Research and Analysis Wing - Facts About RAW India

The full form of widely popular term RAW is Research and Analysis Wing. It is a prime foreign intelligence agency of India they're based on a CIA model of working. That means they only answer to the Joint Chiefs and the Prime Minister of India. They helped to stop countless attacks on Indian soil.  RAW also played a major role in helping India.

Research and Analysis Wing

We're gonna look at some facts and some interesting things that involve the RAW.  India thought that they had to invest more in their intelligence community after two major Wars.  This exposed gaps in intelligence gathering were undertaken by the intelligence bureau.  Prime Minister Indira Gandhi felt the need for an agency that would protect India before it went to war.  For this, they created this group.

From there so the activities and functions of the RAW are highly confidential and the classification of past operations are very rare. Though It's a renowned organization in India their budget is much lower as compared to other intelligence agencies internationally. The RAW monitors the activities of certain organizations abroad as it relates to their involvement with threats and smuggling weapons ammunitions explosives etc to India.

Recruitment in RAW

RAW initially recruit trained intelligence officers. Many candidates are also taken from the military and Indian Revenue Service. The interested candidates have a trial period of one year before they can fully be part of the RAW.

General Info about RAW

In terms of organization structure, RAW has been organized on the lines of the CIA and the head of RAW is designated secretary or research in the Cabinet Secretariat. 

The secretary or research is under direct command of the prime minister however on a daily basis the secretary reports to the National Security Adviser. Now the current chief of the RAW is Rajiv Jain. 

There is a sizable number of female officers also in RAW now.

Training at RAW

The RAW agents go through two types of training basic and advanced training. The basic training now generally lasts no longer than about 10 days and that's where the trainees are familiarized with the world of intelligence and espionage. They are made to specialize in a foreign language

and are introduced to geostrategic analysis, case studies of other agencies like the CIA, KGB, ISI.

After completing the basic training the recruits are sent into the field Intelligence Bureau and

that's where his or her training lasts for about one to two years, and in the advanced training, they're given the first-hand experience of what it is to be out in the cold as well as they conduct several secret operations now before deployment in the field. The agents is given exhaustive training in the art of self-defense, they're also drilled in various administrative disciplines so that they could take certain positions in foreign missions without arousing any sort of suspicion at all.

RAW Operation in Pakistan

In the history of RAW revolving around Pakistan's nuclear plans now there's a lab in Pakistan called the Khan research laboratory which is Pakistan's main nuclear facility and missile development center. After years of being kept in the dark, the RAW first confirmed Pakistan's nuclear programs by the analysis of hair samples snatched from the floor of barber shops near the Khan Research Laboratory and these hair samples showed that Pakistan had developed the ability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality.

RAW in 80's

Now when we look back in the 80s the RAW needed a lot more firepower. So they decided to create two new covert groups which were the counterintelligence team X and the counterintelligence team J. Rabinder Singh was a RAW agent who defected to the United States in 2004. He helped run the counterintelligence J team in its early years now both of these groups operations were discontinued and we're never restarted.

According to be Raman who was the former our RAW cabinet secretary he said the lack of such covert capabilities since they were closed down in 1997 has left the country even more vulnerable than before and says that developing covert capabilities is what they need most.

In closing now this was a brief insight into the RAW now it's very questionable whether all the acts that the RAW has taken were actually warranted however the organization works tirelessly to protect the people of India and risked their lives every single day for a better future.