NATGRID–NPR Integration:
National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has been linked to the National Population Register (NPR), allowing authorised agencies real-time access to family-level demographic data of nearly 119 crore residents, significantly expanding India’s intelligence and investigation architecture.
- National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) is a secure, integrated intelligence-sharing platform designed to help law enforcement and security agencies access multiple databases in real time for counter-terrorism and criminal investigations.
- NATGRID was conceived in 2009, in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks (2008), to overcome information silos among security agencies and enable faster, intelligence-led responses.
- It became operational in 2023 and currently processes around 45,000 data access requests per month from authorised agencies.
- Initially limited to 10 central agencies (IB, RAW, NIA, ED, FIU, NCB, DRI, etc.) had access. It has now been expanded to SP-rank officers of State police, strengthening Centre–State coordination.
- Advanced analytics tools like Gandiva support facial recognition, entity resolution, and multi-source data analysis, allowing investigators to identify suspects using images and family-linked NPR data.
- An Organised Crime Network Database is being developed on NATGRID to enable secure data-sharing between the NIA and State Anti-Terror Squads.
- NATGRID allows access to Aadhaar, banking, tax, FASTag, passport, travel, Financial Intelligence Unit and social media data. The information is categorised as non-sensitive, sensitive, and highly sensitive (bank statements, financial and tax data, export-import details).
- Each query is logged, purpose-based, and subject to senior officer oversight, but data access without a First Information Report (FIR) raises concerns over privacy, proportionality, and due process.
- States have been encouraged to actively use NATGRID, strengthening Centre–State intelligence coordination.
- NATGRID’s architecture is designed to integrate databases connected to nearly 14,000 police stations across the country.
National Population Register (NPR):
- The NPR is a nationwide database containing demographic and family-wise details of residents in India, including name, age, gender, address, and family relationships.
- NPR is the first step for the creation of a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
- The NPR is prepared under the provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. It is mandatory for every “usual resident of India” to register in the NPR.
- A usual resident is a person who has lived in a local area for six months or more, or intends to reside there for the next six months or more.
- NPR data was collected during the 2010–11 Census and last updated in 2015. no decision has been taken to update it during the upcoming Census 2027.
