Centre revamps National Security Advisory Board, appoints Alok Joshi as chairman

The Centre has revamped the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), naming former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Alok Joshi as its new chairman. The other members of the board are Air Marshal PM Sinha, former Western Air Commander; Lt Gen A. Singh, former Southern Army Commander; Rear Admiral Monty Khanna (Retd.); Rajiv Ranjan Verma (Retd. IPS); Manmohan Singh (Retd. IPS); and B Venkatesh Varma (Retd. IFS), agencies reported.​

The NSAB, whose primary role is to provide long-term assessments and policy recommendations on national security issues to the National Security Council headed by the Prime Minister, serves as a body of eminent experts outside the government, including retired officials, academics, and specialists from civil society, reporting National Security Advisor Ajit Doval who reports to the Prime Minister.

This move follows the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people.

To thrash out more measures to intensify efforts to nab the guilty and enhance India’s military preparedness and internal security apparatus, a high-level meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was held on Wednesday at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. The CCS meeting was the second one convened following the Pahalgam carnage. It had previously met on April 23.

Further, the meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) ​w​ere also held on Wednesday at the Prime Minister’s residence, ahead of ​a formal cabinet briefing.

On April 29, the Prime Minister gave the armed forces​ a carte blanche to determine the mode, targets, and timing of India’s response to the April 22 massacre in Pahalgam. The announcement was made ​at a high-level security meeting attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the chiefs of the three wings of the armed forces.

Since the cowardly attack, believed to have been carried out by Pakistan-trained jihadis, India has been exploring its response options. Modi reaffirmed the national commitment to deliver “a crushing blow to terrorism,” echoing sentiments expressed in his April 24 speech in Bihar, where he pledged that India would identify, track, and punish the terrorists and their backers​,​ pursuing them to the ends of the earth if necessary.

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