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<ul><li><keyword id="6577366" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kimbho-app">Kimbho app</keyword> was launched under the <keyword id="6356684" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="patanjali">Patanjali</keyword> banner about a week ago. </li><li>It was soon pulled from the Play Store after its security flaws were exposed.</li><li>Acharya <keyword id="360666" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Balkrishna">Balkrishna</keyword>, co-founder of Patanjali, says that the app will be available again once it has been fixed.</li></ul>An Indian billionaire, Acharya Balkrishna and his partner, the celebrity yoga guru, <keyword id="6355107" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Baba-Ramdev">Baba Ramdev</keyword> have been creating waves with their new messaging app, Kimbho. And, they have no plans of giving up even after having to pull the app from the Play Store after its initial launch. In an interview with <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-08/a-billionaire-and-a-yogi-team-up-on-a-mobile-app-no-not-a-joke">Bloomberg</a>, Balkrishna stated that the app won’t be available again until it’s been properly vetted by a team of hacking experts and security specialists. He reiterated that Kimbho would likely make a return once all the security and privacy issues have been addressed. But why messaging? The question really is, why not? Between the two of them, that is Balkrishna and Baba Ramdev, they’ve already built a business empire that has an annual <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/acharya-balkrishna/">revenue</a> stream of ₹111.41 billion ($1.65 billion). Propagating ‘swadeshi’ goods, Patanjali Ayurved claims to sell only home-grown and all-natural products. So, when there’s an app like <keyword id="790242" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</keyword> dominating in India but isn’t of Indian origin, why not build something local? It’s not surprising that in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that Balkrishna would want to build a messaging app that keeps user’s data within India. Not to mention that currently, India is the world’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-01/india-s-recovering-economy-puts-june-rate-increase-on-table">fastest</a> growing economy with a <a href="https://www.livepopulation.com/country/india.html">consumer</a> base of 1.3 billion. Kimbho a.k.a. What’s up? Building on the hype of Patanjali’s Samriddhi Swadeshi SIM cards, the Kimbho app managed to attract 10,000 <a href="https://yourstory.com/2018/05/patanjalis-whatsapp-rival-kimbho-disappears-app-stores-day/">installs</a> within 24 hours of being announced. And, that’s pretty much when things got weird. First, a French security researcher who’s known for pointing out the security flaws with India’s government portals like the Aadhar App, pointed out how Kimbho basically has <a href="https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/apps/baba-ramdev-s-kimbho-chat-app-is-accused-of-being-unsafe-copy-of-another-app-disappears-346491.html">no security</a> whatsoever. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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This was followed by a barrage of tweets claiming how inconsistent the app was and how the interface, and even the content, was directly <a href="https://beebom.com/patanjali-kimbho-app-fake/">copied</a> from another app called Bolo. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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And then came the disappearing act. The official statement is that the ‘servers are being upgraded’. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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That being said, speculations also point towards Apple or Google being responsible since Kimbho was essentially trying to become the ‘swadeshi’ WhatsApp. Not that they were trying to hide it. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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It’s hardly been a week since these events unfolded and there’s already a <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/technology/kimbho-saga-fake-apps-continue-to-thrive-pose-threat-2584935.html">horde</a> of <keyword id="1019131" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fake-apps">fake apps</keyword> in the Play Store trying to emulate Baba Ramdev’s messaging app. Forget the security issues discovered by <a href="https://yourstory.com/2018/05/patanjalis-whatsapp-rival-kimbho-disappears-app-stores-day/">Baptiste Robert</a>, the fake ones pose a greater threat posing as potential malware and ground for cyber attacks. 
	
