Turf War In India Is Compromising Indian National Security

Indian national security is vulnerable from many angles and regarding many aspects. Whether it is internal security, external security, cyber security, anti terrorism capabilities, etc, India has to cover a long gap before Indian national security can be considered to be robust and effective.

It is not the case that India has not tried to work in this direction. But almost all the initiatives undertaken in this regard have either created multiple authorities and systems or they have been stalled for one reason or another.

For instance, Indian government launched projects like Aadhar, national intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), national counter terrorism centre (NCTC), central monitoring system (CMS), centre for communication security research and monitoring (CCSRM), etc. None of them are governed by any legal framework and none of them are under parliamentary scrutiny.

Similarly, a majority of these projects are simply overlapping with one another. They are supported by different ministries and departments of Indian government and their main purpose is to serve the concerned ministry or department alone. This has resulted in the emergence of a turf war between these ministries and departments.

For instance, while projects like NCTC, Natgrid, etc are essential for national security of India yet both Natgrid and NCTC have already been downsized. Turf war is preventing various ministries and departments in cooperating and collaborating various national security related projects.

For instance, the intelligence bureau (IB) director Nehchal Sandhu is not keen on the Natgrid and NCTC initiatives of home minister of India P. Chidambaram. Sandhu believes the two will dilute the IB’s vast charter.

A few days after the Delhi blasts in September this year, Sandhu shot off a missive to his senior-most officers seeking concrete suggestions on how to improve the agency’s counter-terrorism efforts. He was worried that the IB had failed to anticipate the terror attacks. More so, after Chidambaram admitted that “there was no prior intelligence” available.

Sandhu views NATGRID with suspicion. According to senior officials, NATGRID would be a major encroachment on the IB’s established terrain and also put fetters on its free access to sensitive data such as phone call records, intercepted emails, financial data, etc., that the agency currently enjoys complete access to. NATGRID will place elaborate protocols in place that seeks authentication of those who seek the information and also bars them from seeking anything that is beyond the set parameters.

It is high time to consider national interest first rather than own self interests that are jeoparadising the national security of India.

CCTNS Project Of India To Be Launched Shortly

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project Of India (CCTNS Project of India) is a serious effort on the part of Home Ministry of India to modernise the law enforcement functions in India. Although the modernisation efforts are in the pipeline yet they have not still matured fully.

At Perry4Law and Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we believe that cyber police reforms in India are urgently required. However, there is a void that has to be filled by Home Ministry before India can have a capable techno legal police force. PTLB has been managing a techno legal ICT training centre for police force that intends to fill this void and make our police force techno legal in nature.

A trained cyber police force of India is also required to effectively manage ambitious projects like CCTNS project of India. Further, if we talk about the national intelligence grid (Natgrid) project of India as well, we would also require intelligence gathering skills development in India.

The Union Home Ministry will launch its ambitious CCTNS project, as a pilot project, from September 1 in Assam, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. This is only a trial run where they will use the software in the States to connect all the police stations and enable the police to track criminals in real time.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the nodal agency for the CCTNS, will launch pilot phase in the three States. As the NCRB does not have requisite capability, other experts would help it in achieving this task. Other checks on safety and quality will also be carried out during the pilot phase.

Once implemented, the CCTNS will facilitate collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information between police stations, their state headquarters, central police organisations and other security agencies. Information on any case, right from an offence being registered to its investigation and prosecution will be available on a secure network at the click of a button.

Further, this capability of CCTNS project would also be added to the Natgrid Project thereby making information held by 21 databases available to security agencies. This includes immigration records, airlines, mobile, bank and credit card transactions and travel details creating a maze of rich data that would enable 11 intelligence and investigation agencies to launch hot pursuit of a criminal.

The CCTNS also offers benefits for ordinary citizens. It is expected to simplify the process of registering and tracking petitions and First Information Report (FIR), giving access to general services such as requests for certificates, verifications and permission, registering grievances against police, tracking the progress of a case during trail and access to reports for stolen or recovered vehicles and property through a citizen interface.

