Anti-national

Anti-national

Part of: Prelims and GS-II – Polity and Governance

Context The word ‘anti-national’ has not been defined in statutes, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Lok Sabha. 

Key pointers from the Ministry

• It added that ‘anti-national activity’ was inserted in the Constitution during the Emergency in 1976 but was removed later.
• There are criminal legislation and various judicial pronouncements to sternly deal with unlawful and subversive activities which are detrimental to the unity and integrity of the country.
• Public Order’ and ‘Police’ were State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
• The responsibility of maintaining law and order rested primarily with the respective State government.

NCRB data

• In 2019, when the National Crime Records Bureau released the annual Crime in India report for 2017, it included for the first time a new chapter on “Crime Committed by Anti National Elements”. 
• The chapter listed “North East insurgents, Left Wing Extremists and Terrorists (including Jihadi terrorists)” as the three anti-national elements.