The United States will set up a counter-terrorism training centre in India as part of an agreement with homeland security signed in New Delhi during the recent visit of President Trump in February 2020.[1] The absence of a central unit to combat terrorism in India is a big hurdle in handling internal issues of terrorism. The absence of central body that can coordinate the sharing of information pertaining to terrorists and their activities among Indian army, intelligence agencies and police has been the main reason for the establishment of CT training centre. The main aim of establishing this centre on the lines of National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in US is to fill a major loophole in Indian counter-terrorism structure i.e coordination among security agencies.
Currently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India is working as the central body in the counter-terrorism structure of India. It is collaborating with its international partners like CIA, FBI and FATF. NIA has also issued a list of 42 banned organizations in India.[2] The aim of NIA is to create deterrence for existing and potential terrorist groups/individuals. It also aims to develop as a storehouse of all terrorist related information.[3] Considering the above aims mean that a central authority is already functioning in India though with limited access and coordination and its major collaboration is with US security agencies. This raises questions over the nature of functions of the new center that India is aiming to establish with the help of US.
