GS Paper 3:
Topics Covered: Important Security Agencies.
Context:
The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC).
Need for:
- States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
- There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
- Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.
About MAC:
- It is a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau that was made operational in 2001 following the Kargil War.
- As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police, are part of the platform.
- Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
- Now functioning 24/7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
Do you know about the NATGRID?
First conceptualised in 2009, NATGRID seeks to become the one-stop destination for security and intelligence agencies to access database related to immigration entry and exit, banking and telephone details of a suspect on a “secured platform”.
Sources: the Hindu
