Essay Competition: On NCTC

Trademark presents the second of the two Essays [unedited] which were selected by a panel of experts as better submissions. The author of this essay will be presented with a Cash Award of  Rs 100/-. 

Trademark is in no way responsible for the contents/opinions expressed in this essay. 

Trademark is against any form of plagiarism and the author of the essay has to take up full onus of the contents & opinions unfettered herein.                

Abhik Adhikary 

India has seen its fair share of terrorist activities, be it the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Mumbai train blasts, which took place on 11^th July 2006 or be it the more recent attack on the city of Mumbai on 26^th November 2008. We had our wake-up-call much before the 26/11 attacks in 2008, because of which the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) was formed based on the model of the US’ S.W.A.T. But on that fateful day, there was nothing much that the ATS could do as they were tactically short of their opponents, even though they were involved in the hostage rescue operations. In order to deal with the threat, the National Security Guard (NSG) had to be called in. 

                In the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, the Maharashtra government was accused of having failed to act on the intelligence inputs. To which the government replied that the inputs were vague and no pre-emptive actions could be taken on their basis. Because of the 26/11 attacks, then Home Minister Shivraj Patel resigned and was replaced by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Who after accepting the office, said that, one of his first tasks was to establish a “Strong federal counter terror agency” that could co-operate with the states effectively by integrating intelligence inputs from the various intelligence agencies. For this purpose the Home Minister P. Chidambaram along with the National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan had visited the United States in 2009, to study the functioning of the US’ NCTC, on which the Indian version of the NCTC will be based upon.

                It is quite a good proposal and it will benefit the country in the long run. But there are a few issues which would have to be taken care of before moving forward in this direction. The following are the points (issues) which need to be addressed.

   

                   . Who will the head of the NCTC report to?

                . It will add to the bureaucratic triangle and to the intelligence sharing tension.

                . Will it be under the Intelligence Bureau?

                . NCTC will be modelled on the American version of the NCTC.

                . Powers of the NCTC?

                . NCTC defies the constitution of the country?

               The first issue is related to,who will the Director of the NCTC report to? According to the planned proposal the director of the NCTC will report to the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (I.B) and the Home Secretary. But the modified original draft of the NCTC, says that this system does not come under the purview of the I.B and the states are to be taken into confidence before the centre carries on any activity in their territories.

                The second issue which is to be stressed upon is that, India already has a large bureaucracy and several agencies like R&AW (Research & Analysis Wing), I.B, ATS, which are already dealing with the issue of the terror threats to the country. So the addition of the NCTC to this structure will lead to further chaos. We have already seen such intelligence sharing tension between the existing agencies. If that was not the case, may be the 26/11 Mumbai attacks could have been prevented. The introduction of such an organisation may lead to more chaos in the bureaucracy, but it will improve the intelligence sharing scenario of the country. The NCTC has been empowered to analyse intelligence shared by the various agencies like the I.B and select what it deems suitable.

               

                     The third issue is that, the union home ministry has proposed making extensive changes on the NCTC proposal to the cabinet committee on security. Including one to make it a separate organisation and not under the Intelligence bureau. If this is not done, the proposed organization will not be answerable to the parliament for its actions.

                     The next issue is that, it is said that the NCTC is modelled on the basis of the American version of the NCTC. But the American NCTC deals with strategic planning and integration of intelligence, without any operational involvement. But the Indian Version will have to survey intelligence information as well as take operational actions on their basis. Furthermore the American Federal system and the Indian Federal system are very different from each other. Therefore some serious thought is to be given to this matter. So the Organisation can be operational only after a series of amendments in the constitution of the country.  It can be argued that it might be too much for a single organisation to handle, because it will have to work at both ends - it will not only have to survey intelligence information, but also take actions regarding them if thought necessary.

               The next issue is regarding the power given to the NCTC. The organization will derive its powers from the “Unlawful activities prevention act 1967”. It is proposed that the proposed organisation will be under the Intelligence Bureau and the director of the organization will report to the director of the I.B and the home secretary. Furthermore the organization will be given the power to conduct searches and arrests in any part of the country, and will formulate responses to terror. Therefore if this organization with its arsenal of powers remains under the I.B, it will not be answerable to the Parliament for its actions. More over if it takes action on a state wide basis, to counter terrorism, it will bypass the state authorities and it can be said, in that respect the proposed organization has “Too much power”. So the home ministry in order to tackle this issue has proposed for making the NCTC into a separate body and not under the I.B. It has also been said that, whenever the organization is to take actions in the states the senior officers of the police department of the states are to be informed along with the ATS and both are to be kept in the loops.

                

                    Perhaps the most controversial issue regarding this organization is that, it can in a way defy the constitution of the country. The controversy is that organization has been empowered to make searches and arrests in the states, but the fact is that, law and order is a state matter and such sweeping powers vested in a central agency will violate the autonomy of the state government. Furthermore some strategic experts like B. Raman have pointed out that there are significant loop holes that can be used in selectively targeting states for political ends. However the UPA government has stuck to its decision, which has resulted in huge criticism from the other members of the (former) UPA like, the chief Minister of West Bengal Ms.Mamta Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Gujarat Mr. NarendraModi, and the opposition the BJP, who all argue that this organization is too powerful a central agency which in some respect defies the constitution of the country. But post to the criticisms there has been some reforms in the proposed policy of the functioning of the organization. Firstly it has been proposed to be made into a separate agency and not under the I.B, because of which the organization will be answerable to the parliament for its actions. Secondly when the NCTC is to take actions in the various states, the state authorities are to be informed beforehand and the state police and the ATS are to be kept in the loops. It has also been proposed that the Director General of Police of the states and the Chiefs of the ATS of the various states will the members of the standing counsel of the organization.

                

As a whole the proposed idea for the formation of such an organization, is no doubt a novel idea. And as history as a witness, we can say, that whenever such a radical idea has been implemented it had to face an uphill battle.  There is no doubt that the implementation of such an organization will further strengthen the backbone of our country in dealing with terrorism. But it should be kept in mind that because this organization is mooted from the US’ NCTC and the federal structure of the United States and that of India is very different from each other. Only after a series of constitutional amendments the proposed organization could be operational. Otherwise the power vested in the organization will bypass the state authorities and will in terms defy the constitution of the country. 

When the League of Nations was formed after the First World War (1914-1918), it failed to prevent the Second World War. This was because of the fact that the League of Nations “didn’t possess any teeth and couldn’t bite” that is to say it didn’t have a standing army with which it could put pressure on oppressing nations. But after the Second World War the United Nations was formed and it “possessed some serious teeth” because of which it was successful. Similarly our current intelligence agency the I.B doesn’t have the power to take actions but only provide inputs to various state agencies the ATS and the state police, who in turns take required measures to deal with the threat at hand. But on the other hand the proposed organization will have the power to work at both ends; it will have the ability to survey intelligence information from various intelligence agencies and take necessary measures on its own terms, keeping the state authorities in the loops. Perhaps in today’s radical world where terrorism is not just limited to blowing up strategic places with a bomb, but so much more, only such a versatile agency as the National Counter Terrorist Centre is the answer to our terrorist problems. 

Abhik Adhikary is a Civil Services aspirant and a member of Trademark IAS.