ABRACADABRA

Phone-tapping @ $ 2200/- U.S. style

Unlike the authorities in India getting away with illegal, tapping of our phones and mobiles, an article in The New York Times, on April 1, on the routine use of cellphone surveillance by local police, even in non-emergency situations has triggered a Congressional probe into violation of privacy rights of the Americans as tapping is allowed in the U.S only on court orders.

Democrat representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, the co-chairman of the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, has shot off a letter to the country’s eight major cellphone companies, seeking information about their role in helping local police departments conduct surveillance and tracking of suspects and others in criminal investigations.

He has sought data from the cellphone carriers on the number of requests for help they have received from law enforcement officials in cell tracking and surveillance operations, their policies on whether they require the authorities to secure the court warrants, the use of cellphone surveillance in non emergency, the fees they charge the police and the other information.

The move puts the cellphone companies in the middle of a protracted public debate over the balance between civil liberties safe guards and the authorities use of surveillance technology. The issue has received renewed public attention recently as a result of a Supreme Court ruling in January finding that police use of a GPS device on a drug suspect’s car without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

Markey is seeking information not only on the legal and policy implications of cellphone surveillance, but also on the financial relationship between police departments and phone carriers-an area that has received little public attention.

The NYT article, based on 5500 pages of documents gathered by the American Civil Liberties Union from police, found that cellphone carriers often charged local police departments anywhere from a few hundered dollars for using a cell phone to track a suspect’s location, up to $ 2,200 for a full-scale wiretap of a suspect.

Blacklisted but still in business

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry has blacklisted and banned six firms – four foreign and two Indian – from any business dealings for ten years for allegedly giving bribes, but they continue to execute the works they had bagged through corruption.

The issue came in focus in the Rajya Sabha during the question hour when Defence Minister A K Antony wriggled out, saying he has sought advice of the Central Vigilance Commission and the Law Ministry on what to do with the ongoing works by these firms.

He also clarified that the supplies from the blacklisted firms were “not substandard,” they had been debarred from future business because

of the corrupt practices basically.

They were all vendors and not anyone is the manufacturer, he said in reply to another query.

The Ordnance Factory Board blacklisted them on the recommendation of the CBI, based on the evidence collected against them for payment of illegal gratification to former Director General of Ordnance Factories Sudipta Ghosh and others for securing business from Ordinance factories, including release of advance money.

BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad wanted to know why the government does not prescribe a cooling period for the retired army officers to prevent them from taking up cushy jobs with defence companies as lobbyists and indulge in corruption.

Antony said the army officers and bureaucrats take up such jobs after retirement and this is going on for long. Earlier the cooling period for taking up private jobs was two years which has been reduced to one year. Since the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence has just given its report recommending to increase this to five years, he would examine it seriously, the minister said.

He also assured the House that the upcoming Ordnance Factory at Nalanda in Bihar won’t suffer because of the blacklisting of Israel Military Industries (IMI) as “ultimately we have almost found solution to move forward to complete the project.

“On Rs 2,000 crores already given to the firm, Antony said it will be fully recovered because of the integrity Pact the government has signed with it “and so the government money is protected.”

Asked by Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) on the controversy over purchase of the Tatra trucks by the Indian Army, Antony said the CBI has been already told to conduct a comprehensive probe and he hopes the probe will be completed as early as possible.

Don writes PG exams from jail

Patna: Incarcerated former Lok Sabha member Pappu Yadav seems to be undergoing metamorphosis. The jailed politician is pursuing post-graduation in sociology.

Languishing in Patna’s high-security Beur Jail for murder, Pappu appeared for the written examination of the eight papers in the subject. Being a convict, he wrote his papers from behind bars, while the jailor stood there as the examiner. This is Pappu’s second attempt to add to his knowledge and degrees. Earlier, while being lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, he had completed diploma in disaster management and human rights.

A one-time terror, the don-turned-politician was awarded life-term for killing CPM legislator Ajit Sarkar. Lodged in cell number 3/12 of the general ward of the Saraswati block in Beur, Pappu was debarred by the apex court from contesting polls.

Finding no relief, Pappu turned to books after he found that the Beur jail authorities have tied up with Nalanda Open University for distance learning courses in graduation and post-graduation.

So far, nearly 24 jail inmates have passed the examination with flying colours and have been suitably employed too after coming out of jail. Besides, 32 inmates are pursuing different courses in different subjects.

Earlier another Beur jail inmate and criminal turned-legislator Sunil Pandey, who was awarded life imprisonment for masterminding the kidnapping of a noted neurosurgeon Dr Ramesh Chandra, got doctorate for his research on Lord Mahavir.

The controversial Janata Dal (United) MLA from Piro was awarded a PhD degree a few years ago by the Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, after his ‘research’ on “Mahavir Ke Updesh, Adhunik Paripeksha Mein” (Mahavir’s sermons: In modern perspective.)