IB vs RAW
It is important to know that although both IB and RAW are Indian intelligence agencies, there is difference between them. IB is the Intelligence Bureau of India and is India’s internal intelligence agency. RAW is the Research and Analysis Wing of India and is India’s external intelligence agency. This is one of the main differences between IB and RAW.
IB is regarded as the oldest intelligence agency in the world. It originally started in 1947 as Central Intelligence Bureau. It is under the governance of the Ministry of Home Affairs. RAW on the contrary was started in 1968, placed directly under the India Prime Minister’s office. RAW came as a consequence of two wars that India faced in the 1960s, namely, Sino-Indian war in 1962 and Indo-Pakistan war in 1965.
The main responsibility of IB is to acquire intelligence from within India and carry out tasks related to counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. The responsibility of RAW on the other hand is to gather external intelligence and perform tasks related to counter-terrorism. One of its primary functions is covert operations. It also has a good amount of contribution in Indian foreign policy making.
IB has employees from the Indian Police Service and the military. Its staff is mostly from law enforcement agencies. RAW in the beginning depended on the services of trained intelligence officers. Later candidates from police, military and other services too were also recruited by RAW. The employees of RAW fall under four important designations, namely, senior field officer, field officer, deputy field officer and assistant field officer. It is important to note that RAW has its own service cadre called the Research and Analysis Service (RAS).
As a matter of fact IB passes on intelligence between other Indian intelligence agencies and the police as well. The IB is given the power to conduct wiretapping even without warrant. RAW consists in the collection of intelligence via espionage, psychological warfare, subversion and sabotage.