“The Silent Sentinel” podcast, moderated by Pawanjit Ahluwalia with experts C Pal Singh and Maj Gen Deepak Mehta (Retd), explores transforming India’s nine million security guards into a proactive intelligence backbone. By connecting ground-level “chatter” to a centralized PSI-NATGRID pipeline, the Private Security Industry becomes a critical force multiplier for national agencies. Discover how “C
What this session covered
This session continued NISSMAT's series on the evolution of India's security landscape, moving on from earlier discussion of a nine-million-strong private security workforce as an extension of the state to the narrower question of mechanism: how routine observation by guards and supervisors on the ground might be converted into leads usable by law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. The format was a moderated discussion between two speakers, with the moderator setting the opening question and each speaker responding at length.
Much of the exchange concerned what a guard should be trained to notice. One speaker set out behavioural indicators: a deliberately slow or halting pace where the normal flow of movement in a place is already known, repeated passes over the same area consistent with reconnaissance, unfamiliar persons asking who lives where and when they come and go or whether police attend, unusual fixation on a phone while watching a location, dress at odds with the surroundings, and comparable patterns involving vehicles that stop repeatedly or move without evident purpose. The other speaker argued that, in the absence of any mandate from the central or state government, the role must remain passive, limited and legally compliant — reporting rather than analysis, verbal rather than documented, with information moving upward only through authorised agencies and without intruding on privacy or constitutional rights. Both speakers stated their agreement on this point of limitation explicitly.
The discussion then turned to what would have to change if such a mandate were granted. Points raised included amendment of the rules framed under PSARA rather than of primary law, revision of the national skill qualification standards laid down for security personnel, a possible raising of the basic educational qualification required of guards, and separate and higher training for supervisors, whose role as a middle manager sifting and checking observations before they are passed on was described as critical. One speaker argued that no single standardised syllabus would serve, since requirements differ by posting — coastal areas, traffic choke points, guarded infrastructure, housing colonies, malls and hospitals were all mentioned — and that guards would need a broad awareness of what the various specialised agencies do in order to recognise what is relevant to them. Other matters covered were the anonymity and protection of the person reporting, a suggestion that reporting might be handled through a purpose-built application, the question of selection and motivation of individuals for such a role, the distinction between observing information and soliciting it from the public — initially raised as a training point and then set aside in favour of observation alone — and the separate case of an unattended object in a public place, which was treated as calling for immediate physical action, cordoning and a call to the police or bomb disposal squad, rather than observation and reporting.
Key points raised
- The session addressed mechanism rather than principle: how observations made by private security personnel could be routed into the existing law-enforcement and intelligence structure.
- One speaker maintained that, without a legislative or executive mandate, the role of private security must stay passive and limited to reporting, with no analysis and no encroachment on privacy or constitutional rights.
- Behavioural indicators discussed included deliberately slow movement, repeated passes over an area consistent with reconnaissance, questioning about occupants and timings, and vehicles behaving anomalously.
- Any expanded role was said to require changes to the rules under PSARA, to the national skill qualification standards for the sector, and possibly to the basic qualifications required of guards.
- The security supervisor was described as a critical intermediate level, responsible for sifting a large volume of observations before anything is passed to a police or agency grid.
- Training was argued to be context-specific to the posting rather than standardised, and to depend on guards having some awareness of the remits of the various specialised agencies.
Session transcript
This transcript is auto-generated from the session recording and lightly edited for punctuation and readability; it may contain transcription errors. The video remains the authoritative record.
Read the full transcript
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to NISSMAT's series on the evolution of India's security landscape. In our previous sessions, we established the vision of a 9 million strong private security force acting as a sovereign extension to the state. Today, we move from the vision to the specific mechanism of intelligence. NISSMAT is India's premier strategic think tank bridging private security with national intelligence to protect India's future.
