The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Anand Sharma, has advised the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to “fix a timeline” to expedite the evaluation, and delivery of products for the full operationalization of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
The NATGRID was the brainchild of former Home Minister P Chidambaram who proposed a united intelligence grid in which banking and income tax details were integrated with the intelligence network. But the Finance Ministry objected to providing banking and income data with the Home Ministry’s network.
Ironically, Chidambaram, who later again became the Finance Minister in 2012, also himself objected to sharing banking and income tax data with NATGRID. The 238th report, tabled in Parliament on Monday, stressed the need for expediting operationalisation of NATGRID, saying “the Committee understands the importance of NATGRID for creation of a comprehensive network for intelligence inputs and access for intelligence and security agencies”.
“The Committee observes that administrative approval and procedural delays are hampering the progress of NATGRID and leading to under-utilization of funds,” noted the report. According to the first phase plan, 10 user agencies and 21 service providers will be connected with the NATGRID, while in later phases, about 950 additional organisations will be brought on board. In the following years, more than 1,000 organisations will be further integrated into the NATGRID.
They are the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (for the Income Tax Department), the Cabinet Secretariat, the Intelligence Bureau, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the National Investigation Agency. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had given approval to the Rs 3,400 crore NATGRID project back in 2010 but its work slowed down after 2012.