India launches indigenous BharOS mobile operating system

New open source OS, aimed at breaking Android's dominance, is claimed to be incapable of running malware

India on Tuesday unveiled BharOS, a new mobile operating system with a focus on security and privacy.

BharOS is a project financed by the Indian government to create a free and open source operating system for use in government and public services.

The initiative seeks to encourage the adoption of locally created technologies while reducing reliance on foreign operating systems in mobile phones.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of telecommunications and information technology, and Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of education, successfully tested BharOS on Tuesday, making video and audio calls using a pair of unidentified handsets.

Without providing any further details, Pradhan said that the OS is incapable of running malware. He hailed the monopoly-busting potential of the new OS.

Other speakers at the event claimed that since it can be customised, it may be ideal for use by India's government.

BharOS is said to be fully open source and based on Arch Linux with a customised kernel. It has been developed by JandK Operations Private Ltd (JandKops), a non-profit firm founded by the Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems of the Government of India's Department of Science and Technology (DST) provides funding for this non-profit organisation (NMICPS).

There are no default apps in BharOS (NDA), which means users are not compelled to use apps with which they are unfamiliar or that they may not trust. Users may opt to only enable apps they trust to access particular functions or data on their smartphone, giving them greater control over the permissions that apps have on their device.

BharOS is not yet ready for production and its developers are currently focusing on closed user groups and collaborating with governmental and strategic organisations. These organisations need an OS that safeguards the transfer of sensitive information.

"There is a lot of interest not only from government sectors, but even from private sector organisations. We are moving towards working with them," Prof V Kamakoti, director, IIT Madras, said.

"As a country we are looking for an Indian mobile operating system which is secure. This essentially means it executes only authorised software on it. Even if there's a small change to the authorised software, the system should not execute it. Through such high assurances we can control malware and other privacy- and security-compromising actions. Both IIT-Madras and IIT-Madras- incubated firms are working on it for quite some time," said Kamakoti.

BharOS can be installed on any commercial handset, as long as the maker provides "the development manuals and some features," said Kamakoti.

"This is not just porting an operating system, but is about porting a complete secure stack on a handset," he added.

The launch of the new OS comes at the time when Google, whose operating system Android is in the sights of BharOS's developers, is defending itself against two antitrust lawsuits in India.

In October, Google was penalised twice in two weeks by the Competition Commission of India. One penalty pertained to its anti-competitive activities for its abusive behaviour in the Android mobile device ecosystem, while the other was related to its anti-competitive policies surrounding the Play Store.

CCI issued a fine of INR 1,338 crore ($162 million) in the Android case, and INR 936.44 crore ($113 million) in the Play Store case.

Additionally, the regulator directed that the firm lift any restrictions on device manufacturers installing software from sources other than the Google Play store.

The company is working with the regulator to change the way it promotes the app store.