The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, inaugurated the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security in New Delhi recently. In his address, the Prime Minister called for effective coordination between the Centre and the states to face the challenges of internal security. Ecerpts of the speech:

We have gathered here today to discuss issues relating to our internal security, an area that require utmost vigil, sustained and coordinated attention of both the Central and the state governments. We must periodically together review the systems that are in place for ensuring the safety and security of our country and our citizens, assess the threats that we face and take appropriate remedial action to deal with those threats.

Hostile groups and elements operate from across the border to perpetrate terrorist acts in our country. The State of Jammu & Kashmir bears the brunt of the acts of these groups. There is insurgency and violence in the Northeast. Many states are affected by Left–wing extremism, which I have in the past referred to as the greatest threat to our internal security. There are also those trying to divide our society on communal and regional lines. Each one of these threats requires a strong effort, determination, hard work and continuous vigilance to tackle. These threats to our society, to our polity and our country constitute a challenge that we must and we shall meet effectively at all costs.

When we met last time in August 2009, I had mentioned the steps we had taken to improve our internal security environment between January and August. These included the setting up of four regional hubs of the National Security Guard at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad and the setting up of the National Investigation Agency. Since then we have made further progress. The Multi Agency Centre (MAC) in the Intelligence Bureau now shares intelligence with other agencies, including those of the state governments and union territories on a continuous and real time basis.

We have also made progress in some other areas. To enable quick movement of anti-terrorist forces, the Director General of the National Security Guard and certain other designated officers are now empowered to requisition aircraft. The Central Industrial Security Force Act has been amended so that the Force can provide security to establishments and undertakings in the joint and private sectors.

The terrorist strikes in Mumbai in November 2008 had made us painfully aware of the need to strengthen our coastal security. The National Committee on Coastal Security under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary, has been constituted to adopt an integrated approach to this very vital issue. The committee has taken action to increase the level of patrolling and surveillance along the Indian coastline and bring about greater coordination between the various agencies that can contribute to security along our coasts. The issue of multipurpose identity cards with biometric features to residents in coastal areas is expected to be completed by September 2010. The process of registration of boats and vessels has gathered momentum. Standard operating procedures have been finalised and communicated to the state government. These and other steps being taken should help substantially in making our coastline safer and secure.