NEW DELHI: The government has begun the progressive and phased implementation of PRAHAAR, India’s first comprehensive National Counter Terrorist Policy and Strategy, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed Parliament on Wednesday.
Unveiled on February 23, PRAHAAR lays down a national framework for preventing and responding to terrorism and radicalisation through coordinated “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approaches.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, in a written reply to a set of questions from Rajya Sabha MPs, said the strategy is built around seven key pillars including preventing terror attacks, ensuring swift and proportionate responses, strengthening coordination among government agencies, safeguarding human rights and the rule of law, addressing conditions that foster terrorism and radicalization, shaping international counter-terrorism efforts and building recovery and resilience through wider societal participation.
The Minister said PRAHAAR is designed to shift India from a largely reactive security posture to a proactive and an intelligence-led counter-terrorism doctrine. “The strategy seeks to institutionalise real-time intelligence sharing through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), strengthen protection of critical infrastructure and establish a swift chain of command linking state police and agencies with specialised central forces such as the National Security Guard (NSG),” he said.
The strategy also places a strong emphasis on technology, counter-radicalisation and disruption of terror financing, the Minister said, adding that authorities have been asked to use technological capabilities to track crypto wallets, disrupt dark-web fundraising and seize terror-linked assets through central agencies.
“PRAHAAR is also aligning India’s efforts with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and using international treaties to target cross-border and state-sponsored terror financing networks,” Rai said.
“The Government of India is committed to the progressive and phased implementation of the ‘PRAHAAR’ strategy,” he said, adding that the rollout has been prioritising institutional and systems integration while assessing outcomes through multiple layers of oversight.
Regular monitoring is being supplemented by the annual Anti-Terror Conference (ATC) organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the MHA and these meetings bring together senior officials from law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, security forces, policymakers and legal experts.
“The ATCs serve as a platform to evaluate existing counter-terrorism measures, identify operational and administrative gaps, recommend policy and legal reforms, and strengthen coordination and capacity-building,”the Minister said.
Rai said the framework continues to evolve in responding to the changing security environment, with the focus remaining on prevention, preparedness, coordinated response and resilience.