Will make National Security Advisor (NSA) statutory and accountable to Parliament, not Prime Minister's Office: 2019 Congress Manifesto

The Congress party in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto has made a number of significant and controversial announcements, especially to do with national security and internal security-related issues.

Among declarations such as that it will review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), review the deployment of troops in J&K, omit the 'sedition' law and others, is also an intimation that it would make the post of National Security Advisor (NSA) statutory, with the NSA accountable to Parliament and not the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as it currently is.

Here are the main points and claims in the Congress manifesto's National Security section:

1. Congress will reverse the trend of declining defence spending, and expedite all modernisation programmes
2. Congress will take strategic and hard measures to defend India's territorial integrity
3. Congress promises to evolve policy on data security, cyber security, financial security, communications security
4. Congress will establish the office of Chief Of Defence Staff to be principal adviser to the government of matters relating to defence
5. Congress to provide statutory basis for National Security Council (NSC) and NSA's office and agencies under them. They will be accountable to Parliament
6. Congress will re-establish the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and provide it a statutory basis
7. Congress will rapidly expand domestic capacity to manufacture defence and security equipment

And here is the full section: