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Subject: Internal Security

  • Trilateral Exercise ‘Dosti’

    The 15th edition of the biennial trilateral coast guard exercise ‘Dosti’ involving India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka is underway in the Maldives.

    Exercise Dosti

    • The aim of this exercise is to further fortify the friendship, enhance mutual operational capability, and exercise interoperability and to build cooperation.
    • Both the Maldives and Sri Lanka are of strategic importance to New Delhi and to its maritime security interests.
    • 2021 marks 30 years since these exercises were first launched.

    Significance of the exercise

    • These exercises help during joint operations and missions undertaken by countries and also help enhance interoperability.
    • Although piracy is not a major issue in this part of the Indian ocean, these kinds of exercises also help coast guards with training for possibilities.
    • These exercises help develop a better understanding of the other nation’s coast guard operations and how to enhance coordination during different kinds of missions.

    What it involves

    • The scope of these exercises are wide-ranging.
    • India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have agreed to work on what they called the “four pillars” of security cooperation.
    • These involved the areas of marine security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism and cyber security.

     

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  • Facial Recognition Technology

    Context

    According to police officials, more than six lakh CCTV cameras have already been deployed in the city, with the very real possibility that this number will continue to increase. These all-pervasive cameras will soon be connected in a real-time network managed by Hyderabad’s Command and Control Centre.

    Facial Recognition

    It is a biometric technology that uses distinctive features of the face to identify and distinguish an individual. Over a period of almost 6 decades, it has evolved in many ways- from looking at 3D contours of a face to recognizing skin patterns.

    How does it work?

    • The facial recognition system works primarily by capturing the face & its features through the camera and then using various kinds of software to reconstruct those features.
    • The captured face along with its features is stored into a database, which can be integrated with any kind of software that may be used for security purposes, banking services, etc.
    • In the Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS), the large database (containing photos and videos of peoples’ faces) is used to match and identify the person. The image of an unidentified person, taken from CCTV footage, is compared to the existing database using Artificial Intelligence technology, for pattern-finding and matching.

    What are the uses?

    • Authentication: It is used for identification and authentication purposes with a success rate of almost 75%.
      • For instance, the NCRB’s Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) managing crime data for police, use automated facial recognition to identify criminals, missing people, and unidentified dead bodies, as well as for “crime prevention”.
      • The project is aimed at being compatible with other biometrics such as iris and fingerprints.
      • The integration of fingerprint databases, face recognition software and iris scans will massively boost the police department’s crime investigation capabilities.
    • Force Multiplier: In India, where there are just 144 constables per 1 lakh citizens, this can act as a force multiplier. It neither requires too much manpower nor regular up-gradation. Hence, this technology coupled with the present manpower in place can act as a game-changer.
    • Varied applications: It is increasingly being used for everything from unlocking mobile phones to validating the identity, from auto-tagging of digital photos to finding missing persons, and from targeted advertising to law enforcement.

    Opposition to facial recognition technologies

    • How it works: Facial recognition technology identifies the distinctive features of a person’s face to create a biometric map, which an algorithm then matches to possible individuals.
    • The system searches across databases of millions of images scraped without knowledge or consent and often fails.
    • Severe scrutiny: The use of facial recognition technology is already under severe scrutiny around the world, with some jurisdictions, including Belgium and Luxembourg, have already banned its use.
    • Ban by EU: The European Union is in the process of finalizing and passing one of the most comprehensive bans on facial recognition technology yet, while in the United States, multiple cities- and state-level bans and moratoria have been imposed.
    • More than 200 organizations have called for a global ban on the use of biometric surveillance technologies that enable mass and discriminatory surveillance, while even Facebook announced that it would be shutting down its facial recognition program.

