The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has come out with a draft of ‘microdot system’ to curb incidents of motor vehicle thefts in the country. Under this, thousands of small dots laser etched will be sprayed with a vehicle identification number on all over the vehicle’s body including its engine. As the dots are less than 1mm in diameter it is impossible to locate and remove everyone. This makes it very difficult for a car thief to conceal the vehicle’s true identity. It also allows usually untraceable parts to be linked to a particular vehicle, thereby aiding in the recovery of stolen components. The technology is being used in countries like South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Taiwan, Canada, the US and the European Union (EU), among others to prevent and reduce motor vehicle theft.
Officials of Home Ministry said that a microdot is text or an image substantially reduced in size onto a small disc to prevent detection by unintended recipients. It involves spraying thousands of the small dots laser etched with a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), throughout the vehicle.
The dots, which are less than 1 mm across, are carried in an adhesive that fluoresces under Ultra Violet light. It’s a simple matter then to identify a treated area and recover one of the dots for viewing under a special magnifier, which reveals the dot’s number. Because the dots are spread throughout the vehicle, it is impossible to find and remove every one. “The microdots are brushed or sprayed onto the key parts of an asset to provide complete parts marking,” officials said. “All the text on every microdot shall be legible with equipment that magnifies the text at least 60 times. Characters on the microdot shall be consecutive and not separated by spaces,” the draft said.
According to officials, the ministry discussed the technology with several industry experts before arriving at the final conclusion.”
The use of marking vehicles with microdots is called Whole of Vehicle Marking (WoVM),” officials added. In South Africa it is a legal requirement to have microdot fitted to all new vehicles sold since September 2012.
As per Home Ministry’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, as many as 2.14 lakh vehicles are stolen across India annually. According to NCRB, Delhi is top in the list of vehicle theft as many as 38,644 cases were reported in 2016 followed by Uttar Pradesh with 34,480 automobile thefts. Maharashtra reported third highest 22,435 thefts of vehicles followed by Rajasthan 17,544 and Madhya Pradesh 15,878.
As per Delhi police data, in 2018, an average of 110-120 vehicles being stolen in the capital every day has been reported. What is more shocking is the fact that less than 8 per cent cases are solved by the police. Motor vehicle thefts account for nearly one-fifth of the total number of cases registered under the IPC in Delhi. Last year, cops recovered only 10 per cent of the stolen vehicles. The Delhi Police report states that 41,000 vehicles were stolen in the last year of which around 30 vehicles a month were recovered.