	
	
	
	











	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
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Here’s what’s up with Kimbho, the Indian messaging app that wants to take on WhatsApp

<ul><li>The <keyword id="44734" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Government">Indian government</keyword> is planning to build its own ‘Sarkari’ version of the social messaging app, <keyword id="790242" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhatsApp">WhatsApp</keyword> and the email service, <keyword id="51500" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gmail">Gmail</keyword>. </li><li>Amid geopolitical developments, like the blacklisting of Huawei and the proposed data localisation in India’s Personal Data Protection BIll, the Indian government feels that it must take steps to protect itself. </li><li>The French government also launched its own in-house version of WhatsApp earlier this year called Tchap. </li></ul>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-ends-ties-with-huawei-no-more-youtube-gmail-maps-play-store/articleshow/69408135.cms">blacklisting of Huawei</a> by the US administration has the Indian government thinking that third party apps shouldn’t be used for official communication. A senior official told the<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/government-plans-whatsapp-like-app-for-official-communication/articleshow/69966923.cms?from=mdr"> Economic Times</a>, “Tomorrow, if the US finds us unreliable for some reason, all they need to do is ask their companies to slow down networks in India and everything here will come to a standstill. We are vulnerable and we must take steps to cover that.” The government wants to insulate itself from any <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-exports-to-be-affected-most-by-us-withdrawal-of-trade-benefits/articleshow/69631996.cms">geopolitical developments</a> that could leave it vulnerable to global powers in the future. An in-house homegrown communication network would mean that the Indian government would have complete control instead of depending on Facebook when using WhatsApp or Google for Gmail. ‘Sarkari’ WhatsApp The basic idea to have a system in place that can replace <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/WhatsApp-was-hacked-and-attackers-installed-spyware-on-peoples-phones/articleshow/69322108.cms?utm_source=TOInewHP_TILwidget&amp;utm_medium=ABtest&amp;utm_campaign=TOInewHP?utm_source=TOInewHP_TILwidget&amp;utm_medium=ABtest&amp;utm_campaign=TOInewHP">WhatsApp</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-is-scanning-your-gmail-inbox-to-keep-a-detailed-list-of-your-purchases-and-theres-no-easy-way-to-erase-it/articleshow/69381296.cms">Gmail</a>. All government communication would occur over this system and all the data will be stored locally. The aim is not to have an alternate system but to bring all official government business onto a secure network. Current employees and government officials will reportedly be discouraged from using WhatsApp and Gmail for any kind of work-related discussions. India’s proposed data localisation clause in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-personal-data-protection-bill-global-ceo-concerns/articleshow/68389336.cms">Personal Data Protection Bill</a> hasn’t gone down well with the US government. It has ‘red flagged’ the proposal and its guidelines, according to a government official who spoke to ET. “American companies are resisting our efforts of data localisation. These, coupled with the recent ban on Huawei, means the Americans can cripple us anytime they decide to,” he said. End-to-end encryption still vulnerable One could argue that end-to-end encryption of WhatsApp — and other messenger apps like <a href="http://www1.m.businessinsider.in/messaging-app-telegram-has-blocked-78-channels-that-isis-used-to-distribute-propaganda/articleshow/49837577.cms">Telegram</a> or even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-gave-a-gutsy-defence-of-encryption-but-admitted-it-helps-bad-people-to-do-bad-things/articleshow/64077709.cms">Facebook Messenger</a> — secure the information that’s exchanged on the platforms. But numerous examples already show how even these ‘secure’ networks can be hacked. Just earlier this year, it was found that WhatsApp had become the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-spyware-hack-questioned-by-indian-government/articleshow/69376429.cms">victim of a data breach</a> by an Israeli cyber surveillance company —<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/miscellaneous/meet-the-shadowy-security-firm-from-israel-whose-technology-is-at-the-heart-of-the-massive-whatsapp-hack/slidelist/69331721.cms"> the NSO group</a>. Even the UK's intelligence agency, GCHQ, wanted WhatsApp to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/apple-and-whatsapp-are-trying-to-fight-off-plans-from-british-spies-to-ghost-their-way-into-your-encrypted-messages/articleshow/69581782.cms">install a back door</a> so that they could spy on messages being shared on the app. The proposal was eventually shunned by global tech giants as a ‘serious threat to cyber security’ illustrating how end-to-end encryption might not be enough for government communication, which often includes sensitive information. Earlier this year, the French government embarked on a similar mission to create their own in-house version of WhatsApp — <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.gouv.tchap.a&amp;hl=en_IN">Tchap</a>. All the communication — formal and informal — between French government agencies, employees and authorised non-government players now goes through Tchap’s internal servers. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-fingerprint-messages-to-avoid-encryption-issues-with-indian-government/articleshow/69836927.cms">Indian government has found a way to trace WhatsApp messages without breaking encryption</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-whats-up-with-kimbho-the-indian-messaging-app-that-wants-to-take-on-whatsapp/articleshow/64506716.cms">Here’s what’s up with Kimbho, the Indian messaging app that wants to take on WhatsApp</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-what-whatsapp-india-head-will-take-on-as-it-sets-out-to-establish-its-first-full-country-team/articleshow/66751310.cms">Here's what WhatsApp India head will take on as it sets out to establish its first full country team</a>

