• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, March 23, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Democracy at Risk

Indian Government Under Fire After Controversial New Surveillance Order

Gowhar Geelani by Gowhar Geelani
01/03/19
in Democracy at Risk, Featured, World
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP

76
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The federal government in New Delhi has come under fire from opposition parties and rights groups after issuing a controversial order on December 20 granting itself sweeping surveillance powers.

The order, issued by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ministry of Home Affairs, has stirred a political hornet’s nest in India while many rights activists ask whether India is turning into a “surveillance state.”

Ten of the country’s intelligence agencies have been granted power to intercept and monitor data, both in motion or stored in computers, and even seize devices.

The agencies have the powers of “interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer,” according to the order issued by India’s Home Secretary, Rajiv Gauba.   

In a strongly-worded tweet, the head of Congress Rahul Gandhi called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi an “insecure dictator.”

Converting India into a police state isn’t going to solve your problems, Modi Ji.

It’s only going to prove to over 1 billion Indians, what an insecure dictator you really are. https://t.co/KJhvQqwIV7

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 21, 2018

After Gandhi’s tweet, the political heat picked up pace over the federal government’s order on snooping of personal computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices of Indian citizens.

The government of India also plans to get access to encrypted data on the popular messaging app, Whatsapp.

According to the order issued under Section 69(1) of the Information Technology Act of 2000, the service provider, subscriber or person in charge of a computer device is bound to cooperate and extend all technical assistance to the intelligence, spy and security agencies.

Anyone who refuses to cooperate will have to face the law. Non-compliance can lead to imprisonment which may extend to seven years.   

The latest MHA order gives that power to the Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat, Directorate of Signal Intelligence (in Jammu and Kashmir, North-East and Assam only) and the Delhi Police Commissioner.


‘Orwell is Around the Corner’

India’s top spy and security agencies including the RA&W, CBI, IB and NIA are authorized to monitor not just calls or emails, but any data found on a computer, with the permission of India’s home secretary.

P Chidambaram, a senior Congressional leader and India’s former minister for home and finance drew comparisons to George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, “1984.”

“If anybody is going to monitor the computer, including your computer, that is the Orwellian state. George Orwell is around the corner. It is condemnable.”

Speaking exclusively to The Globe Post, Salman Soz, another Congress leader, economist and his party’s spokesperson, said that “The Modi government has a record of elevating the state above the citizenry.”

“Be it this recent order seeking to obliterate citizens’ privacy rights or the draconian demonetization that damaged economic rights and interests of Indians, Modi’s politics is about the government’s commanding heights, with him on top,” Soz argued.

“As with other strongmen, there is an element of paranoia that makes everyone a suspect unless proven otherwise. Recent election defeats … for Modi’s political party will add fuel to this fire as we get closer to the 2019 parliamentary elections.”

Predictably, many prominent human rights defenders are angry over the new order. They are describing the order as an attack on individual privacy and a brazen attempt to stifle dissent and free speech.


Kashmir Targeted

Khurram Parvez, chairperson at Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and a well-known rights activist, told The Globe Post that “sooner or later these tactics, which infringe upon the right to privacy and dignity of people used by Indian state in Kashmir, will be implemented against all the voices of dissent even within India.”

Pakistan and India claim the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir in full, but administer it in parts since the partition.

In his additional capacity as program coordinator at Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, Parvez further said the people of Kashmir have become desensitized to rights violations.

“The snooping by Indian intelligence and police is an old phenomenon faced by people of Kashmir and now it no more invites outrage from Kashmiris for they have got accustomed to it,” he said.

He is not off the mark in his assessment.

On December 21, the police in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir admitted to the Srinagar-based English newspaper, Greater Kashmir, that “there is nothing new” in the MHA guidelines because “such an exercise is already in vogue since 2000” in the disputed region.

Importantly, the top spy agencies will also have powers to seize the devices, in the name of “national security.” 


‘Snoopendra Logs In’

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India in its official statement termed the new MHA directive “an unconstitutional order.”

“This is a brazen attack on the fundamental right to privacy given to every citizen by our Constitution,” a statement issued by the CPI said.

Sitaram Yechury, one of India’s prominent leftist leaders and a member of the CPI, demanded that the Modi government should immediately rescind the order.

“The common Indian is squeezed in every possible way by this thoughtless, callous and brazen government that only serves its cronies and masters at Nagpur,” Yechuri wrote, referencing the headquarters of the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Apart from politicians and rights activists, some top newspapers also reacted sharply against the MHA decree.

For instance, The Telegraph, one of India’s popular newspapers based in Calcutta in the eastern state of West Bengal that has a reputation for writing catchy headlines, took a dig at Modi with the publication’s main headline on December 22: “Snoopendra logs in.”

In its defense, the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP said that the government was securing its national interest and that there was nothing new in the order that did not exist before.

Khalid Jehangir, a young BJP spokesperson, said that India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was securing the country’s national interest.

“The [National Security Adviser] is only securing the country’s national interest. If something is needed to secure national interest it has to be done. But as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned there is nothing new,” Jehangir told The Globe Post.

After the uproar and stiff opposition from the Congress party, communist parties and human rights defenders and activists, the MHA issued a clarification on 21 December.

“The Statutory order (S.O) dated [December 12] has been issued in accordance with rules framed in year 2009 and in vogue since then,” the MHA said in a statement, adding that “No new powers have been conferred to any of the security or law enforcement agencies.”

On December 24, a public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court of India to challenge the government’s new snooping law.

“The blanket surveillance order must be tested against the fundamental right to privacy,” the petition said.


More on the Subject

Governments worldwide are stepping up the use of online tools, in many cases inspired by China’s model, to suppress dissent and tighten their grip on power, a human rights watchdog study found in November.

The annual Freedom House study of 65 countries found global internet freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2018, amid a rise in what the group called “digital authoritarianism.”

The Freedom on the Net 2018 report found online propaganda and disinformation have increasingly “poisoned” the digital space, while the unbridled collection of personal data is infringing on privacy.

Chinese-Style ‘Digital Authoritarianism’ Grows Globally [Study]

 

Share76Tweet
Gowhar Geelani

Gowhar Geelani

Related Posts

Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy
Featured

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

by Stephen J. Lyons
August 5, 2022
India hijab ban
World

Protests Over Classroom Hijab Ban Grow in India

by Staff Writer
February 7, 2022
Climate Crisis Triggers Spike in Lightning Strike Deaths in India
Environment

Climate Crisis Triggers Spike in Lightning Strike Deaths in India

by Staff Writer
September 3, 2021
Michelle Bachelet
Democracy at Risk

United Nations Voices Alarm Following Israeli Spyware Revelation

by Staff Writer
July 19, 2021
Taj Mahal
Lifestyle

Taj Mahal Reopens as India Eases Pandemic Restrictions

by Staff Writer
June 16, 2021
Covid-19 in Brazil
Featured

No Pandemic End in Sight With Raging Outbreaks in India, Brazil

by Staff Writer
May 1, 2021
Next Post
Women gender violence Spain

Spain Moves to Extend Statute of Limitations for Child Abuse

A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC after Khashoggi went missing.

This Year Wasn't Good for Journalists. Will 2019 Be Better?

Recommended

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
participants of an artificial intelligence conference

How AI Could Upend the World Even More Than Electricity or the Internet

March 19, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
Heavily armed police inspect the area near a Jehovah's Witness church where several people have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg, northern Germany

Eight Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Hall in Germany

March 10, 2023
Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

March 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

March 6, 2023

Opinion

Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 21, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post