Shah for joint fight by states, Centre

SURAJKUND/NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the Centre and states share collective responsibility for effectively tackling trans-border crimes.

Addressing a two-day "chintan shivir" organised with the aim of preparing an action plan for the implementation of "Vision 2047" and "Panch Pran" announced in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, the Union home minister said that it was the collective responsibility of states to effectively tackle crimes operating from across the country's borders or states' borders or regional crimes to make society free from fear.

"In our Constitution, law and order is a state subject... But we can be successful against trans-border or borderless crimes only when all states sit together to ponder over them, make a common strategy and (make) efforts to curb them," he said.

Most of the non-BJP chief ministers holding charge of their respective state’s home departments skipped the chintan shivir. Only two non-BJP CMs -- Punjab's Bhagwant Mann and Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan -- attended the conference.

The non-BJP chief ministers holding the home portfolios who did not attend the meeting on Thursday include Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), M.K. Stalin (Tamil Nadu) and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan).

Assuring the states of assistance Mr Shah said, "We will have to focus on the rationalisation of resources."

The Union home minister pointed out that the Modi government has recorded success on all fronts of internal security, be it Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast or narcotics smuggling, and said that all states will have National Investigation Agency (NIA) offices as a strategy to counter terrorism.

On the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act (FCRA) and some NGOs misusing it, Mr Shah said that the Central government has amended the FCRA that was being misused by some NGOs to conduct anti-national activities, religious conversion, political opposition of development projects and creating obstacles in development works.

He said, "In 2020, the government took strong action to stop foreign funding of such NGOs by amending the FCRA."

The shivir can become a good platform to discuss strategies to counter cyber crimes, narcotics and cross-border terrorism, among others, and to exchange good practices in law and order, he noted.

"Our internal security is considered strong," Mr Shah said and also noted, "35,000 police and Central Armed Police Forces personnel have laid down their lives to keep the unity and integrity of the country intact."

He said all the areas considered hot spots from the security point of view have been cleared due to synergy and cooperation between states and the Centre. There is a 74 per cent dip in terror attacks and 90 per cent decrease in terror-related killings since 2014, Mr Shah said, adding that this is a "big achievement".

"We have entered into long-term agreements with insurgent groups like NLFT, BODO, Karbi Anglong, which have given a platform for the surrender of 9,000 insurgents to ensure long-term peace in the Northeast," he said.

Noting that the nation has made big strides in tackling Left wing extremism (LWE), recording a decrease of 77 per cent in naxal violence and 87 per cent in lives claimed by it after 2014, the Union home minister said, "Once upon a time, the red corridor between Pashupati Nath and Tirupati was notorious. The states and the Centre have successfully fought this fight and achieved success... In 2014, 113 districts were affected by LWE; now it has come down to 46. It's a big success."

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Shah further said that a new era has started in Jammu and Kashmir after the abolition of Article 370.

"During 37 months after August 5, 2019 terror incidents have reduced by 34 per cent as compared to the numbers recorded in the 37 months preceding the date. Sixty-four per cent fewer deaths have been reported and civilian deaths in terror incidents have gone down by 90 per cent during the period," Mr Shah said.

Informing the gathering, he also said that Jammu and Kashmir had received a total investment of Rs 19,000 crores till 2019 since Independence, while in the last three years a total investment of Rs 57,000 crores has been made. He added that this shows that the Union Territory has moved ahead on the path of success.

"We have made important changes in the NIA and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to give more powers to the agency," Mr Shah said.

"The agency has been given extra-territorial jurisdiction. The agency also has the authority to seize a terrorist's property. We have decided that every state will have a NIA unit to develop a strong anti-terror network," he remarked.

Speaking about the large number of proposals that have been received to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the Union home minister said, "In a very short time, we will come up with a new draft of the CrPC and IPC before Parliament."

The Prime Minister will address the chintan shivir through video conferencing on October 28.

Apart from Mr Mann and Mr Vijayan, the chief ministers who are attending the two-day conference that began on Thursday are Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), N. Biren Singh (Manipur), Pramod Sawant (Goa), Manik Saha (Tripura), Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand) and Prem Singh Tamang (Sikkim).
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit, who is the administrator of Chandigarh, also attended the meeting.

Deputy chief ministers Devendra Phadnavis (Maharashtra) and Y. Patton (Nagaland) also attended the meeting.

Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh's home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu attended the meeting but another Opposition-ruled state Telangana's home minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali did not attend it.

During the chintan shivir, a host of internal security issues, including checking cybercrimes, ensuring women's security and coastal security will be discussed, the home ministry officials said.