NATGRID | India’s Counter Terrorism Platform
The contemporary world is full of border disputes, cyber and terror threats and conflicts between countries due to various reasons. In such an era, National security is being a cause of concern for many countries and taking steps to ensure that is being a must. In the 21st century, threats to countries are new, the ways to commit crime or attack have changed, internal and external attackers are becoming more and more smart and technologically advanced and to counter the new threats, many countries are discovering and adopting new ways.
In this series, India recently announced that it will launch the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), a 500 million dollar technology focussed on boost India's counter terrorism abilities a lot. Let's know about this in detail.
On 13 September 2021, India announced that it has developed a system called NATGRID, which will provide our National Security agencies like R&AW, CIA and NIA, the cutting edge intelligence sharing and surveillance technology. The launch has been delayed than it was planned due to the Wuhan Virus Pandemic.
What is NATGRID?
NATGRID is a secure and seamless database for information on terrorists, economic crimes and similar incidents to help bolster India’s capabilities.
It is a robust mechanism to track suspects and prevent terrorist attacks with real-time data and access to classified information like immigration, banking, individual taxpayers, air and train travels.
The 26/11 terrorist attack by Pakistan back in 2008 exposed the deficiency of a mechanism to look for vital information on a real-time basis.
How will NATGRID work?
There will be a data center that will be made and all the necessary data like Immigration entry and exit, banking transactions and telecommunications too. As per a recent order, the Income Tax Department of India will share PAN and bank account details of any entity with 10 investigative and intelligence agencies under NATGRID which will be vital for surveillance and investigation of any suspicious entity. The CBDT and the NATGRID will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to finalise the latest information-sharing mechanism of the same.
Who will have access to the NATGRID database?
NATGRID database will be available to prominent federal agencies including, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department) (CBDT), Cabinet Secretariat, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Later 950 more government agencies will be joined in NATGRID making it one of the biggest network of agencies, connected by one database.
The Cabinet Committee on Security had given approval to the Rs 3,400-crore (approx $500 Million) NATGRID project on April 8, 2010, but its work slowed down after 2012. Later, Modi, who came to power for the first time in 2014, issued directions for its revival and now after a wait of 7 years India is going to get its state-of-the-art NATGRID
