Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)

Overview: 

• Research and Analysis Wing is the external intelligence agency of India
• Until 1968, the Intelligence Bureau was responsible for maintaining the internal and external intelligence affairs of the country 
• However, the Indo-China war of 1962 and the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 proved that there were certain gaps in the functioning of the Intelligence Bureau. It failed to estimate the military preparation of China and Pakistan in the battles of 1962 and 1965
• Against this backdrop, the then Indira Gandhi government felt the need for a dedicated external intelligence agency, resulting in the formation of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)

History of RAW

Following India’s independence in 1947, Sanjeevi Pillai was named the first Indian Director of the IB. After the British left and the bureau was depleted of trained manpower, Pillai attempted to run the bureau on MI5 lines. After the Indian debacle in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, Pillai organised a small foreign intelligence operation, but it was ineffective. Following the failure of foreign intelligence during the Sino-Indian War in 1962, then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru established a separate foreign intelligence agency. Following the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war, Army Chief of Staff General Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri called for more intelligence gathering. Around the end of 1966, the idea of establishing a separate foreign intelligence agency began to form.

Indira Gandhi’s administration determined that a full-fledged second security force was necessary. R. N. Kao, then the Intelligence Bureau’s deputy director, presented the blueprint for the new agency. Kao is the head of India’s first foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. The R&AW was given joint responsibility for tactical trans-border military intelligence up to a certain depth across the Line of Control (LOC) and the international border with the Directorate-General of Military Intelligence, as well as joint responsibility for both human and technical strategic external intelligence.

Role of RAW: 

• To monitor developments in the neighbouring countries that have a direct bearing on National’s security
• To carry out covert operations to protect India’s National interests
• Anti-terror operations and neutralizing terror elements pose a threat to India
• Provision of security services to India’s nuclear programme
• To gather intelligence about the organisation and leadership capabilities of various insurgency groups operating in other countries that pose a danger to the security and integrity of India and to neutralise them

National Investigation Agency (NIA)

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up under the NIA Act of 2008 as an association for examination and arraignment of offences under the NIA Act 
• It is India’s counter-fear based oppressor team. The organisation is engaged to deal with terrorist attacks across states
• National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 was passed by the Parliament of India on 31st December 2008, after the deadly 26/11 terror incident in Mumbai
• 26/11 Mumbai terror attack surfaced the failure of intelligence and ability to track such activities by existing agencies in India. Therefore the government of India realized the requirement of a specific body to deal with terror activities in India, thereby establishing the NIA