‘Govt will be developing a national database to monitor hawala transactions, terrorist activities’

Bengaluru: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the government will soon be developing a national database to monitor hawala transactions, terrorist funding, terrorist activities among others.

He said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a zero tolerance policy against terrorism from the very first day.

“The union government will soon be developing a national database to monitor hawala transactions, terrorist funding, counterfeit currency, narcotics, bomb threats, illegal arms smuggling and other terrorist activities,” Shah said.

He said intelligence and legal agencies should now be able to make full use of them with the barriers to critical data being removed.

“With the help of data analytics and information technology, there should be a paradigm shift in the current way of working of agencies,” he said, as he expressed hope that NATGRID will fulfill the responsibility of linking various sources of data.

Noting that security requirements today have changed significantly as compared to the earlier security challenges in terms of data, scope and complexity, Shah said, therefore, there is a need for legal and security agencies to have automated, secure and immediate access to information obtained from reliable sources.

The government has entrusted the task of developing and operating a state-of-the-art and innovative information technology platform for accessing information from the data collection organizations to NATGRID, he said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, state Home Minister Araga Gyanendra and Union Minister of State for Home Nishith Pramanik were also present at the event.

Shah said NATGRID should have an in-built mechanism for continuous upgradation, and there should be a study group in NATGRID to create a database of modus operandi of various crimes committed within the country.

Requesting user agencies to exercise caution and discretion in using this system, which should be used only for the correct purposes, he said they should also ensure that as much as possible, data from the system is used to improve their efficiency.

He also stressed that privacy and security of data is a very serious matter and assured that necessary protocols have been put in place to ensure that there is no unauthorized access to the personal data of any citizen through this system at any point of time.

The NATGRID CEO informed that the services of NATGRID solution will be available to 11 central agencies and police of all States and Union Territories. It will link user agencies with data holders, giving them access to real-time information needed for intelligence services and investigations, an official release said.

C-DAC Pune has been roped in as Technology Partner and IIT, Bhilai as Plan Management Consultant for the development of NATGRID solution, it said.