santosh10
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Introduction
Homeland Security encompasses several dimensions of national focus and relates to safeguarding the internal environment of the country from disruptive activities that can potentially lead to disorder, loss of citizen’s lives and destruction of public and private property. India’s Homeland Security agencies primarily consist of the paramilitary forces, State and central police forces and the intelligence agencies, all under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. :ranger:
Homeland Security consists of all activities aimed at preparing for, protecting against and Homeland Security in India is handled by a multitude of bodies with complex functional and reporting relationships. Law and order is a State subject and the State police are responsible for maintaining law and order internally. The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for internal security, management of paramilitary forces, border management, Centre-State relations, administration of Union Territories managing the consequences of attacks in various sectors. The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified the following sectors as priority areas which need specific focus to strengthen the Homeland Security of the country; and disaster management. The Ministry of Defence obtains policy directions of the government on all defence and security related matters and communicates them for implementation, disaster management and maintenance of law and order . The Ministry of External Affairs is involved with foreign policy formulation and in matters relating to disarmament and international security .
Some key areas of focus
India is often referred to as a 'soft state' given its perceived inability to systematically and categorically deal with several threats to the country's Homeland Security. There is a plethora of State security agencies with a minimal ability to coordinate towards dealing with these threats in an effective manner. In an attempt to organize the Homeland Security apparatus of the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs is gearing itself to create a supporting infrastructure for the long term with an organized and targeted development of India's Homeland Security focused infrastructure. This includes modernization programs for providing better equipment and training to the security forces deployed with the task of Homeland Security in India, creation of a centralized comprehensive database called National Information Grid (NATGRID) by combining the individual databases of several government agencies, setting up of the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) and several other such measures. In this endeavor, there are several areas which are critical to the Homeland Security of India and thus require specific focus.
. Police and paramilitary modernization
A well trained, well equipped and efficient police force is the bulwark of the internal security infrastructure of a country. Police modernization has been a focus area for strengthening the Homeland Security apparatus of the country. Presently, the cumulative annual budget allocation for all States and Union Territories under the pecific expenditure head of 'Police' is approximately INR 44,354 crores, which, despite a 21.7 per cent increase over the 2008-09 amount of INR 36,434 crores, still amounts to a meager 4.3 per cent of the total budgeted expenditure of all States and Union Territories in 2009-10 . Of this amount, more than 80 percent is spent on salary and maintenance of the forces and only about 20 percent is available for training and other capability building activities. In addition to this amount, the Ministry of Home Affairs released INR 1,230 crores as central funds for the modernization of India's police forces in 2009-10 . Also, in order to enhance the Homeland Security of the country through a specific focus on certain identified cities, the Ministry of Home Affairs allocated over INR 450 crores in 2009 for city surveillance projects . Such initiatives are likely to go a long way in addressing the requirements related to police modernization.
Furthermore, in order to strengthen the police apparatus and adequately train the available manpower to face the emerging challenges relating to intelligence and cyber crime, anti terrorist unit, quick response teams, industrial security force and coastal security, the States need to increase their budget allocation so that adequate funds are available for recruitment, creating a modern training infrastructure, acquisition of better weapons and other facets of police modernization like using IT to enable inter-connectivity of police databases of the different States.?
.Counter Terrorism
India has had to contend with terrorism in its different manifestations for a long time. Till a few years back, terror attacks were primarily in the form of sporadic blasts in the target cities. The situation changed somewhere around 2008 when India witnessed a new form of organized, sophisticated terrorism. The synchronized large terror attacks on the Indian soil demonstrated the increasing ability of terrorists to exploit the abundant communication infrastructure for collaboration, financing, intelligence gathering and execution of the terror attacks. This was further accentuated by the weak infrastructure and Homeland Security apparatus.
The challenges faced by this sector include an expanding transnational terrorist threat as well as the Maoist/Naxalite activities in eastern and central India. The changing nature of terrorism needs better network resources to effectively combat the growing instances of such activities in the country.
In an attempt to fight terrorism by checking cross-border infiltration, the Indian government has realized the necessity of deploying specialized technologies on all its borders. India is expected to spend INR 4,500 crore on domestic security before 2016 . In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed to create a Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) that will work at both the center and State level to compile intelligence from and disperse intelligence to the participating agencies and set up a National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC) which would be the nodal point for handling all aspects related to terrorism In India. There is approximately INR 324 crore allocated for this endeavor. A further amount of INR 10.50 crore has been released to establish 7 counter insurgency and anti-terrorism schools in 5 States .
