The
Research and Analysis Wing (
R&AW or
RAW) is
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's
externalIndia has formal diplomatic relations with most nations, as the world's second most populous country and the world's most-populous democracy and recently has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world...
intelligence agencyAn intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
(which handled both internal and external intelligence) in the
Sino-Indian war of 1962The Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
and the
India-Pakistani war of 1965The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent agency was required for competent external intelligence gathering.
The primary function of the R&AW is
collection of external intelligenceIntelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
,
counter-terrorismCounter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
and
covert operationA covert operation is a military, intelligence or law enforcement operation that is carried clandestinely and, often, outside of official channels. Covert operations aim to fulfill their mission objectives without any parties knowing who sponsored or carried out the operation...
s. In addition, it is responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign
governmentGovernment refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
s,
corporationA corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s, and persons, in order to advise Indian policymakers.
The R&AW has its headquarters in
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, and the current director of the organization is
Sanjeev TripathiSanjeev Tripathi is the current director of Research and Analysis Wing. He is a 1973 Uttar Pradesh batch IPS officer, who later shifted to R&AW Allied Service cadre....
, a 1973
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
batch
IPSThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
officer who later shifted to the R&AW Allied Service (RAS) cadre.
History
Prior to inception of Research and Analysis Wing, overseas intelligence collection was primarily the responsibility of the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
(IB), which was created by the British. In 1933, sensing the political turmoil in the world which eventually led to the Second World War, the Intelligence Bureau's responsibilities were increased to include the collection of
intelligenceIntelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
along India's borders. In 1947, after independence, Sanjeevi Pillai took over as the first Indian Director of IB. Having been depleted of trained manpower by the exit of the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Pillai tried to run the bureau on
MI5The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
lines. In 1949, Pillai organized a small foreign intelligence operation, but the Indian debacle in the
Sino-Indian warThe Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
of 1962 showed it to be ineffective. Foreign intelligence failure during the
Sino-Indian war (October 20 - November 21, 1962)The Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
led then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
to order a dedicated foreign intelligence agency to be established. After the
Indo-Pakistani war of 1965The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
, Indian
Chief of Army StaffThe Chief of the Army Staff is the commander and usually the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is abbreviated as COAS in Indian Army cables and communication....
General Jayanta Nath Chaudhury also called for more intelligence-gathering.
Around the end of 1966 the concept of a separate foreign intelligence agency began to take concrete shape. In 1968, after
Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
had taken over as Prime Minister, it was decided that a full-fledged second security service was needed.
R. N. KaoRameshwar Nath Kao was a spymaster and the first chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing from its founding in 1969 to 1977....
, then a deputy director of the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
, submitted a blueprint for the new agency. Kao was appointed as the chief of India's first foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. The R&AW was given the responsibility for strategic external intelligence, human as well as technical, plus concurrent responsibility with the Directorate-General of Military Intelligence for tactical trans-border military intelligence up to a certain depth across the LOC and the international border.
R&AW started as a wing of the main Intelligence Bureau with 250 employees and an annual budget of ). In the early seventies, its annual budget had risen to while its personnel numbered several thousand. In 1971, Kao had persuaded the Government to set up the
Aviation Research CentreThe Aviation Research Centre is a part of the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, India. The first head of the ARC was R. N. Kao, the legendary founding chief of R&AW...
(ARC). The ARC's job was
aerial reconnaissanceReconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
. It replaced the Indian Air Force's old reconnaissance aircraft and by the mid-70s, R&AW, through the ARC, had high quality aerial pictures of the installations along the Chinese and Pakistani borders. Presently, the budget of R&AW is speculated to be as high as 150 million to as low as 31 million.
Slowly other child agencies like The Radio Research Center and Electronics & Tech. Services were added to R&AW in 70s and 90s. In 1990s the
Special Frontier ForceThe Special Frontier Force is a paramilitary unit of India. It was conceived in the post Sino-Indian war period as a guerrilla force composed mainly of Tibetan refugees whose main goal was to conduct covert operations behind Chinese lines in case of another war between the People's Republic of...
became the paramilitary wing of R&AW, providing the requisite muscle for covert military operations. In 2004 Government of India added yet another intelligence agency called the National Technical Facilities Organisation (NTFO), also known as National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), believed to be functioning under R&AW, although it remains autonomous to some degree. While the exact nature of the operations conducted by NTRO is classified, it is believed that it deals with research on imagery and communications using various platforms.
The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), under the
Cabinet SecretariatThe Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India. It functions from the Secretariat Building, New Delhi, where most of Cabinet of India sits...
, is responsible for co-ordinating and analyzing intelligence activities between R&AW, the Intelligence Bureau and the
Defense Intelligence AgencyThe Defence Intelligence Agency is an organisation responsible for providing and coordinating intelligence for the Indian armed forces. It was created in March 2002 and is administered within the Union Ministry of Defence.-Creation:...
(DIA). In practice, however, the effectiveness of the JIC has been varied. With the establishment of the
National Security CouncilThe National Security Council of India is the apex agency looking into the political, economic, energy and strategic security concerns of India...
in 1999, the role of the JIC has been merged with the NSC. R&AW's legal status is unusual, in that it is not an "Agency", but a "Wing" of the Cabinet Secretariat. Hence, R&AW is not answerable to the
Parliament of IndiaThe Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President and the two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha...
on any issue, which keeps it out of reach of the
Right to Information ActThe Right to Information Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of India "to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens." The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir has its own act...
.
Objectives
The present R&AW objectives include, and are not limited to:
- Monitoring the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
and the formulation of its foreign policyA country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
.
- Secondly, molding international public opinion with the help of the strong and vibrant Indian diaspora.
In the past, following the Sino-Indian war and due to what were volatile relations between India and Pakistan, R&AW's objectives had also consisted the following:
- To watch the development of international communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and the schism between the two big communist nations, the Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. As with other countries, both these powers had direct access to the communist parties in India.
- To control and limit the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, from mostly European countries, America and more importantly from China.
Organization
R&AW has been organized on the lines of the CIA. The Director of R&AW is designated "Secretary (Research)" in the Cabinet Secretariat. Most of the previous Directors have been experts on either Pakistan or China. They also have the benefit of training in either the USA or the UK, and more recently in
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. The "Secretary (R)", although is under direct command of Prime Minister, reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary, who reports to the Prime Minister (PM). However, on a daily basis the "Secretary (R)" reports to the National Security Advisor. Reporting to the "Secretary (R)" are:
- An Additional Director responsible for the Office of Special Operations and intelligence collected from different countries processed by large number of Joint Secretaries, who are the functional heads of various specified desks with different regional divisions/areas/countries: Area one - Pakistan; Area two - China and Southeast Asia; Area three - the Middle East and Africa; and Area four - other countries. Two Special Joint Secretaries, reporting to the Additional Director, head the Electronics and Technical Department which is the nodal agency for ETS
Electronics and Technical Services is the ELNIT arm of R&AW, India's premier external intelligence organisation.Established in the mid 1980s by then Prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, the organisation is housed in the CGO complex in New Delhi...
