[Reader-list] India - Surveillance / Snooping stories: ID Card (MNIC) + V-Cop + SMS Tapping ....

[Harsh Kapoor]

India: Surveillance and Snooping  stories
Recent reports on
{a.} Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC);
{b.} The national police station inter-connect system called V-Cop;
{c}  Tapping of SMS on the cell phone networks
{d.} [Security vendors at work] Security International 2003  - India: 
Exhibit / Conference (Feb. 2003)

[From: India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch (IPARMW) # 113
12 February 2003]

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a)

Indian Express
Monday, January 13, 2003

'Mother of I-cards': 5000-cr tag
Bhavna Vij- Aurora
New Delhi, January 12: The government is already calling it the 
''mother of all cards'' and here's some idea why: it will be the most 
definitive proof of citizenship ever, overriding your passport, your 
ration card, even your prized electoral card.

It will contain your personal details, your photograph, finger 
biometry and blood group. And to ensure that each and every Indian 
carries the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC), the 
government could spend upto Rs 5,000 crore.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is so keen on the MNIC project 
that it brushed aside the opposition voiced by the Election 
Commission of India (ECI), which pointed out that electoral identity 
cards were ''good enough'' proof of identity. The EC spent Rs 1,000 
crore over a decade, yet didn't manage to cover the country's 600 
million voters. ''We suggested streamlining the process of issuing 
electoral I-cards instead since so much money had already been spent 
by both the Centre and states. There's no point spending five times 
more on a Utopian project,'' an EC official said.

But the Home ministry insists that the MNIC was required for purposes 
of national security, and that the EC's identity cards could easily 
be duplicated. ''The MNIC will provide a credible and unique 
individual identification system. The minister also drew attention to 
the disparity in the distribution of the aid. ''There are a few 
constituencies, represented by ministers and influential legislators 
of the previous government, where the number of the beneficiaries is 
in thousands while others had just a few hundred,'' he alleged.

This social welfare scheme is primarily aimed at providing sustenance 
to the most distressed sections of society. ''This scheme has been 
going on for years now,'' said Feroz Ahmad, Director, Social Welfare 
Department. ''I also came across reports that money orders were being 
returned. So, I have constituted a probe committee, engaging officers 
of the department who are not linked to this scheme,'' he added.

According to Ahmad, the government had constructed a foolproof 
mechanism to identify those who would benefit from this scheme. 
Obviously, it wasn't so foolproof. ''There is a board at the district 
level, chaired by the deputy commissioner, with our district social 
welfare officer as its member secretary. There are one or two public 
representatives who are local legislators from that district. They 
identify the people, after which our tehsil-level officers do the 
physical verification,'' he said. ''The power to identify the 
beneficiaries and the disbursement of money rests with the deputy 
commissioners. We have to see what has gone wrong and where,''he 
added.

Other sources in the welfare dartment were more forthcoming. ''It is 
impossible that the district boards would not know about this scam. 
Such siphoning of funds is only possible because of the connivance of 
the officers of the welfare department as well as those legislators 
who are part of the board,'' alleged a senior social welfare officer.

o o o

BBC
Wednesday, 8 January, 2003, 05:07 GMT
India to test-drive identity cards

The Indian Government says it will test a proposed national 
identity-card scheme in selected districts of 13 states later this 
year.

It says the scheme will help it track down illegal foreign nationals 
who pose a security risk.

The decision was taken on Tuesday at an internal security meeting of 
state police, intelligence and other officials.

The Indian Government also said it would launch a special drive to 
deport about 20 million people of Bangladeshi origin who it says are 
illegal immigrants.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani strongly supported an 
official campaign, announced last month, to deport thousands of 
Pakistanis living illegally in India.

Speaking at the security conference, Mr Advani said immediate steps 
should be taken to identify illegal residents, locate them and expel 
them.