The Indian government wants to build its own WhatsApp for official communication

<ul><li>WhatsApp will play a crucial role in the Indian general <keyword id="3383007" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Election-2019">election 2019</keyword>.</li><li>Aside from misinformation, the primary concern is that WhatsApp groups will be used to exploit personal for political gain.</li><li>Users in rural India, in particular, have increased since the last general election in 2014. </li></ul>As the world’s largest democratic exercise kicks off in India, the influence of social media on general election in 2019 may be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/general-elections-2019-election-commission-to-closely-monitor-social-media-regulate-all-political-ads/articleshow/68351473.cms">even bigger</a> than it was in 2014. WhatsApp, in particular, is a concern considering that India is its largest market with over 200 million monthly active users and 52% of smartphone users reported using it as a news source in one week. 
 
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 Not only does that usage outrank <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/snapchat-partners-with-tinder-to-avoid-facebook-like-catastrophe/articleshow/68735964.cms">Snapchat</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-is-reportedly-bringing-in-local-it-firms-to-moderate-fake-news-in-india/articleshow/67344852.cms">Facebook</a> Messenger, but it’s also much higher <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-03/India_DNR_FINAL.pdf">compared</a> to other countries around the world as per the India Digital News Report by Reuters. Officials from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/bjps-5-year-challenge-follows-facebooks-10-year-challenge/articleshow/67586112.cms">Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)</a> have even <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/book-extract/india-whatsapp-election">dubbed</a> the upcoming elections as the ‘WhatsApp Elections’. The issue with ‘<keyword id="2479020" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fake-news">fake news</keyword>’ on WhatsApp In a country where people generally <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-has-more-fake-news-than-any-other-country-in-the-world-survey/articleshow/67868418.cms">don’t trust</a> the news anyway, the increase in the circulation of fake news has 57% of Indians are concerned about what is real and what is fake on the internet. Even their reasons for being concerned range from facts being manipulated to suit a particular agenda to unwittingly being duped by satire content. 
 
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 Not only is the spread of misinformation a concern, there’s also the burgeoning issue of personal data being exploited for political ends — an issue that has only gotten more grave after the Cambridge Analytica data breach <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-was-warned-about-cambridge-analytica-issues-months-earlier-than-previously-disclosed/articleshow/68529933.cms">scandal</a> took place in 2018 where data was used to influence the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election. Last year, BBC Research found that nationalism was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nationalism-main-causes-of-fake-news-in-india/articleshow/66591404.cms">driving force</a> behind a lot of the fake news in India. Rather than verify facts, content sharers assert that they’re only bringing the ‘right version’ of the story into the light. BJP <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjp-plans-a-whatsapp-campaign-for-2019-lok-sabha-election/story-lHQBYbxwXHaChc7Akk6hcI.html">reportedly</a> assigned some 900,000 people to the specific task of localised WhatsApp campaigning. Amit Shah, the party president, apparently asked state units to compile a list of voters who have smartphones for every polling station. Congress, the opposing party, is focusing on Facebook to uploading their campaign content but even for them, distribution is <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/advertising/battling-bjps-mainbhichowkidar-congress-to-enter-social-media-campaign-arena-next-week/articleshow/68506320.cms?from=mdr">dependant</a> on WhatsApp. Rural India More than half of the Indian population resides in rural India, And, since 2014, the usage of WhatsApp by rural India has boomed in particular alongside more and more people coming online. The Digital Empowerment Foundation <a href="http://defindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/WhatsApp-Rural-Study_V3.pdf">found</a> that nearly half of the respondents report that almost everyone in their village is a WhatsApp user. 
 