Coastal and Maritime security
India has a coastline of about 7,500 km running along nine States and four Union Territories. A constant threat to India's security has been the possibility of terrorists entering the mainland by exploiting the country's porous maritime borders and perpetrating undesirable activities. These concerns were brought to light yet again when the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks entered India by exploiting the weak maritime border security.
Concerned with the nature of the porous maritime border and inadequate maritime security of the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated in 2008 that the Government of India had planned to enhance surveillance and patrolling of India's coastline to discourage infiltration attempts by terrorists through the sea lanes . In 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs allocated over INR 225 crores in equipment for detecting arms and ammunitions in containers . The Government also sanctioned 73 coastal police stations under the Coastal Security Scheme, of which 64 are currently operational. Such efforts need to be strengthened through better management of maritime security efforts and specific coordination within different agencies dealing with India's maritime security. Towards this agenda, the Phase II of the Coastal Security Scheme has been finalized wherein 131 police stations are proposed to be established in the coastal areas of the country.
. Naxalism
At a meeting organized by India's Intelligence Bureau, the Prime Minister of India expressed great concern over the naxal violence in India by categorizing it as the 'gravest internal security threat' and also referring to the need for a more professional and welltrained, technologically sound police force to combat this threat . The different States impacted by naxal violence in India are realizing the interState ramifications of naxalite activities and the need for inter-State coordination and cooperation. Issues of good governance, development, and public awareness are increasingly becoming essential in dealing with naxalite activities, in addition to core policing requirements.
The Government has taken certain coordinated action steps in this regard including creation of an effective policing mechanism in the impacted States, ensuring adequate provisions for equipment, , training, and other supporting facilities for State police forces, strengthening of the State intelligence set-ups, establishment of Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist (CIAT) Schools to impart specialized training to State police personnel in respect of counter insurgency, jungle warfare and terrorism in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. Furthermore, the central Government has allocated an amount of INR 515 crore in 2008-09 for Modernization of State Police Forces (MPF) scheme with the entire amount having been released to the 9 affected States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and 10 West Bengal .
An integrated approach aimed at relatively more affected areas has been adopted, including programs for special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of development schemes in 34 naxal violence affected districts in 8 States. Under a similar initiative, called the Backward Districts Initiative, an amount of INR 45 crore per district had been allocated on a nonlapsable basis to focus on integrated development in 147 naxal violence 10 impacted districts.
. Intelligence and Cyber Crime
Intelligence gathering and leveraging the collected information adequately to pre-empt any terrorist or related undesirable activity is central to the efforts targeted towards Homeland Security of the country. Intelligence in internal security management has various components like intelligence collection within India's frontiers, transborder intelligence collection and the use of critical technology for the collection of intelligence specifically required for the internal security management.
India's efforts at intelligence gathering are inadequate with a plethora of agencies involved in this activity without any single control and coordination authority to manage the intelligence gathering process. Also, intelligence gathering at the State police levels is in a nascent stage with only about 1-1.5 percent of the total police force performing intelligence duties . Intelligence gathering needs to be enlarged, coordinated and managed through modern communication and analysis tools and technologies.
. Critical infrastructure protection
Critical infrastructure of a country includes public and private assets that are of strategic importance to the economic, political or security interests of the country and include infrastructure such as airports, industrial installations, national monuments, energy supply pipelines, nuclear and conventional power plants, etc. Besides airports, mass transportation and maritime security the other key segments for Homeland Security market also include large events such as the upcoming Commonwealth Games, border security and first responders.
India's increasing economic power is reflected through mega projects like the Commonwealth Games 2010, BandraWorli Sea Link, the T3 International Terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi, etc, which are increasingly becoming susceptible to external threats. Such infrastructure is more susceptible to terrorist attacks given its importance to the larger nation.
Protection of such infrastructure from tangible and cyber threats requires specific focus and is an essential element of the Homeland Security of the country. There is an immediate requirement for conducting a National Risk Assessment to identify and map the critical assets of the country on the basis of a systematic analysis to assess the overall risk and vulnerability of the assets to any threats. The next step will be the development and maintenance of adequate counter-measures and emergency plans, including programs for providing awareness training to the security staff of such facilities.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is an elite force protecting the critical infrastructure of the country, was created to provide security cover to key industrial infrastructure units including nuclear power plants, State installations, refineries, ports, etc. However, the major challenge before the authorities is to preempt any such attacks and to have effective monitoring systems that can help in the identification of potential threats to the critical infrastructure of the country. This requires a dedicated focus in terms of special equipment, trained manpower and coordinated intelligence gathering about any potential threats. In this context, a distinct aspect of critical infrastructure protection is a pressing need for public-private partnership, especially since most critical infrastructure is in the hands of private players even though the protection of these assets is still perceived to be the responsibility of the Government. Possible areas where private sector can complement the Governments skills and resources in protecting critical national infrastructure include intelligence analysis to transform information into actionable knowledge, implementation of new information technology tools and communication processes, emergency management and response planning and providing industry specific recommendations for protecting critical national infrastructure.
