New Delhi, Tracking details of foreigners visiting India on valid travel documents, will become easier from Friday with the government inaugurating the central processing office of the Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) system which has, so far, connected as many as 60 Indian Missions and many immigration offices. Besides helping foreigners in getting visa quickly and sharing information across the concerned Indian agencies about foreign travelers, the IVFRT will also help in "software aided passenger profiling for identifying risky travelers at Missions, Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) and FRROs, and generation of automated alerts about over-stay of foreigners beyond their Visa period". The system envisages facilitation services to the travelers including on-line application forms, 24X7 on-line channel, phone support for grievance redressal and e-mail/SMS support for dissemination of information, application status and feedback. Union home minister P Chidambaram will inaugurate the central office of the IVFRT here at Delhi Information Technology Park, Shashtri Park on Friday. The new system has already been implemented and operationalised ...
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New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday invoked an oft-quoted line of Jesus Christ to dismiss the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that he or his son had financially benefited from a telecom deal in 2006 when he was finance minister. "'Father forgive them for they know not what they do'… I pray the god forgive their sins," Chidambaram said in the Lok Sabha, recalling a lesson a missionary teacher had taught him in his school days. The BJP's Yashwant Sinha, citing a newspaper report and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations, had said Chidambaram had delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 so that his son Karthi was financially benefited. "An honorable MP made a statement in the Lok Sabha making allegations against me and a member of my family…the allegations are wild and reckless," Chidambaram told reporters outside parliament after a din over the issue led to the adjournment of the Lok Sabha. Swamy had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that Karthi's firm and Aircel had entered into a "dubious transaction" in March 2006, just before Maxis' investment of Rs.4,000 crore in the ...
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New Delhi, There were no plans to review laws on death sentence, home minister P Chidambaram clarified on Wednesday and said the present government had disposed of a large number of mercy petitions. Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said there were different views pertaining to capital punishment, but none of the commissions were in favour of abolishing the death sentence. "There are two views on death sentence, some countries have totally abolished it, some countries have kept it for certain cases... In India, death sentence is awarded in rarest of rare cases," Chidambaram said. "None of the reports have favoured abolition of death sentence," he said, adding that the government was presently not taking any view on whether or not the time had come to reconsider abolishing death sentence. The minister also added that there are windows for those awarded death sentence through the mercy petition, which either the state governor or the president can consider. "In the last three-and-a-half years we have disposed of 16 mercy petitions," Chidambaram said, adding that the procedure was faster than ...
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New Delhi, The Lok Sabha was briefly adjourned Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking a reply from the government on the role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who is alleged to have helped his son get financial benefits in a telecom deal when he was the finance minister in 2006. As soon as members assembled in the morning, some BJP frontbenchers rose to protest, demanding suspension of question hour to discuss the issue. Some BJP MPs staged protests near Speaker Meira Kumar's podium and disrupted the crucial question hour. The speaker first tried to restore peace in the house asking protesting MPs to go back to their seats. As the MPs intensified their protests, Meira Kumar adjourned the house till noon. Opposition MPs cited Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations that Chidambaram had delayed permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis in 2006 when he was finance minister so that his son, Karthi, was financially benefited. "The BJP is going to raise the matter very seriously in both the houses. The government is not coming with true facts pertaining to the deliberate delays in the Aircel-Mexis deal because of the interest of ...
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New Delhi, Saying the government has "done nothing" to address the rights of poor tribals, noted social activist and former peace negotiator Swami Agnivesh blames Home Minister P. Chidambaram, whom he calls the "biggest murderer of democracy", for the spurt in violence and abductions by Maoists. "The government has done nothing to address the issues of rights of poor tribals peacefully and lawfully. I feel disappointed. I doubt Chidambaram's intentions, if he is really serious in ending the problem as he claims," Agnivesh told IANS in an interview. The saffron-clad activist, who in 2010 was appointed by the government as an interlocutor for the now-broken down peace talks with Maoists, said the recent spurt in abductions and violent incidents was "only due to the government's non-seriousness" in resolving the issue. Left-wing extremists in Odisha kidnapped two Italians in March, released one after 11 days and the second almost a month later. Another Maoist group abducted March 24 Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator who was also released later. Alex Paul Menon, the 32-year-old collector of Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, was taken into captivity from the ...
