RAW

• Recently, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the appointment of senior IPS officer Ravi Sinha as the chief of India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) for a period of two years.

ABOUT RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS WING (R&AW)

• It was established in 1968 to handle the India’s international intelligence affairs.
• After the 1962 China-India war and the Indo-Pakistani war in 1965, India established a separate and distinct external intelligence organization – the Research and Analysis Wing.
• In 1968, then India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appointed N. Kao as the first director of RAW.
• At present, the intelligence arm operates under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office.
• It collects military, economic, scientific, and political intelligence through covert and overt operations.
• The agency is also charged with monitoring terrorist elements and smuggling rings that transport weapons and ammunition into India.