. Impact of inadequate focus on Homeland Security
An inadequate focus on the Homeland Security of the country can have multidimensional impact. Besides the potentially significant risk to the homeland and its citizens, it can have a considerable economic impact manifested in lower credit ratings for the country, negative branding through travel advisories impacting the tourism and hospitality sectors, portrayal of the country as an unsafe place for business and the consequent reduction in foreign investment. A related facet of this is the capital loss pertaining to loss of human life, damage to critical infrastructure such as rail and road networks and to places that are of high heritage value and national significance. An inadequate focus on Homeland Security might also have a psychological impact by creating an environment of high uncertainty and fear in the minds of citizens, which adversely impacts the overall quality of life of the citizens. :ranger:
Given such potential damages, Homeland Security is increasingly becoming critical to the overall security of the country. This is witnessed through a growing focus on this sector by the Government of India manifested through larger budgets and attempts to create a structured approach to Homeland Security of India. Globally, the private sector has played a significant role in meeting the Homeland Security requirements in various countries across the world, and this model is now being replicated in India with the industry taking note of the requirements of this sector and perceiving this as a potential growth opportunity. However, given the lack of specific focus through a dedicated representative industry segment and the disorganized nature of Homeland Security apparatus in India, there is a lack of clarity regarding the extent of opportunity in this sector and specifically the approach and strategy to be adopted towards contributing to the cause in a constructive and significant manner.
Homeland Security encompasses several dimensions of national focus and relates to safeguarding the internal environment of the country from disruptive activities that can potentially lead to disorder, loss of citizen’s lives and destruction of public and private property. India’s Homeland Security agencies primarily consist of the paramilitary forces, State and central police forces and the intelligence agencies, all under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. :ranger:
Homeland Security consists of all activities aimed at preparing for, protecting against and Homeland Security in India is handled by a multitude of bodies with complex functional and reporting relationships. Law and order is a State subject and the State police are responsible for maintaining law and order internally. The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for internal security, management of paramilitary forces, border management, Centre-State relations, administration of Union Territories managing the consequences of attacks in various sectors. The Ministry of Home Affairs has identified the following sectors as priority areas which need specific focus to strengthen the Homeland Security of the country; and disaster management. The Ministry of Defence obtains policy directions of the government on all defence and security related matters and communicates them for implementation, disaster management and maintenance of law and order . The Ministry of External Affairs is involved with foreign policy formulation and in matters relating to disarmament and international security .
Homeland Security in India has witnessed an increasing focus in the recent past. Occurrences like the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, security concerns emanating from the forthcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games, increasing instances of domestic terrorism, ethnic conflicts and other real and perceived threats have reiterated the critical importance of protecting the internal environment of the country from any potential disruption. In light of these events and threats, the Central and State governments in the country now perceive the modernization and up-gradation of the country's Homeland Security infrastructure as an area of priority. :thumb: This has led to an increase in the Defence and Homeland Security expenditure outlay in the country.kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/HomelandSecurityinIndia_ASSOCHAM.pdf
Some key areas of focus
India is often referred to as a 'soft state' given its perceived inability to systematically and categorically deal with several threats to the country's Homeland Security. There is a plethora of State security agencies with a minimal ability to coordinate towards dealing with these threats in an effective manner. In an attempt to organize the Homeland Security apparatus of the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs is gearing itself to create a supporting infrastructure for the long term with an organized and targeted development of India's Homeland Security focused infrastructure. This includes modernization programs for providing better equipment and training to the security forces deployed with the task of Homeland Security in India, creation of a centralized comprehensive database called National Information Grid (NATGRID) by combining the individual databases of several government agencies, setting up of the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) and several other such measures. In this endeavor, there are several areas which are critical to the Homeland Security of India and thus require specific focus.
