Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has put the Centre on notice again,this time on fiscal sops for her debtburdened state.The CM on Saturday gave the UPA government 15 days to announce a moratorium on repayment of loans her government has inherited from the Left regime. Though she didnt specify what the consequences would be if her genuine demand went unheeded,she said her patience had been worn thin by repeated assurances that havent translated into action.I want a threeyear moratorium on repayment of loans,and the Centre has to grant it.I have waited for one year.Iknow I have to wait,but we have a genuine reason, she said while addressing a meeting of state civil servants here on Saturday. I have been making representations to the Centre for long.I have waited because we are responsible.Otherwise,we are happy with coarse rice and coarse cloth.But we wont tolerate if someone wants to starve this government of funds.This will become a big issue, warned the combative CM.
Bengal govt gets its own channel,daily
Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced the launch of her governments own TV channel,Paschimbanga,and a newspaper,Dainik Paschimbanga,saying the media had played up non-issues while failing to project her good work.P 11
Cong sugar-coats bullet for Mamata
Saying Mamatas deadline should not be read as a threat,the Congress hinted that a central package was already in the works.By no stretch of imagination is it illegitimate to articulate aspirations of ones state, the party said.P 11
Kochi/Chennai: An indignant Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said the state government has asked the Centre to remove additional solicitor general Harin Raval for adopting a position contrary to Keralas legal stand in the Enrica Lexie incident.Raval told the Supreme Court on Friday the Director General of Shipping felt that the ship was in international waters when it was detained and hence beyond Indian jurisdiction. On Saturday,Union shipping minister G K Vasan sought to distance the ministry from the remarks,saying the government was clear that the incident happened in Indian waters.It might be his (Ravals ) personal opinion, Vasan added,when asked about his submission in the SC.He told reporters in Chennai that the Centre had not filed any affidavit in this regard.No such instructions were given to the government counsel (to suggest that the ship was in international waters when it was detained ), he said.There is no difference of opinion between the Centre and state governments on this issue, he said.
Kerala seeks explanation from law ministry
Kochi/Chennai:Additional solicitor general Harin Ravals statement in the Supreme Court on Friday that the directorate general of shipping had no objection to the release of the Italian ship has weakened the legal force of the Kerala polices argument.Speaking to reporters in Kochi,Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said his government has registered its protest with the Centre saying the issue was taken up with the attorney general,who has censured suitable action in consultation with the law ministry. In a fax message to Union law minister Salman Khurshid,Chandy said he wanted to know under what circumstances Raval submitted in the Supreme Court that India had no jurisdiction to detain Enrica Lexie,from which marines shot dead two Indian fishermen on February 15 off Kerala coast. Its also possible that the state government would axe its counsel,M T George,who kept quiet when Raval made his statement that sent shock waves throughout Kerala.TNN
CLIMBDOWN Assures states independent raids in rare cases
NEW DELHI: In an effort to break the stalemate over setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the government has offered to make a climbdown on the proposed outfit’s controversial search and arrest powers.
The home ministry has told chief ministers that the NCTC would ordinarily conduct operations along with the state police units, but it wants the body to independently arrest terrorists in exceptional cases.
The concession has been made in a set of guidelines circulated ahead of the May 5 chief ministers’ meeting, which could decide the fate of India’s first dedicated body to prevent terrorist strikes.
The NCTC was to be set up on March 1 with powers to “control and coordinate” all counter-terrorism measures and search and arrest any suspected terrorist.
But strong protests by nearly a dozen chief ministers, including UPA ally Mamata Banerjee and those from NDAruled states, forced the government to put the project on hold.
Home secretary RK Singh had last month said that the concerns of the states would be addressed in the standard operating procedures (Sops) that would dictate how the NCTC would use its powers.
In this document, the home ministry has proposed that the NCTC would “as far as possible” keep the heads of state police and anti-terror squads informed about its operations in advance.
In case that was not feasible in some instances, the state police would be informed about the searches and arrests made immediately.
But this is unlikely to silence critics. The chief secretary of an Nda-ruled state, who didn’t want to be identified, said unless the Centre were to push the project down their throat, most non-congress states would demand a full-fledged law to give the NCTC any powers, the chief secretary said.
h to pacify the protesting chief ministers who think the powers to be vested in the body would hurt the federal structure of the country and curb states powers.While one draft SOP is related to the working of NCTC under powers given to it,the other one deals with its functioning through the mechanism of standing council having representations from all the states. Sources said the ministry,after hearing chief ministers,may go for some amendments in the notification,but it would not dilute the powers given to NCTC for operational reasons.The changes will,in fact,be in the wording of the official notification so that it does not look like giving states a peripheral role in the fight against terrorism. Re-phrasing of sentences in the notification may be done to dispel an impression of unilateralism the point which drew severe criticism from many states representatives during a meeting on NCTC on March 12, an official said. Chidambaram on Monday said the draft of the two SOPs circulated to the states would allay apprehensions of chief ministers.I think if the chief ministers will read (the SOPs),I believe they will read,much of the doubts will be dissolved and at the (May 5) meeting if they have any suggestion on the SOPs,we are willing to listen to those suggestions,incorporate as many as possible, he said. The home minister said the central government would make it clear that fighting terrorism was a shared responsibility of both central as well as state governments.Asked about the proposed amendment in the Border Security Force (BSF) Act,the home minister said he had written to chief ministers who did not respond earlier when he asked for comments on the proposal. Some chief ministers have begun to respond.I have explained to them that the bill does not touch Section 139,which confers powers.That section is intact,not a word is added to that section.All that is being done is since the Act restricts the deployment of BSF in border areas and since now we are obliged to deploy in interior districts,we added border areas and some other areas. That is the only change the bill seeks to make.So,we have explained to them in a detailed letter and I expect that the chief ministers will respond to that letter.Once the letters come,we will again take up the bill in the Rajya Sabha, he said.
