Editorials/Opinions Analysis For UPSC 08 January 2026

Content

1. Natgrid’, the search engine of digital authoritarianism
2. Fine-tune this signal to sharpen India’s AMR battle

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‘Natgrid’, the search engine of digital authoritarianism

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Context & Background

• 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks (2008):
  • Over 160 lives lost
  • Exposed serious intelligence coordination failures
• Core problem identified:
  • Intelligence inputs existed
  • Failure lay in fragmentation, poor aggregation, and weak institutional response
• Example:
  • David Headley’s travel, visas, hotel stays created data trails
  • No system stitched these into a preventive warning

Relevance

GS-III (Internal Security & Technology)

• Counter-terrorism architecture post-26/11
• Use of big data, AI, analytics in internal security
• Limits of techno-solutionism in intelligence failures
• Shift from targeted intelligence to mass surveillance
• Institutional capacity vs technological capacity

Practice Question

Q1.“Security without accountability erodes democracy.”Critically examine this statement in the context of the expansion of NATGRID in India.(250 Words)

Birth of NATGRID: The Original Rationale

• Psychological and political aftermath of 26/11 led to:
  • Expansion of intelligence architecture
• Emergence of National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) as the technological solution
• Core idea:
  • A middleware platform
  • Enables selected agencies to query multiple databases in real time
• Objective:
  • Prevent future terror attacks through data integration

Design & Scope of NATGRID

• Access:
  • Initially 11 central intelligence and investigative agencies
• Data sources (21 categories):
  • Identity records
  • Travel & immigration
  • Financial transactions
  • Telecom metadata
  • Property & asset databases
• Function:
  • Acts as a search-and-correlation layer, not a data owner

Constitutional & Legal Concerns

• Key constitutional question:
  • Can a mass surveillance system function without:
    • Parliamentary law
    • Independent oversight?
• Timeline:
  • 2009: Public announcement
  • 2010: Cabinet concerns on safeguards and privacy
  • 2012: Cleared by executive order + CCS, not Parliament
• Funding:
  • ₹1,002.97 crore (Horizon–I)
• Core issue:
  • No statutory framework
  • No oversight mechanism

From ‘Vaporware’ to Reality

• Long delays created belief NATGRID was symbolic
• Situation changed in 2025:
  • ~45,000 queries per month
  • Usage expanded to:
    • State police forces
    • Officers down to Superintendent of Police rank
• Shift:
  • From elite intelligence tool → routine policing infrastructure

Integration with NPR: A Structural Turning Point

• NATGRID reportedly integrated with National Population Register (NPR)
• NPR contains:
  • Data of ~1.19 billion residents
  • Household, lineage and demographic linkages
• Why this is critical:
  • Moves from event-based intelligence
  • To population-wide surveillance
• Political sensitivity:
  • NPR closely linked with NRC debates
• Result:
  • Intelligence grid becomes a citizen-mapping platform

Technological Escalation: From Search to Inference

• Deployment of advanced analytics tools (e.g. “entity resolution” engines)
• Capabilities:
  • Merge fragmented records into a single identity
  • Link faces, telecom KYC, driving licences, travel data
• Transformation:
  • From “search bar” → predictive inference system
• Risk:
  • Algorithms infer intent, not just retrieve facts

Two Qualitative Dangers

1. Algorithmic Bias

• Algorithms reflect:
  • Biases embedded in data
  • Prejudices of policing practices
• Likely outcomes:
  • Reinforcement of caste, religious, regional profiling
• Disparate impact:
  • Affluent citizens → inconvenience
  • Marginalised individuals → detention, harassment, violence

2. Tyranny of Scale

• Tens of thousands of queries monthly
• Safeguards claimed:
  • Logging
  • Sensitivity classification
• Problem:
  • Without independent audit, safeguards become ritualistic
  • No parliamentary or judicial supervision

Core Fallacy: Data ≠ Intelligence

• Intelligence failures are rarely due to:
  • Lack of data alone
• Real causes:
  • Institutional decay
  • Poor training
  • Lack of accountability
• 26/11 example:
  • Local police lacked even basic firearms training
• NATGRID does not fix:
  • Human competence
  • Organisational incentives
  • Political interference

Judicial & Democratic Deficit

• Supreme Court recognised right to privacy (Puttaswamy, 2017)
• Yet:
  • Surveillance systems continue expanding
  • No final adjudication on legality of NATGRID
• Pending issues:
  • Absence of enabling law
  • Absence of proportionality tests
  • Absence of remedies for citizens

Security Narrative vs Accountability

• Public discourse shaped by:
  • Political rhetoric
  • Cultural normalisation of surveillance
• Questioning intelligence agencies seen as:
  • Anti-national
• Consequence:
  • Silence on accountability
  • Even after fresh terror attacks (e.g. Delhi, Nov 2025)

Overall Assessment

• NATGRID has drifted from:
  • Counter-terrorism tool
  • To everyday surveillance infrastructure
• Without:
  • Parliamentary oversight
  • Judicial scrutiny
  • Transparency
• It risks becoming:
  • An architecture of suspicion
  • A pillar of digital authoritarianism

Way Forward 

• Genuine prevention requires:
  • Professional, well-trained investigation
  • Clear statutory backing for intelligence tools
  • Parliamentary and judicial oversight
  • Transparency about failures, not just data accumulation
• Core message:
  • Security without accountability erodes democracy
  • Technology cannot substitute institutional integrity

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Fine-tune this signal to sharpen India’s AMR battle

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Context & Trigger

• In the 129th edition of Mann Ki Baat (Dec 28, 2025), Prime Minister Narendra Modi explicitly flagged Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as a national concern.
• He cited national data from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showing:
  • Declining effectiveness of antibiotics against pneumonia and urinary tract infections.
• Central message:
  • Indiscriminate and self-medicated antibiotic use is at the core of India’s AMR crisis.
• This is seen as a possible anagnorisis (moment of realisation) capable of catalysing mass behavioural change.

