StingRoy
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2009
- Messages
- 2,735
- Reaction score
- 0
Govt gives go-ahead for NATGRID
NEW DELHI: The National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) -- an integrated facility which aims to link databases of 21 departments and ministries to improve the capability to counter terror threats will soon be a reality with the Cabinet Committee on Security on Monday giving the ambitious project "in-principle" approval.
Armed with this approval, the home ministry will now start working on setting up required infrastructure for the grid with the help of technical hands from both private and public sectors employed for this purpose.
The clearance came after a detailed briefing and presentation about the project "along with safeguards and oversight mechanisms" to members of the CCS, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"CCS has given in-principle approval to the project and has instructed the ministry of home affairs to proceed accordingly," home ministry said in a statement. The project was hanging in the balance due to reservations expressed by different ministries over individual's privacy, possibility of data misuse and breach of jurisdiction of various departments which originally collect details of individuals.
NATGRID will keep and update 21 kinds of data, taking it from different departments/ministries, state police, immigration bureaus, property registrar offices and telecom service providers. All data relating to an individual's bank accounts, income tax, travel, immigration, insurance, property, credit and debit details, telephone and internet usage will be stored in the system.
This data will be shared with 11 central agencies including CBI, IB, RAW, Enforcement Directorate, NIA, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotics Control Bureau as and when required by them as "input in combating terrorism".
Sources said the home ministry, which conceived the project in 2009, finally managed to convince the CCS by presenting details of the system including "in-built safety mechanism" that would not only prevent any leak of data but also help in achieving "quick, seamless and secure access to desired information" for intelligence/enforcement agencies.
Home secretary G K Pillai, in an interview to TOI last month, had indicated that the project could be cleared in June, stating that most objections were merely "out of ignorance". Sounding confident about the clearance, he had said, "As you explain the system and show that there is gain for everybody, they will start to come around."
Many feel that if a system like NATGRID was in place, American Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley would not have had a free run before and after the 26/11 strike. They believe that Headley visited India several times and every time, he returned to the US via Pakistan or West Asia. His travels, however, did not raise suspicion because the agencies did not have a system which could pop-up his name for such unusual journey records.
NEW DELHI: The National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) -- an integrated facility which aims to link databases of 21 departments and ministries to improve the capability to counter terror threats will soon be a reality with the Cabinet Committee on Security on Monday giving the ambitious project "in-principle" approval.
Armed with this approval, the home ministry will now start working on setting up required infrastructure for the grid with the help of technical hands from both private and public sectors employed for this purpose.
The clearance came after a detailed briefing and presentation about the project "along with safeguards and oversight mechanisms" to members of the CCS, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"CCS has given in-principle approval to the project and has instructed the ministry of home affairs to proceed accordingly," home ministry said in a statement. The project was hanging in the balance due to reservations expressed by different ministries over individual's privacy, possibility of data misuse and breach of jurisdiction of various departments which originally collect details of individuals.
NATGRID will keep and update 21 kinds of data, taking it from different departments/ministries, state police, immigration bureaus, property registrar offices and telecom service providers. All data relating to an individual's bank accounts, income tax, travel, immigration, insurance, property, credit and debit details, telephone and internet usage will be stored in the system.
This data will be shared with 11 central agencies including CBI, IB, RAW, Enforcement Directorate, NIA, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotics Control Bureau as and when required by them as "input in combating terrorism".
Sources said the home ministry, which conceived the project in 2009, finally managed to convince the CCS by presenting details of the system including "in-built safety mechanism" that would not only prevent any leak of data but also help in achieving "quick, seamless and secure access to desired information" for intelligence/enforcement agencies.
Home secretary G K Pillai, in an interview to TOI last month, had indicated that the project could be cleared in June, stating that most objections were merely "out of ignorance". Sounding confident about the clearance, he had said, "As you explain the system and show that there is gain for everybody, they will start to come around."
Many feel that if a system like NATGRID was in place, American Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley would not have had a free run before and after the 26/11 strike. They believe that Headley visited India several times and every time, he returned to the US via Pakistan or West Asia. His travels, however, did not raise suspicion because the agencies did not have a system which could pop-up his name for such unusual journey records.