    Issues with the use of facial recognition technologies in India

    • Violation of the right to privacy: The right to privacy was recognized as a fundamental right, included under the right to life and liberty by the Supreme Court of India in 2017.
    • Absence of legal framework: Without a law in place to regulate data collection and to act as an oversight mechanism, valid concerns about privacy and other rights violations continue to arise.
    • High Infrastructural Costs: Technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are costly to implement. The size of stored information is extremely large and requires huge network & data storage facilities, which are currently not available in India.
    • Image Collection: The sources from which images will be collected to create a repository/database need to be known.
    • The concern of Data Leakage: In today’s world of cybercrime, it is important to put appropriate safeguards in place in order to ensure the integrity of the repository/database, so that it doesn’t leak out the information and is not privatized or monetized.
    • Required Expertise: Experts are needed to verify and authenticate data collected before storing them who should be provided proper training to protect & avoid abuse and misuse of the collected data & database.
    • Reliability & Authenticity: As the data collected may be used in the court of law during the course of a criminal trial, the reliability and the admissibility of the data along with standards and procedures followed would be taken into consideration. Hence, the authenticity of the data is crucial.
    • Huge amounts of public money are being spent on these technologies with no evidence of their effectiveness, further squandering precious public funds.

    The National Automated Facial Recognition System

    • To empower the Indian police with information technology, India approved the implementation of the National Automated Facial Recognition System (NAFRS).
    • On its implementation, it will function as a national-level search platform that will use facial recognition technology.
    • It will help to facilitate investigation of crime or for identifying a person of interest regardless of face mask, makeup, plastic surgery, beard, or hair extension.

    Way Forward

    • Save the time of police: This is a compare and contrast tool meant for identification based on existing information. The process of identification can be accelerated by its use.
    • Proper Legal safeguards are a must: With proper safeguards, this technology is much needed for India. Having the biggest IT workforce in the world, state-of-the-art technology can act as a game-changer for India.
    • Need to learn from Global examples: Police departments in London are under pressure to put a complete end to the use of facial recognition systems following evidence of discrimination and inefficiency.
      • Hence, it is necessary to make use of such technology, but it cannot act as the silver bullet for all the police reforms that we need.

    Conclusion

    Government programs such as Safe City, Smart City, and the Nirbhaya Fund have been utilized to bankroll these projects — yet the human rights violations that occur as a result of their use far outweigh any purported benefit that these technologies claim to provide.

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  • International law as a means to advance national security interests

    Context

    Military experts, international relations academics, and practitioners like retired diplomats dominate the debates on global security in India. International lawyers are largely absent in these debates despite security issues being placed within the framework of international law.

    Using international law to further security interests

    In recent times, several examples demonstrate India’s failure to use an international law-friendly vocabulary to articulate its security interests.

    • First, India struck the terror camps in Pakistan in February 2019, after the Pulwama attack India did not invoke the right to self-defence; rather, it relied on a contested doctrine of ‘non-military pre-emptive action’.
    • Second, after the Pulwama attack, India decided to suspend the most favoured nation (MFN) status of Pakistan.
    • Under international law contained in the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, countries can deviate from their MFN obligations on grounds of national security.
    • Instead of suspending the MFN obligation towards Pakistan along these lines, India used Section 8A(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, to increase customs duties on all Pakistani products to 200%.
    • The notification on this decision did not even mention ‘national security’.
    • Third, India wishes to deport the Rohingya refugees who, it argues, pose a security threat.
    • India’s argument to justify this deportation is that it is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention.
    • This is a weak argument since India is bound by the principle of non-refoulment.
    • National security is one of the exceptions to the non-refoulment principle in international refugee law.
    • If India wishes to deport the Rohingya, it should develop a case on these lines showing how they constitute a national security threat.
    • Fourth, to put pressure on the Taliban regime to serve India’s interest, India has rarely used international law.
    •  India could have made a case for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) using its implied powers under international law to temporarily suspend Afghanistan from SAARC’s membership.

    Reasons for international law remaining at the margins

    • First, there is marginal involvement of international lawyers in foreign policymaking.
    • The Legal and Treaties Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, which advises the government on international law matters, is both understaffed and largely ignored on policy matters.
    • Second, apart from the External Affairs Ministry, there are several other Ministries like Commerce and Finance that also deal with different facets of international law.
    • They have negligible expertise in international law.
    • Third, there has been systemic neglect of the study of international law.
    • Fourth, many of the outstanding international law scholars that India has produced prefer to converse with domain experts only.

