n a relief for parents of paramilitary troopers killed during duty, the Union Home Ministry has made it mandatory for forces to give a portion of the ex-gratia to them apart from the jawan's spouse.The country's largest paramilitary force and the mainstay of anti-Naxal operations, CRPF, has started the practice of disbursing this 'risk fund' amount in such a manner.The step was taken after numerous cases of spouse and parents tussle over the claim on ex-gratia amount were reported in forces like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and NSG. According to the new mechanism devised in the Central Reserve Police Force, in case of death in action, of the total 15 lakh rupees ex-gratia, parents will get four lakh rupees while the spouse will get 11 lakh rupees.

The Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has termed the murderous attack on retired Lt. General K.S. Brar in London, last week as unfortunate and tragic and has condemned it. He said he does not want to say that which agency had attacked the General. Indian government is bound to take action against the attackers but it is too early to ask for extraditing them to India as the British Government is investigating the case.

Gen. Brar had led the ‘Operation Bluestar’ in 1984 to flush out pro-Khalistan militants from the Golden Temple.

When asked to comment on the construction of a memorial inside the premises of Sri Harmandir Sahib in the memory of extremists killed in the operation, the Home Minister said that the Nation and the state had suffered a lot during terrorism in the past.

AIR Correspondent reports that this was the first visit of Suhsil Kumar Shinde to Punjab after assuming the charge of the Home Minister. He visited Attari-Wagah Joint Check post and reviewed the security situation during a meeting with Border Security Force. He also visited Integrated Check Post to review the problems being faced by traders from both the sides and assured to solve the same soon.

On the issue of crossing over of Chinese troops into Indian territory in Leh-Ladakh sector, the Home Minister, said that Chinese tried to infiltrate into our territory at some places in the past but Indian forces are alert to not to allow them to do so.

Mr. Shinde said the communal colour given to the recent ethnic violence in Assam was unfortunate and noted that the motivated online rumours were evidence of terrorists resorting to cyber space. He urged the security forces should develop skills in the cyber domain to not only locate the malicious content, but also identify those responsible. Speaking on the occasion, Intelligence Bureau Director Nehchal Sandhu said, Bangalore arrests show vulnerability of youth to radicalisation. Mr Sandhu said, attack on Israeli envoy shows India's vulnerability to become playground for global terrorism . The Home minister also gave away awards to meritorious policemen.

The results of the written part of Indian Police Service Limited Competitive examination have been declared. The results are available on the UPSC website -www.upsc.gov.in. An official release says, the Ministry of Home Affairs will intimate the successful candidates about the date, time and venue of the medical examination to be conducted by them. The tentative date for personality test is from the 6th of next month.

AIR Correspondent reports that the move to recruit IPS officers through limited competitive examination was taken by Home Minister P Chidambaram after finding a large number of vacancies in various cadres of IPS, which has been hampering the functioning of police forces.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram today clarified that his comments regarding the impact of rising prices on the middle class, have been delibrately distorted by a newspaper report. In a statement issued today, the Minister said that he had not mocked anyone in the press conference held in Bangalore yesterday. He said, he had explained that the rise in food prices was due to the need to pay more to the farmers. The statement said that in an answer to a question on the burden of rising prices on the common man, the Home Minister had referred to the need for giving higher Minimum Support Prices, MSPs, to the farmers and the benefits of programmes like MGNREGA and PMGSY which directly assist(सहायता करना) the poorest section of the society

Home Minister P Chidambaram today said that India will not handover the dossier of Abu Jundal to Pakistan. Abu Jindal was arrested recently. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, he, however, said that some details of Abu Jundal will be shared with the neighbouring country.
In a reply to another question, the Home Minister said that steps will be taken to bring terror suspect Fasih Mohd to India who was detained in Saudi Arabia recently. He said, Central Bureau of Investigation had issued a red corner notice about him.
What happens when a criminal from India evades arrest and flees to another country? How do we get the person back so that he can stand trial here? In such cases, the country gets in touch with Interpol and asks it to issue a Red-corner notice. If the government knows in which country the criminal is hiding, it asks Interpol to issue the Red-corner notice to that country. A `Red-corner notice' is an arrest warrant circulated by Interpol on behalf of the government of a particular country. It is a request from one country to another to arrest and deport the wanted individual. In the old days, we had `wanted' posters. Nowadays, we have Red-corner notices.

he Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram has asserted that the security situation in the country has significantly improved. Speaking to reporters in Bhopal today he said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has changed for better with the level of violence coming down considerably. He added that centre is holding talks with every group including ULFA in North-east. Mr. Chidambaram said that significant achievements have been made in different sectors of economy during the last three years of UPA-regime.