We are joined today by Mr. Sepal Singh, President of NISSMAT, and Major General Deepak Ma, Director NISSMAT, to discuss a transformative concept, the PSI navigated pipeline. Our focus today is on the silent sentinels, the guards and the supervisors on the ground who see and hear what others miss. We will explore how simple observations like an unusual vehicle or a cargo anomaly can be converted into actionable leads for the national intelligence agencies, the NCB and even our armed forces. In the first podcast it was about who. Today it is about how, linking the eyes of the guards directly to the heart of national intelligence critics.
To start with, our goal is to teach our guards simple things which they should observe, which would help the preservance of law and order and provide information from an abnormal activity from happening.
Correct.
Deepak sir, your comments.
Yes. You see, observation is a very important factor for a person who's standing as a guard. The certain aspects which come into this is, firstly, if a person is a slow walker — I mean, normal pace of walk is fine, but if a person is walking very slow and deliberate, that is one; he has to look into why is he doing a thing like that, unless he's invalid. Second is a person who has been carrying out reconnaissance or, you know, moving up and down one particular area for number of times. You see the large number of cases which are coming into being in the media. Now all these aspects where the firing has taken place, these people who are the culprits have carried out extensive reconnaissance; they have gone over the area number of times. Then there is some certain aspect like, you know, unknown person asking various questions to the guard. Who stays here? What time do they come? What time do they go? Is the police coming? All these are factors which a guard should be able to understand, odd behavior of a person, and that will help in the overall.
See, your comments.
My comments are in two phases, in two forms, shortly. First is that we had discussed that in case some mandate is provided to the security forces, private security forces, some orders are issued by the center and the state government, then what role these 9 million sentinel can play? What are they doing at present? How they can be useful at present also as it is? My submission is that at the moment the private security guards can play only a role of seeing, an unseen role certain time. Seen roles are that in case they find something, as General Deepak has pointed out, unusual happening, they may register in their mind and pass it on to the next agency. We have yet to decide to whom you are to pass on. The unseen roles can be that they work around the sovereign organizations. The sovereign organizations, the state police organization, are who will come in the national grid. Subsequently we discussed that there on state grid and the national grid and all, and that is the sovereign agencies, and to how they can help the sovereign agencies. This is the first point.
Second is, such use of the private security has to be at this juncture totally compliant and remain within the legal limits. The normal duties can help them of course in getting information and observing unusual people, unusual vehicle, unusual suspicious character and their behavior pattern. By understanding that behavior pattern, they should of course report. But these cannot be in the form of proper documentation. There's only verbal reporting, because we cannot take the risk at this point of time to inflict on ourselves certain constitutional rights to the people. Supposing some guards observes something which is suspicious and he reports about that particular person, and he happens to be himself a person who is belonging to agencies itself. So my submission is that it has to be very limited role, then act as a force multiplier, as you said, by extending the situational awareness. What is the situational awareness there? And keeping in view the situational awareness of the proper scene, they should act as a multiplier of the situation awareness.
Now this limited role implies reporting, not analysis. This limited role implies information flows up only through authorized agencies. This limited role applies only no misuse of taking or violating the privacy and constitutional rights of others. This limited role will mean that without any mandate, at the moment the role is to be only passing the information to a particular either a security supervisor or to some agencies in state or the center, whatever you decide. Any approach at this moment, at this point of time, should balance the needs with the available accountability with us at this point of time.
However, as you pointed out, we had earlier discussed that in case a mandate is received, in case we are able to get the mandate from the center and the state government, then of course there are various things will come into playing, that those will be changing in the PSARA training. The PSARA training will require changing, training in the skill qualification center. We have already national skill qualification standard by the ministry of skill development given to the security; that means we change the national skill qualification standard, then training under PSARA. As I said, there were certain reforms needed, then basic needs for guards keeping in view the qualification standard will have to be considered. Then contextual awareness — we are only to make them aware that this point has to be emphasized at the time of training: what are the contextual awareness, where you are, in the context of where you are standing. No shifting, and reporting only up to this point will come to the guard. Any anonymity, if they find, they immediately has to report. But in the last two episodes that we have recorded, we have already said that there's a definite requirement of the private security agencies to assist the law enforcement agencies. That is one, and when you can talk, say that we assume, we take, presume that the policy has been accepted at the national level and also state level, and then what Mr. Sepal is saying merit consideration.