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New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the government will take a "hard decision" on the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) given the terror threats the country faces. "Hard decisions have to be taken. Our decision cannot be based upon our past experience alone, because the past does not contain any indicators," Chidambaram said in his concluding remarks at Saturday's chief ministers' conference on the anti-terror agency that has almost been dumped due to opposition from many state governments. "Some risks have to be taken, some calibrated steps have to be taken. But given the nature of threats we face, we must take hard decisions," he told the chief ministers in his concluding address the transcription of which was released to the media Sunday. Chidambaram said he was still with "an open mind" to consider all suggestions that came during the daylong meeting. He said he was ready to reconsider the issue of having the proposed NCTC out of the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) - one of the sticking points that have blocked the formation of an all-powerful anti-terror intelligence hub. The home minister said it was not he who had ...
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New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Saturday strongly defended his pet project, the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which he said would be an "important pillar" of the country's security infrastructure. In a bid to dispel fears of some chief ministers that the proposed anti-terror intelligence hub would infringe on their policing domain, the home minister stressed that countering terrorism "is a shared responsibility" of central and state governments. "I wish to assure you and the people of India that counter terrorism is a shared responsibility. That is what the constitution says, that is the practical and prudent way forward," Chidambaram said in his address to chief ministers here on the controversial NCTC, whose formation has been put on hold following vehement opposition from non-Congress ruled states. Chidambaram said the government in collaboration with states had neutralised 21 terror modules in the past one year but there were cases related to "jihadi' terrorists" and Maoists, where, despite inputs regarding the presence of terrorists, the security agencies did not act "either due to lack of capacity or lack of a timely decision". "What should ...
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New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday sounded confident that the differences between non-Congress ruled states and the centre over setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) will be resolved at the May 5 meeting of chief ministers. He also said that before the May 5 meet, the agency's standard operating procedures (SOP) will be circulated among all chief ministers. At a press conference here a day after the chief ministers conference on internal security was held, Chidambaram also disagreed with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's assessment that the centre was causing "distrust" with states by its actions. "We are circulating the SOPs draft to the state chief ministers before the May 5 meeting (on NCTC) and we will resolve the differences with some states and the centre," Chidambaram said to a question. "A vast number of states have no distrust with the centre," he said when asked to react to the comments of Modi. To a query if the centre was willing to back off from internal security duties in Maoist-infested states if the states took up more responsibility, Chidambaram said this is what the centre has been talking about all ...
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New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing on petitions seeking investigations into alleged role of P Chidambaram as the finance minister to overrule finance ministry officials' objection on sale of spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices, but the CBI said there was no merit in the plea. The CBI said as noted by the apex court in its judgment, the agency had completed investigations into 2G spectrum scam and filed chargesheets. The CBI's counsel, senior advocate K K Venugopal said, "The pleas amounted to saying that the CBI had not investigated the case properly." Arguing before a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan, Venugopal said: "All documents now being cited by the petitioners were placed before the court earlier. After going through them, the court had delivered its judgment saying no further investigation was required. But, the same documents are being relied now to make a prayer against Chidambaram. This is not maintainable." Veugopal said he was appearing for the CBI, which is the investigating agency. "Hence, I do not have much to say except arguing on the legal aspects," he said. An NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation' and Janata ...
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New Delhi, The Supreme Court is expected to hear on Wednesday a plea seeking investigation against Union home minister P Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and the NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation have moved the apex court against the trial court order giving clean chit to Chidambaram in the scam. Swamy had accused Chidambaram of acting in collusion with jailed former telecom minister A Raja on spectrum ...
