What is the full form of NIA?

NIA: National Investigation Agency

NIA stands for National Investigation Agency. It was established by the govt. of India to fight terror in India. It was set up after the terror attack on Mumbai on 26 December 2008. NIA Act 2008 was passed on 31 December 2008 and thus NIA came into existence on 31 December 2008. The founding director-general of NIA was Radha Vinod Raju who worked for the agency till 2010. There are around 700 employees in the agency and it comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Vision of the NIA

To set the standards of excellence to counter-terrorism and carry out the investigation in incidents that are a threat to national security with a trained workforce

The main objective of creating NIA was to have a specialized agency to investigate various incidents of terrorist attacks and IED explosions in various parts of the country. Such incidents often have inter-state as well as international connections and are also usually linked to illegal activities such as drug and arms smuggling across the border.

We can say that NIA serves as the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency that can investigate any case related to terror without seeking any permission of the states. However, a state govt. can hand over a case to NIA after requesting the Central Government.

Since its inspection till November 2016, NIA has investigated over 90 cases out of which verdicts have been made in 11 cases. In December 2016, NIA court has given the death penalty to the co-founder of Indian Mujahideen Yasin Bhatkal and few other persons for the 2013 Hyderabad twin blasts.

Some of the major functions of NIA are as follows:

To combat terrorism and investigate terror-related cases
To analyse terrorism-related laws of other countries and evaluate the existing laws in India and make changes if necessary
To investigate and prosecute the matters that may affect the security and integrity of India
To build and maintain relationships with other similar international organizations
To implement international agreements, conventions, and United Nation's resolutions of United Nation and other such international organizations