Govt bans mapping and export of sensitive locations under data regime

Govt bans mapping and export of sensitive locations under data regime

Subject : Security

Context:

• In a bid to meet the requirements of the liberalised geospatial data regime that was released in 2021, the central government has released a list of economic- and national security-related strategic and sensitive locations that cannot be mapped and exported.
• These sensitive locations include bulk oil and gas depots, and nuclear and military installations among others.

Order released by–

• The order has been released by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
• The transgression of the threshold values the Department of Science and Technology had mentioned in its guideline (in Annexure-I) issued on February 15, 2021, will not be allowed for mapping and collection of location data of the identified installations and facilities for the maintenance of the security of India.

What is the threshold value?

• The threshold values, as per the notification, are: “On-site spatial accuracy – one meter for horizontal or planimetry and three meters for vertical or elevation”, and “gravity anomaly – one milli-gal”.
• The threshold value in the case of “vertical accuracy of bathymetric data ( study of underwater depth) in territorial waters – ten meters for up to five hundred meters from the shoreline and one hundred meters beyond that”.

Security installations–

• The directive has listed out 51“security installations/ features and secured facilities” that have been tagged as “sensitive attributes” with each carrying “stipulated regulations” to prohibit them from mapping and location data sampling.
• The notification, for instance, added that all missile test ranges, be it for launch and firing, will ‘not to be labelled in geospatial data and map.’
• Other locations that are prohibited to be labelled in geospatial data and maps are- oil bulk depots/ storage tanks; LPG/ LNG storage area/tanks; operational control rooms of oil and gas terminals; seizing up of glacier lake depth; all nuclear installations in India; the nation’s intelligence agencies and its governance architecture; the space centre and space port; international boundaries with neighbouring countries.

The central intelligence agencies and governance architecture that are barred from mapping include Aviation Research Centre (ARC), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), and Cabinet Secretariat.