August 26, 2020 (Saturday), marks the inauguration of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) in his inauguration speech stated that the Centre government has “left no stone unturned” in strengthening the anti-terror probe. He further reaffirmed that the government had zero tolerance towards terrorism, followed by left-wing extremism.
He said that laws encircling the actions against terrorism are to be bolstered. A target to achieve a 100 percent conviction rate is to be levied. Momentarily it stands at 94.23 %. The NIA has been established as a “Prime anti-terror/agency” in the world.
Shah called attention to the peace experienced in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370—followed by the crackdown on terror funding in the valley. Counting to that, NIA has come down heavily on those indulging in such activities.
He highlighted, thereafter, the formation of their government (BJP-Led Centre) has tried to annihilate terrorism and free Kashmir. And several national agencies have been put to work for overseeing the elimination of terrorism.
A critical reason which was put forward by Shah was that the NIA acted severely against those involved in terrorism funding in 2018, 2019, and 2020. A total of 105 such cases were documented and 876 accused were arrested. The charge sheet of 96 cases (out of 105 cases) was filled.
NIA: Anti-Terror Agency
The Modi-led government pledged the obliteration of extremism and as promised it has narrowed down to very few districts. Shah also spoke about the government’s ideology and commitment to encircling the uprooting of left-wing extremism. A decline has been evidently noted since 2014 as the incidents of extremism have come down to 77 per cent in 2021. 2258 such cases were jotted down in the year 2009 which came down to 509 in 2021.
All this became a reality with the efforts of the probe agency. They have established a “benchmark” in such a short period.
It has been quite some time since NIA was established. Shah mentioned that it takes a lot of time for any agency to exhibit such incredible work and NIA has checked all the boxes of excellence and perseverance.
“I believe that the NIA has achieved success in fulfilling all the aims of its establishment with dignity,” said Shah. As per Shah, the government aims at opening an NIA branch in every state before the 2024 elections.
Presently, NIA has been successfully operating in places like Chandigarh (Since 2019), Ranchi, Imphal, Chennai (2020), and Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Patna, Bhopal, and Bhubaneshwar (since 2022). NIA has been expanded to 18 states in the last three years.
