NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address Chintan Shivir of Home Ministers of states at Surajkund in Haryana on Friday via video conferencing. The two-day Chintan Shivir began at Surajkund in Haryana on Thursday. Home Secretaries and Director Generals of Police (DGPs) of the States and Director Generals of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) & Central Police Organisations (CPOs) are also attending the Chintan Shivir.


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The Chintan Shivir of Home Ministers is an endeavour to provide a national perspective to policy formulation on internal security-related matters, in accordance with the Panch Pran announced by the PM in his Independence Day speech.
 
Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the first day of the Chintan Shivir yesterday. In his address, Shah said, this Chintan Shivir is being organized to provide a common platform to face challenges before the Nation such as cyber-crime, the spread of narcotics and cross-border terrorism in unison. He said today the nature of crimes is changing and they are becoming borderless, which is why all States will have to battle these by having a common strategy.
 
Shah said that the areas affected by Left Wing Extremism, Jammu and Kashmir, and the North East, which were once hot spots of violence and unrest, are now becoming hot spots of development. He said the security situation in the Northeast has improved significantly in the last eight years and since 2014 there has been a 74 percent reduction in insurgency incidents, 60 percent in casualties amongst security forces and about 90 percent in civilian casualties. 


Apart from this, efforts have been made to establish lasting peace in the region by signing of agreements with the NLFT, Bodo, Bru, and Karbi Anglong under which more than 9,000 militants have surrendered. Shah said, with the restoration of peace in the North East, AFSPA has been withdrawn from more than 60 percent areas. 


Highlighting the improvement in the situation in the LWE-affected areas, Mr. Shah said the incidents of violence in these areas have come down by 77 percent and deaths in these incidents have reduced by more than 85 percent. He said after the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K on 5th August 2019, a new beginning of peace and progress has begun there.  


Shah said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has followed a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and the  National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies are being strengthened to achieve a decisive victory over it. 


He informed that before 2024, efforts are being made to set up an anti-terror network by setting up NIA branch in all the states. Shah said that to achieve a decisive victory in the fight against terrorism, the legal framework is being strengthened, under which provision has been made to declare individual terrorists by amending the NIA and UAPA laws. He said that the NIA has been given extraterritorial jurisdiction and along with this the agency has also been given the right to confiscate the property acquired/related to terrorism. 


Shah said that by 2024, a target has been set to establish branches of NIA in all the states of the country. He said that today most of the security hotspots in the country have become almost free from anti-national activities due to mutual cooperation and coordination between the Centre and the states.
 
Shah said cybercrime is a big threat to the Nation and the world today and the Ministry of Home Affairs is ready to fight against it. He said that the Ministry of Home Affairs is continuously working on reforms in CRPC, IPC, and FCRA, and soon their revised blueprint will be tabled in Parliament. 


Shah said the States should make maximum use of forensic science to increase the conviction rate and the Central Government has provided all possible help by forming the NFSU. He also emphasized that border States will have to make more coordinated efforts with Central agencies and security forces to ensure border security and coastal security. The Union Home Minister said there is a need to make proper use of all resources of internal security available to fight challenges before the Nation.