Railway stations at Bengaluru, Manmad, Bhusawal to get facial recognition technology
New Delhi, Jan 9: Facial recognition technology backed by artificial intelligence has been installed at Bengaluru, Manmad and Bhusawal stations as test cases to identify and nab criminals, railway officials said on Wednesday.
The objective of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is to link the facial recognition system with existing databases such as the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and systems to identify criminals who may be roaming the railway stations. The real-time face recognition software will alert the RPF command centre of any known offenders.
Officials said that after the facial recognition system is tested, the technology will be implemented across the railway network.
The Railway Board has also given its nod for carrying out works for video surveillance system (VSS) covering 983 stations under Nirbhaya funds, according to a statement issued by the national transporter.
RailTel, a miniratna PSU under Ministry of Railways, has been entrusted with the work of providing Internet Protocol (IP)-based VSS with video analytics and facial recognition system. Rs 250 crore was allotted to the Indian Railways this year from the Nirbhaya fund for installation of VSS.
To have a better coverage and clearer image, four types of full-HD cameras -- dome type for indoor areas, bullet type for platforms, pan tilt zoom type for parking areas and ultra HD-4k cameras for crucial locations are being provided.
Live feed from CCTV cameras would be displayed on multiple screens at the RPF control room for monitoring. Each HD camera at the station consumes approximately 1TB of data and 4k camera consumes 4 TB data per month.
The video feeds will be stored for 30 days for playback, post-event analysis and for investigation purposes. Important videos can be stored for longer duration.
Under phase one, VSS is being installed at 200 stations across India and till now work has been completed at 81 stations. The South Western Railway (SWR) has recently commissioned video surveillance system at six major stations -- Ballari, Belagavi, Vasco-Da Gama, Bengaluru Cantonment, Bangarpet, Hassan, Shivamogga Town and Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam.
Integrated security systems comprising CCTV have already been installed at 11 stations including Bengaluru, Yesvantpur and Mysuru. With this, the SWR has functional CCTVs at 17 locations and will complete the work in Phase one by having CCTV functional at a total 20 railway stations by end of January 2020.
Security personnel can monitor these cameras not only from station control rooms but also from central security control rooms located at divisional headquarters -- Hubballi, Mysuru and Bengaluru.
IP-based Video Surveillance System (VSS) has also been installed at 10 railway stations of Western Railway namely Bhavnagar Terminus, Udhna, Valsad, Veraval, Nagda, Navsari, Vapi, Viragam, Rajkot, Gandhidham.
These steps are a part of a security plan under the Integrated Security System (ISS) which was approved in 2016 to strengthen surveillance mechanism at 202 railway stations.
The ISS will comprise CCTV cameras, access control, personal and baggage screening system and bomb detection and disposal system which together provide multiple checking of passengers and baggage from the point of entry in the station premises till boarding of train.
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Ordinance issued to increase number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38
New Delhi (PTI): The government has promulgated an ordinance to increase the strength of the Supreme Court from the present 34 judges to 38, including the Chief Justice of India.
The law ministry notified the ordinance on Saturday, which amended the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956, to increase the sanctioned strength of the top court.
So far, the sanctioned strength of the top court was 34, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Now, the number of judges has been increased by four, taking the sanctioned strength to 38.
The top court will now have 37 judges, other than the CJI.
With the apex court having two vacancies at present, and the ordinance coming into force immediately, the Supreme Court Collegium will now have to recommend six names for appointment as judges in the top court.
A bill will be brought in the Monsoon Session of Parliament to convert the ordinance – an executive order – into a law passed by Parliament.
The Union Cabinet had cleared a draft bill on May 5 to increase the number of apex court judges.
The strength of the Supreme Court was last increased from 30 to 33 (excluding the CJI) in 2019.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, as originally enacted in 1956, put the maximum number of judges (excluding the CJI) at 10.
This number was increased to 13 by the Supreme Court (Number of Judges), Amendment Act, 1960, and to 17 by another amendment to the law.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 1986, augmented the strength of judges from 17 to 25, excluding the CJI.
A fresh amendment in 2009 further increased the strength from 25 to 30.
Article 124(3) of the Constitution lists the qualifications required to become a Supreme Court judge.
An Indian citizen who has either served as a high court judge for at least five years, or as an advocate for 10 years, or is a distinguished jurist, can be appointed to the top court.
The strength of the Supreme Court is increased based on the recommendations of the CJI, who writes to the Union law minister. After consulting the finance ministry, the Department of Justice under the law ministry moves the Cabinet with a draft bill.
