Internal Security Challenges and Security Forces

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies III:

• India's internal security challenges: Terrorism, corruption, insurgency and organized crimes.
• Role, kind and mandate of security forces, Higher defence organizations in India.

These two official lines go together: the first names the internal threats, the second the forces and the higher defence organisations that meet them.

Topics in detail

Terrorism

• Cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir; urban terror attacks such as Mumbai (2008)
• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and its amendments; earlier laws TADA and POTA
• National Investigation Agency (2008); NATGRID; the Multi-Agency Centre
• Terror financing and the use of technology by terrorist groups

Insurgency and left-wing extremism

• North-East: causes of insurgency, ethnic movements, peace accords, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
• Left-wing extremism: the Naxalbari uprising (1967), the affected districts, causes in land, forest rights and governance gaps
• Government approach: security operations with development and rights; the SAMADHAN strategy
• Jammu and Kashmir after the change in Article 370 (2019)

Organised crime

• Forms: drug trafficking, arms smuggling, fake currency, extortion, land and sand mafia, cyber fraud
• Drug routes near India: the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle; the NDPS Act, 1985 and the Narcotics Control Bureau
• Links between organised crime and terrorism
• State laws against organised crime, for example the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986

Corruption as a security threat

• How corruption weakens border security, policing and procurement
• Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (amended 2018); the Central Vigilance Commission; the CBI
• Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013; the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014

Security forces: kinds and mandates

• Armed forces: the Army, the Navy and the Air Force under the Ministry of Defence; the Indian Coast Guard; the Territorial Army
• Central Armed Police Forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs: BSF (borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh), ITBP (border with China), SSB (borders with Nepal and Bhutan), Assam Rifles (border with Myanmar, also counter-insurgency), CRPF (internal security, counter-insurgency, left-wing extremism), CISF (industrial units, airports, metro)
• National Security Guard (counter-terrorism and hostage rescue)
• State police: police and public order are State subjects; police reforms and the Prakash Singh judgment (2006)
• Intelligence agencies: the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing, the National Technical Research Organisation, the Defence Intelligence Agency

Higher defence organisations

• The President as Supreme Commander; the Cabinet Committee on Security; the Ministry of Defence
• National Security Council (1998), the National Security Adviser, the National Security Advisory Board
• Chief of Defence Staff and the Department of Military Affairs (created 2019); the Chiefs of Staff Committee; Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff
• Tri-service commands: the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command; the Defence Cyber and Space Agencies
• Reform reports: the Kargil Review Committee (1999), the Group of Ministers report (2001), the Naresh Chandra Task Force (2012), the Shekatkar Committee (2016)
• Jointness and the debate on theatre commands

Overlaps

• General Studies V: issues related to security in Uttar Pradesh, the various security forces and agencies and their mandate, and law and order.
• General Studies II: Lokpal and other institutions against corruption, and the role of civil services.