Why India’s privileged citizens are cheerleaders for surveillance tech

The eye of the camera is hard to dodge at Greater Kailash-I, an affluent neighbourhood in South Delhi – home to businessmen, journalists and politicians.

Over 100 closed-circuit television cameras installed by the Delhi government and the residents’ welfare association keep watch over entry and exit points of each lane.

But even that is not enough, said Rajiv Kakria, head of the Greater Kailash-I Residents’ Welfare Association. “About 20% of the homes and shops have installed additional cameras on their own,” he said.

Greater Kailash-I includes around 4,000 households with a population of around 20,000.

Kakria is an ardent advocate of installing more cameras for the safety of the neighbourhood. Currently, the cameras in GK-1 can film in relative darkness but Kakria said he was scouting for advanced technology that can sharply focus and even read number plates. “We are planning to buy around 15 such cameras which would cost us around Rs 3.5 lakh,” he said.

Kakria dismisses concerns of possible violations of privacy. “I don’t care a damn about privacy,” he said, arguing that surveillance on streets compels people to behave well. “Your privacy is anyway gone. We are being tracked by our gadgets and apps. Why can’t the police not know then?”

His views bear out a recent...

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