 130.75 square km of rainforest and 2.98 square km of sea, proposed to be reclaimed, is being done for a commercial transhipment port, an associated power plant and a sprawling township,” it said.
Refuting the minister’s statement that tribal policies had been fully respected, the signatories alleged, “This statement is far from true. The rights accorded to the indigenous communities under the Forest Rights Act have been violated. Even the provisions under the ANPAT Regulation (1956) and the Shompen Policy (2015) have been wholly ignored in the rush to grant clearances.”
The signatories alleged that the Environmental Appraisal Committee ignored anthropological and ecological objections and that “Galathea wildlife sanctuary was denotified, and three new sanctuaries were notified without any consultation with the Great and Little Nicobar islanders”.
They described the move as a “hollow exercise intended solely to satisfy Environmental Clearance conditions for enabling the project”.
The letter also claimed a “glaring conflict of interest” in the involvement of government institutes in both preparing and monitoring the environmental management plans.
They urged the environment minister to set aside political considerations, focus on the grave and irreversible negative implications of the proposed project and take serious note of the need to reconsider it.
The signatories include Padma Bhushan Ramachandra Guha, Padma Shri Romulus Whitaker, wildlife biologist Ravi Chellam, nature conservationist Asad Rahmani, scientist Sharachchandra Lele, and former Gujarat PCCF Ashok Kumar Sharma, among others.
In an article in “The Hindu”, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi had termed the Great Nicobar Mega Infra Project a “planned misadventure” that threatens the survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes, destroys one of the world’s most unique ecosystems and is highly susceptible to natural disasters.
Gandhi had alleged that the project was being pushed through by “making a mockery of all legal and deliberative processes”.
In response, Environment Minister Yadav had written a column in the same newspaper, defending the project as one of strategic, defence and national importance.
