Context: India's Global Terrorism Index (GTI) score of 7.43 and crime index score of 44.7 indicated a decline in terror and crime incidents since 2016 which can be attributed to strengthened security measures.

Global Terrorism Index (GTI)

• The GTI report is produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP).

• The index provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism since 2000.

• It is an attempt to systematically rank the nations of the world according to terrorist activity.

• It combines a number of factors associated with terrorist attacks to build an explicit picture of the impact of terrorism, illustrating trends, and providing a data series for analysis by researchers and policymakers.

• It produces a composite score in order to provide an ordinal ranking of countries on the impact of terrorism.

• GTI 2023: India was listed among countries with a “high” impact of terrorism and ranked 13th.

Definition of terrorism

• The GTI defines terrorism as "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a state and non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation".

Indicators and weighting

There are four indicators counted in each country's yearly score

• Total number of terrorist incidents in a given year

• Total number of fatalities caused by terrorism in a given year

• Total number of injuries caused by terrorism in a given year

• The approximate level of total property damage from terrorist incidents in a given year

Major Challenges Related to Terrorism Globally

• Terror Financing: According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, criminals are estimated to launder up to four trillion dollars a year. Fund movements by terrorists have also been concealed through charities and alternative remittance methods.

• It taints the international financial system and erodes public trust in the integrity of the system.

• Politicisation of Countering Terrorism: The members of the United Nations Security Council (P5) have exercised the veto power to varying degrees when it comes to identifying terrorists.

• Also, absence of universally accepted definitions for what constitutes terrorism provides terrorists with an edge and allows some countries to remain silent and veto any action at global institutions.

• Use of Emerging Technology by Terrorists: Innovations in computing and telecommunications like widespread internet access, end-to-end encryption, and virtual private network (VPN) have made new types of operations possible for a higher number of radicalised individuals across the globe, contributing to the threat.

Road Ahead

• Re-energizing Counter Terrorism Agenda: It is necessary to re-energize the global agenda of counter-terrorism by emphasising the need for unity, and checking the veto power of P5 when it comes to identifying terrorists worldwide.

• Adopting a Universal Definition of Terrorism: A universal definition of terrorism is needed so that all members of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) can incorporate it into their own criminal laws, banning terror groups, prosecuting terrorists under special laws, and making cross-border terrorism an extraditable offence worldwide.

• In 1986, India proposed a draft document on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN. However, it is yet to be adopted by the UNGA.

• Curbing Terror Funding: There is a need for stronger laws that require banks to perform due diligence on clients and to report suspicious transactions to prevent terrorism.

• Also, India can move towards regulating cryptocurrency.