The May 13 bomb blasts in Jaipur, which killed over 60 people, have resulted in the drafting of a revamped intelligence gathering system to focus on a neglected aspect of the war on terror: the role of the local and state intelligence units.

The Jaipur blasts were followed by a series of high-level review meetings and by now, several proposals have been set in motion. The rethink on over-dependence on technical intelligence and the under-utilisation of human intelligence began with presentations given to the Union Cabinet by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar shortly after the blasts.

Chandrasekhar told The Indian Express: “We need an effective technical intelligence system to be supported by sound human intelligence. Over the years, there has been a decline in the quality of human intelligence being gathered and we need to activate the intelligence gathering apparatus of the state CIDs, the local revenue Departments and even the Station House Officers at police stations who are all repositories of crucial information.”

Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta concurred with his view and said that several initiatives have been taken in the Home Ministry — two weeks ago, he held a conference with Director Generals of Police of select states on the subject of revamping state intelligence units.

“At present, intelligence gathering is allotted only 5% of the budget from the state police modernisation plan,” Gupta said. “This is obviously not sufficient and we are proposing to make intelligence gathering a sub-component of the scheme with an enhanced financial outlay.”

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