National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)
Context: The government of India in 2016 appointed Ashok Patnaik as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Intelligence Grid. The appointment is being seen as the government’s effort to revive the project.
Introduction:
1. The attack on Mumbai in 2008, 26/11 attack, exposed many weaknesses in Indian intelligence security and information & response network system.
2. The then home minister P. Chidambaram came with the idea of National Intelligence Grid as a part of are structuring of security architecture at the national level.
What is NATGRID?
It is an integrated intelligence grid connecting databases of core security nagencies to collect comprehensive patterns of intelligence that can be readily accessed by intelligence agencies.
Functions of NATGRID:
1. Under NATGRID, 21 sets of databases will be networked to achieve quick, seamless and secure access to desired information for intelligence/enforcement agencies.
2. The database would be accessible to authorised persons from 11 agencies on a caseto- case basis, and only for professional investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
3. It will utilize technologies like Big Data and analytics to study and analyze the huge amounts of data from various intelligence and enforcement agencies to help track suspected terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks.
Importance (need) of NATGRID:
1. India is a place where many terror networks operate that carryout attacks from time to time. Despite prone to such terror attacks; we don’t have a well-formulated database of these terror networks.
2. The idea is to collate and analyze vital data to get the complete view of a situation. Details that take one to three months can be had within minutes.
3. Nat Grid will tackle the problem of coordination mechanism regarding data transfer from one agency to another agency will tackle.
4. Due to federal nature of government, the coordination at center and states level is also lacking and in the case of any emergency, the response mechanism is not effective. Here too Nat Grid will be useful.
Concerns:
1. There can be misuse of digital databases against the citizens, it may compromise individual privacy and even violate national security.
2. Crucial intelligence information, if available to many agencies, can be leaked and used against the nation.
3. As no state agency or police force has access to its database, its efficacy in preventing terror has also been questioned thus reducing chances of immediate, effective action.
4. The data can be misused by state agencies itself and surveillance like situation against every citizen is against the democratic principle.Snowden case is a very good example of the threat this kind of database pose.
National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC):
NCTC is a proposed federal anti-terror agency to be created in India. It is modeled on the National Counter terrorism Center of the USA. The proposal arose after the 2008 Mumbai attacks where several intelligence and operational failures revealed the need for a federal agency with real-time intelligence inputs of actionable value specifically to counter terrorist acts against India.
The proposal has however met with much criticism from the Chief Ministers of various states who see this as a means of weakening India’s federalism.
States allege that the NCTC has been empowered to search and arrest people without keeping the state government, police or anti-terror squad in the loop, despite law and order being a state subject in Indian constitution.
Conclusion:
A robust and secure NATGRID is of the vital interest to the nation. Issues related to privacy and access can be addressed by strict regulatory and authentication norms or by introducing a privacy law regarding that. But considering the present situation it is important that the data with various agencies must be integrated to check terror, corruption, black money and other crimes.
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