. Police and paramilitary modernization
A well trained, well equipped and efficient police force is the bulwark of the internal security infrastructure of a country. Police modernization has been a focus area for strengthening the Homeland Security apparatus of the country. Presently, the cumulative annual budget allocation for all States and Union Territories under the pecific expenditure head of 'Police' is approximately INR 44,354 crores, which, despite a 21.7 per cent increase over the 2008-09 amount of INR 36,434 crores, still amounts to a meager 4.3 per cent of the total budgeted expenditure of all States and Union Territories in 2009-10 . Of this amount, more than 80 percent is spent on salary and maintenance of the forces and only about 20 percent is available for training and other capability building activities. In addition to this amount, the Ministry of Home Affairs released INR 1,230 crores as central funds for the modernization of India's police forces in 2009-10 . Also, in order to enhance the Homeland Security of the country through a specific focus on certain identified cities, the Ministry of Home Affairs allocated over INR 450 crores in 2009 for city surveillance projects . Such initiatives are likely to go a long way in addressing the requirements related to police modernization.
Furthermore, in order to strengthen the police apparatus and adequately train the available manpower to face the emerging challenges relating to intelligence and cyber crime, anti terrorist unit, quick response teams, industrial security force and coastal security, the States need to increase their budget allocation so that adequate funds are available for recruitment, creating a modern training infrastructure, acquisition of better weapons and other facets of police modernization like using IT to enable inter-connectivity of police databases of the different States.?
.Counter Terrorism
India has had to contend with terrorism in its different manifestations for a long time. Till a few years back, terror attacks were primarily in the form of sporadic blasts in the target cities. The situation changed somewhere around 2008 when India witnessed a new form of organized, sophisticated terrorism. The synchronized large terror attacks on the Indian soil demonstrated the increasing ability of terrorists to exploit the abundant communication infrastructure for collaboration, financing, intelligence gathering and execution of the terror attacks. This was further accentuated by the weak infrastructure and Homeland Security apparatus.
The challenges faced by this sector include an expanding transnational terrorist threat as well as the Maoist/Naxalite activities in eastern and central India. The changing nature of terrorism needs better network resources to effectively combat the growing instances of such activities in the country.
In an attempt to fight terrorism by checking cross-border infiltration, the Indian government has realized the necessity of deploying specialized technologies on all its borders. India is expected to spend INR 4,500 crore on domestic security before 2016 . In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed to create a Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) that will work at both the center and State level to compile intelligence from and disperse intelligence to the participating agencies and set up a National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC) which would be the nodal point for handling all aspects related to terrorism In India. There is approximately INR 324 crore allocated for this endeavor. A further amount of INR 10.50 crore has been released to establish 7 counter insurgency and anti-terrorism schools in 5 States .
Coastal and Maritime security
India has a coastline of about 7,500 km running along nine States and four Union Territories. A constant threat to India's security has been the possibility of terrorists entering the mainland by exploiting the country's porous maritime borders and perpetrating undesirable activities. These concerns were brought to light yet again when the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks entered India by exploiting the weak maritime border security.
Concerned with the nature of the porous maritime border and inadequate maritime security of the country, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated in 2008 that the Government of India had planned to enhance surveillance and patrolling of India's coastline to discourage infiltration attempts by terrorists through the sea lanes . In 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs allocated over INR 225 crores in equipment for detecting arms and ammunitions in containers . The Government also sanctioned 73 coastal police stations under the Coastal Security Scheme, of which 64 are currently operational. Such efforts need to be strengthened through better management of maritime security efforts and specific coordination within different agencies dealing with India's maritime security. Towards this agenda, the Phase II of the Coastal Security Scheme has been finalized wherein 131 police stations are proposed to be established in the coastal areas of the country.
. Naxalism
At a meeting organized by India's Intelligence Bureau, the Prime Minister of India expressed great concern over the naxal violence in India by categorizing it as the 'gravest internal security threat' and also referring to the need for a more professional and welltrained, technologically sound police force to combat this threat . The different States impacted by naxal violence in India are realizing the interState ramifications of naxalite activities and the need for inter-State coordination and cooperation. Issues of good governance, development, and public awareness are increasingly becoming essential in dealing with naxalite activities, in addition to core policing requirements.
The Government has taken certain coordinated action steps in this regard including creation of an effective policing mechanism in the impacted States, ensuring adequate provisions for equipment, , training, and other supporting facilities for State police forces, strengthening of the State intelligence set-ups, establishment of Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist (CIAT) Schools to impart specialized training to State police personnel in respect of counter insurgency, jungle warfare and terrorism in Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand. Furthermore, the central Government has allocated an amount of INR 515 crore in 2008-09 for Modernization of State Police Forces (MPF) scheme with the entire amount having been released to the 9 affected States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and 10 West Bengal .
