The Union Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram presented the Report Card of the Ministry of Home Affairs for March 2010 here today.  Following is the text of the Minister’s statement:

“I present before you the report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the month of March, 2010.  In respect of some matters I am also able to give you the achievements for the full financial year 2009-10.

 

            I visited the UK during March 20-23, 2010.  The purpose was to visit key establishments in the intelligence community of that country.  The Government of United Kingdom had made the arrangements for the visit and facilitated a free and frank exchange of views between my delegation and key officials of United Kingdom.  I am confident that, after the visit, the intelligence agencies in the UK and in India will be able to work together more closely, especially in the area of counter-terrorism.

 

            Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, US, called on me on March 18, 2010. 

 

Internal Security

            David Coleman Headley and the US Attorney agreed on a ‘plea bargain’ on March 18, 2010. We are examining the legal implications of the agreement and, as I stated earlier, we intend to press our request for access to David Headley for questioning him and for recording his testimony.  We are also examining the plea agreement in the light of the provisions of the Extradition Treaty between India and the US.

 

Terror funding

            The following bank accounts of individuals involved in terrorist/insurgency activities were frozen under Section 51 A of the UAPA:

·         Fourteen bank accounts of Moshin Ismail Chowdhary (involved in terrorist activities) in The Ratnakar Bank, Nana Peth Branch, Pune.

·         Two bank accounts held by SS Brig. Ningthoujam Rajen Singh, ‘C-in-C and Finance Secretary’ of Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) in the ICICI Bank, Guwahati.

·         Two bank accounts held by Rajen Singh’s associate in SBI, Kurseong.

 

Naxalism

            The two-day bandh call on March 22-23, 2010 led to widespread violence perpetrated by the CPI (Maoist) in six States.  There were 34 incidents in which 6 civilians and 4 members of the security forces were killed.  Besides, 10 civilians and 16 members of the security forces were injured. The CPI (Maoist) targeted railway tracks, roads, a toll plaza, mobile towers and other infrastructure.  I attach a table that gives a picture of the violence unleashed in those two days.  No one should have any illusions about the motives and methods of the CPI (Maoist).  They believe in armed liberation struggle.  They kill and loot indiscriminately.  They are a grave threat to our internal security and, therefore, need to be dealt with firmly and boldly.  The Central Government and the State Governments concerned will continue to do so.

 

 

            On March 4, 2010, I held a meeting with District Magistrates & Collectors of the 39 districts worst affected by left wing extremism.

 

            The annual budget allocation for 2009-10 for the following schemes was released in the year:

·         Rs. 102 crore to 51 SRE districts @ Rs.2 crore per SRE district;

·         Rs. 60 crore under the SRE scheme; and

·         Rs. 30 crore under the SIS scheme.

 

North-East

            Talks are continuing between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India’s Interlocutor Shri R.S. Pandey.

 

            The first Indo-Myanmar SP-level meeting of border districts (Chanel & Tamu) was held on March 4, 2010. This was followed by the first Indo-Myanmar border liaison officer meeting which was held on March 5, 2010 at Tamu (Myanmar).

 

            A notification amending the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003 was issued on March 23, 2010. This notification replaced the expression ‘electoral rolls prior to year 1971’ by ‘electoral rolls upto midnight of the 24^th day of March, 1971’ for updating the National Register of Citizens, 1951. This amendment was intended to remove any doubt that may have arisen in certain sections of the people.

 

            Tripartite talks with ANVC were held in Shillong. The SoO with ANVC was extended for three months upto June 30, 2010.

 

            On March 18, 2010 the fifth round of tripartite talks were held with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).  Government of India was represented by Shri Ajay Maken, MoS (Home) and Shri Dinesh Trivedi, MoS (Health and Family Welfare). Government of West Bengal was represented by two Ministers.

 

CPOs/CPMFs

            Four battalions of Special Action Force (earlier known as CoBRA) in the CRPF have been raised and trained.  They were operationalised today.

