Embryology of a police state.

A committee set up by the government recommended a ban and severe punishment  on the use of cryptocurrencies by Indian citizens. Anyone dealing in cryptocurrencies would be fined Rs 500 million and sent to prison for 10 years, the committee has proposed. This is the same government which is doing its utmost to push India towards a cashless society, all transactions to be done digitally. Why is the government so keen on digital transactions while being paranoid about cryptocurrencies? Because, it wants to monitor every activity of every citizen in the country. That is why it slyly made the biometric identification system Aadhaar, which records photograph, prints of all 10 fingers and iris scans, mandatory for every citizen. Since it can be downloaded online it must be vulnerable to hacking and if anyone manages to get your number they can easily steal your identity. "Connecting bank accounts and voter registration to biometrics is a trend seen only in China, some countries in Africa, Venezuela, Iraq and the Philippines," wrote M Choudhary. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has called for tenders to set up a centralised Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) which can be accessed by police officers through hand-held devices. "The fine print reveals, however, that the information used for AFRS will be obtained from CCTV feeds, and matched against information contained in any other potential existing database (specific examples include passport data, information with ministries and so on)," wrote G Bhatia. Also Aadhaar? Use of facial recognition is wrong 81% of the time, the London Police has found. Campaigners in the UK have alleged that "Black and minority ethnic people could be falsely identified". We Indians are brown and black. Three cities in the US have banned their police from using facial recognition technology. The only nation on earth where this malevolent system is in widespread use is China, an extremely repressive state. "Journalism is now being attacked more aggressively than ever before, with journalists routinely in the crosshairs of all manner of entities,' wrote R Burman. "Earlier this year, India fell two places to 138 in the Press Freedom Index put out by Reporters Without Borders." In addition to using threats and legal notices, there is "the highly condemnable, pernicious practice of government and corporates denying media entitities advertisements, veritably misusing taxpayers' money to pressure or influence those which are critical of them." The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2019 empowers the state to collect DNA from anyone, including those charged with "offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860". Using a British law against citizens 72 years after so-called independence. Another British law the Official Secrets Act of 1923 shrouds the activities of the surveillance state. And if anyone should still find the guts to question the Indian Gestapo there is the Sedition Law of the British to shove you into prison. Can we use the term 'Police State'?