Textiles Ministry Holds Special Campaign 6 Cyber Workshops

The Ministry of Textiles held two training workshops on 15 October 2026 as part of Special Campaign 6, the government's drive for cleaner offices and better disposal of waste records and material. One workshop dealt with cyber security and secure digital disposal and the other with e-waste management. More than 85 officials took part, among them all the Nodal Officers of the ministry.

What the campaign is for

Special Campaigns are run across central ministries to clear pending matters, dispose of files and scrap, and tidy up office space. This edition carried the work into two newer areas: the safe handling of digital information and the correct disposal of electronic equipment that has gone out of use.

The cyber security session

Officials and staff were taken through the kinds of attacks now in circulation. The session covered phishing, malware, fraudulent messages sent over messaging applications and the so-called digital arrest frauds, in which a caller poses as a police or investigating officer to frighten a victim into paying. Participants were told how to spot a suspicious email, link, attachment or message, in particular one that pretends to come from a known contact or that asks for money, a one-time password (OTP) or personal details.

The advice given

• Do not click on unknown links or download files that have not been verified.
• Do not share sensitive information over digital channels.
• Check whether a doubtful message is genuine before acting on it.
• Keep up basic cyber hygiene and stay alert.
• Report any cyber incident at once, so that official and personal information stays protected.

The e-waste session

The second workshop explained what careless disposal of electronic waste does to the environment. Officials were told that it contaminates soil and water and lets hazardous substances escape, which can put both human health and ecosystems at risk. The session then set out the other side of the ledger: reuse, repair and recycling of electronic equipment conserve resources, recover materials of value, cut the demand for fresh raw material and reduce how much waste ends up in landfills.

How equipment must be disposed of

Staff were made aware that obsolete electronic and electrical equipment has to be segregated properly, handled safely and sent for disposal only through authorised channels, in keeping with the e-waste management rules in force. The sessions urged the adoption of sustainable office practices, making the point that responsible disposal supports environmental protection, efficient use of resources and the wider shift to a circular economy, in which material is kept in use instead of being thrown away.