The Trinamool Congress on Friday submitted a notice in the Rajya Sabha to take up a discussion on the Central government’s recent notification empowering ten agencies to monitor, intercept and decrypt data contained in any computer system.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on December 20 issued a notification that conferred power on ten security and law enforcement agencies of the government to conduct such surveillance. These agencies are Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Cabinet Secretariat, Enforcement Directorate, Narcotics Control Bureau, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Directorate of Signal Intelligence and Commissioner of Police, Delhi.
In the order, it was stated that these agencies were being conferred with powers to monitor, intercept and decrypt as per law. The Opposition parties termed such form of cyber monitoring as the government’s attempt to turn the country into a surveillance state and said that it was against the right to privacy.
Under this backdrop, the Trinamool Congress’ move to initiate a discussion on the matter is significant.
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