Research and Analysis Wing
Also called: RAW, R&AW · Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW, also written R&AW) is India's external intelligence agency. External intelligence means gathering secret information from outside India. RAW is an executive body. The government created it by its own order, not through the Constitution or an Act of Parliament. It sits under the Cabinet Secretariat and reports to the Prime Minister. Because it has no statutory charter (no law passed by Parliament that sets out its powers and limits), Parliament has no legal oversight of it. This also means the government alone can reshape it.
Example
The National Investigation Agency gets its powers from the NIA Act 2008, which was passed after 26/11. Parliament can change those powers only by amending that Act. RAW has no such law behind it. Its structure, staff and tasks depend on executive orders. When questions come up about who controls RAW, India cannot point to any law-based record of oversight.
Don't confuse with
- Intelligence Bureau (IB): handles internal intelligence, meaning threats inside India. It works under the Home Ministry. RAW looks outward, at foreign countries.
- National Investigation Agency (NIA): a statutory body that investigates and prosecutes terror cases anywhere in India. RAW collects intelligence and does not investigate or prosecute crimes in court.