, NTFOThe National Technical Research Organisation is a premier apex scientific organization under the National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister's Office, India. It was set up in 2004. It also includes National Institute of Cryptology Research and Development , which is first of its kind in Asia...
and the RRCThe Radio Research Center is an agency under Research and Analysis Wing. RRC deals withSIGINT and allied works. Most of its work is classified....
.
- The Director General of Security having two important sections the Aviation Research Centre
The Aviation Research Centre is a part of the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, India. The first head of the ARC was R. N. Kao, the legendary founding chief of R&AW...
headed by one Special Director and the Special Services Bureau controlled by two Special Secretaries.
The internal structure of the R&AW is a matter of speculation, but brief overviews of the same are present in the public domain. Attached to the Headquarters of R&AW at
Lodhi RoadLodhi Road in New Delhi, India, is named after the Lodhi Gardens located on it. Two Mughal mausoleums, Humayun's Tomb and Safdarjung's Tomb, lie at the eastern and western ends of the road respectively. A number of cultural, educational, and international institutions line the road...
,
New DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
are different regional headquarters, which have direct links to overseas stations and are headed by a controlling officer who keeps records of different projects assigned to field officers who are posted abroad. Intelligence is usually collected from a variety of sources by field officers and deputy field officers; it is either preprocessed by a senior field officer or by a desk officer. The desk officer then passes the information to the Joint Secretary and then on to the Additional Secretary and from there it is disseminated to the concerned end user. R&AW personnel are called "Research Officers" instead of the traditional "agents". There is a sizable number of female officers in R&AW even at the operational level. In recent years, R&AW has shifted its primary focus from
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and have started operating a separate desk for this purpose.
Secretaries
List of Secretaries of the Research and Analysis Wing
| No. |
Director |
Took office |
Left office |
Career Highlights |
| 01 |
R. N. KaoRameshwar Nath Kao was a spymaster and the first chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing from its founding in 1969 to 1977....
|
1968 |
1977 |
Founder of R&AW, ARC • Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
• Operation Smiling Buddha • Amalgamation of SikkimSikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
• ELINT operation with the CIA against ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
|
| 02 |
K. Sankaran Nair |
1977 |
1977 |
Resigned from service in protest of downgrading the designation of Head of R&AW as Director, R&AW instead of Secretary (R). |
| 03 |
N.F.Suntook |
1977 |
1983 |
Founder Director of RRC RRC may stand for the following:* Radio Resource Control, a concept and a protocol name for a set of control messages exchanged between user equipment and the Radio Network Controller in the UMTS standard* Railroad Commission of Texas...
, ETSETS is an abbreviation of:* Expiration, term of service, US Army* Euro Truck Simulator video game* The Elements of Typographic Style, a book on typography* Enterprise test software, software used by electronics manufacturers for product testing...
• He had the unique distinction of working under Indira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, Morarji DesaiMorarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and the fourth Prime Minister of India from 1977–79. He was the first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National Congress...
and Charan Singh. |
| 04 |
Girish Chandra Saxena Girish Chandra 'Gary' Saxena is a former governor of Jammu and Kashmir state in India. Born in Agra in 1928 he joined IPS and held many positions in police and retired as Director of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency....
|
1983 |
1986 |
Collaborated with the Intelligence Agencies of US, the erstwhile USSR, ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Saudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, etc. • Kanishka Bombing • Operation Blue StarOperation Blue Star ) 3– 6 June 1984 was an Indian military operation, ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, to remove Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar...
|
| 05 |
S.E.Joshi |
1986 |
1987 |
Continued collaboration with Intelligence Agencies • During his tenure, the post of Director of RA&W was re-designated as Secretary (R) and this designation has continued since then. |
| 06 |
A.K. Verma |
1987 |
1990 |
Operation CactusThe 1988 Maldives coup d'état, whose rescue efforts were code-named Operation Sandhya by the Indian armed forces, was the attempt by a group of Maldivians led by Abdullah Luthufi and assisted by about 80 armed mercenaries of a Tamil secessionist organisation from Sri Lanka, the People's Liberation...
• Indian Peace Keeping ForceIndian Peace Keeping Force was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990...
|
| 07 |
G.S. Bajpai |
1990 |
1991 |
Counter Insurgency operations |
| 08 |
N. Narasimhan |
1991 |
1993 |
|
| 09 |
J.S. Bedi |
1993 |
1993 |
Chief during 1993 Mumbai bombings The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 13 bomb explosions that took place in Bombay , Maharashtra, India on Friday, 12 March 1993. The coordinated attacks were the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian history...
• Specialist in ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and counter terrorism. |
| 10 |
A.S. Syali |
1993 |
1996 |
Increased economic surveillance • Emphasis on advanced training and more recruitment |
| 11 |
Ranjan Roy |
1996 |
1997 |
Negotiation on Farkhor Air Base Farkhor Air Base is a Tajik military air base located near the town of Farkhor in Tajikistan, south east of the capital Dushanbe. It was expected to become an Indian military base situated in a foreign country and just 2 km from the Tajik-Afghan border....
|
| 12 |
Arvind.K.Dave Arvind Dave is the former Governor of four states in India. He was the governor of Arunachal Pradesh during 1999-2003; of Manipur, from 2003 until August 6, 2004 and acting governor of Meghalaya and Assam briefly during 2002 and 2003 respectively...
|
1997 |
1999 |
Kargil WarThe Kargil War ,, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control...
• Operation Shakti |
| 13 |
A.S.Dulat |
1999 |
2000 |
Negotiated with IC 814 hijackers |
| 14 |
Vikram Sood |
December 13, 2000 |
March 31, 2003 |
Founder of National Technical Facilities Organisation |
| 15 |
C D Sahay C D Sahay was chief of Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, from April 1, 2003 to January 31, 2005. He is a Karnataka cadre IPS officer of the 1967 batch....
|
April 1, 2003 |
January 31, 2005 |
Revamped ARC • Inauguration of R&AW headquarters at Lodhi Road, New Delhi |
| 16 |
P K H Tharakan |
February 1, 2005 |
January 31, 2007 |
Was instrumental in setting up of Nuclear Command Authority (India)The Nuclear Command Authority of India is the nodal agency for all command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapon stockpile.- Introduction :...
|
| 17 |
Ashok Chaturvedi Ashok Chaturvedi was the chief of India's external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2009. Chaturvedi succeeded P.K.H...
|
February 1, 2007 |
January 31, 2009 |
Investigation of Samjhauta bombingsThe 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings were a terrorist attack that occurred around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Bombs were set off in two carriages, both filled with passengers, just after the train...
