Why Ajit Doval was made India’s most powerful bureaucrat

New Delhi, Oct 9: The Narendra Modi government has decided to revive the Strategic Policy Group in a bid to assist the National Security Council. The group apart from being the main mechanism for inter-ministerial coordination, will also form the national security policies based on integration of inputs.

The difference however this time is that the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval would be heading the group as opposed the Cabinet Secretary, who was in charge all these years.

This group to be headed by Doval would also include the Niti Aayog Vice Chairman, the cabinet secretary, RBI Governor, three military chiefs, Home Secretary, finance and defence secretary.

While the NSA would call for the meetings, the cabinet secretary would coordinate with ministries and also the states for the implementation of its decisions.

Three tier security system:

Recently the government re-designated R N Ravi as the Deputy National Security Advisor (internal affairs). Ravi became the third deputy NSA to Doval after former Research and Analysis Wing chief, Rajinder Khanna and serving diplomat Pankaj Saran.

While the deputy NSAs would play a major role in shaping the security policy of the country, Doval would be right on top of the security strategy setup. He is also the chairman of the defence planning committee.

The Strategic Policy Group would also have the secretary of Defence Production and Supplies, scientific advisor to the Defence Minister, and secretary cabinet secretariat. Officials from the departments of revenue, space, Intelligence Bureau and energy too would be part of the group.

Doval on his party would advise the PM on internal and external threats apart from overseeing strategic and sensitive issues.

The prime push for the government has been internal security. With the three tier internal security structure in place, the emphasis has been on controlling home grown terror, external threats from groups such as the Islamic State and also the insurgency in the North Eastern states.

Coordination:

A senior official explained to OneIndia that certain changes in the mechanism were necessary to get the coordination right. There has to be one man in the know of affairs to head such important positions.

There was in fact a time in the early part of 2014 when the IB had stopped giving the government information. The coordination between the R&AW and the IB was also nothing to tom-tom about.

Intelligence was shared with the cops, but more often than not, it made its way to shredder as it was considered not actionable. The scenario has changed considerably today, thanks to coordination. The IB deals with all levels of officers in a bid to pass on intelligence that is actionable in nature and also ensures that the same is acted upon.