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HOME
The three-member group of interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir are slated to submit a report by March to suggest ‘broad contours’ for a political settlement. Politically, de-militarisation of the Valley and doing away with multiple frisking of citizens is good. However, concerns of the Army over ‘no dilution’ of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act have to be kept in mind. Removing Srinagar from the ‘disturbed areas’ list could be tricky. In 2011, the ministry starts off to deliver on ‘counter-terrorism’ ideas that were conceptualised in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. Slated this year are three important milestones: The super watchdog body the NATGRID or the national intelligence grid; the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS). These three will form the backbone of seamless sharing of information across police stations, intelligence and security agencies.
Some of the agencies like RAW and ARC look beyond the straight-jacketed ‘terrorism-information’. Their scope includes examining the footprint of various nations in India’s neighbourhood and also ‘unfriendly countries’. The Home Ministry will have to assure the nation that safeguards have been put in place to prevent the misuse of personal information collected through the NATGRID. A political call will have to be taken on setting up the NCTC. This, in a way, will subsume all intelligence and investigative agencies. The last of the three initiatives will be the scheduled rollout of the ambitious crime-tracking network by September this year for use by enforcement and police officials to speed up probes and facilitate real-time access of classified criminal data. Once all three plans are in place, the Home Ministry will need to lay down stringent legislations and penalties to stop the misuse of power. At the Naxalite front, 60 districts have to be infused with Rs 3,300 crore (till March 2012) for setting up schools, health facilities, roads and access to safe drinking water. This ‘development agenda’ has to be matched with the other aspect of security and the grip of Naxalites in certain areas has to be slackened. The other important aspect will be the report on Telangana. The Justice B.N. Srikrishna committee has submitted it. The minister will have to ensure a way that keeps a lid on any flare-up of passions on either side of Andhra Pradesh.
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MORE than two years
after P. Chidambaram took over as Union Home Minister, the next 12
months will, in many ways, define how India judges UPA’s second
term. The Home Ministry will have its hands full tackling a mélange
of issues. It will need a balanced and focussed approach, coupled with
flexibility, firmness, rationale and transparency. For Chidambaram, it
will be a ‘test-year’. One wrong step and it could turn into a ‘testing’
one.
Chidambaram will have to
be flexible as he attempts to break the traditional ‘silo-styled’
functioning of multiple agencies by forming the NCTC and the NATGRID.
This will have to be done without ruffling too many feathers,
especially in the defence and finance ministries, besides the PMO —
all three have either their own intelligence gathering agencies or
investigative agencies.