An integrated approach aimed at relatively more affected areas has been adopted, including programs for special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of development schemes in 34 naxal violence affected districts in 8 States. Under a similar initiative, called the Backward Districts Initiative, an amount of INR 45 crore per district had been allocated on a nonlapsable basis to focus on integrated development in 147 naxal violence 10 impacted districts.
. Intelligence and Cyber Crime
Intelligence gathering and leveraging the collected information adequately to pre-empt any terrorist or related undesirable activity is central to the efforts targeted towards Homeland Security of the country. Intelligence in internal security management has various components like intelligence collection within India's frontiers, transborder intelligence collection and the use of critical technology for the collection of intelligence specifically required for the internal security management.
India's efforts at intelligence gathering are inadequate with a plethora of agencies involved in this activity without any single control and coordination authority to manage the intelligence gathering process. Also, intelligence gathering at the State police levels is in a nascent stage with only about 1-1.5 percent of the total police force performing intelligence duties . Intelligence gathering needs to be enlarged, coordinated and managed through modern communication and analysis tools and technologies.
. Critical infrastructure protection
Critical infrastructure of a country includes public and private assets that are of strategic importance to the economic, political or security interests of the country and include infrastructure such as airports, industrial installations, national monuments, energy supply pipelines, nuclear and conventional power plants, etc. Besides airports, mass transportation and maritime security the other key segments for Homeland Security market also include large events such as the upcoming Commonwealth Games, border security and first responders.
India's increasing economic power is reflected through mega projects like the Commonwealth Games 2010, BandraWorli Sea Link, the T3 International Terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi, etc, which are increasingly becoming susceptible to external threats. Such infrastructure is more susceptible to terrorist attacks given its importance to the larger nation.
Protection of such infrastructure from tangible and cyber threats requires specific focus and is an essential element of the Homeland Security of the country. There is an immediate requirement for conducting a National Risk Assessment to identify and map the critical assets of the country on the basis of a systematic analysis to assess the overall risk and vulnerability of the assets to any threats. The next step will be the development and maintenance of adequate counter-measures and emergency plans, including programs for providing awareness training to the security staff of such facilities.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is an elite force protecting the critical infrastructure of the country, was created to provide security cover to key industrial infrastructure units including nuclear power plants, State installations, refineries, ports, etc. However, the major challenge before the authorities is to preempt any such attacks and to have effective monitoring systems that can help in the identification of potential threats to the critical infrastructure of the country. This requires a dedicated focus in terms of special equipment, trained manpower and coordinated intelligence gathering about any potential threats. In this context, a distinct aspect of critical infrastructure protection is a pressing need for public-private partnership, especially since most critical infrastructure is in the hands of private players even though the protection of these assets is still perceived to be the responsibility of the Government. Possible areas where private sector can complement the Governments skills and resources in protecting critical national infrastructure include intelligence analysis to transform information into actionable knowledge, implementation of new information technology tools and communication processes, emergency management and response planning and providing industry specific recommendations for protecting critical national infrastructure.
. Impact of inadequate focus on Homeland Security
An inadequate focus on the Homeland Security of the country can have multidimensional impact. Besides the potentially significant risk to the homeland and its citizens, it can have a considerable economic impact manifested in lower credit ratings for the country, negative branding through travel advisories impacting the tourism and hospitality sectors, portrayal of the country as an unsafe place for business and the consequent reduction in foreign investment. A related facet of this is the capital loss pertaining to loss of human life, damage to critical infrastructure such as rail and road networks and to places that are of high heritage value and national significance. An inadequate focus on Homeland Security might also have a psychological impact by creating an environment of high uncertainty and fear in the minds of citizens, which adversely impacts the overall quality of life of the citizens. :ranger:
Given such potential damages, Homeland Security is increasingly becoming critical to the overall security of the country. This is witnessed through a growing focus on this sector by the Government of India manifested through larger budgets and attempts to create a structured approach to Homeland Security of India. Globally, the private sector has played a significant role in meeting the Homeland Security requirements in various countries across the world, and this model is now being replicated in India with the industry taking note of the requirements of this sector and perceiving this as a potential growth opportunity. However, given the lack of specific focus through a dedicated representative industry segment and the disorganized nature of Homeland Security apparatus in India, there is a lack of clarity regarding the extent of opportunity in this sector and specifically the approach and strategy to be adopted towards contributing to the cause in a constructive and significant manner.
kpmg.com/IN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/HomelandSecurityinIndia_ASSOCHAM.pdf