Mr. Singh, comments in English and Hindi.
They should be given some mandate, some orders or some amendment of law by the center and the state so that we are able to proceed accordingly. My points are that at this point of time the private security personnel or private security bots can play only some unseen and seen roles around the sovereign agencies, that is, the agencies who are mandated for law and order, around them, without any formal mandate with them. Such use should remain only passive and only legally compliant. Otherwise we invite the right of private individual privacy under article of the constitution. You cannot give any information which may put you into a problem. Observing any unusual characters, any unusual behavior, any suspicious character is of course correct. But if you start giving any analysis of that particular thing, that will be very serious offense. My submission is that there are two rules at the moment. At the moment, the role is only around the mandated sovereign agencies.
Yes, in case we are given powers, the security agencies are given powers under the state or the central government, then what is required to be done? Then of course the things will pass, whether they are going to be only observing and passing on the information to the state or to some other agencies. But the state has got a state platform. State platform again is divided into districts or regions or sectors. Then you have got the national platform, national, as you know, various. So once you are mandated, then you will have to say how your role is being doubted into the agencies, other agencies, whether it is going to be doubted into the state or it is going to doubted national agencies. Keeping in view these points, that will require changes. Changes will be required in the law — not law exactly, I would say, but change in the rules, particularly in PSARA rules. There are certain condition laid down, certain regulation laid down. What are the training to be imported? You will have to import training keeping your new role that you are going to help, and for that, observing contextual environment: how you should observe, what should observe, how you should pass on the information. All these points should come into being.
Then the second question is the qualification. The qualification of the individual persons as it's laid down for a guard may have to be a little higher, because they are going to play a very important role in the grid, either in the state grid intelligence or in the national grid intelligence or zonal intelligence. So my point is that your qualification, basic qualification, may have to change. Third very important point again is that keeping in view these things, you will have to change the entire national qualification standard. The sector skill council of government of India has framed certain national qualification standard of the guard at present. If you want that much intelligence to be imported to him, the national qualification standard which are already laid down will have to be changed.
So I have to say presently this is the position. We are only to play a role which is limited, passive, within the mandate given to you, within the norms given to you. And second is that, that is after you want to have an active participation and want to act as real 9 million sentinel which are going to reinforce the intelligence network or the law and improve the law and order situation and add to the multiplication of the force, because at the moment the density, as we earlier discussed, of the police force vis-a-vis the population is much less, and for that, to increase the density, you want the private security agencies to be given some role. So my point is this is covered in two form. Wherever you want further, I'll cover it.
You know, when we've gone to the training aspect of things. Okay, training. With this policy comes into being, security capability issue, agency issue. It is like jumping the gun for him so that he is in a better position himself. So he improves his stature by being selected for passing information that he observes. That is my opinion. Sir, you wanted to say something.
Actually we are in total agreement as far as this point is concerned. At this point of time I have already mentioned, you agree. If you have to give them the task which you are envisaging and which can be performed by them, then naturally the training as well as the other things. For example, you say you will train the guards, but there will be need of training the supervisors also, because the role which the security supervisor has to play will be much more important. He has to be a critical middle manager. The supervisor has to be a critical middle manager between the lower functioning of the security as well as the agencies, the sovereign agencies. All these points which are going to be watched by the security guard at the point have to be well known to the security supervisor, who in turn will be able to oversee that. So my point is that your training will not be confined only to the guards, but it will go to higher level and much higher level. Not at these, security supervisors will have to — so we mean probably the qualification standard, the additional educational standard of the security supervisors have to be upgraded.
You see, the point that I was saying was there is a certain requirement, training, training curriculum. Now this policy can only be implemented if the top level echelons of the parliament, they agree with something; then rules are made by the center, passed down to the states, or states implement. So we are assuming system, individuals, manpower; the information is passed on for action.