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 The issue is not that more people are online but that increased usage of WhatsApp has made it a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/India-threatens-WhatsApp-with-legal-action-after-hoaxes-on-the-app-led-to-lynchings/articleshow/65062390.cms">tempting 
 
platform</a> to disseminate misinformation, even though most rural users believe that other platforms are more trustworthy as a news source. 
 
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 That being said not many question the sender of forwarded messages and one fourth of users even pass along forwards after reading them. 
 
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 Even so, the majority of the rural population doesn’t trust information received via WhatsApp too easily. <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype=""><cdata><![CDATA[
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 Despite WhatsApp putting in a 5 message <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-restricts-message-forwarding-in-an-attempt-to-reduce-fake-news-lynchings/articleshow/65073335.cms">restriction</a> on forwards and running a number of awareness <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-has-a-new-radio-campaign-to-counter-fake-news-in-india/articleshow/65606213.cms">campaigns</a> around fake news, the issue remains that due their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-government-wants-to-tap-into-your-whatsapp-messages-other-social-media/articleshow/64979461.cms">end-to-end encryption</a> of messages it’s difficult to find out where a message may have originated. A lot of the time, the information isn’t even shard by official political party accounts, but unofficial groups that have an indirect political affiliation. They also recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-facebook-put-up-more-defensive-measures-in-the-face-of-increasing-fake-news/articleshow/68704503.cms">introduced</a> their own tipline called Checkpoint that can let users know if a particular piece of news is true, false, misleading or disputed. Technically, it’s a research project to ‘study the phenomenon of misinformation’ so not everyone will get a response. All in all, despite all the new rules, experts believe that they will have a <a href="http://time.com/5512032/whatsapp-india-election-2019/">negligible effect</a> on the group chats that already exist on the platform where propaganda of all colours flourish, often, at the expense of facts. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/facebook-twitter-instagram-whatsapp-2019-elections-india/articleshow/68264695.cms">Social networking sites may have more to answer for ahead of the elections in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-group-new-feature-asks-for-user-consent/articleshow/68708123.cms">Finally, WhatsApp will demand ‘consent’ before adding people to random groups</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-whats-up-with-kimbho-the-indian-messaging-app-that-wants-to-take-on-whatsapp/articleshow/64506716.cms">Here’s what’s up with Kimbho, the Indian messaging app that wants to take on WhatsApp</a>

One messaging app is affecting voter opinions in India more than other media put together

