Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
Indian Intelligence Agencies In Democratic Framework: An Analysis
Ashok Kumar
Abstract
The aim of Intelligence is to have prior knowledge of plans of enemy states. All-round intelligence of culture and mental approach of enemy is necessary to get hints and warnings of their intended attacks to prevent them before their occurrence. Many democratic countries have emphasised on the need of proper functioning of these agencies as per basic democratic principles, especially since 9/11 attacks on USA. It acted as a wakeup call for western countries to opt for strict policies to protect citizens and promote national security. For being effective, Intelligence agencies are bound to perform in a secretive manner and this leads to a conflict when they operate in a democratic state like India. On one hand, democratic regime asks for transparency and accountability, but on the other side, use of ‘secret practices’ run against these two principles i.e. transparency and accountability of such a governance. The belief that ‘knowledge is power’ prompts them to do anything for the sake of secrecy. But when an activity is to be protected from public inspection, like secret intelligence operations, it is necessary that parliament, especially the executive, should be watchful on them.
Pages: 8913-8922
Keywords: This necessity of legislative supervision is based on the grounds of efficiency and basic constitutional and administrative law.