NCB - Narcotics Control Bureau

The Narcotics Control Bureau is an organization that is assigned a task to combat drug trafficking and the consumption of illicit drugs under the amenities of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The Narcotics Control Bureau or NCB is an intelligence agency or organization which is constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Introduction

The NCB is accountable for association with the state governments of India and central sections, execution of cosmopolitan tasks of India concerned with drug peddling, and fostering global and intercontinental drug laws and rules imposition Bureau.

The Indian Government formed the Narcotics Control Bureau on 17th March 1986 concerned with the overseeing and prevention of the union executives, is to implement the responsibilities and powers of the Indian union administration for making a move regarding:

• Collaboration of moves by several departments, state and union governments, and further agencies under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and other rules and regulations related to drug abuse.
• Execution of the regulations regarding the actions against illegal use of drugs and other substance abuse under the several intercontinental agreements and rules currently imposed in India or that may be sanctioned or endorsed by India anytime soon.
• Collaboration with the concerned agencies abroad to promote kinship and the move against illegal drug trafficking and substance abuse.
• Cooperativeness of the measures taken by the other bothered executives, sections, and agencies regarding the consumption of illicit drugs.

Overview (in table structure)

In this section of the article, we are going to see the details regarding the NCB and get an overview of it, but here, we will not see details in theory or explanatory form. We will see all the important details regarding NCB in the table structure and get an overview of the organization:

Crest details of the NCB

Overview details of the agency

Information regarding the jurisdictional structure of the organization

Information table for the operational structure of organizations

Deputy Director Generals of NCB

Note: The current director-general (as per the information provided on the official site of NCB) of NCB is Shri Satya Narayan Pradhan, who is an IPS from Jharkhand (the batch year of 1988).

Formation of NCB

As in India, the national policy for Narcotic drugs and various psychotropic substances is formed on the directive principles, which are contained in the Indian constitution's 47th Article. The national policy based on Article 47 of the Indian constitution directs all the states to endeavour to bring the consumption prohibition (except for those used for medical purposes) for the intoxicating drugs that can be very injurious to one's health.

The broad legislative national policy for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is basically contained or formed in the following three acts present in the Indian constitution:

• Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
• The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
• The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988

Now, let's talk about the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and look more deeply into it:

• This act came into effect from the year 1985 (exact to be 14th November 1985), and from then, it made an express provision in the constitution to constituting an authority under central Government that will serve several purposes.
• The main purpose of this constituted central authority is to be exercising the functions and powers of the Indian Government under the respective act.

With the presence of the above act (the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985) and its provisions, the Government of India constituted a bureau for narcotics control in the country and named it as Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on 17th March of 1986.

NCB: Zones and Sub-Zones

Zonal offices of NCB:

The Narcotics Control Bureau is the crest cooperating organization that works as a regulatory agency across its zones and sub-zones. The zonal offices of NCB are located in the following cities:

• Ahmedabad
• Bengaluru
• Chandigarh
• Chennai
• Delhi
• Guwahati
• Indore
• Jammy
• Jodhpur
• Kolkata
• Lucknow
• Mumbai
• Patna

Sub-zonal offices of NCB:

The sub-zonal offices of NCB are located in the following cities:

• Ajmer
• Amritsar
• Bhubaneswar
• Dehradun
• Goa
• Hyderabad
• Imphal
• Manasquan
• Madurai
• Mandi
• Raipur
• Ranching
• Kochi

The zones and sub-zones gather and assess the information regarding the illness of drug and substance abuse, go through trends, modus vivendi, gather and circulate intelligence and function along with the conventions, police officers, and various governmental organizations.

NCB: functions

Till now, we have studied the introduction of NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau). Now, let's move to learn more in deep about the functions of NCB in this section of the article.

Drug abuse control is a central function, and its responsibility is being carried out by various departments, ministries, and organizations of the Indian Government which includes the Department of Revenue, Ministry of finance.In actuality, the department of revenue from the finance minister is the nodal officer and has the administrative role for nodal coordination of both acts, as we have mentioned above.

Following are the functions and activities performed by the NCB in India:

• The narcotic bureau can exercise all the functions and powers which are mentioned in the act of 1985, subject to the control and supervision of the central Government.
• A subject that flows from this constitutional provision should have a government policy that will also be guided by the convention held internationally on the same subject.
• This organization is also represented on the EIC (Economic Intelligence Council and it is outside the ambit of the RTI (Right to Information) Act that falls under Section 24(1) of the RTI act 2005.
• NCB works in a close association with CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), State police department, CEIB (Central Economic Intelligence Bureau), GST/Central and Custom Excise Board, and much other Indian law enforcement and intelligence agencies that are working at both central and state level.
• The officers in the NCB organization are only drawn from the IPS (Indian Police Services), IRS (Indian Revenue Services), and from paramilitary forces other than directly recruited members.

Career in NCB

Many young students and aspirants want to join NCB and make a full-time career in it, but most don't have a clear idea of how to make a career in NCB or how they can join NCB. In this section of the article, we are going to discuss the job opportunities and careers in NCB and discuss how one can join NCB and make a full-time career in it. Other than this, we will discuss the perks and benefits of having a career in NCB.

