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Intelligence Bureau India
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) of India is one of the oldest and most respected internal intelligence agencies of the world. It was in fact formed by the British in the 19th century when they were ruling the subcontinent. In 1885, a British army Major General called Sir Charles Mac Gregor became the head of the Intelligence Department which eventually came to be known as the Intelligence Bureau (IB). The original idea of this Bureau was to ensure intelligence edge for the British during the days of The Great Game. For the uninitiated, The Great Game is a general term referred to the geopolitical struggle between the British and Russian empires of those times. Mainly Russia was increasing its activity in the Afghan region and the British were eager to know what was being planned by the rivals.While it continued to serve the British till 1947, after India’s independence it was renamed as the Central Intelligence Bureau and was brought under the Ministry of Home Affairs. However it is still called the IB by most people in casual conversations. After the conflicts with Russia, the IB also served in keeping an eye on the Indian political parties who were fighting against the British for independence.
Organizational Hierarchy of IB
The central operations of the Intelligence Bureau of India are conducted by Class 1officers of the administration. At the lower level there are many subsidiary Intelligence Bureaus (SIBs) led by Joint Directors or Deputy Directors. These SIBs are present in each and every district headquarters of the country. There are also a large number of field units and there is always a close link between the operations of the state police departments and the IB. In recent times several separate SIBs have been formed to take care of different issues. For example there are SIBs handling issues like terrorism, VIP security, and sensitive areas such as the North East and Jammu and Kashmir. The top officials of IB are always recruited from the IAS and IPS cadres who form the top brass of bureaucrats in the country and have to pass through a difficult and tedious entrance exam to qualify for the job in the first place.
Operations and activities of the Central Intelligence Bureau
As one can imagine, the Intelligence Bureau of India is involved in various critical operations dealing with both internal as well as external security of India. But most of these operations and their success stories are not in public domain due their sensitive nature. In the past they have had relations with various other intelligence agencies of the world. Before the fall of Soviet Union, they had a close link with the Russian agency KGB although the details are not really known. The IB has also had its failures. For example it failed to predict the Chinese advances during 1962 which led to a humiliating defeat for the Indian troops. Similarly it also failed to detect the Pakistani aggression near Kargil in 1999 till it became evident and led to a full scale war. Similarly it has been criticised for its inability to hand new age threats like terrorism which has many deadly attacks on Indian soil such as the Mumbai attack in 2008. But overall, it should be noted that the IB has its limitations and over the years it has handle very difficult situations for a vast and complex nation like India. So the experts are now demoing better facilities and funding for the Intelligence Bureau (India) to meet future challenges.