Govt to Revive Spy Networks With Better Pay and Perks

NEW DELHI: The NDA government at the Centre is on a reform spree and topping its list are India’s intelligence agencies. Top sources said Union Home Ministry has prepared a proposal with the approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revisit the salary structure and risk allowance of spies in Central Intelligence Agencies—Intelligence Bureau and R&AW—which was drastically reduced due to rampant red tapism plaguing the system. It is learnt that an anomaly was introduced by bureaucrats in the 5th & 6th Pay Commission which made the spies no different from a clerk working in the ministerial cadre.

The proposal suggests that “Intelligence has specific requirement and they should be treated as Special Cadre,” said a source, adding that in-principle the decision has been taken to submit the recommendation before the 7th Pay Commission.

The NDA has agreed that the function of an intelligence agency is different from other government departments and it cannot be made to work in fixed bureaucratic format drawn by bureaucrats.