- Context:
- The Centre wants the States to exchange more intelligence through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a single counter-terrorism grid run by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that was established after the Kargil war in 2001.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered the Directors General of Police to submit enough information and actionable suggestions through the MAC at a high-level meeting on Monday.
- About the Multi Agency Centre Against Terrorism:
- The platform is used by 28 organizations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the military forces, and state police, and it allows different security agencies to share real-time information feeds.
- For more than a decade, there have been plans to connect the system to the district level.
- According to a senior government official, the mechanism exists to communicate information among several agencies, but it is not being used efficiently.
- “States are frequently hesitant to share data on the platform.
- There are various gaps in releasing essential information at the proper time which need to be fulfilled in order to effectively fight terrorism in India.
- Source The Hindu