In NCB, there are various job opportunities such as officer level, MTS, etc., by which one (aspirant or student) can get into NCB. But, the most popular job in NCB is Narcotics officer and most of the aspirants, when talking about making a career in NCB, always have Narcotics officer job in their mind. Instead of discussing all the recruitments released and offered by NCB, we will only discuss the narcotics officer, who is also the first choice of many students.

Narcotic Officer

A narcotic officer in the NCB is the person who has the responsibility to perform various investigations regarding the drug-related activity or drug usage in an area (of their posting) in the country. The person who is hired or selected as a narcotics officer for NCB has to undergo specialized training, which is conducted on various laws and regulations that are associated with possession of drugs and drug trafficking.

Functions and skills required from a narcotics officer

Now, we will discuss the functions performed and the effective skills required for a narcotic officer. We will first talk about the functions performed by narcotic officers, and then we will discuss the important skills that are required from a person to be a narcotic officer in NCB.

Functions performed by a narcotics officer: Following are the highlighted function performed or the duties of a narcotic officer:

• Narcotic officers have to do many investigations regarding drug trafficking or drug-related activities.
• Narcotic officers should use various techniques and implement them to handle the critical cases of NCB.
• Many narcotic officers have to work as undercover agents in order to find out important information about drug usage as well as the supply of drugs in various parts of India.
• They have to assist all the states of India in enhancing their efforts for the drug law enforcement in it.
• A narcotic officer has to investigate various narcotics and drug-related crimes with a specialized team, such as possession of drugs, usage of drugs, etc.

Skills required for a narcotics officer: Following is the list of skills that is required for a person qualified to be a narcotic officer:

• They have to be a creative thinker, and they should know how to work under pressure and handle critical cases.
• Narcotic officers must have the good physical strength.
• Narcotic officers should have effective communication skills.
• Narcotic officers should have the great psychological ability so that they can easily cope up with pressure.
• Narcotic officers should know some self-defence techniques.
• Narcotics officers should have the knowledge of using firearms and how to handle them.

Eligibility to become a narcotics officer in NCB

A candidate who is aspiring or dreaming of becoming a narcotics officer has to fulfil some minimum eligibility criteria for it. Only the person who is fulfilling the following minimum eligibility criteria is eligible to be a narcotic officer:

• The candidate should be a citizen of India only.
• The candidate should be fit (mentally as well as physically) and sounding good body.
• The candidate must have attained the age of 20 years on starting of the respective calendar year.
• The candidate should be a graduate also as the minimum education qualification required to be a Narcotic officer is graduation in any discipline.

When students fulfil the above-mentioned eligibility criteria, they become eligible to appear for the various recruitment exams conducted by various bodies for Narcotic officers in NCB.

Recruitment for Narcotic officer

Now, after looking at the eligibility criteria, the primary question that comes to our mind is that "What are respective recruitment exams conducted in India to be a narcotic officer?" Here, we will discuss the recruitment exams conducted by various bodies for the position of Narcotic officer in NCB. Following is the list of various bodies and recruitment examinations which are conducted for the post of Narcotic officer:

• Civil Service Examination (CSE) conducted by UPSC (Union Public Service Commission).
• Recruitment exams conducted by NCB in India.
• Other examinations conducted by various state public service commissions.

Any aspirant can give this exam only after completing their graduation and fulfilling the eligibility criteria as we have mentioned above. After clearing the narcotics officer examination, candidates also have to go through various other tests such as polygraph test, drug test, physical test, psychological test etc. After clearing all the stages of examinations and all the required tests, a candidate becomes eligible for the position of the narcotic officer.

Employment sector for Narcotic officer

A narcotic officer is primarily work in the NCB only, but depending upon the requirements, a narcotic officer also has an employment sector in the following various organizations:

• Narcotics based organization
• Government agencies
• Central Bureau of Narcotics
• K-9 units
• Department of Public Safety
• Narcotics Control Bureau

Narcotic officers can see their career growth in all the above-mentioned employment sectors and organizations.

Salary and benefits of a narcotic officer:

Being a narcotic officer is a very high responsibility job, and it takes a lot of effort to become a narcotics officer itself. Therefore, the perks and salary offered to a narcotic officer are also very attractive, and one can feel secure as being a narcotics officer.

Following are the benefits and pros of being a narcotics officer in NCB:

• The narcotic officer is a central government job; therefore, one will get all the perks, benefits and allowances given by the central Government.
• The job of a narcotic officer is good for all those people who need challenging job roles and who are physically and mentally very strong and active.
• Being a narcotic officer, you are serving your nation and working for the well-being of your society.

Starting salary of a Narcotic officer: Approx. One lakh (in-hand salary).

Conclusion

While concluding this article, we can say that we have learned about the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India in detail. We have understood the acts under NCB and its functioning in India too. We have learned about directors, deputy directors, zonal and sub-zonal offices of NCB in this Article, and then we learn about how one can make their career in NCB. We have concluded the article with a profile of a Narcotic officer, which is the most preferred option to make a full-time career in the NCB.