RESEARCH & ANALYSIS WING
(R&AW / RAW)
RAW
It is the foreign intelligence agency of India
It was established in 1968
RAW’s first leader, Rameshwar Nath Kao, led the agency until
1977
RAW claims that it contributed to several foreign policy
successes:
• the creation of Bangladesh in 1971;
• India’s growing influence in Afghanistan;
• the northeast state of Sikkim’s accession to India in 1975;
• the security of India’s nuclear program;
• the success of African liberation movements during the Cold War.
HISTORY
It was established in 1968 following the intelligence failures of the Sino-Indian
war, and Indo- Pakistan war which persuaded the Government of India to create a
specialized, independent agency dedicated to foreign intelligence gathering
SINO- INDIAN WAR
A war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border
was the main pretext for war combined with other incidents including the time of
Tibetan uprising when India provided asylum to Dalai Lama.
The organization worked to strengthen its capability for intelligence gathering on
Pakistan and China and for covert action in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)
The agency's primary function is gathering
foreign intelligence
engaging in counter-terrorism
promoting counter-proliferation
advising Indian policymakers
advancing India's foreign strategic interests
Security of India’s nuclear programmes
Covert Operations to safe guard India's National interests.
The R&AW was given the responsibility for strategic external intelligence,
human as well as technical, plus concurrent responsibility with the
Directorate-General of Military Intelligence for tactical trans-border military
intelligence up to a certain depth across the Line of control (LOC) and the
international border.
Child agencies added to RAW
• Aviation Research Centre (ARC)
• The Radio Research Center
• Electronics & Tech. Services
• Special Frontier Force
• National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)
The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), under the Cabinet Secretariat, is responsible
for coordinating and analysing intelligence activities between R&AW, the
Intelligence Bureau and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
R&AW's legal status is unusual, in that it is not an "Agency", but a "Wing" of the
Cabinet Secretariat. Hence, R&AW is not answerable to the Parliament of India on
any issue, which keeps it out of reach of the Right to Information Act.
RAW reports directly to the prime minister instead of the Ministry of Defense.
The chief of RAW is designated secretary (research) in the Cabinet Secretariat, which
is part of the prime minister’s office. Some officers of RAW are members of a
specialized service, the Research and Analysis Service, but several officers also serve
on deputation from other services such as the Indian Police Service.
Organizational structure of R&AW
RAW played a significant role in the formation of Bangladesh along with the
Indian army and other Indian security and intelligence agencies. Besides
providing intelligence to policymakers and the army, RAW trained and armed
Mukti Bahini, a group of East Pakistanis fighting for the separate state of
Bangladesh.
Analysts say that RAW also facilitated the northeastern state of Sikkim’s
accession to India in 1975, and provided military assistance to groups hostile
to the pro-China regime in Myanmar, such as the Kachin Independence Army.
RAW helped train and arm the LTTE (Liberal Tigers Tamil Eelam) in the
1970s, but after the group’s terrorist activities grew in the 1980s—including its
alliances with separatist groups in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu—
RAW withdrew this support. In 1987, New Delhi made a pact with the Sri
Lankan government to send peacekeeping troops to the island, and Indian
forces ended up fighting the group RAW had armed. In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi,
prime minister of India at the time of the peacekeeping force deployment, was
assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber.
