National Intelligence Grid(NATGRID)
What is NATGRID?
NATGRID was among the ambitious slew of intelligence reforms
undertaken in the wake of the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.
- NATGRID is a centralised agency which stores sensitive personal information on citizens from almost two dozen agencies to be made available for counter-terror investigations. It will be an attached office of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It’s role:
- NATGRID will become a secure centralised database to stream sensitive information from 21 sets of data sources such as banks, credit cards, visa, immigration and train and air travel details, as well as from various intelligence agencies.
- The database would be accessible to authorised persons from 11 agencies on a case-to-case basis, and only for professional investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
- The Rs 3,400 crore NATGRID project was approved by Cabinet Committee on Security in June 2011.
- Funds allocated for NATGRID in Budget Estimates 2015-16 under plan allocation was Rs 52.94 crore. This was reduced to 16.81 crore in Revised Estimates 2015-16. The plan allocation for the project in Budget Estimates 2016-17 stands at Rs 45 crore.
New Chief:
The government has appointed a serving Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ashok Patnaik as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
- The appointment is being seen as the government’s effort to revive the project, which was conceived in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
