Internal Security

About Centre

The Centre focuses on issues that challenge India’s internal security. Secessionist movements based on ethnic identities in the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir have been contesting the Indian state through violent means for decades. The Left Wing Extremism movement based on Marxist-Leninist ideology is engaged in a struggle to overthrow the democratic structure of the Indian state. Intermittent terrorist attacks perpetrated by foreign and home grown terrorist groups have been disrupting peace and political order in the country. Infiltration, illegal migration, and trafficking of arms and narcotics are not only breaching the country’s international borders but are also aggravating its security situation. The research efforts of the Centre are focused on analysing the trends, patterns, causes, and implications of these threats and challenges, and suggesting policy alternatives. The Centre’s research agenda includes: left wing extremism, insurgencies in the Northeast India, cross border terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, global and national trends in terrorism, management of India’s international borders and security of its coasts.

The Centre also undertakes various projects entrusted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Security Council Secretariat on matters internal security. The Centre has a mix of civilian scholars and officers deputed from the armed forces and central armed police forces.

The Centre has a bilateral agreement to collaborate with the Border Security Forces’ Institute for Border Management and Strategic Studies.

Rockets in Maoist Arsenal

Rockets in the Maoist arsenal may seem, presently, to have nuisance value. However, the possibility of the Maoists acquiring greater capability to fire the rockets with accuracy cannot be ruled out. Many strategic and static locations would come under threat with disastrous consequences.

The 2013 Assembly Elections in the North-East

State Assembly Elections held in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura in February 2013 threw up a clear mandate in favour of the ruling (coalition) parties in Tripura and Nagaland, although a fractured one in Meghalaya. Political analysts suggest that these results stand testimony to the people’s desire to maintain the status quo.

Countering Terrorism: The Way Forward

A National Counter Terrorism Head needs to be established with the single point authority for all CT activity and with authorization to muster all resources within the country. The authority vested in him will be matched by his accountability to every terrorist strike.

V. Mahalingam
March 03, 2013
IDSA Comments

Countering Urban Terrorism in India

The key to success in fighting urban terrorism lies in obtaining accurate intelligence about impending attacks and the neutralisation of the terrorists before they can launch their planned attacks.

N. Manoharan
February 22, 2013
IDSA Comments

Creating a Diplomatic Security Force: The need to go beyond cosmetic exercises

The government should instead aim to create a single Security Group consisting of a training establishment specializing in security issues and a number of units to meet different areas of security as per the requirement.

V. Mahalingam
February 18, 2013
IDSA Comments

Support for Security-Related Expenditure of State Governments through Central Finance Commission

The state governments may consider projecting their claims before the FFC for a Central devolution to fund their SRE expenditure, and the FFC should respond favourably and institutionalise this process.

Gautam Sen
February 18, 2013
IDSA Comments

Four Years Hence: A Review of the Coastal Security Mechanism

While India has put in place a comprehensive mechanism for securing the country’s coasts, there is still a great deal to be done in terms of addressing issues relating to perceptions, resources as well as organisational management to ensure effective coastal security.

Pushpita Das
November 26, 2012
IDSA Comments

The Current Talibani Assault on the Pakistani Nation

What is worrying is that the Army is clearly abandoning its earlier pretence of readiness to take the Islamic zealots head on and sections of the establishment seem more willing now to be just silent accomplices.

P. K. Upadhyay
November 12, 2012
IDSA Comments

The Naga Armed Conflict: Is a Resolution Finally Here?

A non-territorial resolution for the Naga armed ethnic conflict will offer a way forward to resolving many other ethnic conflicts such as those involving the Kukis, Meiteis, Bodos, Dimasas, Hmars, and Karbis.

Namrata Goswami
November 08, 2012
IDSA Comments

Cooperation is the key to manage the India-Bangladesh Border

That cooperation between neighbours can pave the way for resolving issues relating to the management of shared borders is amply demonstrated by the outcomes of various bilateral interactions that took place between India and Bangladesh in recent months.