• Tenure marred by many allegations of nepotism and corruption. |
| 18 |
K. C. Verma K. C. Verma was the Director of Research and Analysis Wing , the external intelligence agency of India, his official designation was Secretary . He belongs to the 1971 Jharkhand IPS cadre...
|
February 1, 2009 |
December 30, 2010 |
Investigation of 2008 Mumbai attacksThe 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
|
| 19 |
Sanjeev Tripathi Sanjeev Tripathi is the current director of Research and Analysis Wing. He is a 1973 Uttar Pradesh batch IPS officer, who later shifted to R&AW Allied Service cadre....
|
January 1, 2011 |
Present |
|
Most of the Directors of Research and Analysis Wing have been
Indian Police ServiceThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
(IPS) officers. RN Kao and Sankaran Nair belonged to the Imperial Police (IP), of the British colonial days which was renamed as the Indian Police Service after Indian Independence in 1947. N.F.Suntook had served in the
Indian NavyThe Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...
, then in the Indian Police Service and in the Indian Frontier Administration Service. Vikram Sood was from the
Indian Postal ServiceThe Department of Posts functioning under the brand name India Post , is a government operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office"....
and was later permanently absorbed in the RAS cadre. Now he acts as Advisor to Fair Observer. A.S. Dulat was an Indian Police Service officer deputed from the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
, while K.C. Verma is an ex-Intelligence Bureau officer. All the Directors have been experts on
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
or
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
except for
Ashok ChaturvediAshok Chaturvedi was the chief of India's external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2009. Chaturvedi succeeded P.K.H...
, who is an expert on
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. Sanjeev Tripathi is the current Director of R&AW from the RAS cadre.
Designations
| Director Level |
Analyst Level |
Field Level |
| Director |
Central Intelligence Officer |
Senior Field Officer |
| Additional Director |
Assistant Central Intelligence Officer |
Field Officer |
| Special Director |
Junior Intelligence Officer |
Deputy Field Officer |
| Joint Director |
|
Assistant Field Officer |
Recruitment
Initially, R&AW relied primarily on trained
intelligenceIntelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
officers who were recruited directly. These belonged to the external wing of the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
. In times of great expansion, many candidates were taken from the military,
policeThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
and other services. Later, R&AW began directly recruiting graduates from universities. Today, R&AW has its own service cadre, the R&AW Allied Service (RAS) to absorb talent. Recruitment is mostly by deputation from the Armed Forces or Civil Service Officers. The Civil and Defense Service Officers permanently resign their cadre and join the RAS. However, according to recent reports, officers can return to their parent cadre after serving a specific period in the agency if they wish to. Most of the Directors have been officers from the
IPS- Medicine and biology :* Induced pluripotent stem cell* Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique* Intraparietal sulcus, a region of the brain* Ips , a genus of bark beetle- Media and entertainment :...
. R&AW also employs a number of linguists and other experts in various fields. Recruitment in R&AW is taken in the name of NATI (National Aptitude Test in Intelligence) followed by personality and psychological test and interviews. Delhi-based security think tank Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses noted in one of its reports that R&AW suffered from the 'tail-end syndrome' where the 'bottom of the entrance lists' of those appearing for the
UPSC examinationsThe Union Public Service Commission is the central agency authorized to conduct the Civil Services Examination for entry-level appointments to the various Civil Services of India. The agency's charter is granted by the Constitution of India...
were offered jobs.
Basic training
Basic training commences with 'pep talks' to boost the morale of the new recruit. This is a ten-day phase in which the inductee is familiarized with the real world of intelligence and
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, as opposed to the spies of fiction. Common usages, technical jargon and classification of information are taught. Case studies of other agencies like CIA,
KGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
, Chinese Secret Agency and
ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
are presented for study. The inductee is also taught that intelligence organisations do not identify who is friend and who is foe, the country's foreign policy does. Basic classroom training to R&AW officers are imparted at R&AW's Training Institute in
GurgaonGurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
. A multi-disciplinary school of economic intelligence is also being set up in in Mumbai to train intelligence officers in investigating economic crimes like money laundering for terror purposes etc.
Advanced training
After completing 'Basic Training' the recruit is now attached to a Field Intelligence Bureau (FIB). His/her training here lasts for 1–2 years. He/she is given firsthand experience of what it was to be out in the figurative cold, conducting clandestine operations. During night exercises under realistic conditions, he/she is taught
infiltrationIn warfare, infiltration tactics involve small, lightly equipped infantry forces attacking enemy rear areas while bypassing enemy front line strongpoints and isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons.-Development during World War I:...
and exfiltration. He/she is instructed to avoid capture and, if caught, how to face
interrogationInterrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
. He/she learns the art of reconnoiter, making contacts, and, the numerous skills of operating an intelligence mission. At the end of the field training, the new recruit is brought back to the school for final polishing. Before his deployment in the field, he is given exhaustive training in the art of
self-defenseSelf-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
, an introduction to
martial artsMartial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
and the use of technical espionage devices. He/she is also drilled in various administrative disciplines so that he could take his place in the foreign missions without arousing suspicion. He/she is now ready to operate under the cover of an Embassy to gather information, set up his own network of informers,
molesA mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
or operatives as the task may require. Field training is provided in the
Indian Military AcademyThe Indian Military Academy, Dehradun is the officer training school of the Indian Army. IMA was established in 1932.-Demands for an Indian military training academy:...
Headquarters at
Dehradun- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
. The training model has been criticised as being 'archaic and too police-centric' and not incorporating 'modern technological advances in methods of communication' etc.
Functions
The Secretary (R&AW) reported to the
Vohra CommitteeThe Vohra Report was submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, in October 1993. It studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and of the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India....
that R&AW offices abroad have limited strength and are largely geared to the collection of
militaryMilitary intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
,
economicBusiness intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
,
scientificIndustrial espionage, economic espionage or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security purposes...
and
political intelligenceIn cognitive science and evolutionary psychology, Machiavellian intelligence is the capacity of an entity to be in a successful political engagement with social groups...
. R&AW monitors the activities of certain organisations abroad only insofar as they relate to their involvement with
narco terroristNarcoterrorism is a term coined by former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru in 1983 when describing terrorist-type attacks against his nation's anti-narcotics police...
elements and
smugglingSmuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
arms, ammunition, explosives, etc. into India. It does not monitor the activities of criminal elements abroad, which are mainly confined to normal smuggling without any links to terrorist elements. The present strength of the Agency’s offices abroad would not permit it to enlarge its field of activities. If, however, there is evidence to suggest that these organisations have links with Intelligence agencies of other countries, and that they are being used or are likely to be used by such countries for destabilising India's economy, it would become R&AW’s responsibility to monitor their activities.
The primary mission of R&AW includes aggressive intelligence collection via
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
,
psychological warfarePsychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
,
subversionSubversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order, its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy; examples of such structures include the State. In this context, a "subversive" is sometimes called a "traitor" with respect to the government in-power. A subversive is...
and
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
. R&AW maintains active collaboration with other secret services in various countries. Its contacts with
FSBThe Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
of
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
,
KHADKhadamat-e Etela'at-e Dawlati translates directly to English as: "Government Information Agency". However, this phrase is more correctly translated as Government Intelligence Service...
, the Afghan agency,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's
MossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
, the CIA and MI6 have been well-known, a common interest being Pakistan's
nuclear programmePakistan began focusing on nuclear weapons development in January 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who delegated the program to the Chairman of PAEC Munir Ahmad Khan...
