Day: October 18, 2012

MNS:- With the initiation of national programmes like Unique Identification number, NATGRID, DNA profiling, Reproductive Rights of Women, Privileged communications and brain mapping, most of which will be implemented through ICT platforms, concerns have been expressed in various quarters in the country on the possible invasion of citizen’s fundamental right to privacy Constitutionally guaranteed under Article 21. In order to understand these concerns and identify interventions for effectively addressing these issues, Dr. Ashwani Kumar, MOS (Planning) had directed the constitution of a Group of Experts to identify the Privacy issues and prepare a Report to facilitate authoring of the Privacy bill.
Accordingly, a Group of Experts under the chairmanship of Justice A P Shah, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court was constituted on 29th September 2011. The Terms of Reference of the Group were as follows:-
1.    To study the Privacy laws and related bills promulgated by various countries.
2.    To make an in-depth analysis of various programmes being implemented by GoI from the point of view of their impact on Privacy.
3.    To make specific suggestions for consideration of the DOPT for incorporation in the proposed draft Bill on Privacy.
The Group of Experts held meetings between January and August 2012, wherein various issues and aspects relating to privacy were discussed, keeping in view inter alia the international landscape of privacy laws, global data flows and the privacy concerns emanating with rapid technological advancement. The Group studied the constitutional basis for privacy, International Privacy Principles, National Privacy Principles and has also made an analysis of relevant legislations/Bills from a privacy perspective.
The Report has recommended a conceptual framework for the proposed Privacy legislation for India covering the following five salient features:
a)    Technological neutrality and inter-operability with international standards.
b)    Multi-dimensional privacy
c)    Horizontal applicability
d)    Conformity with privacy principles
e)    Co-regulatory enforcement regime
Some of the major recommendations made in the Report cover aspects such as:
•    The regulatory framework will consist of Privacy Commissioners at the Central and Regional levels.
•    A system of co-regulation that will give self-regulating organizations at industry level choice to develop privacy standards which should be approved by a Privacy Commissioner.
•    Individuals would be given the choice (opt-in/opt-out) with regard to providing their personal information and the data controller would take individual consent only after providing inputs of its information practices.
•    The data controller shall only collect personal information from data subjects as is necessary for the purposes identified for such collection as well as process the data relevant to the purpose for which they are collected.
•    The data collected would be put to use for the purpose for which it has been collected. Any change in the usage would be done with the consent of the person concerned.
•    Data collected and processed would be relevant for the purpose and no additional data elements would be collected from the individual.
•    Interception orders must be specific and all interceptions would only be in force for a period of 60 days and renewed for a period upto 180 days. Records of interception must be destroyed by security agencies after 6 months or 9 months and service providers must destroy after 2 months or 6 months.
•    Infringement of any provision under the Act would constitute an offence by which individuals may seek compensation for an organization / bodies held accountable to.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/group-of-experts-on-privacy-submit-report/

MNS:- Defence Minister Shri AK Antony has underlined the key role of Indian Navy in our engagements with countries of Indian Ocean Region. Addressing the biannual Naval Commanders` Conference here today, Shri Antony said our strategic location and the professional capability of our Navy places a responsibility on us to play a more mature and stabilizing role in the region.
He said, “Our Government is pursuing a string of proactive engagements with countries in the Indian Ocean Region to ensure peace and stability in the region, which is also related to our economic and wider security interests”. In this context, he assured Indian Navy’s full support to all maritime neighbours of its unstinted support for their security and economic prosperity.
Highlighting the fragile security environment in the region, he said, “our own security interests require the Indian Navy to respond to all challenges in quick time”. He expressed his satisfaction over the Indian Navy’s brisk operational tempo over the last six months.
“Maintaining high levels of vigilance and security 24×7, collecting and analyzing information, material and physical security and maintaining the high morale of the personnel both at professional and personal levels, needs to remain a constant focus of our Armed Forces”, he added.
“Indian Navy’s overseas deployment in the South China Sea, East China Sea, the Western Pacific Ocean, Red Sea and the Meditarrean Sea carrying out exercises with the navies of these regions not only shows our capabilities but will also go a long way in reassuring the Indian diaspora in these countries”, the minister added.
Dwelling upon various measures to enhance coastal security, he said that the setting up of Sagar Prahari Bal, establishment of Joint Operation Centers, induction of 15 First Interceptor Crafts and various other coastal security initiatives will definitely strengthen the coastal security network.
“The recent installation of Coastal Radar Network Chains in Gujarat and Maharashtra and establishment of the National Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence network (NC3I) would establish a real-time maritime domain awareness link between Operations Rooms of the Navy and the Coast Guard, both at the field and apex levels” he observed.
Emphasizing on the urgent need to reduce the long construction periods of warships, Shri Antony opined the adoptionof `modular construction` and `integrated construction` methods to speed up the Ship construction activities in a time bound manner.
The conference was attended by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral DK Joshi, Defence Secretary Shri Shashikant Sharma and Senior Commanders and Flag Officers of the Indian Navy.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/antony-envisages-a-proactive-role-for-navy-in-the-indian-ocean-region/

MNS:- A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for forging partnership between National Culture Fund (NCF) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) for heritage initiatives was signed here today in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja. Through a series of meetings and deliberations with NCF, HUDCO has outlined 5 main areas of interest in developing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects: Training Programmes and Capacity Building, Heritage and Disaster Management, Up-gradation of Museums, Environmental improvement and Visitor amenities and Conservation and Restoration of Heritage Buildings. NCF Executive Committee has approved the signing of the MOU with HUDCO and the offer of heritage projects that match their CSR criteria mentioned above. Subsequently a dedicated Memorandum of Agreement will be signed per project between NCF/HUDCO/implementer. The details are as under: Training Programmes and Capacity Building: Training in Conservation for Professionals with NCF/HUDCO/ASI/AKT (Estimated at Rs. 35 lakhs for Training Cycle for 20 people) Heritage and Disaster Management: Creation of Website on Heritage and Disaster Management with NCF/HUDCO (Estimated Cost Rs. 5 lakhs per year) Up-gradation of ASI Site Museums: ASI Site museums in well known Buddhist Sites of Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati Museums, Andhra Pradesh with NCF/HUDCO/ASI (Estimated Cost of the project is Rs.500 lakhs. Time period: Three financial years) Environmental improvement and Visitor amenities: ‘Clean Basti Programme’ a waste management initiative in Nizamuddin Basti, New Delhi with NCF/HUDCO/ Aga Khan Foundation. (Total Cost approx: Rs 35 lakhs over 2 years) Conservation and Restoration of Heritage Buildings: Conservation of Three schools in Heritage Buildings, Pondicherry, UT. NCF/ HUDCO/ INTACH Pondicherry Chapter. (Total cost Rs 950 lakhs over a period of 3 years)

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/national-culture-fund-and-hudco-sign-mou-to-create-website/