    Way forward

    • If India wishes to emerge as a global power, it has to make use of ‘lawfare’ i.e., use law as a weapon of national security.
    • To mainstream international law in foreign policymaking, India should invest massively in building its capacity on international law.

    Conclusion

    Notwithstanding the central role that international law plays in security matters, India has failed to fully appreciate the usage of international law to advance its national security interests.

     

    Back2Basics: Non-refoulement principle

    • The principle of non-refoulement constitutes the cornerstone of international refugee protection.
    • It is enshrined in Article 33 of the 1951 Convention, which is also binding on States Party to the 1967 Protocol.
    • Article 33(1) of the 1951 Convention provides:

    “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his [or her] life or freedom would be threatened on account of his [or her] race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

  • [pib] CERT-In authorized as CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)

    CERT-In has partnered with the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) Program and has been authorized as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) for vulnerabilities impacting all products designed, developed and manufactured in India.

    What is CVE Program?

    • CVE is an international, community-based effort and relies on the community to discover vulnerabilities.
    • The vulnerabilities are discovered then assigned and published to the CVE List.
    • Information technology and cybersecurity professionals use CVE Records to ensure they are discussing the same issue, and to coordinate their efforts to prioritize and address the vulnerabilities.
    • Partners publish CVE Records to communicate consistent descriptions of vulnerabilities.

    Mission of the Program

    • The mission of the CVE Program is to identify, define, and catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
    • The vulnerabilities are discovered then assigned and published by organizations from around the world that have partnered with the CVE Program.

    Who are the CNAs?

    • CNAs are organizations responsible for the regular assignment of CVE IDs to vulnerabilities, and for creating and publishing information about the Vulnerability in the associated CVE Record.
    • The CVE List is built by CVE Numbering Authorities (CNAs).
    • Every CVE Record added to the list is assigned by a CNA.
    • The CVE Records published in the catalog enable program stakeholders to rapidly discover and correlate vulnerability information used to protect systems against attacks.
    • Each CNA has a specific Scope of responsibility for vulnerability identification and publishing.

    Back2Basics: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN)

    • CERT-IN is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
    • It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. It strengthens the security-related defense of the Indian Internet domain.
    • It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under the Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

     

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  • National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCSC)

    There are cybersecurity organisations in the country but no central body responsible for safety in the online space said the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC).

    National Cyber Coordination Centre

    Headed by National Cyber Security Coordinator:  Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant (Retd.)

    Objective: To help the country deal with malicious cyber-activities by acting as an Internet traffic monitoring entity that can fend off domestic or international attacks

    • The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) is an operational cybersecurity and e-surveillance agency in India.
    • It is jurisdictionally under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
    • It coordinates with multiple security and surveillance agencies as well as with CERT-In of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
    • Components of the NCCC include a cybercrime prevention strategy, cybercrime investigation training and review of outdated laws.

    Functions

    • It will be India’s first layer for cyber threat monitoring and all communication with government and private service providers would be through this body only.
    • The NCCC will be in virtual contact with the control room of all ISPs to scan traffic within the country, flowing at the point of entry and exit, including the international gateway.

    Cyber-security bottlenecks in India

    • India has no dedicated Cyber-security regulation and is also not well prepared to deal with cyberwarfare.
    • India has formulated the National Cyber Security Policy 2013 which is not yet implemented.
    • NCCC has been classified to be a project of the Indian government without a legal framework, which may be counterproductive as it may violate civil liberties and human rights.
    • Some have expressed concern that the NCCC could encroach on Indian citizens’ privacy and civil liberties, given the lack of explicit privacy laws in the country.

    Back2Basics: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN)

    • CERT-IN is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
    • It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. It strengthens the security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
    • It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under the Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

     

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  • The poor conditions of protectors

    Context

    In memory of these and other colleagues killed, all the police forces of the State and Centre observe October 21 as Police Commemoration Day.