. R&AW has been active in obtaining information and operating through third countries like
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
,
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
,
MyanmarBurma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
and
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
R&AW obtains information critical to Indian strategic interests, both by overt and covert means. The data is then classified and filed with the assistance of the computer networks. International business houses, information technology sector and media centers can easily absorb R&AW operatives and provide freedom of movement. A task force report prepared by a New Delhi based security think tank highlighted that R&AW operatives have inadequate non-official cover for overseas operations which 'limits access to spot real targets' and causes issues on handling 'high-value assets'.
Major operations
- ELINT operations in Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
: After ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
tested its first nuclear weapons596 is the codename of the People's Republic of China's first nuclear weapons test, detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nur test site. It was a uranium-235 implosion fission device and had a yield of 22 kilotons...
on October 16, 1964, at Lop NurLop Lake or Lop Nur is a group of small, now seasonal salt lake sand marshes between the Taklamakan and Kuruktag deserts in the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China.The lake system into which the Tarim...
, XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the USA shared a common fear about the nuclear capabilities of China. Owing to the extreme remoteness of Chinese testing grounds and strict secrecy surrounding the Chinese nuclear programme, it was almost impossible to carry out any HUMINTHUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT...
operation. So, the CIA in the late 1960s decided to launch an ELINT operation along with R&AW and ARCThe Aviation Research Centre is a part of the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, India. The first head of the ARC was R. N. Kao, the legendary founding chief of R&AW...
to track China's nuclear tests and monitor its missile launches. The operation, in the garb of a mountaineering expedition to Nanda DeviNanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country ; owing to this geography it was the highest known mountain in the world until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808...
involved celebrated Indian climber M S Kohli who along with operatives of Special Frontier ForceThe Special Frontier Force is a paramilitary unit of India. It was conceived in the post Sino-Indian war period as a guerrilla force composed mainly of Tibetan refugees whose main goal was to conduct covert operations behind Chinese lines in case of another war between the People's Republic of...
and the CIA - most notably Jim Rhyne, a veteran STOLSTOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...
pilot - was to place a permanent ELINT device, a transceiver powered by a plutonium battery, that could detect and report data on future nuclear tests carried out by China. The monitoring device was near successfully implanted on Nanda DeviNanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country ; owing to this geography it was the highest known mountain in the world until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808...
, when an avalancheAn avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...
forced a hasty withdrawal. Later, a subsequent mountain operation to retrieve or replant the device was aborted when it was found that the device was lost. Recent reports indicate that radiation traces from this device have been discovered in sediment below the mountain. However, the actual data is not conclusive.
- Creation of Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and aftermath: In the early 1970s the army of PakistanThe Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
prosecuted a bloody military crackdownOperation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971. Ordered by the central government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to "Operation Blitz" which had been...
in response to the Bangladesh independence movementThe Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
. Nearly 10 million refugees fled to India. R&AW was instrumental in the formation of the Bangladeshi guerilla organisation Mukti BahiniMukti Bahini , also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on...
and responsible for supplying information, providing training and heavy ammunition to this organization. It is also alleged that R&AW planned and executed the hijack of Indian Airlines Fokker Friendship aircraft Ganga as false flag operation to ban overflight by Pakistani aircrafts and disrupt Pakistani troop movement in East PakistanEast Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
. The war ended in successful creation of Bangladesh. However within months of independence of Bangladesh Mujibur RahmanSheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali nationalist politician and the founder of Bangladesh. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its Prime Minister. He headed the Awami League, served as the first President of Bangladesh and later became its...
was assassinated at his residence. R&AW operatives claim that they had advance information about Mujib-ur-Rahman's assassinationThe assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took place in the early hours of August 15, 1975, when a group of junior Bangladesh Army officers invaded Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's residence with tanks...
but Sheikh Mujib tragically ignored R&AW's inputs. He was killed along with 40 members of his family. R&AW thus failed to prevent the assassination which led to the loss of a charismatic leader who had a soft corner for India after all they had done for his country's independence. However, R&AW has successfully thwarted plans of assassinating Sheikh Hasina Wazed, daughter of Mujibur Rahman, by Islamist extremists and the ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
.
- Operation Smiling Buddha: Operation Smiling Buddha was the name given to India's nuclear programme
The Nuclear Command Authority of India is the nodal agency for all command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapon stockpile.- Introduction :...
. The task to keep it under tight wraps for security was given to R&AW. This was the first time that R&AW was involved in a project inside India. On 18 May 1974, India detonated a 15-kiloton plutoniumPlutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
device at PokhranPokhran is a city and a municipality located in Jaisalmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a remote location in the Thar Desert region and served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.-Geography:Pokhran http://marupradesh.org/ located at...
and became a member of the nuclear club.
- Amalgamation of Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
: In 1947 Sikkim became a protectorate under India, which controlled its external affairs, defence, diplomacy and communications. It is alleged that in 1972 R&AW was authorized to install a pro-Indian democratic government there. After widespread rioting and demonstration against the King of SikkimThe Chogyal were the monarchs of the former kingdoms of Sikkim and Ladakh, which were ruled by separate branches of the Namgyal family. The Chogyal, or divine ruler, was the absolute potentate of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when its monarchy was abrogated and its people voted to make Sikkim India's...
in 1975 a referendum was held in which 97.5% of the electorate (in a nation where 59% of the population could vote) voted to join the Indian Union. On 16 May 1975, Sikkim officially became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished.
- Kahuta
Kahuta is a town and tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. According to Pakistan's 2008 census, Kahuta tehsil has a population of approximately 160,000....
's Blueprint: Kahuta is the site of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory as well as an emerging center for long-range missile development. The primary Pakistani fissile-material production facility is located at KahutaKahuta is a town and tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. According to Pakistan's 2008 census, Kahuta tehsil has a population of approximately 160,000....
, employing gas centrifuge enrichment technology to produce Highly Enriched UraniumUranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
(HEU). R&AW first confirmed Pakistan's nuclear programs by analyzing the hair samples snatched from the floor of barber shops near KRL; which showed that Pakistan had developed the ability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality. R&AW agents knew of Kahuta Research LaboratoriesThe Khan Research Laboratories ,, formerly known as Engineering Research Laboratories , is a multi-program Pakistan's weapons science and engineering research and development institute and nuclear research facility...
from at least early 1978, when the then Indian Prime Minister, Morarji DesaiMorarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and the fourth Prime Minister of India from 1977–79. He was the first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National Congress...
, stopped R&AW's operations on Pakistan's covert nuclear weapons programPakistan began focusing on nuclear weapons development in January 1972 under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who delegated the program to the Chairman of PAEC Munir Ahmad Khan...
. In an indiscreet moment in a telephone conversation one day, Morarji Desai informed the then Pakistan President, Zia-ul-HaqGeneral Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
, that India was aware of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. According to later reports, acting on this "tip-off", Pakistani Intelligence eliminated R&AW's sources on Kahuta, leaving India in the dark about Pakistan's nuclear weapons program from then on.
