Special Protection Group (SPG) Act

About SPG Act-

• The Prime Minister’s security is the domain of the Special Protection Group or SPG that is described as an “armed force” in the SPG Act.
• The SPG Act came into being in 1988 and the body functions under the cabinet secretariat.
• The Act was passed by the parliament after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was extended to all former Prime Ministers and their immediate families after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.
• The Act has provisions for “providing proximate security” to the Prime Minister of India as well as those who have previously held the post.
• Proximate security is defined as “protection provided from close quarters, during a journey by road, rail, aircraft, watercraft, or on foot, or any other means of transport and shall include the places of functions, engagements, residence or halt and shall comprise ring round teams, isolation cordons, the sterile zone around, and the rostrum and access control to the person or members of his immediate family”.
• The general superintendence, direction and control of the Group shall vest in, and be exercised by, the Central Government.
• The command and supervision of the Group shall vest in an officer to be appointed by the Central Government as the Director of the Group.
• The ASL or the Advanced Security Liaison (which means every minute of the Prime Minister’s itinerary is documented and monitored) is carried out by the SPG. 
• Even though the proximate security is the SPG’s responsibility, the perimeter is to be secured by the state police in case the PM travels.
• The SPG Act was amended in 2019 to reduce SPG cover to only the Prime Minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.
• The 2019 amendment further reduced the time period of SPG cover to the former Prime Ministers and their immediate family to five years after they leave the office, provided that the immediate family members resided at the allotted residence with the former Prime Minister.