Relevance

GS III – Health Security & Sustainable Development

• Antimicrobial Resistance as a non-traditional security threat
• Surveillance gaps and data-driven policymaking
• One Health approach (human–animal–environment interface)
• Global health governance (WHO, GLASS)
• Long-term economic costs of health crises

Practice Question

Q1.Antimicrobial Resistance is increasingly being viewed as a silent pandemic.Discuss the reasons for its rapid spread in India and evaluate the adequacy of existing policy responses.(250 Words)

 

What is AMR?

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR):
  • Occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites evolve to resist medicines.
• Consequence:
  • Common infections become harder or impossible to treat.
  • Increased mortality, longer hospital stays, higher health costs.
• Global recognition:
  • WHO classifies AMR as one of the top global public health threats.

Why AMR is a Serious Problem in India

• India is:
  • One of the largest consumers of antibiotics globally.
• Structural drivers:
  • Over-the-counter antibiotic sales
  • Self-medication culture
  • Incomplete treatment courses
  • Poor regulation of private healthcare
• Core contributor :
  • Irrational use / misuse / overuse of antibiotics.

Significance of PM’s Intervention

• AMR had remained:
  • Confined to hospitals, laboratories, experts, and policy documents.
• PM’s speech:
  • Mainstreams AMR as a public behavioural issue.
  • Translates technical warnings into citizen-level responsibility.
• Why this matters:
  • Previous policy tools (National Action Plan on AMR, drug bans) had limited mass impact.
  • A direct appeal from the head of government can alter social norms.

Behavioural Change as a Policy Tool

• Message delivered:
  • Antibiotics are not casual medicines.
  • Self-medication is dangerous.
• Strength:
  • Targets the broadest base of the pyramid.
• Limitation:
  • Awareness alone is necessary but not sufficient at India’s current AMR stage.

The One Health Imperative

• AMR is a multi-sectoral problem:
  • Human health
  • Animal health
  • Environment
• One Health approach:
  • Recognises interlinkages between:
    • Antibiotic use in humans
    • Antibiotics as growth promoters in animals
    • Environmental contamination
• Without this integrated approach:
  • AMR behaves like a hydra-headed problem, regenerating across sectors.

Surveillance: The Weakest Link

• Effective AMR control requires:
  • Accurate, representative, nationwide data.
• Present limitation:
  • Surveillance heavily skewed towards:
    • Urban areas
    • Tertiary care hospitals
• Risk:
  • Overestimation or distortion of national AMR trends.
  • Community-level AMR remains under-reported.

India’s AMR Surveillance Architecture

NARS-Net  

• National AMR Surveillance Network (NARS-Net):
  • Established in 2013.
  • Provides data to WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS).
• Current status:
  • ~60 sentinel medical college laboratories.
  • Latest GLASS report (2023 data):
    • Inputs from 41 sites across 31 States/UTs.
• Scope:
  • Surveillance of 9 priority bacterial pathogens
  • Some fungal pathogens.

Critical Gaps Highlighted

• Non-urban India largely absent from datasets.
• Primary and secondary care centres excluded.
• Private hospitals not systematically integrated.
• Result:
  • National AMR picture is incomplete and potentially misleading.

Expert Viewpoint

• Dr. Abdul Ghafur (Chennai Declaration on AMR):
  • Calls for true national representation.
  • Advocates inclusion of:
    • Primary healthcare
    • Secondary hospitals
    • Private sector facilities
• Rationale:
  • Balanced, realistic estimation of resistance patterns.
  • Evidence-based policy design.

Global Framework Reference

• WHO Global Action Plan on AMR (2015) outlines five pillars:
  • Improve awareness and understanding
  • Strengthen surveillance and research
  • Reduce infection incidence
  • Optimise antimicrobial use
  • Ensure sustainable investment in new drugs, diagnostics, vaccines
• PM’s speech:
  • Strongly advances Pillar 1 (awareness).
• Missing acceleration:
  • Pillar 2 (surveillance expansion)
  • Pillar 4 (enforcement and regulation)

What Still Needs Political Will ?

• Expanding surveillance sites nationwide
• Integrating private healthcare data
• Regulatory enforcement on antibiotic sales
• Investment in diagnostics and infection prevention
• Monitoring, accountability and inter-ministerial coordination

Overall Assessment

• PM’s statement is a necessary inflection point, not a complete solution.
• Awareness can:
  • Slow misuse
  • Change social behaviour
• But without:
  • Robust surveillance
  • One Health governance
  • Regulatory enforcement
• AMR will continue to rise silently.

Way Forward

• India needs:
  • Mass awareness + structural reform
  • Surveillance that reflects community reality
  • Integration of human, animal and environmental health
• Core takeaway:
  • AMR is not just a medical issue; it is a governance and behavioural crisis.

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