In an official order, the Union government extended the tenures of the chiefs of R&AW and the IB. The chief of R&AW, Samant Kumar Goel and the chief of Intelligence Bureau, Arvind Kumar have been given one year extension in their services.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the extension, as per the order.
Intelligence Bureau, the oldest intelligence agency in the world, is responsible to garner India’s domestic intelligence, ensure internal security and carry out counter-intelligence gathering. Since 1950s, till the collapse of the USSR, the IB officials were trained by the USSR agency KGB. Founded on September 21, 1968, Research & Analysis wing (R&AW) is responsible for gathering external intelligence for the purpose of securing & guarding India’s interests in a conflict ridden world. It was founded by Rameshwar Nath Kao, who was the deputy director of IB at the time of its (R&AW’s) founding. Need for such an agency was felt after the debacle of 1962 war with China, and it was formed after suggestion given by army chief General J N Chaudhuri about such an agency.
IB chief, Arvind Kumar is considered to be an expert on Kashmir. He has served as IB’s Special Director in the state. Kumar was also involved in tackling Left Wing Extremism at the IB. A 1984 batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Kumar has served as the head of the IB in Bihar. Before that, he was looking after its administration and inquiry branches.
A 1984 batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, SK Goel had been instrumental in handling the Punjab militancy when it was at its peak in the 1990s as a fallout of Operations Blue star and Black thunder. Goel was also posted in Dubai and London. He has served as the in-charge of consular affairs in Dubai and as station-head in London.
