UPSC Articles
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.