 

            The ambitious programme of constructing housing for the CPMF personnel has received the in-principle approval of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC).  The RFQ floated is for 30 sites (13,026 dwelling units for the CPMF) at an estimated cost of Rs 2,488.59 crore and, once the projects are sanctioned, will be completed over a period of 2 years. 

 

            Under the Modernisation of Police Forces Scheme, the entire Budget provision (RE) of Rs. 1230 crore in 2009-10 was released, with the release of a sum of Rs. 231.15 crore to various States in March, 2010.

 

            Sanction was accorded on March 19, 2010 for the procurement of 801 SIG assault rifles for the NSG at a cost of Rs. 20.68 crore.

 

            Sanctions amounting to Rs. 197.64 crore were issued for acquisition of land and construction of buildings/barracks/hospitals for CPMFs:-

 

Assam Rifles     :           Rs. 12.90 crore

BSF                              :           Rs. 19.36 crore

CISF                             :           Rs. 39.30 crore

ITBP                             :           Rs.   6.78 crore

SAF (CRPF)                  :           Rs. 82.12 crore

SSB                             :           Rs. 37.18 crore

 

            There was substantial progress in the process of filling up 50% vacancies of Medical Officers on contractual appointment:

·         Specialist Medical Officers: 140 vacancies; 117 appointed; 109 joined and

·         General Duty Medical Officers: 170 vacancies; 128 appointed; 67 joined.

 

            An amount of Rs. 22.25 crore was released to all CPMFs as a grant-in-aid for the payment of compensation to the next-of-kin of 416 personnel who had died in the performance of official duties.

 

            To enhance levels of efficiency and speed of decision-making:

·         Financial powers were delegated to DIB for:

o        administrative / expenditure sanction of upto Rs. 10 crore and

o        for contracts upto Rs. 0.5 crore related to the R&T Centre

·         Special DGs and ADGs were declared as HoDs

·         Powers under various sections of the CrPC were delegated to DG SSB.

            KLPs for 2 Sector HQs, 7 Group Centres/Range HQs and 1 Mahila battalion of CRPF were finalized.

 

            The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has issued a notification for acquisition of land for the NSG Regional Centre at Hyderabad.

           

481 posts have been created for augmenting the strength of CISF at the following five PSUs/establishments.

            In order to strengthen the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), 252 new posts were sanctioned. Interviews have been held by the Staff Selection Commission for 50 posts of Intelligence Officers. Provisional sanction was issued to NCB for purchase of surveillance equipment at a cost of Rs. 2.52 crore and weaponry at a cost of Rs. 0.20 crore.

 

Border Management

            India-Bangladesh Border: 32 kms of fencing and 30 kms of road works were completed in March, 2010 under phase II of the project. 45 kms of fencing were replaced in March, 2010 under phase III of the project. Poles for floodlighting were erected on a length of 94 kms during the month.

 

            India-China Border: 3.1 kms of formation works and 0.42 kms of surfacing works were completed during March, 2010.

 

            Border Area Development Programme (BADP): The entire budgetary allocation of Rs 635 crore for 2009-10 was released to all 17 border-States. A sum of Rs. 62.66 crore was released to 13 States viz., Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, J&K, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal during March, 2010. 

 

            Coastal Security: Seventeen more boats were supplied by Goa Shipyard Ltd (11 boats) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (6 boats) during March, 2010. Thus, since January 2009, a total of 109 boats have been supplied by the two shipyards against a target of 126 boats. The remaining 17 boats are expected to be delivered in April, 2010.

 

Immigration:

            Out of 42 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs), computer systems and ICS software have been installed in 31 ICPs so far. Of the 31 ICPs, 14 were networked with the Central Foreigners Bureau (CFB). The remaining 17 will be networked in April, 2010.

 

            Passport Reading Machines (PRMs) have been upgraded to e-PRMs at 30 ICPs.

