'Next-gen security shield against terrorism': Amit Shah unveils National Digital IED Data Management System

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday launched a National Digital IED Data Management System (NIDMS) that will act as the “next-generation security shield against terrorism” and help in investigating terrorist activities, understanding trends in explosions and formulating effective strategies against them.

Developed by the National Security Guards with the help of Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, IIT-Delhi, NIA and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Shah said the NIDMS will become a robust platform for accurately analysing the patterns of bomb explosions that have occurred in the country so far, the modus operandi and the explosives used.

Launching it through a video conference, he said significant work has been done to generate various types of data and collect it in a systematic manner in the last six years and the NIDMS will prove to be extremely important in the coming days for the investigation of all types of terrorist incidents occurring in the country and for the analysis of their various aspects.

“NIDMS will become the next-generation security shield against terrorism. We have generated various types of data in the past years, but they were in silos. Now, we are making efforts to connect all these data sources with one another and to develop an advanced Artificial Intelligence-based software for their analysis,” he said.

With the launch of NIDMS, he said a two-way comprehensive, integrated and online data platform will become available to NIA, Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) across the country, state police forces and all paramilitary forces.

"Data related to any explosion or IED incident occurring at any location can be included in this system. By utilising this data, necessary guidance can be obtained during investigations in every state. The NIDMS will prove extremely important in investigating terrorist activities, understanding trends in explosions, and formulating effective strategies against them," he said.

The database available with NSG contains information related to all bomb explosions from 1999 till now and through NIDMS, this data will now be made available to police forces across the country and relevant agencies, he said.

Shah said that it will provide significant help in establishing inter-linkages between incidents -- based on modus operandi and circuit methods -- as well as in understanding overall trends and insights. He also expressed hope that this platform will strengthen the process of collecting, standardizing, integrating, and securely sharing IED-related data.

"The NIDMS will serve as a single-click access window for data scattered across different case files for investigation agencies and anti-terror organizations. This will enable immediate access to the data for central and state investigation agencies, anti-terrorism organizations, and all CAPFs," he said.

Noting that NIDMS will benefit the country's internal security system in three major ways, he said through 'One Nation, One Data Repository', the data scattered across different departments will now become available to every police unit as a national asset besides bringing about a very positive change in both the speed and quality of prosecution.

Understanding patterns will enable scientific evidence-based prosecution, he said adding, coordination between agencies will be established in a much better way.