National intelligence grid gains traction as Central agencies

WHY IN NEWS ?

• National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) is now handling ~45,000 data access requests per month.
• At the 2024 DGPs’ Conference in Raipur, chaired by Narendra Modi, States were asked to scale up NATGRID usage in all investigations.
• Union Home Ministry directed States to liberally use NATGRID.
• Access expanded:
  • From 10 Central agencies
  • To Superintendent of Police (SP)-rank officers in States.
• Comes amid:
  • 20.41 lakh cybersecurity incidents in 2024 (highest since 2020).

Relevance :

GS Paper III – Internal Security

• Counter-terrorism intelligence architecture
• Cybersecurity incidents and digital infrastructure protection
• Financial crime, narcotics, terror financing investigations
• Technology-driven policing

GS Paper II – Polity & Governance

• Federalism in policing (State subject, Central platform)
• Executive powers, absence of statutory backing
• Oversight and accountability mechanisms

WHAT IS NATGRID?

• A real-time, secured data access platform for:
  • Police
  • Intelligence agencies
  • Investigative bodies
• Purpose:
  • To integrate multiple government & private databases
  • Enable fast, intelligence-led investigations
• Conceptualised in 2009 after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
• Became fully operational in 2023–24.

WHAT KIND OF DATA DOES NATGRID ACCESS?

NATGRID enables real-time access to:

• Aadhaar data
• Driving licence & vehicle registration
• Airline passenger data
• Banking & financial transactions
• Telecom records
• Social media account metadata

This allows multi-dimensional profiling for:

• Terror cases
• Financial crimes
• Narcotics
• Cybercrime
• Organised crime

WHO CAN ACCESS NATGRID?

Earlier Access (Only Central Agencies):

• Intelligence Bureau
• Research and Analysis Wing
• National Investigation Agency
• Enforcement Directorate
• Financial Intelligence Unit
• Narcotics Control Bureau
• Directorate of Revenue Intelligence

Current Expansion:

• SP-rank State Police officers now included

Marks a shift from Central-only intelligence to federal policing integration.

WHY WAS NATGRID CREATED?

• Problem earlier:
  • Agencies had to:
    • Write letters
    • Seek case-specific approvals
    • Wait weeks for data
• Post-26/11 reform logic:
  • Terror attacks exploited information silos
• NATGRID solves this by:
  • Providing single-window, integrated access
  • Eliminating:
    • Inter-agency delays
    • Jurisdictional bottlenecks

OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGES

• No FIR required to access data.
• Enables:
  • “Join-the-dots” investigations
  • Preventive intelligence
  • Financial trail mapping
• Reduces:
  • Inter-agency dependency
  • Tactical delays
• Critical for:
  • Terror financing
  • Cryptocurrency fraud
  • Cross-border crime
  • Cyber extortion

CURRENT OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES

Despite being designed as a real-time system, State police report:

• Slow login processes
• Delayed data retrieval
• Procedural friction
• Officers still dependent on manual follow-ups

Indicates a gap between platform design and field usability.

CYBERSECURITY CONTEXT

• India recorded:
  • 20.41 lakh cyber incidents in 2024
• Government concern:
  • Repeated attempts to breach:
    • Power grids
    • Telecom networks
    • Financial infrastructure
• NATGRID is now positioned as:
  • A core digital internal security backbone

GOVERNANCE & POLITICAL CONTEXT

• Originally conceptualised under P. Chidambaram (2009).
• Gained full momentum after 2019 under Amit Shah as Home Minister.
• Key governance change:
  • Central–State trust deficit was resolved
  • Enabled State police onboarding

CONSTITUTIONAL & PRIVACY IMPLICATIONS

NATGRID directly engages:

• Article 21 – Right to Privacy
• Doctrine from:
  • Puttaswamy judgment (Legality, Necessity, Proportionality)

Key Risks:

• Mass surveillance potential
• Profiling without judicial warrant
• No FIR requirement dilutes judicial oversight
• Data misuse risk in political or civil cases
• Lack of independent audit mechanism

Security efficiency ↑ but privacy safeguards remain institutionally weak.

FEDERALISM DIMENSION

• Policing is a State subject.
• NATGRID:
  • Operates under Union Home Ministry control.
• Expansion to State police:
  • Strengthens cooperative federalism
  • But:
    • Central platform still controls architecture, access logs, and audit

COMPARISON WITH GLOBAL MODELS

Country	Platform	Oversight
USA	Fusion Centers	Strong Congressional + Judicial oversight
UK	GCHQ–NPCC systems	Parliamentary Intelligence Committee
India	NATGRID	Executive-controlled, weak statutory oversight

CORE POLICY DILEMMA

Security Objective	Liberty Risk
Faster crime detection	Mass data aggregation
Preventive intelligence	Surveillance without suspicion
Unified access	Weak data minimisation

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE (REFORM AGENDA) ?

• Enact a dedicated NATGRID statutory law:
  • Defines:
    • Purpose limitation
    • Data retention period
    • Audit standards
• Mandatory:
  • Independent oversight authority
  • Judicial access logs
• Technical reforms:
  • Faster access interfaces
  • Tiered access control
• Parliamentary reporting on:
  • Annual request volumes
  • Misuse cases
  • Breach audits

---