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New Delhi, Days after an Indian journalist was arrested for the terror attack on an Israeli diplomat, the national security adviser of Israel Yaakov Amidror will meet home minister P Chidambaram and his counterpart Shivshankar Menon. While sources said the meeting had been fixed some time in advance, Amidror is likely to discuss the progress in investigations into the attack. It is now believed that the New Delhi and Bangkok attacks were related. Syed Mohammed Kazmi, a journalist working with the Iranian news agency IRNA, was arrested for allegedly helping the attackers who had apparently come from Iran. However, Amidror's visit is expected to focus on bigger issues. Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu was in Washington DC last week for talks with US President Barack Obama regarding Iran's nuclear programme. Menon's conversation with Amidror is expected to touch on that visit as well. The two NSAs are expected to have regular contact with each other, given the close security and defence relationship between the two countries. In Washington last week, Amidror told a press conference about the possibility of Israel attacking Iran, "Ultimately, the decision will be premised on ...
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New Delhi, Preparing to take on the UPA government as Parliament opens for the budget session on Monday, opposition NDA on Sunday worked out an aggressive strategy with the focus on "assault on federalism". With most of the opposition parties, including those outside the NDA combine, as well as some ruling UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK ready to protest against the Centre's interference in state matters, the NDA will ask for a discussion on assault on federalism, it was decided at the NDA parliamentary party meeting held at NDA chairman L K Advani's residence on Sunday. The NDA has also decided that it will take on home minister P Chidambaram on the floor of the House instead of boycotting him as it did in the winter session. Since the discussion on "assault on federalism" will need the home minister's presence and replies, NDA leaders decided against continuing the boycott. The government, however, may have just escaped an opposition barrage in the House over its decision to ban cotton exports. By withdrawing the notification on Sunday, the government seems to have avoided disruption of the House right from the start as NDA leaders had decided to take it ...
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New Delhi, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has reportedly written a letter to the chief ministers of ten states, explaining the UPA Government's premise for setting up a National Counter Terrorism Agency by the first week of March. A Home Ministry release said Chidambaram has written to the chief ministers of Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, in order to address their concerns on the anti-terror agency as per the directions of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. "The PM has expressed concern. This is an issue of national importance. All of us are agreed that terrorism is a grave threat to our country, which we all have to deal with. Fighting terror is a shared responsibility," he told the protesting chief ministers. It maybe recalled that these chief ministers had strongly objected to the establishment of the NCTC, saying it was in violation of the federal structure that India represents, and insisted that since law and order is a state subject, state governments need to be consulted on the issue. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday ...
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Kolkata, The security of the country is a shared responsibility of the centre and the state, union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Saturday here at the inauguration of the National Security Guard (NSG) hub, an event that was not attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The home minister said the central government is happy to work with the states on security. “Internal security is a very complex issue. The security of the country is a shared responsibility. It is a responsibility that is shared by the central government and the state governments,” Chidambaram said at the inauguration of the NSG hub here. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), had earlier written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the government to "review and withdraw" the executive order on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), to be formed March 1 after a cabinet nod last month. Eight chief ministers of states voiced their opposition to the proposed counter-terrorism centre Friday, saying it is an infringement of the powers of the state. “We are happy to work with the new government of ...
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BADU (WEST BENGAL): West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday skipped the NSG hub inauguration function attended by Union home minister P Chidambaram. While her name was initially included in the brochure, it was subsequently deleted. Trinamool Congress leader and minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy attended the inauguration. Country's security a shared responsibility: Chidambaram Under attack from non-Congress-ruled states over setting up of an anti-terror institution, home minister P Chidambaram on Saturday sought to reach out to them saying that the security of the country is a shared responsibility of the central and state governments. "Security of the country is shared by the Centre and state governments. The Constitution of India assigns law and order to the state government and also assigns the Centre to protect the country against external aggression or internal disturbance," he said, speaking the inauguration of an NSG hub here, about 50 kms from Kolkata. Chidambaram said the founding fathers of the Constitution were also wise when they made article 355. "That is why they made national security, internal security a shared ...
