Maybe this is the price you are required to pay to keep yourself and the country secure from terrorists. If all goes according to plan, then starting next month, your bank and insurance accounts, your travel details and even telephone and Internet usage will all be available to a bunch of high-level officials in the top-most government security enforcement agencies.

The National Intelligence Grid, which the government intends to establish by the end of this month, will ensure that designated officers in 11 Central security and intelligence agencies—such as the Intelligence Bureau, National Investigating Agency and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence—would have complete access to nearly 20 databases held by public authorities, including nationalised banks and insurance companies, railways and airlines, immigration and income tax department.

The idea is to let the law enforcement agencies get quicker and comprehensive access to all information related to suspected criminals and terrorists at one place over a highly secure network. Investigating officers often lose crucial time trying to get information from other departments, thereby benefiting the criminals.

The NATGRID, it is hoped, would not just speed up investigation of cases but also help in pre-empting crimes by acting on suspicious activities of people under watch. For purposes of easy use, each of the 20-odd databases would remain separate entities and would not be merged into a single master database.

Eventually, the intention is to bring relevant databases held even in private hands, like banks or transport companies, under the ambit of NATGRID. The main data centre for NATGRID would be located in the Multi-Agency Centre which has been reactivated after the Mumbai attacks last year.

... contd.