The Hindu : Front Page : Naxalite activity on top of agenda

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Naxalite activity on top of agenda

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Heightened naxalite activity in some States, the recent jailbreak in Chhattisgarh, the situation in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and recent bomb blasts are expected to figure prominently at a crucial meeting of Chief Ministers on internal security here on Thursday.

Convened by the Union Home Ministry, the meeting will be presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Top officials of the Home Ministry, the Intelligence Bureau and paramilitary forces are likely to take part.

The daylong meeting is likely to take note of the fact that bomb blasts, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, occurred despite warnings from the Central intelligence agencies. The Chief Ministers are expected to point out the lack of coordination in prompt sharing of vital intelligence inputs.

Use of funds

The Centre had made it clear that the States should earmark at least 10 per cent of their funds for strengthening their special branches of police and the ground level intelligence gathering mechanism, informed sources in the Home Ministry said.

The Centre is expected to test the waters for a proposal to set up a federal crime fighting agency on the lines of the FBI in the U.S.

Offences such as terrorism, counterfeit currency, smuggling of narcotics will be identified as “federal crimes” and the federal agency will have the mandate to probe such offences. Though pushed since the time of the NDA government, the proposal has not found favour with the Chief Ministers as law and order is a State subject.

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