Internal Security

About Centre

The Centre focuses on issues that challenge India’s internal security. Secessionist movements based on ethnic identities in the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir have been contesting the Indian state through violent means for decades. The Left Wing Extremism movement based on Marxist-Leninist ideology is engaged in a struggle to overthrow the democratic structure of the Indian state. Intermittent terrorist attacks perpetrated by foreign and home grown terrorist groups have been disrupting peace and political order in the country. Infiltration, illegal migration, and trafficking of arms and narcotics are not only breaching the country’s international borders but are also aggravating its security situation. The research efforts of the Centre are focused on analysing the trends, patterns, causes, and implications of these threats and challenges, and suggesting policy alternatives. The Centre’s research agenda includes: left wing extremism, insurgencies in the Northeast India, cross border terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, global and national trends in terrorism, management of India’s international borders and security of its coasts.

The Centre also undertakes various projects entrusted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Security Council Secretariat on matters internal security. The Centre has a mix of civilian scholars and officers deputed from the armed forces and central armed police forces.

The Centre has a bilateral agreement to collaborate with the Border Security Forces’ Institute for Border Management and Strategic Studies.

The Naga Peace Accord: Manipur Connections

The Naga Peace Accord has implications for Manipur and it is important that these are understood and necessary policy interventions are considered.

Sushil Kumar Sharma
December 18, 2015
Policy Brief

“I was born in the party”: Women in Maoist Ranks

Women join Maoist ranks for a variety of reasons: impressionable age, social milieu and circumstances, personal reasons, influence of kin or family and the inspiration of ideology.

P. V. Ramana
December 15, 2015
IDSA Comments

The Continuing Political Stalemate in Manipur

Without going into the merits of the Inner Line Permit issue, the Centre should harness its resources and political and administrative skills adroitly to ensure that the State Government maintains the status quo in the matter till the next Assembly elections.

Gautam Sen
December 14, 2015
IDSA Comments

Paris 13/11: What Next?

To argue that the IS carried out the attacks because it has visceral hatred for Western values is to miss the central point. IS has that hatred, but essentially 13/11 was an act of vengeance against France and others who have been bombing the IS.

K. P. Fabian
November 24, 2015
IDSA Comments

Fighting the Islamic State: Role of the P-5 Nations and India

Direct Indian military intervention against ISIS would depend on how the situation unfolds over the next year. As an emerging power sharing a littoral with the region, India has an important role to play in acting as a catalyst for West Asian stability.

Gurmeet Kanwal
November 23, 2015
IDSA Comments

Meghalaya High Court Calls for Invoking Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Garo Hills

The Meghalaya High Court’s order directing the central government to consider invoking AFSPA in the Garo Hills is more like an advisory premised on a number of High Court and Supreme Court judgments.

Gautam Sen
November 17, 2015
IDSA Comments

Radicalisation of Muslim Converts

At the moment, the radical Muslim convert threat does appear to be limited to Europe and America where the converts are ‘less visible’.

The Naga Peace Accord: Why Now?

A resolution of one of the oldest armed ethnic conflicts in the Northeast offers a way forward to resolving many other ethnic conflicts in the region such as those involving Kukis, Meiteis, Bodos, Dimasas, Hmars, and Karbis.

Namrata Goswami
August 07, 2015
IDSA Comments

Children in Indian Maoist Ranks

At one point there were an estimated 800 children in the ranks of the Maoists. Variously known as Bal Dasta, Bal Sangh and Bal Sangham, they are used for intelligence gathering, carrying food and arms, and serving extortion notes.

P. V. Ramana
August 06, 2015
IDSA Comments

Army Should Back the State Police Not Replace Them in Counter-Terror Operations

Instead of exhibiting eagerness to take a leading part in every internal security task, it would be prudent for the Army to remain alert and be prepared and willing to back up the police.