Homeland security in India is a very crucial aspect that has recently attracted the attention of Indian government. Unfortunately, it required certain terrorists’ attacks and grave cases of cyber espionage from foreign countries for Indian government to consider the significance of homeland security.There are many crucial aspects of homeland security like cyber security, critical infrastructure protection, cyber warfare capabilities, anti terrorism and anti cyber terrorism measures, etc.
A majority of these aspects have not yet received the attention of Indian government. For instance, we have no cyber security policy in India, no national security policy in India, no national infrastructure protection policy in India, no national ICT crisis management plan of India, no national security and ICT policy of India, etc. So what is the status of homeland security in India?
Homeland Security is in infancy stage in India, says Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India. Further, India also needs a separate Framework for Cyber Security, Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and Homeland Security issues, suggest Praveen Dalal.
These are crucial policy areas without which homeland security of India cannot succeed at all. Projects like crime and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), national intelligence grid (Natgrid), central monitoring system of India, etc require constitutionally sound legal framework and national level policy formulation.
Similarly, on the front of intelligence infrastructure of India and national counter terrorism centre (NCTC) of India we need policy making and strict legal framework to safeguard civil liberties of Indian citizens. Intelligence agencies of India need a centralised ICT control system on the one hand and Parliamentary oversight on the other hand.
From a pure commercial point of view, these concerns can be termed as redundant requirements, but to confer strong constitutional protection and legitimacy to the homeland security initiatives of India in general and law enforcement and intelligence agencies actions in particular, they must be met on a priority basis.