- Operation Meghdoot
Operation Meghdoot was the name given to the attack launched by the Indian Military to capture the Siachen Glacier in the disputed Kashmir region, precipitating the Siachen Conflict. Launched on 13 April 1984, this military operation was unique as the first assault launched in the world's highest...
: R&AW received information from the London company which had supplied Arctic-weather gear for Indian troops from Northern Ladakh region some paramilitary forces that Pakistan too had bought similar Arctic-weather gear. This information was shared with Indian Army which soon launched Operation Meghdoot to take control of Siachen Glacier with around 300 acclimatized troops were airlifted to Siachen before Pakistan could launch any operation resulting in Indian head start and eventual Indian domination of all major peaks in Siachen.
- Kanishka Bombing case: On 23 June 1985 Air India's Flight 182
Flight 182 may refer to:* PSA Flight 182, collided with Cessna skyhawk in North Park, San Diego, California, September 25, 1978* Air India Flight 182, exploded by a terrorist bombing off the coast of Ireland, June 23, 1985...
was blown up near IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and 329 innocent lives were lost. On the same day, another explosion took place at Tokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
's Narita airport's transit baggage building where baggage was being transferred from Cathay Pacific Flight No CP 003 to Air India Flight 301At 07:13 on Sunday, June 23, 1985 an explosion at Tokyo Narita International Airport killed two baggage handlers, and injured four. The bomb in that bag was intended for Air India Flight 301 with 177 passengers and crew on board, bound for Bangkok International Airport.-Bombing:Fifty-five minutes...
which was scheduled for BangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
. Both aircraft were loaded with explosives from Canadian airports. Flight 301 got saved because of a delay in its departure. This was considered as a major setback to R&AW for failing to gather enough intelligence about the Khalistani terroristsBabbar Khalsa , also known as Babbar Khalsa International , is a Sikh armed organisation based in India. Many consider the Babbar Khalsa a Resistance movement, and it played a prominent role in the Punjab insurgency. Babbar Khalsa International was created in 1978, after a number of Sikhs were...
.
- Special Operations: In the mid-1980s, R&AW set up two covert groups, Counterintelligence Team-X(CIT-X) and Counterintelligence Team-J(CIT-J), the first directed at Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and the second at KhalistanKhalistan refers to a global political secessionist movement to create a separate Sikh state, called Khālistān , carved out of parts mostly consisting of the Punjab region of India, depending on definition....
i groups. Rabinder SinghRabinder Singh is a former officer in the Research and Analysis Wing who was suspected of being a CIA mole in New Delhi....
, the R&AW double agentA double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
who defectedIn politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
to the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 2004, helped run CIT-J in its early years. Both these covert groups used the services of cross-border traffickers to ferry weapons and funds across the border, much as their ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
counterparts were doing. According to former R&AW official and noted security analyst B. Raman, the Indian counter-campaign yielded results. "The role of our cover action capability in putting an end to the ISI's interference in Punjab", he wrote in 2002, "by making such interference prohibitively costly is little known and understood." These covert operations were discontinued during the tenure of IK Gujral and were never restarted. As per B RamanBahukutumbi Raman is a former Additional Secretary , Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of India and former head of the counter-terrorism division of India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing . He is currently the director of the Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai...
the former R&AW cabinet secretary, such covert operations were successful in keeping a check on ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
and were "responsible for ending the Khalistani insurgency". He also notes that a lack of such covert capabilities, since they were closed down in 1997, has left the country even more vulnerable than before and says that developing covert capabilities is the need of the hour.
- Operation Cactus
The 1988 Maldives coup d'état, whose rescue efforts were code-named Operation Sandhya by the Indian armed forces, was the attempt by a group of Maldivians led by Abdullah Luthufi and assisted by about 80 armed mercenaries of a Tamil secessionist organisation from Sri Lanka, the People's Liberation...
: In November 1988, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil EelamThe People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam is a former Tamil militant group. It is currently a pro-government paramilitary group and political party. PLOTE's political wing is known as the Democratic People's Liberation Front.-Origins:...
(PLOTE), composed of about 200 TamilTamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
secessionist rebels, invaded MaldivesThe Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. At the request of the president of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul GayoomMaumoon Abdul Gayoom was President of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as Minister of Transport, he was nominated as President by the Majlis of the Maldives and succeeded Ibrahim Nasir on November 11, 1978. He eventually became the longest-ruling head of government in Asia...
, the Indian Armed ForcesThe Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, supported by three paramilitary forces and various inter-service institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command.The President of India is...
, with assistance from R&AW, launched a military campaign to throw the mercenaries out of Maldives. On the night of November 3, 1988, the Indian Air ForceThe Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
airlifted the 6th parachute battalion of the Parachute Regiment-History:The first Indian airborne formation was the 50 Independent Parachute Brigade raised on 29 October 1941 with 151 British, 152 Indian, and 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalions and other support units....
from AgraAgra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
and flew them over 2,000 km to MaldivesThe Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. The Indian paratroopers landed at Hulule and restored the Government rule at MaléMalé , is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll . It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where...
within hours. The operation, labelled Operation Cactus, also involved the Indian NavyThe Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...
. Swift operation by the military and precise intelligence by R&AW quelled the insurgencyAn insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
.
- Sri Lanka: R&AW started training the LTTE to keep a check on Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, which had helped Pakistan in the Indo-Pak War by allowing Pakistani ships to refuel at Sri Lankan ports. However, the LTTE created a lot of problems and complications and the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv GandhiRajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
was forced to send the Indian Peace Keeping ForceIndian Peace Keeping Force was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990...
(IPKF) in 1987 to restore normalcy in the region. The disastrous mission of the IPKF was blamed by many on the lack of coordination between the IPKF and R&AW. Its most disastrous manifestation was the Heliborne assault on LTTE HQThe Jaffna University Helidrop was the first of the operations launched by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces aimed at disarming the Tamil Tigers by force and securing the town of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the opening stages of Operation Pawan during the active Indian mediation in the Sri Lankan Civil War...
in the Jaffna University campus in the opening stages of Operation PawanOperation Pawan was the codename assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE , in late 1987 to enforce the disarmament of the LTTE as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord...
. The site was chosen without any consultation with the R&AW. The dropping paratroopers became easy targets for the LTTE. A number of soldiers were killed. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is also blamed as a fallout of the failed R&AW operation in Sri Lanka.
- Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement , originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's Blacks....
: R&AW trained the intelligence officers of many independent African countries and assisted the anti-apartheid struggles in South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and NamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
. Retired R&AW officers were deputed to work in training institutes of intelligence agencies of some African states.
- Operation Chanakya
Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...
: This was the R&AW operation in the Kashmir region to infiltrate various ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
-backed Kashmiri separatist groups and restore peace in the Kashmir valley. R&AW operatives infiltrated the area, collected military intelligence, and provided evidence about ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
's involvement in training and funding Kashmiri separatist groups. R&AW was successful not only in unearthing the links between the ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
and the separatist groups, but also in infiltrating and neutralizing the militancy in the Kashmir valley. R&AW is also credited for creating a split in the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Operation Chanakya also marked the creation of pro-Indian groups in Kashmir like the Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen, Muslim Mujahideen etc. These counter-insurgenciesA counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
consist of ex-militants and relatives of those slain in the conflict. Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen leader Kokka Parrey was himself assassinated by separatists.