    Casualties among the police forces

    • As the CRPF is deployed in the highly disturbed areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and the Left-Wing Extremist-affected States, the highest casualties (82) were seen in this force.
    • The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the border from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh at forbidding heights, lost 54 of its personnel.
    • The Border Security Force lost 47 personnel.
    • Among the State Police forces, Chhattisgarh, which is combating the Maoist menace, lost the most personnel (32) followed by J&K (17) and Karnataka (17).

    Neglect of the police and paramilitary personnels

    • They get paid low salaries, have a poor quality of life and are often deprived of basic facilities.
    • The morale of the paramilitary personnel is not of the desired level.
    • Those who cleared recruitment exams in 2003 but joined the force in 2004 or later are not eligible for pension under the old norms.
    • Canteen and medical facilities are dismal.
    • Items sold through the Central Police Canteens are not exempted from GST.
    • There are notable variations in the ex-gratia amounts given to the next of kin of the police who are killed.
    • The Centre and the States need to bring about uniformity in the amount paid.
    • Care should be taken to ensure that the next of kin are not deprived of a decent living.
    • Payments from the public exchequer need to be made judiciously.

    Conclusion

    It is high time the government takes note of the grievances of the police and paramilitary personnel and not let their sacrifices go in vain.

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  • Pakistan, Turkey on FATF greylist

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept Pakistan on the grey list yet again since 2018. The FATF also announced the ‘greylisting’ of Jordan, Mali and Turkey.

    What is the FATF?

    • FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
    • The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
    • It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
    • As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.

    India and FATF

    • India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership.
    • On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.
    • The EAG (Eurasian Group) is a regional body comprising nine countries: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

    What is the role of FATF?

    • Watchdog on terror financing: The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
    • Recommendation against financial crimes: The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.

    What is the Black List and the Grey List?

    • Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
    • Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.

    Consequences of being in the FATF grey list:

    • Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
    • Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
    • Trade sanctions: Reduction in international trade
    • International boycott

    Pakistan and FATF

     

    • Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
    • It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
    • FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.

     

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  • Extending BSF’s powers won’t resolve policing problems, security threats

    Context

    The Union home ministry’s order to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Forces (BSF) has caused furore.

    Justification for the order

    • Increased threats: The Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan has revived serious threats of cross-border infiltration from Pakistan, while China, our other tense neighbour, has been increasingly aggressive over the past year.
    • Change in the jurisdiction: The BSF’s powers have not altered, only its jurisdiction has changed from 15 to 50 kilometres and that is for the purposes of uniformity.

    Issues raised by the order

    • Lack of clarity: That India is facing heightened security threats is undeniable.
    • What is unclear is how the BSF’s extended jurisdiction helps counter these threats.
    • The recent drug seizures in Gujarat’s Adani port were successfully conducted by the customs department and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence — not by the BSF, despite their jurisdiction depth of 80 kilometres in the state.
    • No need for uniformity: In the security context, arguments about uniformity are patently absurd.
    • There is no uniformity between coastal smuggling in Gujarat, cross-border infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir, smuggling and drone drops in Punjab.
    • Risk of civilian resentment: The order raises the risk of civilian resentment, even clashes, given that the BSF is not trained to operate in residential and/or market areas, it will also undermine the state police forces’ morale even further.
    • Overstretching BSF: The BSF is likely to be overstretched by its new tasks.
    • Once again, that could weaken rather than strengthen the BSF’s security capabilities.

    Tackling illegal migration

    • Curbing illegal migration requires coordinated action between India and its neighbours, first at the political and then at the security level.
    • The administration’s migration policies — the Citizenship Amendment Act, deporting Myanmar refugees even when they were locally welcomed, cancelling Afghan visas have made cooperation more difficult and impacting negatively on border security.
    • To think that the BSF can plug what is a government-to-government policy gap is prone to failure.

