The Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram who inaugurated the DGPs/IGPs Conference in New Delhi exhorted the Intelligence Bureau and the intelligence wings of State police forces to continue to do their silent and solid work. The Minister said that we have taken up the task of capacity building since the Mumbai terror attacks, but more needs to be done.

“We meet this year under the shadow of two terrorist attacks that took place in Mumbai on July 13, 2011 and Delhi on September 7, 2011. Innocent lives were lost; many were injured and, in Delhi, many are still in hospitals.

“Questions have been raised about the capacity, competence and commitment of our security forces and, especially, of the intelligence community. Doubts have been expressed about the investigations that are under way and, especially, of the cases that remain ‘unsolved’. There is concern about the long time taken for completion of trials and conviction of the accused. Comparisons have been made between India and other countries, particularly the United States.

“I think the leaders of the police forces – and especially the intelligence community – need to communicate more openly and more often to the people.

“Left-wing extremism is the most violent movement in the country. The CPI (Maoist) is the most violent organisation in the country. I have always maintained that dealing with left-wing extremism is a shared responsibility of the Centre and the States. The Central Government has shouldered its share of responsibility in dealing with the left-wing extremism. We have deployed 71 battalions of CAPFs as against 37 in 2009.

“Two terrorist attacks in the space of two months are indeed blots on our record. The epicentre of terror is Afghanistan-Pakistan. Four out of five major terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and three of them – LeT, JeM and HM – continue to target India. There is no let up in attempts to infiltrate from across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, there are attempts to infiltrate terrorists via Nepal and Bangladesh into India as well as find a safe transit route from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu.

“There are Indian modules too. They seem to have the capacity to attract radicalised youth to their fold. Some modules are loosely knit under an organisation called Indian Mujahideen. Many old cadres of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India have morphed into IM cadres. There are other Indian modules that espouse the cause of right-wing religious fundamentalism or separatism. Many of these modules have acquired the capacity to make bombs.

“The challenge of terrorism is a formidable challenge and requires a comprehensive strategy of counter terrorism. We do not have just one preeminent threat; we have several. We must build the capacity to deal with these multiple threats. Capacity building is work in progress. It requires time, money, human resources, technology and harnessing the capacity of every agency and organisation in the country.

“Have we done enough to build capacity since the Mumbai terror attacks? The answer is yes and no. 36 battalions comprising over 36,000 personnel have been raised after November 2008 and 21 more battalions are being raised. Since 1971, States have raised 132 IR battalions and the Central Government has reimbursed Rs. 1,002 crore for this purpose. 13 training institutions are being upgraded and 17 new institutions are being set up. 16 out of 21 new CIAT schools are functional. The CAPFs recruited 91,761 constables in 2009-10 and 2010-11. On their part, State police forces have reported that they have recruited 1,07,238 constables in 2009 and 90,359 in 2010. In 2011-12, CAPFs will recruit 92,168 constables and 29,370 officers and other ranks. I am confident that State police forces will recruit another nearly 1,00,000 personnel in 2011. In addition, huge quantities of rifles, carbines, pistols, BP jackets, night vision devices and vehicles have been procured for CAPFs and State police forces.

“Yet, we have not done enough. There are still over 5,00,000 vacancies in State police forces. We will spend Rs. 1,01,858 crore this year on policing the whole country. This figure must be compared with Rs. 1,64,415 crore that has been budgeted for the defence services. It is obvious that the Centre and States must provide more money to their police forces.”