- Help to the Northern Alliance
The United Islamic Front , known in the West and Pakistan as the Northern Alliance, was a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996 under the leadership of Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud...
: After the rise of Pakistan backed Taliban in AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, India decided to side with the Northern Alliance and the Soviet Union By 1996, R&AW had built a 25 bed military hospital at the Farkhor Air BaseFarkhor Air Base is a Tajik military air base located near the town of Farkhor in Tajikistan, south east of the capital Dushanbe. It was expected to become an Indian military base situated in a foreign country and just 2 km from the Tajik-Afghan border....
. This airport was used by the Aviation Research CentreThe Aviation Research Centre is a part of the Research and Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, India. The first head of the ARC was R. N. Kao, the legendary founding chief of R&AW...
, the reconnaissance arm of R&AW, to repair and operate the Northern Alliance's aerial support. This relationship was further cemented in the 2001 Afgan warThe War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. India supplied the Northern Alliance high altitude warfare equipment worth around 8–10 million. R&AW was the first intelligence agency to determine the extent of the Kunduz airliftThe Airlift of Evil refers to the evacuation of thousands of top commanders and members of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, their Pakistani advisors including Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agents and military personnel, and other Jihadi volunteers and sympathizers, from the city of Kunduz,...
.
- Kargil War
The Kargil War ,, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control...
: R&AW was heavily criticized in 1999, following the Pakistani incursions at Kargil. Critics accused R&AW of failing to provide intelligence that could have prevented the ensuing ten-week conflict that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-scale war. While the Army has been critical of the information they received, R&AW has pointed the finger at the politicians, claiming they had provided all the necessary information. However, R&AW was successful in intercepting a telephonic conversation between Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
, the then Pakistan Army Chief who was in BeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and his chief of staff Lt. Gen. Mohammed Aziz in IslamabadIslamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
. This tape was later published by India to prove Pakistani involvement in the Kargil incursion.
- Operation Leech: Surrounded by Arakans
The Rakhine , is a nationality in Myanmar forming the majority along the coastal region of present day Rakhine State or Arakan State. They possibly constitute 5.53% or more of Myanmar's total population but no accurate census figures exist. Rakhine people also live in the southeastern parts of...
and dense forest, MyanmarBurma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
had always been a worrisome point for Indian intelligence. As the major player in the area, India has sought to promote democracy and install friendly governments in the region. To these ends, R&AW cultivated Burmese rebel groups and pro-democracy coalitions, especially the Kachin Independence ArmyThe Kachin Independence Army is the military arm of the Kachin Independence Organization , a political group composed of ethnic Kachins in northern Burma...
(KIA). IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
allowed the KIA to carry a limited trade in jadeJade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
and precious stones using Indian territory and even supplied them weapons. It is further alleged that KIA chief Maran Brang SengMaran Brang Seng, was a Burmese politician and Chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization .-Mr Maran Brang Seng:...
met the R&AW chief in Delhi twice. However, when the KIA became the main source of training and weapons for all northeastern rebel groups, R&AW initiated an operation, code named Operation Leech, to assassinateTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
the leaders of the Burmese rebels as an example to other groups. Six top rebel leaders, including military wing chief of National Unity Party of Arakans (NUPA), Khaing Raza, were shot dead and 34 Arakanese guerrillas were arrested and charged with gunrunning.
- War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
: Although R&AW's contribution to the War on Terror is highly classified, the organization gained some attention in the Western media after claims that it was assisting the United States by providing intelligence on Osama Bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and the Taliban's whereabouts. Maps and photographs of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan along with other evidence implicating Osama bin Laden in terrorist attacks were given to US intelligence officials. R&AW's role in the War on Terror may increase as US intelligence has indicated that it sees R&AW as a more reliable ally than Pakistani intelligence. It has further come to light that a timely tip-off by R&AW helped foil a third assassination plot against Pakistan's former President, General Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
.
- 2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
: About 2–6 months before 26/11 Mumbai attacks R&AW had intercepted several telephone calls through SIGINT which pointed at impending attacks on Mumbai Hotels by Pakistan based terrorists, however there was a coordination failure and no follow up action was taken. Few hours before the attacks, a R&AW technician monitoring satellite transmissions picked up conversations between attackers and handlers, as the attackers were sailing toward Mumbai. The technician flagged the conversations as being suspicious and passed them on to his superiors. R&AW believed that they were worrying and immediately alerted the office of the National Security Advisor. However the intelligence was ignored. Later, just after the terrorists had attacked Mumbai, R&AW technicians started monitoring the six phones used by the terrorists and recorded conversations between the terrorists and their handlers. On January 15, 2010, in a successful snatch operation R&AW agents nabbed Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, one of the handlers of the 26/11 attacks, chief of HuJIHuji or HUJI may refer to:*Hebrew University of Jerusalem, university in Israel*Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Islamic fundamentalist organization*Hukou system , household registration system in mainland China and the Republic of China...
India operations and a most wanted terror suspect in India, from ColomboColombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
and brought him over to Hyderabad, India for formal arrest.
- Snatch operations with IB: In late 2009, investigative journal The Week ran a cover story on one of India's major clandestine operations that the R&AW ran with Intelligence Bureau
The Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
to nab terrorists infiltrating India, via Nepal and other neighboring countries. In order to bypass the lengthy extradition process, R&AW conducts snatch operations to nab suspects from various foreign countries. The suspect is brought to India, interrogated and is usually produced before a court. With emergence of Nepal as a terror transit point R&AW and the IB started closely monitoring the movement of suspected terrorists in Nepal. According to The Week in last decade there has been close to 400 successful snatch operations conducted by R&AW and/or IB in Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries. Some famous snatch netted Bhupinder Singh Bhuda of the Khalistan Commando Force, Lashkar militant Tariq Mehmood, Sheikh Abdul Khwaja, one of the handlers of the 26/11 attacksThe 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
etc. most of the suspects are kept at Tihar Jail.
Controversies
From its inception R&AW has been criticised for being an agency not answerable to the people of India (R&AW reports to Prime Minister only). Fears arose that it could turn into the
KGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
of India. Such fears were kept at bay by the R&AW's able leadership (although detractors of R&AW and especially the
Janata PartyThe Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the state of emergency imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress...
have accused the agency of letting itself be used for terrorising and intimidating opposition during emergencies). The main controversy which has plagued R&AW in recent years is over bureaucratization of the system with allegations about favoritism in promotions, corruption, ego clashes, no financial accountability, inter-departmental rivalry etc. R&AW also suffers from ethnic imbalances in the officer level. Noted security analyst and former Additional Secretary B.Raman has criticised the agency for its asymmetric growth; "while being strong in its capability for covert action it is weak in its capability for intelligence collection, analysis and assessment. Strong in low and medium-grade intelligence, weak in high-grade intelligence. Strong in
technical intelligenceTechint is a conglomerate multinational company founded in Milan in September 1945 by Italian industrialist Agostino Rocca and headquartered in Milan and Buenos Aires . Techint comprises more than 100 companies operating worldwide in the following areas of business: Engineering & Construction,...
