Shaking Up The Intelligence Bureau

The abrupt exit of two Special Directors from the Intelligence Bureau has changed IB's line of succession. Though it would be a bit too early to assess the line of succession but abrupt shaking of Intelligence Bureau has sparked curorisity in power corridors. There are some who say that it is "normal" as Additional Directors are to be promoted to Special Director and there are eight Additional Directors who are in line to get Special Director but many will have to wait for few years except one Additional Director of 1991 batch. Perhaps the government want to clear the line for juniors, but it sounds a bit unconvincing as both Vivek Srivastava and Rahul Rasgotra had a good time for two years in their hand and were even natural successors of the IB Director. The Home Ministry did have a good pool of IPS officers from 1989-1990 to choose from for ITBP and DG Fire Services, but the Ministry turned towards IB. If it wasn't only administrative reshuffling, was it a signal of a wake-up call to the Special Directors of IB? Everyone wonders in power corridors. If we think upon this tangent, top sources say that considering the responsibility and dynamics of Srivastava and Rasgotra, where the former handled the training and establishment, and the latter oversaw North East and Counter Intelligence. Top sources add that Srivastava's exit seemed imminent, as, "he was to some extent in choppy waters from both political end and the top brass of IB as well". However, Rasgotra's exit, who was handling crucial work of managing North East and Bureau's own Intelligence security, was quite eyebrow-raising for few, sources indicated. One can argue that this is perhaps a signal of MHA giving the rest of the Special Directors a wake-up call that either you increase your strategic thinking and work standards or be ready to be moved out. There were occasions when IB Special Directors were moved out, but that happened only when the IB chief from a junior or equivalent batch got charge of the bureau, and adjustments followed. But there were only a few instances where Special Directors were untimely moved out(three years ago). The current leadership in IB now stands with Harinath Mishra of the 1990 batch becoming the second in command as for Rajiv Ranjan Verma and T.V Ravichandran; both are scheduled to retire within a few months. As 2024 sets in and IB chief Tapan Deka sees one-year extension for obvious reasons- (J&K security and Elections due in September), the government perhaps wishes to make a new succession line for IB this year or in the coming years.