What is the issue?
- Politicisation of India’s intelligence community has impacted R&AW’s accountability.
- There is a need for transparency.
What is R&AW?
- The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is the primary foreign intelligence agency of India.
- It is a specialised, independent agency dedicated to foreign intelligence gathering.
- The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, engaging in counter-terrorism, promoting counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, and advancing India's foreign strategic interests.
- It is also involved in the security of India's nuclear programme.
- It moderates mass anxieties about India’s troubles such as terrorism from Pakistan and the constraints posed by stubborn China.
What are the successful operations of R&AW?
- The R&AW is considered highly capable in undertaking covert operations abroad allegedly including,
- The promotion of unrest in Pakistan.
- Military training to Tibetan exiles.
- Initial support of and subsequent war with Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka.
- Delivery of victory in the Bangladesh War of 1971.
- Building a formidable presence in Afghanistan.
- It develops advanced technological intelligence capabilities.
What are the issues with the agency?
- Unlike other democracies, India has been shy to declassify intelligence files, or even authorise an official history of the R&AW.
- It is lacking parliamentary oversight and reporting directly to the Prime Minister’s Office.
- There is no systematic way to assess how R&AW ensures accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness.
- The intake is mostly from other departments, it raise issues of bureaucratic politics and inconsistency in training standards.
How politicisation affects R&AW?
- Only few leaders had understood the value of offensive covert capabilities and utilise them effectively.
- Due to this offensive operations are only a small element of the role of intelligence agencies in foreign policy.
- It is reducing R&AW’s effectiveness, instead of a professional intelligence arm meant to assess and shape India’s strategic environment.
- The pinnacle of the political leadership in many instances has misused R&AW, this creates public mistrust over the agency.
- If ambitious prime ministers could misuse R&AW in the past, there is no guarantee it may not happen again.
How the issues can be addressed?
- Parliamentary accountability of India’s agencies is the only way towards attracting top quality recruits.
- Many activists want classified files to become the subject of public scrutiny.
- Declassifying historical documents for public consumption and accepting parliamentary oversight is critical to ensure that the functioning of the agency is optimised.
- This will prevent the agency from becoming a tool of abuse by the political leadership.
Source: Business Line
