New Delhi: For robust and quick intelligence inputs on "real-time" basis relating to terrorism and insurgency, the Central government has been extending its dedicated and secure electronic network "TMS and NMB" at 451 new locations across the country.
This is part of the Indian government's 'Phase III' intelligence gathering operation that began in 2020 and is expected to achieve its goal by the end of this year or mid-2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th anniversary of Independence.
The network is being extended to 475 districts selected in consultation with the state police chiefs. Out of 475 identified locations, 451 locations have been found feasible for providing connectivity, out of which 174 districts have already been connected.
Currently, a total of 374 locations across the country are on the intelligence network. When completed, the network will cover 825 locations around the country, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs report, accessed by IANS, mentions the details.
The report, presented in the Rajya Sabha on February 2 and tabled in the Lok Sabha on the same day, mentions that the network hosts two platforms -- an intelligence sharing tool called 'Threat Management System' (TMS) and a database tool called 'National Memory Bank' (NMB).
TMC was developed in-house by the technical staff from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), while the NMB software was developed by C-DAC, Pune on specifications provided by the IB.
The NMB software is deployed on all Multi Agency Centre (MAC) and state police servers. MAC was created in December 2001 in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict as a platform to share, collate and analyse all intelligence relating to terrorism, and was strengthened in December 2008 following 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. The forum, along with its Subsidiary MAC (SMAC) units in all states, has emerged as the nationally recognised coordinating agency for intelligence on terrorism and insurgency.
As per the report, a large amount of data has already been uploaded onto the database by IB and some other agencies including some of the states.
The report is prepared by the Standing Committee on Home Affairs based on information shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Committee including its Chairman Anand Sharma, a senior Congress MP, consists of 31 parliamentarians -- 10 from the Rajya Sabha and 21 in the Lok Sabha.
Besides, the MHA informed the Committee that it has established a comprehensive system of communication and connectivity to share or disseminate terrorism related information or data. For this purpose, the Ministry said the national capital was connected with 25 Central member agencies and all state capitals. In the state capitals, the network links the SMAC (housed in the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau or SIB), state police's Special Branch, and offices of all central and other counter-terror agencies.
The MHA shared the inputs with the Committee after it recommended that due to lack of coordination and distrust among multiple agencies like IB, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), Army, State Agencies and others timely action against terrorism could not be taken.
The Standing Committee had suggested the MHA to act as a focal point to coordinate amongst those intelligence agencies; device mechanism for collating intelligence inputs and sharing it on real-time basis through MAC to avoid any delay in taking necessary action on the ground level.