SHARING A LIGHTER MOMENT: Union home minister P Chidambaram with Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa during the recent chief ministers conference on internal security in New Delhi
Delhi: The controversy-hit National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC),conceived as Indias primary agency to assess terror threats,is virtually dead in its present form since several CMs,including UPA partners and at least one from the Congress,objected to the body on the ground that it would encroach on their powers. After a meeting of CMs a last-ditch effort to save the NCTC and called to exclusively discuss the issue it was clear that the counter-terror mechanism will not pass political muster with the states so long as it is equipped with powers to carry out searches,seizures and arrests and remains under the purview of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Chief ministers from diverse political backgrounds said the NCTC was not acceptable if it was under the IB.Significantly,home minister P Chidambaram indicated he was not hung up on vesting control of the proposed body in the IB. The opposition also varied.NCTC was rejected outright by Gujarats Narendra Modi,West Bengals Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadus J Jayalalithaa.
Centre makes a strong pitch for NCTC
Says Anti-Terror Body Is Needed As Terrorists Dont Recognize State Borders
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram on Saturday made a strong pitch for formation of the counterterror body,arguing the need for such a body to fight terrorism in coordinated manner. Stressing that the NCTC will supplement the counterterrorism capabilities of the states and not supplant them;Singh asked the state governments to work with the Centre in dealing with terrorism. Terrorism is one of the most potent threats to our security.There can be no disagreement on putting an effective counterterrorism regime with efficient mechanism and response systems both at the national and state level, Singh said. The PM said,Establishment of the NCTC is not a state versus Centre issue and the primary purpose behind setting up NCTC is to coordinate counterterrorism efforts throughout the country as the Intelligence Bureau has been doing so far. Allaying fears of some of the CMs about disturbing the federal structure,the PM stressed that the governments intention was in no way to affect the distribution of powers between the states and the Union that the Constitution provides. Advocating the need for setting up anti-terror hub,Chidambaram said: Terrorists do not recognize boundaries between countries or boundaries between states;that many terror groups have foot prints in several countries and have the capacity to commit terrorist acts across borders or boundaries;that human resources alone are not sufficient to counter terrorism;technology is the key weapon in this conflict. Emphasizing on the need to NCTC,Chidambaram said there were cases where,despite inputs,the security agencies concerned did not act either due to lack of capacity or lack of timely decision.Most of these cases concerned so-called jihadi terrorists and cadres of CPI (Maoist).What should the central government do in such cases he asked. Highlighting a new dimension to terror threats,Chidambaram said hitherto,security forces have confronted them only in the physical space,but now there are such threats in the cyber space,which is the fifth domain after land,sea,air and space. Much of our critical infrastructure lies in cyber space.Cyber crimes such as hacking,financial fraud,data theft,espionage,etc,would,in certain circumstances,amount to terrorist acts. Our counter-terrorism capacity must be able to meet the threats in cyber space.Since there are no boundaries in cyber space,how will the central government and the state governments share the responsibility to face the threats in cyber space Chidambaram asked.
OPPOSITION AND SUGGESTIONS
Who says what
24 CMs attended the NCTC meet.UP,Kerala and Nagaland CMs skipped the meet.They sent their representatives,including senior ministers.All non-Congress CMs said the NCTC in its present form upset the countrys federal structure Three CMsMamata Banerjee (West Bengal),Narendra Modi (Gujarat) and J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) outrightly rejected the NCTC proposal,and demanded immediate withdrawal of the Centres notification for setting up of the counter-terror body Jayalalithaa,however,opened a window for considering the matter in future,saying govt should set up a sub-committee of CMs to look into the issue Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik supported Jayalalithaas suggestion of a sub-committee.He,however,questioned placing the NCTC within the IB,saying the body in its present form was unacceptable Bihar CM Nitish Kumar,too,wanted withdrawal of the notification.He,however,suggested any such body,if created,must be through legislation by Parliament.Also questioned placement of the NCTC within the IB J&K CM Omar Abdullah opposed NCTC in its present form,saying it makes it as stringent as the controversial AFSPA Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said,The NCTC notification is the latest example of Centres assault on federalism and reminds one of the days of emergency and we cannot accept it. He suggested a second look at the Constitution to bring it in tune with the changing realities and needs UP CM Akhilesh Yadav said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of NCTC infringed upon the rights of states & opposed NCTC in its present form.His speech was tabled by state gram panchayat minister Balram Yadav
What did BJP CMs say
Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh said,We have made certain suggestions for amendment in the NCTC.All the three powers intelligence gathering,operations and full control over the civil services by the NCTC cannot be accepted.If the NCTC is suitably amended,we can agree to support it. His suggestions included joint operation and time exchange of information Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda suggested setting up a sub-committee to look into the issues concerning the NCTC MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan opposed it in its present form and raised the issue of federalism
What did Cong CMs say
Assam CM Tarun Gogoi pitched for safeguards so that the powers of the NCTC is not misused Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan asked for some changes in the SOPs to bring in elements of timely information and concurrence of the state government concerned in the spirit of fair coordination on the matter of operation Manipur CM O Ibobi Singh suggested joint operations (state-centre ) for arresting and detaining any person Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma raised the issue of federal structure
Lone Left voice
Tripura CM Manik Sarkar of CPM opposed several steps,including notification of the NCTC and proposed amendments to the RPF and BSF Acts.He said all such decisions were taken by the Centre with serious implication on federalism and tantamount to encroachment upon the rights of the states
