Despite the fact that the country was facing a catastrophe on nearly every front, especially on health and economic sector, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated the country’s internal security remained ‘under control’ in that year.

The disclosure was done in the MHA’s recently released Annual Report 2020-2021, which is responsible for managing internal security across the country.

The MHA noted in the study that the country’s internal security concerns can be broadly classified as terrorism in the country’s hinterland, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxalism or Maoism in specific places, insurgency in the North Eastern (NE) states, and cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

“During the year 2020, the internal security situation in the country remained under control,” said the report.

The Ministry stated that because state police forces are the first responders to any terrorist incident, the Central Government builds the capacity of these state forces through regular training in the areas of intelligence collection, response to terror occurrences, and investigation.

The names of terrorist organisations and individuals involved in terrorism are listed in the First and Fourth Schedules of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, respectively, and the Central Government has declared ‘42 organisations and 31 individuals as terrorist organisations and individual terrorists respectively until December 2020,’ according to the report.

According to the report, the MHA actively participated in Joint Working Group Meetings on Counter-Terrorism with foreign governments such as BRICS member states and the United States of America.

It further said that the Law Enforcement Agencies monitor the actions of fundamentalist organisations or groups that have an impact on the country’s security, peace, and public tranquilly, and take measures as required by law.

Notably, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was established by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act of 2008 as a special agency for the investigation and prosecution of acts defined in the NIA Act’s Schedule.

Image source: ANI