National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Of India Needed

India has plethora of intelligence agencies and security agencies. These include Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Aviation Research Centre (ARC), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), etc.

Presently, intelligence agencies of India are operating in a decentralised manner. There is no centralised authority or Ministry that can coordinate or collaborate between different intelligence agencies. Further, there is no Parliamentary oversight of these intelligence agencies as well.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram decided to bring all these agencies under an umbrella organisation. He proposed the national counter terrorism centre (NCTC) of India under which all these intelligence agencies would report and operate.

However, “Practical Difficulties” may prevent the actual implementation of the much needed NCTC of India, says Praveen Dalal, a Supreme Court lawyer and leading techno legal expert of India. He says that presently Intelligence Agencies of India are operating under different Department/Ministries and there would be a “Reluctance” to submit to the Centralised NCTC of India.

Although practical difficulties may be there but Home Minister P Chidambaram must overcome these difficulties if he wishes NCTC to be a reality. Already, the deadline for establishment of NCTC has passed and its establishment has been postponed to the end of 2011.

The “Safest and Easiest Method” to establish NCTC is to give a Parliamentary Scrutiny to Intelligence Agencies and their functioning. In the same Legal Framework, establishment and role of NCTC can be formulated, suggests Praveen Dalal.

It seems P Chidambaram cannot proceed further due to administrative and bureaucratic problems but if Parliament of India enacts suitable laws in this regard, much of the problems can be solved.