Yes, I think. Correct. Value. Your comments basically.
It should be part of the training. But we must know what has to be told to them, what they have to be trained for. For example, they should be seeing the activities of the individual if they are posted somewhere, as to what are some which are being done differently. For example, the normal in the market, some people are going, coming, going, coming; the normal pace, the normal flow of people going and coming is known. But if we find somebody who a slow walker, who just stands somewhere, watches something, proceeds further, mark some shop or something and then gets forward — so this is observation which he has taken into mind. Yes, this man is acting differently. He is not only acting differently, he's probably marking some shops. Tomorrow they may be, they have to mark some shop which have to be burnt. So he is marking some shop. So he has to note that particular persons, that he is acting differently. He may be a slow walker as compared to the normal pace. Then he may be having a phone; he's a phone watcher. He's just watching something and concentrating on his phone, on somebody. And again, he may also be finding a person asking some questions, repeated questions of some people, and he also finds them that his clothes are, for example, a little different than the normal clothes. So these little difference in variation of clothes, walk, pace, watching, camera etc., these are things which he should be watching.
Now there can be some cars. Let us say he waits and watches there on some car parking. So he should be able to understand that this particular driver is slow. He's purposely going slow somewhere and stand somewhere and ask the people at back to watch that particular place, or he is again and again, after some minutes, he stops the car and ask some questions to the people, or he is a normal clothes driver, his clothes a little different. So such cars and such activities, as a car driver or as a biker, can be watched by him. Then there can be, you know, actually, these are certain activities which are abnormal. He watches and he passes on this information, which are properly mailed and grilled by the supervisor and passed on to the next person. Brother.
So yeah, where exactly, location. Now what to detect? What to see? Situation to situation. Coastline activities. Terrorist attack. Three warning. Okay. Smuggling. Coastal area. Coastal police. So coast information. Fisherman. Unrelated landing. Private security guard, traffic forces, traffic points. For example, in the case of terrorist traffic, which are the choke points, points in boundary, particular agencies, separate requirement.
Training requirement, if not syllabus, that has to cater to the needs of various places where they are posted. It can be A, B, C, D. You don't talk about the coastal guard, coastal line. I'll talk tomorrow something about the choke points on the regular flow of traffic, on the CISF side, infrastructure and boundary integrity of the CISF, on internal discipline in the case of and inside threats, we may have to check and report to the CBI and C. So I feel that it cannot be given in one go. You have to critically examine that, and what role is being played by a particular organization where your security guards are also being posted. According to that rule, the information, the abnormal information, likely information which can be of use to be molded into intelligence report ultimately has to be watched. So my point is that this is a multifarious role, and multifarious duties are there. So you may not be able to have one standardized thing to talk about.
CS drugs, distributionally. Drug labs distribution. For example, drug, as you say, rampant sort of problem in Punjab. Security guard, they indirectly soliciting the information also, because there may be A person giving the drug, the B person selling the drug, the C person who's taking it. So how delicately, how nicely you can solicit the information from the public as such. The soliciting of information should be one of the important points which should be there in our road map of training to the security guards or the security supervisors.
The question is up to what level we are going to pass on the information, sir. If it is only at the state level, then we'll have only. Riv, let it be for the people who are trained to sift the information and convert it to intelligence and then instruct the action to be taken. It is not to — that is what my personal opinion is — it is not to solicit information, but to observe the information.
Agree.
Yes, I agree with you. There's large number of important vulnerable areas like logistic bases, ammunition bases, your air force stations. Riv security, that has to be reported straight away. I look at a scenario, private security industry. The guards are being paid for by the industry. They're not being paid by the country to sort of do the job. What we are saying, India. The biggest ammunition is in central India today. I'll go one step further. We have malls. We have hospitals. Security. He has clean, he should report that. So these are things which have to be trained, to ache for the people who are selected to become a part of this.
