NATGRID

Union Home Minister has recently inaugurated the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Bengaluru premises.

Details –

• The services of NATGRID solution will be available to 11 central agencies and police of all States and Union Territories.
• It will link user agencies with data holders, giving them access to real-time information needed for intelligence services and investigations.
• C-DAC Pune has been roped in as Technology Partner and IIT, Bhilai as Plan Management Consultant for the development of NATGRID solution.

About NATGRID –

• The office of NATGRID is attached to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Initiated at a budget of Rs 2,800 crores, it is the integrated intelligence framework connecting the databases of security agencies of the Government of India to gather inclusive patterns of intelligence that can be accessed by intelligence agencies.
• It is a counter terrorism measure involved in collecting and collating a host of information from government databases including credit card transactions, tax details, bank account details, visa, immigration records and itineraries of air and rail travel.
• The combined data shall be accessible by the central agencies namely the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Narcotics Control Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Financial intelligence unit, Central Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.

Significance –

• Unlike the central organisations like NCTC and the NIA, the NATGRID is necessarily a tool that enables security agencies to detect and collect relevant information on terror suspects from database pooled from various different organisations and services in the country. It will help in the identification, capture, and prosecution of terrorists and help preempt terrorist plots.
• NATGRID also helps the police and the Intelligence Bureau keep a tab on persons with suspicious backgrounds. The police would have access to all the data related to that person and any movement by this person would also be tracked with the help of the database. A pattern search and recognition system helps in reducing human rights violations while extracting information.