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ICT for Homeland Security India had never been so fortunate before – being one of the rarest and fastest developing economy - having a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 8 to 9 % and blessed with 540 million plus of youth population. It has crossed $ 50 billion mark in IT exports, and has an exploding domestic telecom sector with 500 million plus mobile subscribers base, besides having millions of Indians working in different parts of the world. Given the above facts, it seems and we are very much on track towards national development. However, what is disheartening is the state of affairs in public safety and security, which is one of the essential prerequisites for maintaining and spurring the pace of growth and development. On the northern part, in J&K, the country is witnessing the unprecedented separatists demands and the whole of country now has been struggling with foreign sponsored terrorism for nearly two decades. In the heartland, India has been dogged by the internal security threat by the left wing extremism, and separatism and regionalism in the north east and other parts of the country, respectively. Moreover, having a 7500 Km of coastline, it is vulnerable to security threat from the oceans as well. Amid huge aspirations and expectations of the citizens of a speedily developing nation and the challenges across, its very critical to evaluate the preparedness of the security system, which would ensure people their right to life with dignity; right to work, fearlessly and the right to prosper. Its appalling to notice that despite the long strides made in science and technology in the country, the security agencies– the state police, central police, central para military and armed forces and the intelligence agencies have been largely untouched by these developments. After the Mumbai siege on November 26, 2008, the government has realised that its high time that it took cognisance of its preparedness and response in security, lest it is too late. Perhaps for the 14
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first time, the technological backwardness and ill-structured security set up of the country was acknowledged as the bottlenecks and a complete revamp of security system was felt as need of the hour, with substantial restructuring. As a result, National Investigation Agency was formed in 2008 to investigate the terrorism related crimes and inhuman acts perpetrated by the miscreants. Later, taking serious note of the complicated structure of the whole security set up, where in the security and the intelligence agencies report to different masters and rarely share information and intelligence with one another, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed setting up a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) which would be a single reporting place for all the agencies. Delivering the Intelligence Bureau centenary endowment lecture on December 23, 2009, P Chidambaram, Home Minister, Government of India said, “NCTC would therefore have to perform functions relating to intelligence, investigation and operations. All intelligence agencies would therefore have to be represented in the NCTC.” “Some agencies would naturally have to be brought under NCTC and what come to my mind readily are NIA, NTRO, JIC, NCRB and the NSG. The positioning of RAW, ARC and CBI would have to be re-examined and a way would have to be found to place them under the oversight of NCTC to the extent that they deal with terrorism.” In a move to address the persistent technological divide, the Ministry of Home Affairs has recently come up with projects which would create the basic infrastructure for receiving, processing/ organising, collating, analysing and sharing information across multiple levels from circle offices in any part of the country to the monitoring centres in Delhi. Some of these projects are CCTNS, Natgrid, MMP on Immigration, Visa and Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking. Significantly, these planned deployments signals a clear shift in approach in public
safety and security from a defensive to preventive and proactive approach. ICT in Policing Crime and Criminal Tracking Networking and System (CCTNS) Realising, though late, the need for having an integrated approach towards policing – the Ministry of Home Affairs has come up with a Rs 2000 crore project – Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) that is scheduled to be in place by 2011-12. CCTNS, a Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan, will facilitate storage, collation, analysis and transmission/sharing of crime and criminals related information at the police station, District, State and Central levels. “The police stations in the country are, today, virtually unconnected islands. There is no system under which one police station can talk to another directly. There is no record of crimes or criminals that can be accessed by a Station House Officer, except the manual records relating to that police station,” Chidambaram said, while speaking on the need for a technological solution like CCTNS. Earlier, to computerise and automate the police stations, Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) was deployed. However, it had its own limitations, especially in expanding the functional application and build in networking capabilities in to the system. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), being the central nodal agency for CCTNS, will look after its implementation across 35 states and Union Territories. Across the country, 14,000 plus police stations and 6,000 plus higher offices, including District Head Quarters, Range Offices, Commissionerates, State Head Quarers, etc will be automated and integrated. The proposed solutions/ modules (indicative) for the Police Department are as follows: 1. Registration, Investigation, and Prosecution Solutions
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are bundled with the BlackBerry handsets, so that a quick receipt can be delivered to the violator. The system also tells if the vehicle has been stolen or underwent any accident. Common Wealth Games 2010
2. 3. 4. 5.