(Eds: Updates with Ayush Ministry statement) Haridwar/New Delhi, Jun 23 () Yoga guru Ramdev's herbal medicine company Patanjali Ayurved on Tuesday claimed to have discovered a medicine that could cure coronavirus in just seven days - a claim that the Ayush Ministry scoffed at by seeking stopping of advertisements for the drug. While Ramdev claimed that Ayurved-based 'Coronil and Swasari' medicine have shown 100 per cent favourable results during clinical trials on COVID-19 infected patients except those on a life support system, the Ayush Ministry sought from the company detailed report on composition, testing and other data of the drugs. The ministry also used powers under a 1954 law to ask the firm to "stop advertising/publicizing" claims of corona cure drug until the issue is examined by it. A government notification bars companies from advertising a cure without government approval. But it wasn't immediately clear if the drug can still be sold. Talking to , Ramdev said the medicines have been developed by Patanjali Research Center, Haridwar and privately-owned National Institute of Medical Science, Jaipur following all protocols with clinically controlled trial-based evidence. "Patanjali first conducted clinical case study and conducted clinical control trials following all protocols of drug discovery," he said. Sidestepping questions on the drug being approved by government agencies such as ICMR, Ramdev said clinical controlled study of these medicines was done in several cities including Delhi, Ahmedabad and Meerut and the RCT (Randomized Clinical Trial) controlled with placebo was conducted at Jaipur-based National Institute of Medical Sciences &amp; Research. "This was done after getting approval from Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) and all other required formalities," he said. "We have followed all the parameters set up by modern science for such clinical trials." Reacting to the announcement, the Ministry of Ayush issued a statement saying, "Facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known" to it. "Patanjali Ayurved Ltd has been asked to provide at the earliest details of the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for COVID treatment; site(s)/hospital(s), where the research study was conducted for COVID-19; protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and results data of the study (ies) and stop advertising/publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined," the ministry statement said. The ministry also asked the concerned State Licensing Authority of Uttarakhand Government to provide copies of license and product approval details of the Ayurvedic medicines being claimed for the treatment of COVID -19. Under the ministry's guidelines for drug development of ayurvedic formulations, state licensing authority grants licenses for manufacturing any Ayurvedic, Siddha or Unani medicine. Ramdev at a launch press conference in Haridwar, where his company is based, claimed that his ayurvedic drugs have shown 100 per cent favourable results during the clinical trial. "We conducted a clinical case study and clinical controlled trial, and found 69 per cent patients recovered in 3 days and 100 patients recovered in 7 days," he said. According to him, this medicine is useful for prevention from COVID-19 and also for treatment. Claiming that during the trial other complications of patients were also cured and their critical parameters were normalised, he said no infected patient lost his life during the trial. Patanjali, he said, had started to work on corona medicines in December 2019. The Corona kit, priced at Rs 545, would be available pan India within a week. The kit will have medicines for 30 days. Ramdev said the medicines can be ordered online through a mobile app from next Monday. The COVID-19 therapy suggested by Patanjali is applicable for adults ranging between 15-80 years of age whereas children are advised to take half the dosage prescribed for adults. Patanjali's anti-COVID tablet, Divya Coronil Tablet consists of Giloy, Tulsi and Ashwagandha and is prescribed to be taken thrice a day with hot water 30 minutes after breakfast, lunch and dinner. Medical experts, however, were not convinced by the claims. Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha, Head of the department and senior consultant, Pulmonology, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, said physiologically it is quite impossible that there is any medicine which can finish the viral load from the body in 5-7 days. "These claims can be very harmful because people, instead of taking actual medical help, may start rushing to these kinds of claims which have no proven clinical trial," he told . Instead of taking actual medical help, opting for a "desi nuskha" kind of a thing is just going to result in loss of precious time in curing the disease, Jha said. Noted city-based lung surgeon Dr Arvind Kumar said only a proper clinical trial can prove the efficacy of the medicine. Haridwar-based Patanjali group has an estimated turnover of around Rs 10,500 crore. It had acquired debt-ridden Ruchi Soya in a corporate insolvency resolution process for around Rs 4,350 crore after competing with Adani Group. The group is also known for venturing in uncharted areas as it had in August 2018 launched a messaging app 'Kimbho', which could not take off and is now defunct. ALM KRH ANZ MR

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Here’s what’s up with Kimbho, the Indian messaging app that wants to take on WhatsApp

Prabhjote Gill

The Indian government wants to build its own WhatsApp for official communication

Prabhjote Gill

One messaging app is affecting voter opinions in India more than other media put together

Prabhjote Gill

Ramdev's Patanjali claims to have COVID-19 medicine; Ayush Ministry frowns

PTI

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