Which ministry released India's first national counter-terrorism policy 'PRAHAAR' in February 2026?

Explanation

PRAHAAR was released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 24 February 2026 as India's national counter-terrorism policy and strategy. The Ministry of Home Affairs policy frames India's approach as zero tolerance against terrorism and sets out prevention, swift response, capacity aggregation, rule-of-law processes, attenuation of conditions conducive to terrorism, international alignment, and recovery through a whole-of-society approach. The operational clue is decisive: the policy says India's counter-terrorism approach is intelligence-guided, with the Multi Agency Centre and the Joint Task Force on Intelligence in the Intelligence Bureau serving as the nodal platform for efficient, real-time sharing of counter-terrorism inputs across the country. That places the policy within the internal-security remit of the Home Ministry.

Why the other options are wrong

• (A) The Ministry of Defence deals with defence forces, but PRAHAAR is tied to internal-security intelligence sharing through MAC/JTFI under the Home Ministry's counter-terrorism framework.
• (B) The Ministry of External Affairs is relevant to diplomacy, but PRAHAAR is described as an internal counter-terrorism policy using domestic intelligence-sharing mechanisms rather than a foreign-policy instrument.
• (D) The National Security Council Secretariat is not identified as the releasing authority for PRAHAAR; the release is attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Concept

This tests the governance mapping of internal security institutions, especially which Union body handles counter-terrorism policy and intelligence coordination. RAS repeatedly asks such questions because internal security, centre-state coordination, and Home Ministry mechanisms sit at the intersection of polity and current affairs.

Source

• Ministry of Home Affairs

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