Crime Prevention Solutions Reporting Solutions Collaboration Solutions Emergency Response Management Solutions 6. Citizen and External Interfacing Solutions 7. Traffic Solutions 8. Law and Order Solutions NCRB intends to engage the services of a professional software development agency (SDA) to develop core application software (CAS) that would be provided to all states. The State level Systems Integrators (SI) would configure, customize and enhance CAS according to the unique requirements of the state before deploying it, as per the Expression of Interest for CCTNS. National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) Going to the next level of technological solution, besides automating and networking the police stations, MHA has taken another significant step towards setting up a national intelligence grid (Natgrid) which would integrate data bases of the line departments that contain vital information and intelligence. Presently, each database stands alone and rarely any information transaction happens between agencies through their databases. “As a result”, Chidambaram said, “Crucial information that rests in one database is not available to another agency. In order to remedy the deficiency, the Central Government has decided to set up NATGRID. Under NATGRID, 21 sets of databases will be networked to achieve quick, seamless and secure access to desired information for 16
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intelligence/enforcement agencies. This project is likely to be completed in 18 – 24 months from now.” Captain Raghu Raman, former CEO of Mahindra Special Services Group, has been appointed as CEO, for Natgrid, viewing his experience in defence services and the expertise he has in security domain. Immigration, Visa and Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking With an objective of creating a secure and integrated service delivery framework for facilitating legitimate travellers and strengthening security, another important Mission Mode Project initiated by MHA is on Immigration, Visa and Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking. As per MHA, the scheme will network 169 missions, 77 Immigration Check Post (ICPs), 5 Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRROs) and over 600 Foreigner Registration Offices (FROs) with the Central Foreigners’ Bureau at an estimated cost of Rs.1011 crore. Given the huge gaps in the visa system, very much noticeable in the case of David Coleman Headley, the ministry has decided to complete the task within 24 months. Traffic The traffic police in cities like Bangalore and Pune are using smart phones for retrieving the previous record of traffic violations, if any, of a traffic violator, through his driving license number or a vehicle number. The smart phones are linked with central databases, through GPRS system. Wireless handy printers
TErrestrial Trunk RAdio (TETRA) – a secure government radio network - is being deployed in Delhi in preparation for hosting the Common Wealth games 2010 this year. Nearly 10000 handsets will be distributed to various agencies involved in common wealth games including the Organising Committee, Delhi Police, Fire and Emergency Services. Moreover, the government of NCT of Delhi is also deploying Internet Protocol (IP) based Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras which would cover up to 5kms of area, in addition to 2000 closed circuit cameras (CCTV) for better surveillance of Delhi. Gaps The planned technological intervention, enlisted above, has the potential to transform the way the security agencies work in the country and drift the system towards citizen centric form of governance. Notwithstanding, there are non-technological issues that pose a serious challenge to this transformation. Constitutionally, one of the main lacuna found in the police system is still the prevalence of the Police Act 1861 and the vulnerability of police to political interference. No actions have been taken on the recommendations of National Police Commission (1981) and Supreme Court Directives issued in 2006 towards Police reforms. Supreme. Also, the Police reforms cannot be looked in isolation from the judicial reforms. Both have to go hand in hand to ensure good governance. The capacity building of the police force is another major issue which has been a long due on the Centre and the states governments to be addressed. CCTNS project has a dedicated module on Police training and capacity building, but only the time can tell if the governments will perform. Moreover, there is an acute shortage of 400,000 Policemen across the country, that needs to be filled in for better day to day policing that really impacts the common man. A billion plus citizenry is looking towards its government – for a more comprehensive and holistic approach to ensure the homeland security. \\ Pratap Vikram Singh