Unaccountable Natgrid Is Not A Panacea For Intelligence Failures Of India

Intelligence Failures in India are in abundance. This is not necessarily due to the fault of Intelligence Agencies of India but in majority of cases this happen due to non sharing of intelligence information among themselves in a timely manner. Overall, Intelligence Infrastructure of India is in a bad shape.

This is the reason why Projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), etc assume significance. These are ambitious Projects that must be implemented in a Constitutional and Planned manner. Here lies the real problem.

While NCTC is out of picture for some more years yet NATGRID Project is based upon “Faulty Premises” and “Improper Management”.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram is pressing hard for the NATGRID Project upon the premises that it would solve all the Intelligence and Terrorism related problems. This is not true. NATGRID Project cannot and would not stop terrorist attacks and it would play almost no role in the absence of good Intelligence Gathering and Analysis Capabilities. It can supplement intelligence capabilities but never supplant the same.

Secondly, NATGRID Project of India is badly implemented. There is no sign of any sort of “Accountability and Transparency” in the dealing of NATGRID Project. Even Parliamentary Scrutiny is missing and in an environment where E-Surveillance has already gripped India, this is a bad news.

There is no “Public Information” about NATGRID Project nor are there any “Procedural Safeguards” that can prevent the possible misuse of this E-Surveillance Project. Civil Liberties are at stake as there is no protection of Human Rights in Cyberspace.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram must understand that NATGRID Project of India is “Not a Panacea” for all National Security problems in India. If at all NATGRID Project would work, it must be made more “Systematic and Planned”. Of course, it must also be “Constitutional”. Presently NATGRID Project is not meeting any of the abovementioned requirements.

Lack Of Privacy Laws Stalled Natgrid Project

National intelligence grid (Natgrid) has been in news from time to time. Although the intentions behind the Natgrid project are good yet it planning and management is really bad. We have been stressing that Natgrid is an essential project for robust and effective intelligence agencies and law enforcement functions in India. The only requirement is to ensure that Natgrid’s abuses can be anticipated, prevented and remedied.

There are many challenges that Natgrid must successfully meet in order to be finally established. For some strange reasons, the Home Ministry of India failed to consider these challenges. Further, experts have been suggesting that Natgrid project of India must comply with civil liberties in order to be valid and constitutional. Even this aspect has been ignored by Home Ministry. Even Home Ministry has been cautioned that Natgrid project of India may fail if it is not managed properly.

By not acting in a proper manner, Home Ministry of India has created a trouble for itself. Now the Natgrid project has been struck at the last stage of securing final approval by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is, apparently, in a dilemma whether it would be wise to give overarching power to the agencies to infringe upon individual privacy, allowing tracking of all their activities. Raghu Raman is managing the Natgrid project and his term is expiring this month after he sat idle for 18 months.

Natgrid project, if approved, would ask the telecom and internet service providers to compulsorily link up their databases with it. Even the rail and air travel, phone calls, bank accounts, credit card transactions, passport and visa records, PAN cards, land and property records, automobile ownership and driving licences and many more such data would be linked.

What Home Ministry failed to understand is that civil liberties cannot be violated at will in a blatant manner as has been suggested by it. Civil liberties are violated world over through use of technology and Natgrid project seems to be no exception to the same. Now a section of government suspects such a move as a dangerous precursor to an autocratic state having overarching power of keeping an eye on its citizens all the time and eroding their privacy.

They claim that with the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) would give unbridled powers to the Home Minister which can prove detrimental to freedom and privacy of common man. This has even put in jeopardy the very Natgrid project itself.

In the ultimate analysis the fault lies with the approach of Home Ministry. Natgrid project cannot be taken as casually and in an unplanned manner as has been done by Home Ministry. If at all the Home Ministry wishes this project to see the light of the day. It must immediately start working in a planned and systematic manner.