New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): The government has increased budgetary allocation of the Intelligence Bureau, its domestic intelligence, internal security and counter-intelligence agency, by 16 per cent this year.
The government has allocated Rs 2,839.24 crore as against Rs 2433.89 crore allocated in the revised budget last year. The increase in budget allocation will help the country's elite intelligence gathering unit to enhance their capabilities.
Recently, the government has reportedly given Intelligence Bureau a bigger role to play in the two neighbouring countries. The government has designated Intelligence Bureau's Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) as the nodal point for sharing of intelligence with Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Bureau is currently headed by 1984-batch Indian Police Officer Arvind Kumar.
Generally, India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), deals with intelligence affairs in foreign nations.
The 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.
It was strengthened in December 2008 following the 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.
A dedicated, secure electronic network for real-time sharing has been extended across the country. MAC has established a comprehensive system of communication and connectivity to share or disseminate terrorism related information and data.
On an average, every day MAC gathers, collates, stores, shares and disseminates about 150 inputs to concerned agencies. Special alerts are also issued as and when called for.
The inputs are broadly divided under four heads - Jammu and Kashmir, North-East, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and the rest of India. LWE-related inputs form the largest proportion of total inputs received by MAC currently, reflecting the spread of the problem across several states.
Various meetings are held regularly across the country to bring together all concerned agencies. A daily meeting of Nodal Officers from each member agency of MAC is held every day at the MAC Headquarters to review inputs.
MAC also conducts some specialised meetings, monthly meeting on cross-Border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and monthly meetings on insurgent camps, FICN and other anti-India activities in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The fortnightly meeting on LWE introduced in 2012 and monthly meeting on Sikh militancy in Punjab started in 2015.
A 24 x 7 Control Rooms have been set up at Multi Agency Centre (MAC) at New Delhi and at the Subsidiary Multi Agency Centres (SMACs) at State level and at Headquarters of Intelligence Wings of other agencies to ensure timely sharing of information and better coordination between intelligence agencies.