, weak in
human intelligenceHUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT...
. Strong in collation, weak in analysis. Strong in investigation, weak in prevention. Strong in crisis management, weak in crisis prevention."
- In the February 8, 2010 edition Outlook Magazine
Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
reported on former R&AW Chief, Ashok ChaturvediAshok Chaturvedi was the chief of India's external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2009. Chaturvedi succeeded P.K.H...
, utilizing Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
funds to take his wife along on international trips. After retirement, Chaturvedi had a diplomatic passport issued for himself and his wife. Per Outlook MagazineOutlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
: "Only grade ‘A’ ambassadors—usually IFS officers posted in key countries like the UK and US—are allowed to hold diplomatic passports after retirement. The majority, who do not fit that bill, hold passports issued to ordinary citizens. In fact, all former R&AW chiefs Outlook spoke to confirmed they had surrendered their diplomatic passports the day they retired. And their spouses weren’t entitled to diplomatic passports even while they were in service."
- In September 2007, R&AW was involved in a controversy due to a high profile CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...
raid at the residence of Major General (retired) V K Singh, a retired Joint Secretary of R&AW who has recently written a book on R&AW where it was alleged that political interference and corruption in the intelligence agency has made it vulnerable to defectionIn politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
s. One of the instances of corruption mentioned in the book was the preference given by R&AW departments towards purchasing intelligence from the 'Rohde and Schwarz' company. A reason for such corruption as explained by the author is that "...R&AW was not answerable to any outside agency - the control of the Prime Minister's Office was perfunctionary, at best - many officers thought that they were not only above the law but a law unto themselves." A case under the Official Secrets Act has also been filed against V K Singh.
- On August 19, 2008 the R&AW Director (Language) who was also head of the R&AW Training Institute in Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
from 2005 tried to commit suicide in front of Prime Minister's OfficeThe Secretariat Building or Central Secretariat is where the Cabinet Secretariat is housed, which administers the Government of India. Built in the 1910s, it is home to some of the most important ministries of the Cabinet of India...
, alleging inaction and wrong findings to a sexual harassmentSexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
complaint filed against a Joint Secretary, who was on deputation to R&AW. She was discharged from duty on the ground that she was mentally unfit and that her identity was disclosed. She was later separately charged with criminal trespass, human trafficking and for her repeated attempts to commit suicide. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ordered R&AW to reinstate her however R&AW filed an appeal against the CAT order which is pending before Delhi High CourtThe High Court of Delhi was established on 31 October 1966. The High Court of Delhi was established with four judges. They were Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. K. Kapur.-History:...
. On January 20, 2011 she was sent for psychological evaluation and medical detention by a Delhi High Court judge when she tried to strip herself in the court protesting over the slow pace of her trial. The psychological evaluation report stated that 'she may be suffering a mental problem due to loss of job and her continuous run-ins at the courts, but she was certainly not suffering from any permanent or grave mental disorder.'
- A senior technical officer was arrested by CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...
on graft charges, on February 4, 2009. The scientist, a Director level employee, worked in the division that granted export licenses to companies dealing in “sensitive” items, including defence-related equipment. He was accused of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs.1 lakh from a ChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
based manufacturer for obtaining an export license.
- In September 2009, seven Additional Secretaries from the RAS cadre had gone on protest leave after A. B. Mathur, an IPS officer, superseded them to the post of Special Secretary. Over the years the tussle between the RAS cadre and officers on deputation from IPS cadre has caused friction in the working of the agency.
Defections and spy scandals
- In 2004, there was spy scandal involving the CIA. Rabinder Singh
Rabinder Singh is a former officer in the Research and Analysis Wing who was suspected of being a CIA mole in New Delhi....
, Joint secretary and heading R&AW's South East Asia department, defected to America on June 5, 2004. R&AW had already become suspicious about his movements and he was under surveillance and his telephones were also tapped. He was confronted by Counter Intelligence officials on 19 April 2004. Despite all precautions, Rabinder Singh managed to defect with 'sensitive files' he had allegedly removed from R&AW's headquarters in south New Delhi. This embarrassing fiasco and national security failure were attributed to weak surveillance, shoddy investigation and lack of coordination between the Counter-Intelligence and Security (CIS), IB and R&AW. According to unconfirmed reports, Singh has surfaced in VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, USA. Recently in an affidavit submitted to the court, R&AW deposed that Singh has been traced to New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
- In 2007, there was a spy scandal involving Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. A Bangladeshi DGFIThe Directorate General of Forces Intelligence is the main Military Intelligence agency of Bangladesh. Along with the National Security Intelligence and Special Branch , these three agencies are presumably the main components of the country's intelligence community.-History:It was reformed by...
agent concealed his nationality, and was known by the name of Diwan Chand Mallik. He was known to have some important documents which were damaging for national security. He joined in 1999 and used to live in East DelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. A case of cheating and forgery was filed at the Lodhi Colony police station on the basis of a complaint by a senior R&AW official.
In popular culture
Unlike the more widely known intelligence services, R&AW gets little attention from the populace, which seems unaware of the existence of such an organisation or even India's internal intelligence agency, the
Intelligence BureauThe Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
. However, efforts have been made to explain the activities of R&AW in various movies. However, these films are directed to the more serious film-goer.
Unlike Hollywood, which has portrayed FBI, CIA, MI6 etc. in various films,
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
has been shy to explore the area of espionage, especially R&AW on the silver screen. Excessive secrecy surrounding activities and rare declassification of information are blamed as the main reason behind this. However there are films from
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
which refers to
agents,
espionage,
terrorism etc. but till recently none of them openly mentioned R&AW.
One of the earliest Indian films portraying espionage was
Prem Pujari starring
Dev AnandDharam Dev Anand , better known as Dev Anand , is an Indian Hindi Cinema actor, director and film producer. Dev is the second of three brothers who were active in Hindi Cinema. His brothers are Chetan Anand and Vijay Anand. Their sister, Sheel Kanta Kapur, is the mother of renowned Hindi and...
in 1970. In 1973, just after the
war with PakistanThe Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
came
Hindustan Ki KasamHindustan Ki Kasam is a 1973 war movie based on the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 directed by Chetan Anand.-Cast:*Chetan Anand*Vijay Anand*Raaj Kumar*Priya Rajvansh*Balraj Sahni*Padma Khanna*Amjad Khan*Amrish Puri*Parikshat Sahni*Bharat Kapoor...
(Starring
Raaj KumarRaaj Kumar , born Kulbushan Pandit was an Indian actor in Hindi movies. Raaj Kumar started out as sub-inspector of Mumbai police in the late 1940s before he turned to acting with the 1952 film Rangili...
,
Priya RajvanshPriya Rajvansh , born Vera Sundersingh, was an Indian film actress, who is known her performance in films like, Heer Ranjha and Hanste Zakhm , amongst a handful of films she did during her career....