    Way forward

    • Coordination: The underlying issue when it comes to tackling both smuggling and infiltration threats is coordination between our security agencies.
    • Police reform: The state police forces have weakened, therefore, the solution lies in putting police reforms on an emergency footing, not in extending the BSF’s jurisdiction.
    • That we have a grave policing problem across India is undeniable.
    • But the answer is not to write them off; it is to insulate them from political misuse while holding them accountable for rule of law lapses.
    • Moreover, to strengthen police capabilities it is vital that other security forces cooperate with local police forces, not bypass them.
    • The BSF has had a relatively good record of local police cooperation thus far.
    • When it comes to cross-border infiltration, intelligence is the key.

    Conclusion

    Strengthening police capabilities, improving coordination between security agencies and cooperation with state law enforcement are needed to address these issues.

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  • The outlines of a national security policy

    Context

    National security concepts have, in the two decades of the 21st century, undergone fundamental changes. Cyberwarfare has vastly reduced the deterrent value of conventional deterrents.

    Emergence of cyberwarfare

    • In the 21st century, after cybertechnology enters as an important variable in nations’ defence policies.
    • Geographical land size or GDP size will be irrelevant in war-making capacity or deterrence.
    • These fundamental changes are entirely due to the earlier 20th century innovations in cybertechnology and software developments.
    • Drones, robots, satellites and advanced computers as weapons are already in use.
    • Some examples of further innovations are artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.
    • Tracking those cyber warfare threat will need a new national security policy.
    • By credible accounts, China, recently, publicly cautioned Indians to sit up and take notice by using cybertechnology to shut down Mumbai’s electric supply in populated areas of the city, for a few hours.

    Four dimensions of national security policy

    • Objectives: the objective of the National Security Policy in the 21st century is to define what assets are required to be defended, the identity of opponents.
    • Although the novel coronavirus is perhaps accidental, it has completely destabilised peoples globally and their governments in all nations of the world over.
    • This is a preview of the kinds of threats that await us in the coming decades which a national security policy will have to address by choosing a nation’s priorities.
    • Priorities: National security priorities will require new departments for supporting several frontiers of innovation and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, desalination of seawater, thorium for nuclear technology, anti-computer viruses, and new immunity-creating medicines.
    • This focus on a new priority will require compulsory science and mathematics education, especially in applications for analytical subjects.
    • Strategy: The strategy required for this new national security policy will be to anticipate our enemies in many dimensions and by demonstrative but limited pre-emptive strikes by developing a strategy of deterrence of the enemy.
    • For India, it will be the China cyber capability factor which is the new threat for which it has to devise a new strategy.
    • Resource mobilisation: The macroeconomics of resource mobilisation depends on whether a nation has ‘demand’ as an economic deficit or not.
    • If demand for a commodity or service is in deficit to clear the market of the available supply of the same, then liberal printing of currency and placing it in the hands of consumers is recommended for the economy to recover the demand-supply parity.
    • A way to increase demand is by lowering the interest rate on bank loans or raising the rates in fixed deposits which will enable banks to obtain liquidity and lend liberally for enhancing investment for production.
    • If it is ‘supply’ that is short or in deficit compared to demand, then special measures are required to incentivise to encourage an increase in supply.

    Conclusion

    National security at its root in the 21st century will depend on mind-boggling skills in the four dimensions mentioned above.

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  • [pib] Exercise Cambrian Patrol

    A team from Gorkha Rifles which represented the Indian Army at the prestigious Cambrian Patrol Exercise at Brecon, Wales, UK, has been awarded a Gold medal.

    Ex Cambrian Patrol

    • Organized by the UK Army, this exercise is considered the ultimate test of human endurance, team spirit and is sometimes referred as the Olympics of Military Patrolling.
    • The aim of The Cambrian Patrol is to provide a challenging patrols exercise in order to enhance operational capability.
    • The event has evolved into a cost-effective, ready-made exercise that Commanding Officers can use to test the basic training standards of their soldiers, in preparation for future operations.
    • It is mission-focused and scenario-based with role players used to enhance the training benefit.

    How it is conducted?

    • During the exercise, teams are assessed for their performance under harsh terrain and inclement cold weather conditions.
    • They undergo various challenges in addition to the complex real-world situations painted to them so as to assess their reactions in combat settings.

     

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