Union Budget: More funds for NATGRID, IB to enhance intelligence gathering | Latest News India | Times Of Ahmedabad

The allocation for the National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID has been increased by 108% to ₹200.53 crore in the 2023-24 Union Budget compared to ₹96.56 crore in the current fiscal for cutting-edge technology to share data between agencies and enhance India’s counter-terrorism capabilities.

NATGRID is currently creating a database on bomb blasts, terror funding, fake currency, narcotics, hawala transactions, arms smuggling, and terrorism in collaboration with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB). It will be the focal point for all agencies to share information on national security.

An increase of 13% allocation has also been proposed for the IB, the country’s premier spy agency, from ₹3,022 crore in the current fiscal (revised) to ₹3,418 crore.

The Union home ministry has overall been allotted ₹1.96 lakh crore. It marks a 5.94% increase from the previous year’s budget estimates of ₹1.85 lakh crore.

The budget for the National Security Council Secretariat under national security advisor Ajit Doval for overseeing political, economic, energy, and security issues of strategic concern has been increased to ₹185.70 crore from ₹175 crore (revised) in the current fiscal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, who is in charge of intelligence agencies, have repeatedly asked them to dismantle threats to national security such as cross-border terrorism, narcotics smuggling, organised crimes, cyber-crimes, and the use of drones from across the border as well as focus on intelligence gathering and collaborate with like-minded agencies abroad.

Shah last month told top police officers to keep up with the changing times as issues have now become thematic and multi-dimensional. “Earlier, India’s problems were geographical such as unrest in the north-east, terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Left-wing extremism…But now they are thematic like cyber security and data security. The problems also have become multi-dimensional as narco terror and fourth generation war…”

Shah praised the 2023-24 budget as all-inclusive and visionary. He said it will give impetus to the government’s resolve for a self-reliant India.

The lion’s share of the home ministry’s budget has gone to the central paramilitary forces ( ₹94,665 crore). The paramilitary forces or central armed police forces got ₹90,870 crore in the current fiscal, according to revised estimates.

The budget for the maintenance of border check posts has been increased this year by 23% from ₹267 crore to ₹350 crore. The allocation for border infrastructure and management has decreased by 5% from ₹3,738 crore this fiscal to ₹3,545 crore.

No significant changes have been made in the allocation for the Central Reserve Police Force, which is involved in counter-insurgency operations, and Border Security Force that guards borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Indo-Tibet Border Police, which is deployed along the India-China frontier amid tensions between the two countries, has been given ₹400 crore more than current ₹7,626 crore.