Correct. Selection of an agency is not the right word. It is the selection of an individual who working as a, in the security domain. Correct. Protection of the person who passes information. Exactly. Absolutely correct. Information. So there must be identity secrecy behind whatever we are doing.
Very important. Actually, broadly it will only come under the same thing, that you have, what are the contextual need in the context of a particular place, particular organization, whether you are passing information only to local or you are passing information — I'm not talking intelligence, or information — on the district rate or national, the contextual information, contextual context contrib. So I am of the view that the information which is — not actually, I will not use the word soliciting, if it is soliciting — the information which is collected by the guard at a particular place has to be in the context of the particular agencies for which the information is being collected. But mainly, as pointed out by General Deepak, main abnormalities can be annunciated by us in the discussion, but the person who is drawing that sort of syllabus, I will call it the points which is lying to be imported to the security guard, should be aware of that particular organization where the security guard is being posted. When we are being posted 101 places, from one place, rather, you cannot make him a sort of information box, every information should be fed to him. Some security guard may not be able to absorb that much information. Coastal guard, this should be there for IB, terrorist; every guard cannot be, so we have to say all right, for this.
Specific to area, specific to your place of work, yes. You see, that is why I was suggesting that every person who working security domain is, so they will, you have to select the people, probably have a test of the people who probably join this thing. So I think that is one of the things that is coming out, capability wise, agency wise.
One more point to say. Secondly, education standard, basic education. Very important is the motivation. He should be adequately motivated to execute his task. If he selected, you can give him a stipend of a couple of rupees a month.
Yes. So the government can sort of say, all right, we provide you with X amount of money on a monthly basis so that you are the eyes and ears of what we are. It's just a suggestion formula, in addition to changes required in the training under PSARA and entertaining training under the presence qualification center. The training has to be in respect of certain basic needs for various places where they are posted, and that basic needs, what are they posted, why, how they have to be — collect, not collecting — how they have to observe the information. Collection is not the point actually; they're not collecting.
They're only observing and passing information.
And after observation, I go further. After observation, the next stage, supervisor should be able to have a little bit of, where it has to eliminate certain observation. There will be very many, very many information, many observation points given by guards; they may all not be relevant. There at that stage some shifting process has to be done by that. After saving and shifting that information, then it will pass to the concern grid; either you're passing it on to the police grid, local police grid, or you are passing on to the — let our security person not be involved in that. Has a question to ask them. But otherwise, once they have passed the information, now it is not for them to decide as to which is the agency which will be taking action on the information that they provide. It is for the people who receive the information, cull the information and decipher the information, who will decide as to which is the right and appropriate agency to take an action on this, or the information is just dropped dead and nothing is to be done on it.
I wind up with saying few lines. So anonymity of that particular guard is primary things to be kept in view. To keep in view that thing, I feel that we may be able to devise some sort of, you know, app for various points. That apps can be, on the basis of app, that app should be made aware of everything: this is for this thing, this is this thing, this is this thing. And after that, information according to that has been so gathered or come to the knowledge of the guard, then it goes for proper saving, shifting etc. to the next level, and next level onward his responsibility is over. It passes on information to the grid, that is either the district grid or the state grid or the national.
Secondary airport. So it will depend upon the type of industry to which the security personnel is posted. They can provide more information than what may be required today. That we'll discuss, how complication will come on the reverse process. Process is our information collection — not actually collection, observing — and collecting, and insurance companies. So you have many more people who are watching on the street, because so it can become A, B, you. These people can benefit.
And the benefit can be much more when we are posted in certain housing colonies. Even information, intelligence that is collected from these houses etc. I will not mention that about the drug particular part in Punjab. It is from some of the housing colonies that information was collected and passed on, and the police in turn went into that, and after that came to know who is the person who is bringing the drugs, and from housing were that the drugs were not only coming from, as you rightly said, from a level very lower, but for a very very higher level, some people are passing on the information about such and such drugs being smuggled into a jail. So my point is that in housing in particular, where they can give much more — I will again say observation, observation — and that observation can be very easily mold, sifted and grilled to become an intelligence board.
