Owaisi writes to KCR seeking exemption of motor vehicle tax during lockdown

Hyderabad MP and chief of the AIMIM party Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday requested Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to exempt Motor Vehicle tax during the period of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.  Owaisi said that the transport industry is on the verge of collapse with nearly 5-6 lakhs workers employed in industry losing their livelihood. He pointed out that though the country is under Unlock 3 phase, relaxing several lockdown norms, Telangana is still under undeclared lockdown, the MP said.“The travel industry suffered huge losses in the absence of regular business. The operators somehow managed the necessary expenses and also retained the staff by paying those remunerations even for the lockdown period. The transport operators contribute huge amount of revenue to the States economy every year and employ nearly 6 lakh people directly and indirectly but today the operators are not in a position to pay MV tax,” Owaisi wrote. Meanwhile, Asaduddin also said on Monday that he would file a private members’ bill in the Lok Sabha for a ban against facial recognition technology and biometric surveillance technology, following allegations of the Election Commission of India (ECI)“illegally” sharing photos and addresses of North East Delhi residents with the police after the Delhi violence which took place earlier this year in February. After Hyderabad-based activist and data researcher Srinivas Kodali shared on Twitter that the Telangana government is allegedly using the ECI data for its facial recognition surveillance, Owaisi responded that it was a violation of the fundamental right to privacy. “Supreme Court's Puttaswamy judgement stated very clearly that privacy is a fundamental right. There's a huge risk when our personal info is used without our consent. Most importantly, facial recognition technology is unreliable and biased. This is why I'll be submitting a Private Members' Bill banning use of facial recognition and remote biometric surveillance technology.” “Such technology can record and use your gait to identify to you Face recognition technology is inaccurate in identifying dark people, women, persons with disabilities and young people.” (sic) Owaisi said in a series of tweets. THREAD: Supreme Court's Puttaswamy judgement stated very clearly that privacy is a fundamental right. There's a huge risk when our personal info is used without our consent. Most importantly, facial recognition technology is unreliable & biased. This is why I'll be submitting... https://t.co/1Q2R9ldH67— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 24, 2020 The accuracy of these technologies depends on the database. These databases are themselves riddled with bias. For example, a database of arrested people will obviously have an over-representation of SCs, STs & Muslims.— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 24, 2020 He also said that the surveillance technology “riddled with bias” would result in arrest of more marginalised and minority community members. “The accuracy of these technologies depends on the database. These databases are themselves riddled with bias. For example, a database of arrested people will obviously have an over-representation of SCs, STs and Muslims,” he said.