The proposed government law on maps is yet another example of how Indians tend to accept symbolism as a substitute for reality. In this, the Modi government has proved to be no different from its predecessors. When
confronted with a terrorist attack in Pathankot, it fought a mighty
diplomatic battle in a UN committee and with China - instead of
frontally dealing with the problem.
The Bill
Now,
unable to resolve border disputes through negotiation and compromise,
it has decided to solve the problem by passing a law which will prevent
Indians from knowing that their borders are not recognised, as we would
like to have them, by most countries in the world.
No matter
what the Home Ministry (MHA) says about regulating geospatial
information, it is actually the government’s long-standing neuroses over
how India’s borders must be depicted that motivates the new law.
Indian geospatial policy is a mess, with competing platform and services, and over-ridden by 19th century security concerns.
In
an era when the latitude and longitude of every point can be measured
by the satellite-based GPS, India hesitates in giving digital map access
to public. The MHA will argue that the main aim of the Bill is to set
things right and create a regulated use of India’s geospatial
information.
But
the ambition of the Bill is stupefying - all maps and changes to them
will have to be vetted by the government. Companies that rely on
geospatial services, whether or not they operate in India, will have to
get a licence “to disseminate, publish or distribute any geospatial
information of India outside India”, from the to-be-established Security
Vetting Authority.
The
real motive of the Bill emerges from its drastic penalties for the
display of information that is likely to affect the “security,
sovereignty or integrity” of the country.
But since
when does a line on a map affect anything? Recall, the Mumbai attackers
found their way to their targets in 2008 using commercially-available
GPS devices purchased abroad.
As
of now, the rules are an irritant; magazines like The Economist are
forced to black-out maps showing the Indian borders as they really are.
But with the new law, instead of digitally connecting with the world,
India may isolate itself from it. It is not the data which is a threat,
but the people who misuse it. Surely, the MHA needs to focus on those
people, organisations and entities and not create a regime in which a
food delivery service is penalised because the maps they use have
India’s boundaries in a particular way.
History
Forcing
people to accept the official boundary has an old history in India. In
1948, a year after independence and in 1950, the government of the day
issued a White Paper to define what “India” was all about from its
component states upward and beginning with the advent of the British
into India and detailing every aspect of the new successor entities
including the privy purses given to the erstwhile rulers of princely
states.
Attached
to it was a map, presumably authoritative, which showed India’s
boundaries with China. In the north, from the Afghan to Nepal, the map
was marked “border undefined” along the area that India believed was its
border. In the east, the boundary including Arunachal Pradesh to India
was clearly laid out, though the notation said “border
undemarcated”. And of course, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal were shown as
entities outside India.
In
1954, Pandit Nehru’s border policy began to come apart so he decided
that India would unilaterally stake out its border. All old maps,
including the ones attached to the White Papers, were seized, and new
maps were issued showing the borders as we see them now.
Borders
But,
of course, this did not convince the Chinese or anyone else that the
borders India had unilaterally drawn up were sacrosanct. They maintained
their pressure and seized even more territory in Aksai Chin - though
fortunately for us, they captured and returned Arunachal Pradesh.
The
border now is defined by a notional Line of Actual Control. No country
in the world accepts the version of the border that India depicts on its
maps, especially in Jammu & Kashmir. They believe that the final
Sino-Indian and India-Pakistan border in Kashmir must be worked out
through negotiation.
In
these circumstances, the new geospatial law could create endless
problems for India and Indians. It could lead popular services like
Google and Facebook to exit India, and deter others who want to offer
geospatial services in the country.
Though,
ironically, geolocation technologies can ensure that when you open
Google Maps in India, it shows the boundaries the way Indians want it;
when you open the site elsewhere, it shows the real picture.
Hopefully,
the Ministry of Home Affairs has made a realistic assessment of India’s
clout before going on to tilt the global geospatial windmills. But
first, it should ask itself whether symbolic sleight-of-hand will give
us the borders we want.
Mail Today May 8, 2016
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