India's new mass surveillance project, dubbed Centralised Monitoring System (CMS), will reportedly be fully operational by the first quarter of 2017, according to a draft Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, which is due to be reviewed by the UN in the coming months. Concerns have been raised by privacy experts over the programme potentially expanding the government's control over internet rights and freedoms.

The draft report, which has broad similarities with previous editions, also reportedly comes with completely new topics related to the state's role in controlling the internet. The new topics feature in two dedicated sub-sections titled "Fundamental Freedoms and Participation in Public and Political Life", part of the "Civil and Political Rights" framework.