I go by that. You see, information: he's seen something, something wrong other than what is in the environment; he's passed the information to his supervisor; supervisor pass the information to wherever he has to. Now there may be cases in also, but 10% of the information passed may not fructify, and that's law of averages.
That's okay. If the information does not yield a result, let it pass.
Yes, he should pass the information, whatever the case.
Information at every higher level that you go, the level of quality of information, it changes completely. I mean, as pointed out, I agree that security supervisor, his role is very critical, if you ask me, because if he is a sort of middle level manager and he is able to checklist on the basis of the basic sort of training and points you have given in the initial training to the guards, he able to check on that and takes out out of that what is required, has been done or not, whether that places has been watched properly by that man or just a casual information is at pass. And he should be checking also himself that high voltage points where our boys are posted, that high voltage points are these, and from where the information can be better collected. I am of the view that he should be actually aware of all the accidental points at Soda, in the gates, particular gate crashing. Once he knows about it, the information so passed on from the guards to him can be easily, properly cleaned and given to the — cleaned in the sense no analysis, I'm saying, only given: this is super foolish and this is important, this is super — it can be passed on for further information, from further developing into intelligence, I would say, is information.
I have one contingency in this case. Suppose it's a public place and this security guard has seen something lying which is not claimed by anyone. Would it be prudent for him to warn the people to please stay away from it?
This drill is a very common drill. When you see something which is lying unclaimed, it can have a bomb or something. Call the bomb disposal squad and get it removed.
Cordon off the area.
Yes.
People to move out. But that's a physical action; that he not observation point. And if he is the right person, he can pass on the information on this grid also. Plus he can call the local bomb disposal squad or police station for action. Now this is a slightly separate listing. This is observing, and you got to take immediate action.
Right.
Before to draw actually the training or obsession road map for your security guard, one point should be very clear. The role of the specialized agencies which are operating in the country should be broadly known to the private security guard. In fact, we are illiterate of security guard. The role of certain agencies which is being, you see, as Mr. President. Yes. So therefore separate force, collaborative law enforcement, that is important, you know, to transmit the information to the particular person. What will he observe when he doesn't know what is the duty of NIA?
Problem, the duty of CISF. So personal role, what is the role played by these agencies must be known basically to them; then only they'll be able to get the information, or so-called not information, then able to observe the irregularities.
Unclaimed object, it can be a — so you have to take a physical action. So that is a slightly different scenario, as making a simple observation of somebody trying to sort of do something different from the normal. I'll give you an example which happened just about two weeks back, where very close to where I'm staying, there was a car we used to come and park at night. It was reported to the police by the security people there. They found, when they got to the car, there was a person sitting there with five different number plates. You see now, what was the aim of the chap to be sitting there at night? And it was regular, you know, once in four, five days this car used to come there. When someone reported against them, they found about five odd different number plates in that car. That is the power of observation.
Absolutely. Information awareness. They can play a very very important seen and unseen role around the sovereign organization. So we get the sovereign organization law enforcement information, and they can play, I think, a very very important unseen role around this so-called sovereign organization which have got the mandate to do this. So such information, and maybe it is passive information initially, has to — is a very — can play a very important role, and I'm sure that we must apprise our formations, higher formation, states and all, that the massive force which is available to us in the form of security guards can be very fruitfully and usefully utilized, and eyes and ears for the sovereign agencies.
Absolutely. Security forces, private security, useful tool, security. Information network and ears, ground. In the end I would like to thank the President of NISSMAT, Mr. Sepal Singh, and Director, Major General, for their profound insights into how we can cut off the oxygen to the perpetrators who may want to be doing a harm to any institution or place. Yes, can play a very very important role as a think tank as to how the integration of the private security can be done for the benefit of the nation.
Correct. Absolutely, discussion. Say, please support our mission to propagate what NISSMAT is doing. Please like the video, subscribe to NISSMAT channel and share it with your friends and colleagues, so that the moderator and chairman of this — and I thank you for being here with us today.
