News Update

Ayodhya Gears Up for Ram Temple Ceremony Amid AI-Powered Surveillance

• ByStartupStory     |    January 22, 2024

As Ayodhya prepares for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22, the Uttar Pradesh government is allocating significant resources to ensure high-level security and maintain law and order in the city. In a first for the city, futuristic AI surveillance will be deployed to identify suspicious activities and track down potential troublemakers during the event.

Atul Rai, co-founder and CEO of Staqu Technologies, the company behind the AI-powered security system in Ayodhya, highlighted the deployment of high-level AI surveillance. “There will be a high level of AI surveillance in Ayodhya for people with serious criminal records, including terrorism, murder, etc. We’ve integrated the CCTV cameras already installed in various parts of the city for efficient artificial intelligence-based city surveillance,” he stated.

The AI surveillance CCTV cameras will cover prominent locations in Ayodhya, including Kanak Bhawan, Hanuman Garhi, Shri Nageshwar Nath Mandir, Ram Ki Paidi, and Ram Janmabhoomi. Staqu Technologies is leveraging its audio and video analytics software, Jarvis, to enable AI-driven identification of suspicious individuals and activities.

Explaining the capabilities of the AI software, Rai detailed its use of facial recognition and reverse facial recognition to identify objects and individuals based on general inputs and movements. “For example, you can search for a person wearing red trousers and a blue shirt, and the AI software will identify such people passing through different cameras in the city,” he elaborated.

The AI-integrated cameras will also have access to a database of 8,00,000 people with criminal backgrounds through Staqu’s Trinetra software, which has digitized criminal records for the UP police. The pilot project for AI surveillance in Ayodhya began in January and is currently ongoing for one month to test its effectiveness.

Regarding privacy concerns related to AI-based CCTV monitoring, N. S. Nappinai, Advocate, Supreme Court & Founder- Cyber Saathi, emphasized the need for clear laws to protect privacy when using CCTV cameras in public spaces. She also stressed the importance of guidelines or regulations to ensure responsible usage of AI technology in governance projects.

Nappinai further highlighted the necessity of transparency in data collection and access by private entities involved in such projects. She emphasized that without addressing these concerns, the engagement of private entities may impact individual rights to data protection.

As Ayodhya prepares for this historic event, the implementation of AI-powered surveillance reflects the growing adoption of advanced technologies for security purposes, albeit raising important considerations about privacy and data protection.

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