Mr. Chidambaram said, a Group of ministers is meeting later this week to take a decision on a proposal of a German firm which has come forward to airlift the waste from Bhopal to that country for its safe disposal. He reiterated that all possible steps are being taken to dispose off this toxic waste. 

he government has initiated several measures to tackle the menace of Fake Indian Currency notes (FICN). In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance, S.S. Palanimanikkam said, several agencies under the Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs, Security and intelligence agencies of the Centre and States and also the CBI are working in tandem to thwart the illegal activities related to fake Indian currency. He said, a special FICN coordination Group has been formed in the Home Ministry to share intelligence and information on the subject among different security agencies of the Centre and the States. He said, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been empowered to investigate and prosecute such offences. The Minister said, the Government has also constituted a Terror funding and Fake Currency Cell in NIA to focus on investigation
of such cases. He said, the RBI has also strengthened the mechanism for detection of counterfeit notes by the Banks. The minister informed the house that fake indian currency worth more than 19.32 crore rupees had come to light in 2010-11 as against 10.37 crore rupees in 2009-10.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram today laid the foundation stone of a composite structure for the Counter Hijacking Unit of the elite National Security Guard,NSG, at Samalkha Camp in New Delhi. The Composite Structure is being set up as a part of modernization and development project of NSG. The Ministry has sanctioned over 47 crore rupees for this project. The four-story structure will have residential, operational and training infrastructure facilities for the 'black cat' commandos of the NSG. The Structure will have an area of over 15 thousands Square meter and the construction work is expected to be completed within 18 months from the date beginning.

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday expressed confidence that issues relating to National Counter Terrorism Centre, NCTC will be resolved. Talking to media persons in New Delhi, he said that Centre is willing to accommodate States' concern and hope that the differences between some States and the Centre over setting up of the NCTC will be resolved at the meeting of Chief Ministers to be held on the 5th of next month. He also said that before the May 5 meet, the agency's standard operating procedures, SOP will be circulated among all chief ministers. 

Mr Chidambaram expressed regret that after five conferences of Chief Ministers, there is still suspicion of Central government. The Minister said that Centre is willing to step back for every step that the State governments will take and accept the responsibility. He said, if State governments are willing to take up more responsibility and raise more forces to fight Maoists in their respective states, then the central paramilitary and police forces can be withdrawn. Mr Chidambaram said the central police forces are an interception force and not for deploying year long.

The Home Minister said that Mordernization of Police Forces, MPF Scheme could not be implemented fully and more than 300 crores rupees were surrendered. He informed that this year under the MPF scheme this year 900 crores rupees have been allocated.
Mr Chidambaram disagreed with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's assessment that the centre was causing distrust with states by its actions. He said a vast number of States have no distrust with the Centre. Asked to comment on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's comments that the state governments are being reduced to municipal corporations by the centre on financial dependence, Chidambaram said it was the view of one chief minister. He also noted that the chief ministers' conference had nothing to do with the hostage crisis that was playing out in Odisha. 

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, speaking at the annual conference of Chief Ministers on internal security in New Delhi, said there is a decline in violence in 2011 be it in Jammu and Kashmir, North East and left- wing extremism-affected states. He, however, said Assam has emerged as new theatre of Maoist groups.