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New Delhi, After the opposition, it was the turn of Congress members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on telecom to trash the controversial March 25, 2011 2G note that was issued by the finance ministry, amended by cabinet secretariat and vetted by the Prime Minister's Office. The note on the now scrapped 2G licences created a furore last year for suggesting that home minister P Chidambaram - as finance minister in UPA-1 - could have stopped the scam if he had insisted on auctions and led to the opposition intensifying its demand for Chidambaram's resignation. On Tuesday, Congress MP Manish Tewari grilled economic affairs secretary R Gopalan, arguing that the note was not worth the paper it was written on, being riddled with factual and conceptual inaccuracies. The note could not support any of the conclusions reached by the opposition, including targeting Chidambaram and the PM, as even basic facts were wrong. Attacking the "integrity" of the note, Tewari posed close to 20 questions to Gopalan and said the draft sent to the cabinet secretariat on March 17, 2011 did not contain any reference to Chidambaram. But the amended note returned to the finance ministry the ...
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New Delhi, Home minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday that the lone motorcyclist who tried to assassinate an Israeli diplomat's wife here was "a very well-trained person". "It is very clear that a very well-trained person has committed this attack," Chidambaram said, referring to Monday's bomb attack in the heart of the city that badly injured the wife of the defence attache. "There is also reason to believe that the target was the Israeli diplomat's wife. Therefore, one has to proceed on the basis that it was a terrorist attack," the minister told reporters. The victim, Tal Yehoshua Koren, was still in hospital but in stable condition, he added. "The condition of the lady is stable. She has suffered splinter injuries and some other injuries. She is out of danger." Three other Indians, including her driver, were also injured in the attack. They were discharged after medical attention was given to them. Giving the first official sequence of the audacious attack for which Israel has blamed Iran, Chidambaram said the motorcycle rider came from behind Koren's car when it halted at a traffic junction on Safdarjung Road, not far from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ...
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New Delhi, In the first official Indian figure ever mentioned on black money parked abroad, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said an estimated 500 billion USD, which is equivalent to about Rs 24.5 lakh crore, of illegal money is stashed away in foreign tax havens by the Indian depositors. CBI director Ambar Pratap Singh made the disclosure at the inaugural function of the First Interpol Global Programme on Anti-Corruption and Asset Recovery. "India in particular has suffered from the flow of illegal funds to tax havens such as Mauritius, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, British Virgin Islands, etc. It is estimated that around 500 billion dollars of illegal money belonging to Indians is deposited in tax havens abroad," Singh said. "Largest depositors in Swiss banks are also reported to be Indians," he said. "Development of new methods of financial flows and communication technology have made it easier for the corrupt to conceal and stash away stolen wealth. On the other hand, differences in legal systems, high costs in coordinating investigations, inadequate international cooperation and bank secrecy laws have made the task difficult for the ...
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Mumbai, A day after the trial court dismissed his petition against Union home minister P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum case, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said that the "trial court judge is good, but he got it wrong". Speaking on '2G scam and its implications' at Shivaji Park, Swamy said, "I will take the fight to the Supreme Court. In the next two to three months, I will prove in the apex court that the allegations levelled by me against Chidambaram are logical and correct." "Two UPA ministers-Chidambaram and ex-telecom minister A Raja-together decided that spectrum allocation would be done on the basis of the pricing decided in 2001. If Raja is criminally liable, then why not Chidambaram? The Union home minister could be guilty and it is possible that he is criminally liable," he said. Talking about the trial court's dismissal of his petititon against Chidambaram, he said, "First 60 paras of the court order are in my favour and the last three in Chidambaram's. Trial court judge is good, but he got it wrong. God knows the reason. There is something fishy that has happened." Explaining the reason behind his decision to make Chidambaram a party to ...
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New Delhi, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said he was confident that judgement would be delivered later Saturday after a trial court deferred his plea on the alleged role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum case till 12.15 p.m. "I am confident that the judgment will be delivered today. I can sense the ambience inside the court," Swamy told a news channel. Swamy had filed a plea seeking direction to the CBI to probe the role of Chidambaram, the then finance minister, in fixing 2G licence prices and the grant of spectrum. Swamy said he is prepared to go to the higher court if the judgment doesn't come his way. "If the judgment doesn't come my way, I will go to the high court," he said. The Supreme Court had said Thursday that the trial court would decide on Swamy's plea to make Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allotment case. ...
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