Troops in border areas to get secure mobile phones

Troops deployed along the international borders and Naxal-hit areas will soon get secure mobile phones, Union Minister Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said on Friday.

He said even till this date security personnel in far-flung areas do get mobile phone connections on a short-term basis during their period of postings. “We are planning to provide secure mobile phones to all security personnel deployed along the borders and Naxal- affected areas so that they can keep in touch with their family via 3G connection,” he said.

“The mobile phone would not be intercepted as we would be having the telephone exchange with us that can be carried by the battalion concerned wherever it goes,” he said, addressing a security meet organised by ASSOCHAM.

Chaudhary said he had recently met a delegation of a US-based company that claimed that it was ready to provide such a telephone exchange  in a box and instantly start over 1,000 secure mobile phone connections, specifically for security personnel.

Chaudhary said he had also met another delegation of another US-based company, which was ready to provide blood-testing equipment that could process blood samples in just a few minutes thereby saving invaluable time of security personnel. The MoS for Home said the Centre was working towards transforming law for cyber crime prevention in accordance with technological advancement.

Highlighting the lack of a proper law aimed at cyber crime prevention in the country, Chaudhary said the government had started a judicial process to transform the law in accordance with the technological advancement. “We are fully prepared to thwart all types of security challenges, be it cyber crime for which we have constituted a high-level committee of IT experts headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh," he said.