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This story is from January 21, 2018

J&K Governor Vohra calls for national security affairs ministry

“Time has perhaps come for a dedicated ministry of national security affairs. The home ministry is overburdened....national security matters need constant oversight...we must lose no time in establishing a national ministry of security affairs that will guard the country on every front,” he stated.
J&K Governor Vohra calls for national security affairs ministry
NEW DELHI: Jammu & Kashmir governor N N Vohra on Sunday batted for a complete revamp of the national security apparatus, proposing the creation of a dedicated ministry of national security affairs that will handle all facets of internal as well as external security.
Delivering the R N Kao Memorial lecture organised by the Research & Analyses Wing (RAW), Vohra stressed on the “urgent” need to formulate a national security policy in consultation with the states and a time-bound action plan that will involve the creation of a countrywide institutional framework for its implementation.
Talking about improvements needed in the existing national security structure, the former home secretary sought a dedicated national security cadre of specially-trained officers to man security agencies.
“Time has perhaps come for a dedicated ministry of national security affairs. The home ministry is overburdened....national security matters need constant oversight...we must lose no time in establishing a national ministry of security affairs that will guard the country on every front,” he stated.
Vohra also called for enlarging the ambit of National Investigation Agency’s powers and responsibilities and empowering it to suo moto take up investigations of crimes such as cyber offences. That apart, he sought an UK-like oversight mechanism for the intelligence agencies that will examine their expenditure and administration but does not pry much into operational details.
Citing multiplicity of agencies looking after internal security and external security and lack of cohesion among them given that they report to different ministries, the overdependence of the states on the central forces to handle internal security disturbances and the fact that internal and external security issues had become increasingly intertwined, Vohra told the gathering comprising of serving and retired officers of the security establishment that “the sectoral approach to national security was erroneous”.

“Sources of threat to internal security have links far beyond the neighbourhood,” he said adding that states had often been found wanting in providing unstinted support to the Union government in its endeavour to protect the country against internal security challenges.
He said the home ministry had so far adopted an amiable approach vis a vis the states and prefered to deploy central forces or make an intervention only in consultation with the state governments.
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About the Author
Bharti Jain

Bharti Jain is senior editor with The Times of India, New Delhi. She has been writing on security matters since 1996. Having covered the Union home ministry, security agencies, Election Commission and the ‘prime’ political beat, the Congress, for The Economic Times all these years, she moved to TOI in August 2012. Her repertoire of news stories delves into the whole gamut of issues related to terrorism and internal strife, besides probing strategic affairs in India’s neighbourhood.

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