Former RAW chief to head revamped national security advisory board
National Security Advisory Board
(NSAB), appointing
former RAW chief
Alok Joshi as its chairman and 14 other domain experts that include ex-commanders from the three armed forces, former diplomats, officers and technocrats.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
NSAB, tasked with undertaking long-term analysis of and providing perspective to the Prime Minister-led National Security Council on issues related to national security, now has 15 serving members. The other new members appointed are former Western Air Commander Air Marshal P M Sinha, former Southern Army Commander Lt Gen A K Singh and Rear Admiral (Retd) Monty Khanna, former IPS officers Rajiv Ranjan Verma and Manmohan Singh, and former diplomat B Venkatesh Varma.
NSAB also comprises technical experts like Prof K Kamakoti and B S Murthy.
The board is reconstituted from time to time, with appointments usually for a two-year term. The members' tenures do not run concurrently.
The decision to get Joshi, a top intelligence brain - who served in the Intelligence Bureau before he joined RAW and retired as its director, and then went on to head the country's technical intelligence agency, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), post-retirement - to lead the NSAB comes at a time when India is bracing to give a befitting response to Pakistan for continuing to sponsor terrorism in J&K by facilitating recurrent attacks on innocent civilians, the Pahalgam carnage by Pakistani terrorists, facilitated by local Kashmir aides, being the most recent.
With the carnage being seen as an intelligence failure, bringing in Joshi, in place of ex-ambassador to Russia P S Raghavan who has been at the helm for almost 8-9 years now, is seen as a clear move to focus the national security policy on revamping
intelligence gathering
and analysis to foil any future terror misadventures by Pakistani elements.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
38 minutes ago
- Economic Times
J&K statehood must be restored for Constitutional respect, says Farooq Abdullah
Veteran politician and president of National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, has said if the Constitution of the country has to be respected, statehood for Jammu and Kashmir should be restored and that the recent Pahalgam terror attack could have been prevented had the local government been in charge of the security."It's not a question of being hopeful," Abdullah said in reply to a query about the growing demand for the restoration of statehood in the Union Territory."If the Constitution of India is to be respected, states are never converted into UTs. A UT is converted into a state. The tragedy is that they converted a state into a UT. And what did they achieve?" he told PTI here recalled that "promises" were made when Article 370 was abrogated six years ago on August 5, 2019, that "terrorism would disappear"."Has militancy disappeared? Or has it increased?" he said, adding, "The Centre should answer this in the parliament". Abdullah said that the people were "expecting" that statehood for Jammu and Kashmir would be announced soon. "Already, all the opposition parties are fighting for us also in the have seen recently, (Congress President Mallikarjun) Kharge and Rahul Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) asking that the statehood must be restored." Abdullah recalled that the central government has made promises "to us in Parliament and also committed themselves in the Supreme Court". The veteran politician, who has been the chief minister of the erstwhile state three times and also a Union Minister, questioned the Centre's motive behind "downgrading" the state."And what did they achieve? When they did this, they said that the militancy would die because 370 is responsible for militancy. For the last six years, they have been ruling for all 5 years before the election came. "And even today, they are in control of the security and all the rest. Has militancy disappeared? Or has it increased?" he asked. Reflecting on the current situation, Abdullah lamented the lack of control the elected government has over security and administrative matters and went on to say that the recent Pahalgam terror attack could have been prevented had a local government been in charge of the to admission by the Lieutenant Governor admitting security failure for Pahalgam, Abdullah said, "I am glad the Lt Governor has accepted his failure. He should have had the courage to resign." Abdullah pointed out the glaring silence from Jammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha as four seats remain vacant, terming it a "tragedy"."Why was Jammu and Kashmir denied election to the Rajya Sabha?" he said. "Not only that, two seats are vacant in the Assembly. What is the Election Commission doing?" The National Conference chief dismissed talk of internal discord in the party. "This party is a democratic party. It is not like the BJP, which has become an autocratic party. Here people have the right to speak what they want," he said while answering a question about the difference of opinion between the party and Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Pakistan's role, Abdullah's stance was firm. "Pakistan is not going to give up. Therefore, what is the way forward? War is never a solution to any problem," he advocated for a peaceful solution that would be "honourable for India, honourable for Pakistan, and honourable for the people of Jammu and Kashmir". To a question about separatist leader Bilal Lone announcing joining the mainstream, he said, "I am very glad, very happy that they have realised that J-K is a part of India", and expressed the hope that the leader could now contribute to the welfare of the people after "years spent in the wilderness".
