India’s RAW gets new chief

Ravi Sinha, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has been appointed as the new head of the country’s intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). 

The 59-year-old police officer from Chhattisgarh is currently the organisation’s second-in-command and was overseeing the operations wing prior to his promotion. He has served in R&AW for over two decades and will serve as the Secretary of R&AW for a two-year term.

He will succeed Samant Goel, whose four-year term concludes on June 30. Goel was appointed R&AW chief for a two-year term in June 2019 and was subsequently granted two one-year extensions in 2021 and June 2022.

Sinha’s appointment comes at a  time when Pakistan is inching towards an election, Sikh rights movement is at its peak, and violent attacks are taking place regularly in Kashmir and northeast India.