 

IPS Cadre

            The revised IPS Tenure Policy was notified on March 30, 2010. It was last revised in April 2000.

            On the basis of the revised policy/guidelines for reviewing the strength and composition of the IPS cadre, Cadre Review for 13 Cadres (16 States and all UTs) was notified on March 30, 2010. Details are given below:

 

 

            It has also been decided that the mid-term review of the remaining 11 cadres consisting of 12 States would be taken up as per the revised norms/guidelines in the first quarter of 2010-11.

 

            42 IPS officers (40 from the 1976 batch and 2 from earlier batches) were empanelled to hold Director General/equivalent posts in the Centre on March 15, 2010.

 

            The contract for Phase-IV of the IPS mid-career training programme was signed with Cambridge University.

 

            As part of the strengthening of SVP National Police Academy, sanction was issued for the construction of a 120-room Senior Officers’ Mess at an estimated cost of Rs. 23.16 crore.

States/UTs

            481 posts were sanctioned for the A&N Islands police on March 4, 2010.

            The Cabinet approved the Daman and Diu Marine Fishing (Amendment) Regulation, 2009 on March 19, 2010.

            A CCTV system was approved for 29 markets/check posts in Delhi and an advance drawal of 70% (Rs. 47.62 crore) of the total cost was sanctioned on March 17, 2010.

            In the light of the Supreme Court directive in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India case, the following orders were issued:

·         A State Security Commission for the UTs constituted on March 3, 2010

·         The composition of the Police Complaints Authority and its functions were conveyed to the UTs on March 23, 2010

·         The Punjab Police Act, 2007, with certain modifications, was extended to the UT of Chandigarh on March 29, 2010

 

            The notice inviting global tenders for the Modernisation of Traffic and Communication Network of Delhi Police was published on March 6, 2010. An amount of Rs. 7.62 crore was released to MTNL for the techno-commercial proposal on March 23, 2010.

            The assent of the President was given to the following Legislative proposals:

·         The Daman and Diu Civil Courts (Amendment) Regulation, 2010

·         The Indian Forest (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2009

·         The Uttar Pradesh Stamp Bill, 2008.

            An amount of Rs. 4.78 crore was released to 7 States/UTs for strengthening of the training infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

Other Initiatives

            The Cabinet approved the ratification of the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime on March 19, 2010.

 

            143,000 files of freedom fighters’ pension cases have been digitized so far, including 9,500 files that were completed in March, 2010.

 

            As a part of the re-structuring and strengthening of BPR&D, sanction has been issued for construction of BPR&D HQs at Mahipalpur, Delhi at an estimated cost of Rs. 17.81 crore.

 

            The following persons were nominated to the Rajya Sabha:

·         Dr. Ram Dayal Munda

·         Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar

·         Smt. B. Jayshree

·         Shri Javed Akhtar

·         Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar

 

Census 2011 and National Population Register

            The work of direct data collection for the National Population Register (NPR) in the coastal villages of 8 States and 2 Union Territories is in progress. The biographical details of about 100 lakh persons and the biometric details of about 43 lakh persons have been collected so far.

 

            I wish to draw your attention to, and seek your cooperation and support for, the work on Census 2011 that will begin tomorrow.  Census 2011 is the largest exercise of its kind in human history.  Our goal is to identify, count, record and issue identity cards to a population that is expected to be about 120 crore.  A year-long exercise of training sessions and workshops culminated in a Conference of District Magistrates at New Delhi on March 4, 2010. 

 

            The data collected will also go into the National Population Register, the first of its kind in India.   Cabinet has approved a sum of Rs.3,539.24 crore for the creation of the National Population Register.

 

            The Census of India is a massive operation and, in order to complete it successfully, I appeal to every usual resident of India to fully cooperate with the enumerators and other authorities.  I appeal to the media to give the widest publicity to the Census of India.

 

            The exercise will begin tomorrow (April 1, 2010) by enumerating the President of India and the Vice President of India”.

*****

 

OK/RS/KKA