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Lessons from the Rajasthan school tragedy
The death of seven children during the collapse of a government school in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district should serve as a painful reminder of the decrepit infrastructure that often characterises government-run schools in many parts of India. The failure to release funds earmarked in the state budget for 2,710 schools identified by the education department as needing repairs makes this a crime of omission. Against this backdrop, state school education minister Madan Dilawar's remark that the money for repairs can't come from him is not merely insensitive but downright offensive. A state where government school enrolment among 6-14-year-olds stands at close to 60% (according to Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report 2024) can ill-afford to overlook infrastructural needs. If students and their parents can't feel confident about the safety of a school building — a basic ask — and are unable to undertake out-of-pocket expenses for private schooling, it is a short path to rising dropout rates. The quality of school spaces, research indicates, is positively correlated with students' educational attainment. The state government has ordered a high-level inquiry and announced compensation for the families of the children killed. It now needs to act on school repairs. The Centre has advised states and UTs to assess building safety, but also for evacuation/emergency readiness, and psychosocial care protocols of schools. While this is a welcome measure, states have to take a proactive role and not just scramble to do this after a Jhalawar-like incident.
India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
Is India's good friend cheating it over jointly developed air defense system? The friend is..., it is selling DRDO's...,
New Delhi: India and Israel have had a strong defense partnership for the last several decades. But this is the first time that questions have been raised on the intentions of the friendly country. Allegations are being made that Israel is marketing and trying to sell this air defense system alone, which it had made in collaboration with India's DRDO. What is the advanced air defense system in question? Barak-8 is an advanced air defense system. This is the same system that intercepted and shot down a Pakistani missile in the sky in Sirsa, Haryana. It has been developed jointly by India's DRDO and Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries. According to the latest reports, Israel is now trying to sell this missile to some countries of the world by giving it a new name of 'Barak-MX'. Barak-8 was an important milestone in the strategic relations between the two countries, but Israel's attempt to sell this missile alone is going to trouble India. Why could it affect DRDO's credibility? A website named has claimed that Israel has not included the technology developed by DRDO in the export variant of Barak-8 air defense system. Especially the dual pulse rocket motor has not been included by Israel in the variant being sold. Israel's attempt to do so hurts the hard work of DRDO, its capability and the name it is building in the defense sector as it has made many weapons based on indigenous technology for India. What is the contribution of Indian entities in this project? India started this project in 2006 with Israel at an initial cost of Rs 2500 crore with an aim developing advanced air defense systems for both countries. This air defense system was designed to intercept ballistic missiles, advanced drones, cruise missiles and fighter aircraft up to the fourth generation. Major Indian defense companies including Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) were involved in the production of essential parts of this system. In collaboration with Israel, India has developed an advanced air defense system, which has also proved its capability by shooting down the Pakistani ballistic missile Fateh-2 in the air. DRDO developed a special dual-pulse rocket motor for the Barak air defense system which gives the missile fired from this air defense system the ability to maintain its speed and change direction suddenly until it hits the target. Israel also got a huge defense market like India for this missile defense system. Why is Israel selling this system unilaterally under a different name? Despite this, Israel is selling this system unilaterally under the name 'Barak MX' for which it has signed a deal with Azerbaijan for 12 Barak air defense systems. In 2022, Israel had signed a deal worth $ 500 million with Morocco. The main point of contention is that the Barak air defense systems that Israel is selling do not have dual-pulse rocket motors, which have been developed by DRDO. Reportedly, Israel is talking to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about the sale of Barak defense systems. Is Israel trying to bypass India? According to by using its propulsion system in the export model of the Barak Defense System, Israel is bypassing the help that India has provided at the technology level. Due to this, India is not getting any benefit in the global defense market. Apart from this, the situation is also not clear regarding the intellectual property and data rights related to this project, which raises questions on India's technical and economic participation. According to the report, Israel's doing this has put New Delhi into action. It is believed that if Israel tries to make partnerships on a unilateral basis, then both future strategic cooperation and trust in Israel may be affected. This may affect future defense agreements between the two countries.
