राष्ट्रीय प्राधिकरण रासायनिक हथियार समझौता National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention

The National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC) has been set up as an office of the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India to fulfill, on behalf of the Government of India, the obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and to act as the national focal point for effective liaison with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and other State Parties on matters relating to the Convention.

The CWC came into force with effect from April 29, 1997 and the NA CWC was first constituted vide Resolution No. 47/1/4/93-CA.III/IV (Vol.4) dated 5th May, 1997. After the CWC Act, 2000 came into force, the NACWC has been established under Section 6 of the CWC Act, 2000 vide Notification S.O. 820 (E) dated 13th June, 2005.

As on date, the National Authority comprises of Chairperson and Eight Directors as under :-

(1) Ms. Sukriti Likhi, Chairperson (National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention,Cabinet Secretariat)

(2) Shri Naresh Pal Gangwar - Director (Additional Secretary, Hazardous Substances Management, M/o Environment, Forests & Climate Change)

(3) Shri Sanjeev Kumar Jindal - Director (Additional Secretary, Disaster Management, Ministry of Home Affairs)

(4) Ms. Indra Mallo - Director (Additional Secretary, National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention, Cabinet Secretariat)

(5) Shri Anil Subramaniam - Director (Joint Secretary, Internal Security-I, Ministry of Home Affairs)

(6) Shri Ashish Kumar Srivastava - Director (Joint Secretary, Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare)

(7) Shri Ravindra Pratap Singh - Director (Joint Secretary, Deptt.of Pharmaceuticals, M/o Chemicals & Fertilizers )

(8) Shri Dipankar Aron - Director (Joint Secretary, Deptt.of Chemicals and Petrochemicals , M/o Chemicals & Fertilizers)

(9) Shri Sunil Kumar Sinha - Director (Additional Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence)

Vision

Internationally recorgnized for its managerial and technical excellence to fulfill the collective aspirations of the comity of nations embodied in the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Mission

To achieve managerial excellence, National Authority will seek to be a leader in establishing best practices in all the key areas of its operations, and management of knowledge relating to CWC.

The primary task of the NACWC is to fulfill, on behalf of the Government of India, the obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The NA CWC also acts as the national focal point for effective liaison with the OPCW and other State Parties on matters relating to the CWC. The major functions of the National Authority are as follows:-

1. Interact with the OPCW and other States Parties for the purpose of fulfilling the obligations of the Government of India under the Convention;
2. Monitor compliance with the provisions of the Convention;
3. Regulate and monitor the development, production, processing, consumption, transfer or use of Toxic Chemicals or Precursors as specified in the Convention;
4. Make request to, or to receive request from, a State Party for assistance and protection under Article X, against the use or threat of use of Chemical Weapons;
5. Manage routine inspection or Challenge Inspection or managing investigation, in case a complaint of use of Chemical Weapons or riot control agents as a method of warfare is received from the Organisation;
6. Conduct inspections for the purposes of CWC Act 2000.
7. Interact with the Organisation in respect of acceptance of request of India for Challenge Inspection or to counter any frivolous or defamatory request made by any State Party against India to the Organisation;
8. Scrutinise and accept list of Inspectors and to verify the Approved Equipment brought by an Inspection Team on to the Inspection Site;
9. Provide escort to the Inspection Team and the Observer within the territory of India;
10. Identify and oversee the closure and destruction of Chemical Weapons, Chemical Weapons Production Facilities, Old Chemical Weapons or Abandoned Chemical Weapons;
11. Negotiate Managed Access during the Challenge Inspection;
12. Ensure decontamination of Approved Equipment after completion of an Inspection;