NATGRID and NCRB

NATGRID and NCRB

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II and III – Govt schemes; Polity – Statutory and Non-statutory bodies; Security issues

In news: 

• National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has signed an MoU with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to access the centralised online database on FIRs and stolen vehicles. 
• The MoU will give NATGRID access to  the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) database. 

Important value additions: 

About NATGRID: 

• NATGRID is a post Mumbai 26/11 attack measure.  
• It aims to mitigate a vital deficiency — lack of real time information, which was considered to be one of the major hurdles in detecting US terror suspect David Headley’s movement across the country during his multiple visits between 2006 and 2009. 
• NATGRID is an ambitious counter terrorism programme, which will utilise technologies like Big Data and analytics to study and analyse the huge amounts of data from various intelligence and enforcement agencies to help track suspected terrorists and prevent terrorist attacks. 
• NATGRID is an online database for collating scattered pieces of information from more than 20 organisations in the field of telecom, tax records, bank, immigration, etc. to enable the generation of intelligence inputs. 
• At least 10 central agencies like IB, R&AW and others will have access to the data on a secured platform for counter-terror investigations. 

Do you know? 

• NATGRID is exempted from the Right to Information Act, 2005 under sub-section (2) of Section 24. 
• The project aims to go live by December 31 and all State police are mandated to file FIRs in the CCTNS. 

About NCRB 

• NCRB was set-up in 1986 to function as a repository of information on crime and criminals so as to assist the investigators in linking crime to the perpetrators, based on the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977-1981) 
• It was set up by merging the Directorate of Coordination and Police Computer (DCPC), Inter State Criminals Data Branch of CBI, Central Finger Print Bureau of CBI, and Statistical Branch of BPR&D. 
• NCRB was entrusted with the responsibility for monitoring, coordinating and implementing the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project in the year 2009.  
• CCTNS connects 15000+ police stations and 6000 higher offices of police in the country. 
• In 2017, NCRB launched National Digital Police Portal- It allows search for a criminal/suspect on the CCTNS database apart from providing various services to citizens like filing of complaints online and seeking antecedent verification of tenants, domestic helps, drivers.