). However, films like
The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (Starring
Sunny DeolSunny Deol often credited as "Action King of Bollywood" is an Indian film actor, producer and director. Deol was born to Bollywood actor Dharmendra. He has won two National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. He went to England to study acting...
, Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra),
Aankhen (1968, Ramanand Sagar Production, Starring
DharmendraDharmendra Singh Deol |Punjab]]), better known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Hindi film actor who has appeared in more than 247 Hindi-language films as of 2011. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and also another Lifetime...
,
Mala SinhaMala Sinha is an Indian actress, who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and Nepali films. Recognised for her acting talent and beauty, she went on to become a popular leading actress in Hindi films from the early fifties till late seventies...
),
Such a Long Journey (1998, UK
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Co-production, Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, starring
Naseeruddin ShahNaseeruddin Shah is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.-Early life:...
),
16 December (Starring
Milind SomanMilind Soman is a Scottish-born Indian model and actor. He was born in Scotland and lived in England for seven years before his family moved back to India.-Professional life:...
, Sushant Singh, Dipanita Sharma),
Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999, starring
Ajay DevganAjay Devgan , born Vishal Veeru Devgan on 2 April 1969, is an Indian film actor, director, and producer.He made his film debut with Phool Aur Kaante in 1991 and received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his performance in the film and for which he won a Filmfare Best Debut Award...
in double role,
Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
),
Asambhav (2004), starring
Arjun RampalArjun Rampal , born 26 November 1972, is an award-winning Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films, as well as a fashion model.- Film career :...
as Army Captain and Jammel Khan essaying the role of a fictional R&AW agent Atul Bhatnagar etc. have openly mentioned R&AW and its allied units. Popular Hindi movie
Veer-ZaaraThe soundtrack was released on CD and specially on Audio DVD. The music is based on old and untouched compositions by the late Madan Mohan, as revised by his son Sanjeev Kohli....
has mentioned the intelligence agency R&AW, when the lead character Veer (portrayed by
Shahrukh KhanShahrukh Khan , often credited as Shah Rukh Khan, is an Indian film actor, as well as a film producer and television host. Often referred to as "the King of Bollywood", Khan has acted in over 70 Hindi films....
) was accused by Pakistani police of being an undercover spy for R&AW. In
Mission IstanbulMission Istaanbul is a 2008 action film starring Vivek Oberoi, Zayed Khan and Shriya Saran. The film, directed by Apoorva Lakhia, features Abhishek Bachchan in a special appearance.-Plot:...
, model actress Shweta Bhardwaj played the role of Lisa Lobo, a R&AW agent in
IstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, who helps journalist Vikas Sagar, played by
Zayed Khan-Early life:Khan's parents are former Bollywood actor Sanjay Khan and interior designer Zarine Khan. Khan is the youngest of four children. His older sisters are Simone Khan , Sussanne Roshan , and Farah Khan Ali...
, in foiling the anti -
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
terrorist attempts by a terror group. In
Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam is a 2008 film about a group of actors who attempt to prevent an underworld conspiracy from destabilising the Indian government. The film is set in 1993 after the communal riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The film stars Rahul Bose and Mallika...
Rahul BoseRahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
plays a R&AW officer (Arjun Rastogi) who attempts to thwart explosives delivery in the city. In
ChamkuChamku is a 2008 Indian crime drama film written and directed by Kabeer Kaushik. It stars Bobby Deol in the eponymous role. It also co-stars Priyanka Chopra, Danny Denzongpa and Irrfan Khan...
R&AW is shown as undertaking a covert program much in the lines of the
Bourne seriesJason Charles Bourne is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the novels of Robert Ludlum and subsequent film adaptations. He first appeared in the novel The Bourne Identity...
to build up an assassination team.
AazaanAazaan is the 2011 action film directed by Prashant Chadha starring Sachiin J Joshi and South African model Candice Boucher. Aazaan marks the debut of entrepreneur turned actor Sachiin J Joshi of Energy Drinks and Candice Boucher who will be seen in title role...
is also a 2011 film featuring
Sachiin J JoshiSachiin J Joshi , born on 7 August. Sachiin J Joshi is an Indian film actor, and producer.He made his film debut with Aazaan in 2011. Apart from being an actor he is prolific entrepreneur. He is the vice-chairman of JMJ Group. JMJ Group is the parent company for various self-proclaimed hotels,...
as a R&AW officer who plays an informant, who has to go undercover beyond enemy lines to save the country from the threat of biological warfare.
Apart from Bollywood, the other film industries of India have also cashed in on the patriotic appeal of espionage. Telugu movie star Krishna's film titled
Goodachari No. 1 explores the life of an undercover agent working to thwart ISI activities in India. Cine star Bala Krishna's latest film in the direction of Swarna Subba Rao, titled
Vijayendra Varma is based on a real life story of a R&AW agent, where he donned the role of the R&AW officer in the film. The Tamil movie
Ottran casts
Arjun SarjaArjun Sarja is an Indian film actor and director. Son of Kannada film star Shakti Prasad, he has primarily acted in Tamil films, and also appeared in Kannada and Telugu films. The title "Action King" has been given to Arjun by fans, for the numerous roles he has portrayed in action films. He is...
as a R&AW officer. A 1990s Malayalam film
Highway portrays
Suresh GopiSuresh Gopinathan Nair , often credited as Suresh Gopi , is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema; he is famous for his roles in police dramas. He is noted for his leading roles as much as his character roles...
as a R&AW agent investigating a bomb blast. Kamal Hasan in a film titled
Dasavathaaram and later a dubbed Hindi version titled
Dashavatar essayed the role of a Telugu (in original film)/
BengaliThe Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
(in Hindi version) R&AW operative.
The
thriving entertainmentTelevision is one of the major mass media of India and is a huge industry and has thousands of programmes in all the states of India. The small screen has produced numerous celebrities of their own kind some even attaining national fame. TV soaps are extremely popular with housewives as well as...
channels in India have also started to tap into the theme of Intelligence agencies.
Time Bomb 9/11, a series aired on
Zee TVZee TV is an India-based satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East,...
, features Rajeev Khandelwal in the role of a R&AW field officer who attempts to defuse a nuclear bomb set in India, as well as saving the life of the Indian Prime Minister.
Zee BanglaZee Bangla is a Bengali language cable television channel in India. It is offered by Zee Network, part of the Essel Group.It was actually first launched in the year 1996, but was taken off air within two months due to its poor popularity. It was relaunched as Alpha Bangla in the year 1999. It ran...
also featured a serial named
Mohona where the chief protagonist is a R&AW officer.
In
Anthony HorowitzAnthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
's book
Crocodile TearsCrocodile tears are a false or insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. The phrase gives its name to crocodile tears syndrome, an uncommon consequence of recovery from Bell's palsy where faulty regeneration of the facial nerve causes sufferers to shed tears...
, reluctant teen spy
Alex RiderAlex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book...
is assisted multiple times by R&AW agent Rahim.
External links