Kanpur will be directly connected with Intelligence Agencies across the country | 15 Jul 2023

Why in News?

According to information received from the media on July 13, 2023, Kanpur city of Uttar Pradesh will soon be connected to MAC (Multi-Agency Center) to curb criminals and strengthen the security system, so that the picture and complete information of any criminal in the country will be available at a click.

Key Points:

• By connecting Kanpur city with MAC (Multi-Agency Center), all intelligence agencies like IB, NIA, RAW, and ATS will be able to share inputs directly from this city.
• It is known that earlier this system was limited to state headquarters only, now they will be installed in cities too, so it will be called SMAC (Subsidiary Multi Agency Center). Apart from Kanpur, 78 cities of the state have been included in it.
• The Mac will be installed in the Crime Branch. The system that will be installed in the Crime Branch will have an intranet line, which is a private network. It can only be used by the concerned person with his login ID. Not everyone can use it like the Internet.
• It will have a highly secured telephone line also known as a hotline. One point of contact from each intelligence agency will handle this system.
• With this, information about major crimes like terrorist activities, large-scale smuggling of drugs, gold and fake notes will be available to the police on their system on a call. The police officers sitting in Kanpur will be able to find out what crimes the criminal living here has committed in which cities of the country. Similarly, information about criminals coming from other cities will also be easily available. The police here will be able to give this input to the whole country in a few seconds.
• The MAC was set up after the Kargil War between May 3, 1999 and July 26, 1999. IB was created as its nodal agency.
• It is known that until now MAC was given only to the states. In this, its system was with STF in Uttar Pradesh. However, later a system was also installed in ATS.
• The main purpose of installing this system is to get information about the illegal use of cyberspace, crime-terror nexus, narco-terrorism, terror financing, global terror groups, and the movement of foreign terrorists and share it with the agencies. It has been created on the basis of the CIC (Central Intelligence Agency) of the UN (United Nations).