Snooping row: Chidambaram says Orwellian state round the corner

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Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday criticised the government's move to authorise 10 Central agencies to intercept "any information" on "any computer" and said an "Orwellian state is round the corner".

He, however, added that he had not studied the matter.

"I don't want to give (an) off the cuff answer, but anybody is going to monitor the computers, including yours. What is an Orwellian state? George Orwellian (state) is round the corner," the former Union home minister told reporters.

"It is condemnable, but let me say I have not studied the matter, therefore do not take my answer as the final answer," Chidambaram said.

'Orwellian' is used to describe a political system in which the government tries to control every part of people's lives, similar to what has been described by George Orwell in his dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.

In an order on Thursday, the Union Home Ministry authorised 10 central agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to intercept, monitor, and decrypt "any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer".

The move created a political storm with the opposition parties decrying it as unconstitutional, undemocratic and an assault on fundamental rights.

Asked about the stance of former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and other economists against farm loan waivers, Chidambaram said they should comment on the issue after gaining experience of farming.

"Take two acres of land and do farming and then you should ask them to comment on farm loan waiver," he said.

On December 14, Rajan had said farm loan waivers should not be a part of poll promises and had written to the Election Commission to take the issue off the table.

Recently, the Congress announced farm loan waivers in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, days after coming to power in the heartland states.

Chidambaram said people and not economists will decide whether farm loan waiver is good or bad politics.

He said farm loan waiver has become an imperative.

"The average indebtedness of (a) farmer's family is between Rs 90,000 to Rs 1 lakh. How will that family ever repay this loan? Therefore, it has become an imperative," the former finance minister said.

"Our governments in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have responded to dire needs of the situation," Chidambaram said.

He claimed 108 farmers had committed suicide in one district of Maharashtra alone.