The Home Minister said international border in the west and LoC continue to be vulnerable to infiltration. Mr. Chidambaram urged the state governments to remain vigilant to prevent any communal situation. He informed that the NIA will set up new offices at Mumbai, Kochi and Lucknow. Saying there were only 100 civil police for a population of one lakh, Mr. Chidambaram said there are over five lakh vacancies in all ranks of the sanctioned strength in the country.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will inaugurate the Conference of State Home Ministers on effective implementation of Scheduled Castes (SCs)/ Scheduled Tribes (STs) Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act, 1989 in New Delhi on Tuesday.
An official release said the conference would deliberate on the status of necessary institutional framework for the protection of the rights of SCs/STs, registration and investigation of offences under PoA Act, delineation of atrocity prone areas and preventive action in regard thereto, and pendency and conviction rate of cases under PoA Act. The release said,issues of awareness, sensitization and training will also be discussed so as to make the Act more effective.

New Delhi has finalised a new liberal Visa regime for Pakistan. This was disclosed by the Union Home Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram while inaugurating the first Integrated Check Post (ICP) with Pakistan at Attari border this evening. He expressed hope that Pakistan will also finalise a similar regime soon.

Mr. Chidambaram said that the ICP will facilitate smooth trade between the two countries apart from strengthening people to people contact. He appealed to Pakistanis to make use of this new ICP and its facilities. Our Correspondent reports that the ICP was inaugurated by the Home Ministers of the two countries along with the Commerce Ministers. Chief Ministers of two Punjabs were also present on the occasion. 

 Union Commerce Minister, Mr. Anand Sharma called upon all the neighbouring countries to work together for close relations between SAARC countries and face the challenge of poverty by re-channelising the resources. Pakistan Commerce Minister, Mr. Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that his country has decided in principal to introduce multiple visas for traders of both the countries for one year.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the repatriation of Bru migrants will continue and the Centre will give all possible assistance to the Mizoram government for this. Mr. Chidambaram who was on a two-day visit to Mizoram, today visited the Bru repatriation site in Damdiai in Mamit district of Mizoram. The Home Minister also had an interaction with the Bru migrants. After the meeting, the Home Minister said, there is no human dignity for Bru people, living in refugee camps in northern Tripura. He said, for successful repatriation, better coordination between Bru people and the Mizoram government is very important.

Bru Coordination Committee also submitted their demands to the Home Minister. They demanded that Bru Migrants Facilitation Cell should be set up under Mamit and Kolasib Deputy Commissioners. Mizoram Home Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs were accompanying the Home Minister.
Mr. Chidambaram left for Delhi after his visit to the Bru repatriation sites.

The centre hopes to resolve the demand for more time to discuss the National Counter Terrorism Centre - NCTC in a couple of days. Home Minister P. Chidambaram says, West Bengal Chief Minister has sought considerable time to be devoted to discuss the anti terror centre.  presenting the report card of his ministry, he said, Mamta Banerjee has written a letter on the issue and the Prime minister or he himself will reply to it. Chidambaram said he is glad that there is a healthy debate and the concerns raised by the states will be taken on board. Chidambaram said, the Meeting of the Chief Ministers on the 16th of next month is an annual affair as the last meeting had to be postponed due to elections. He said, the debate will be based on the constitution and the existing laws and regulations. Home Minister Chidambaram said that all issues on the agenda will be discussed. On the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi last month he said, India is in touch with Iran to get access to three Iranians wanted in the case. On the two hostages in Odisha, the Home minister said, he had spoken to Chief Miniter Navin Patnaik and offered any assistance that is needed. He said the Centre is closely in touch with the state government on the issue and intelligence is being shared regularly.  He said, thets, doors are open for talks for the Maoist and the only condition is that there should be no violence while the talks are on. He said, two people are still in custody and the Odisha government has rightly appointed interlocutors or any other group to talk with the maoists. The Home minister also said, that the Intelligence Bureau has been asked to quickly complete its inquiry into the leak of a letter written by Army Chief Gen V K Singh to the Prime Minister highlighting various shortcomings in the Army. But no time limit has been fixed for it. On the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, Chidambaram said, three amendments are pending with the Cabinet Committee on Security. On Telegana, the Home minister said, there is a demand for a decision on the issue and the Centre is requesting the four political parties to quickly make up their mind. He said, the Centre is ready to call a meeting of the eight political parties as soon as a signal is received that four political parties are ready. On the suicides for the Telegana cause, Chidambaram said it is deeply regrettable.