New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday launched the National IED Data Management System (NIDMS), describing it as a “next-generation security shield” that will be instrumental in streamlining investigations into all types of terror-related incidents across the country.
“It (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. Further, NIDMS will become the next-generation security shield against terrorism,” Shah said.
NIDMS has been developed by the elite commando force National Security Guards (NSG) with the help of Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar, IIT-Delhi, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Indian cyber crime coordination centre (I4C). It is armed with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools for accurately studying all types of bombings.
Shah added that “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. NIDMS will prove extremely important in investigating terrorist activities, understanding trends in explosions, and formulating effective strategies against them”.
Improvised explosive device (IED) blasts in the country have been categorised as one of the most challenging threats in the internal security domain, killing hundreds of civilians and security personnel, and critically injuring many others over the years.
NSG director general (DG) Brighu Srinivasan said the NIDMS is a real-time exchange of information platform, for government agencies in the anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency domain, that will collect, analyse and disseminate data on all bombing incidents of the country.
The platform is unique as during its preparatory stage, 26 friendly countries were approached and they did not have such a facility, he said.
According to NSG, the database has 800 users (various agencies) and will also be able to capture ‘signature linkages’ among different bomb blast incidents, conduct post-blast investigation and can also perform predictive analysis to thwart certain bombing incidents.
The ambitious project has been in the works for some time and is part of the NSG’s National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC), which analyses all types of bombings that occur in the country, apart from major explosions that take place globally.
The NBDC, established in the year 2000, has a database of all bombings that took place in the country since 1999.