The Union cabinet is planning to pass a centralised monitoring system (CMS) to track all communication traffic in the country. The ministries of defence, law, finance, home, telecommunications and IT have forwarded a Cabinet note seeking approval for the system. Currently, several agencies under various ministries monitor communication flow using different processing systems, technology platforms and clearance levels. According to the cabinet note, CMS will be an autonomous body headed by a chief executive and a group of officials, including the cabinet secretary, home secretary, national security advisor and representatives from the defence ministry. The system will integrate the regional and national databases of the police departments, intelligence agencies and the defence establishment for real time interception and monitoring.
Meanwhile, the telecom and defence ministries are close to finalising the deal to divide the country’s spectrum between them. The Ministry of telecommunication and IT has decided to set aside a certain amount of frequency in most bands for the armed forces as part of a ‘defence band’ and the defence will in turn vacate additional airwaves for commercial telephony. Though both ministries had agreed to the concept of defence band a year ago, they have finally reached a deal towards quantifying the exact amount of frequencies that will be reserved for the armed forces.
