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No ceasefire in J&K, only suspension of Ops against militants: Rajnath

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 5/30/2018 3:20:09 PM

NEW DELHI, May 29: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday stated that the operations against militants had not been stopped during the holy month of Ramzan but had just been suspended.
“It is not ceasefire but a temporary suspension of operations,” he said, adding that the army was free to respond to any attack.
Addressing media persons in Lucknow, Rajnath said a total of 619 militants in Jammu and Kashmir had been killed in gun battles with security forces as he highlighted the all-round improvement in internal and external security under the Narendra Modi government.
The senior BJP leader said the number of militants killed in the previous UPA-II government was 471.
“There has been no compromise on the unity and integrity of the nation and we are proactively pursuing operations against the militant groups and subversive elements,” Rajnath added, but did not respond to a query on how many security personnel were killed in this period.
He however said that respecting the supreme sacrifice of the security personnel in the line of duty for the nation, the union government had scaled up the ex-gratia sum from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one Cr for their families.
Rajnath also said that incursions had also decreased during the four years of the Modi government and it had come down by 85 per cent in the northeast.
Compared to a high of 2,418 Maoist incidents under the UPA regime, only 1,481 incidents have taken place in the NDA rule, he said. "In 2013, Maoists were active in 76 districts but there area of influence and operations has shrunk to 58 districts in the last four years," he added.
“As far as Ministry of Home Affairs is concerned, a multi-pronged strategy has been adopted resulting in marked improvement in the internal security across the country. The situation in the North East has improved. From 1997 to 2017, there has been a decline of 85 percent in incidents and 96 percent decline in deaths. AFSPA has been withdrawn from Meghalaya and also from some areas of Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
He said there was great progress in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project and it had also been lauded abroad. In 2014 73 percent Police Stations were linked on the network, now this covers almost 100 percent Police Stations. Border security further improved with the launch of the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS). He said the E-Visa facility has been extended to cover 165 countries, resulting in a surge in foreign tourist arrivals.
He also said that to secure the country's boundaries, a new border security system was being started under which LED lights would be installed along with new technique radars on the borders.
Rajnath said the union government during the last 48 months achieved many wonderful successes. “It has worked in a transparent manner with complete determination and pure intentions,” he said.
He said the Indian economy was now among the top seven largest economies of the world. “And according to some studies, it will break into the top five within the next few years. The fiscal deficit is under control, however there is some pressure due to rising US dollar and crude oil prices. The government is seriously thinking on issues related to rising oil prices,” he added. He said there was no crisis because our forex reserves at 400 billion USD are very comfortable. Due to the attractive economic policies, 156 billion USD foreign investments flowed into the country.
Rajnath said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi created a revolution with JAM- Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhar and Mobile connectivity- which facilitated direct transfer of subsidies to beneficiaries. Rs 69,815 Cr was distributed among 20 Cr beneficiaries, he said. “There are no leakages now and complete benefits are reaching people directly,” he added.
The Union Home Minister said there was a big change and faster growth in the infrastructure development. “Construction of Express highways increased from 12 km per day earlier to 27 km per day now. There is going to be heavy investment- 4 to 5 trillion USD in Indian infrastructure sector by 2040. Rural roads were also built at a rapid pace to increase coverage from 56 percent of villages four years ago to 82 percent now,” he said.
Rajnath said, by 2022 farmers’ income would double and towards this end the union government had taken many initiatives. “Our government has introduced ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme to provide health cover to ten crore poor families of our country, he said. It is the largest state-run medical scheme in the world. Poor people will get benefits upto Rs 5 lakhs under this Health Insurance scheme,” he added.
The Union Home Minister said, “We have brought in tough laws to deal with economic offenders- Benami Transaction Act was notified. Now economic wealth of offenders will be confiscated both in India as well as abroad.”
On Women’s Safety, the Union Home Minister said amendment had been made to provide death penalty for rape of minors. On Centre-State relations, Rajnath Singh said, “We completed the onerous task of deliberations on all the 273 recommendations of the Punchhi Commission report. The long pending amendment to the Enemy Properties Act was also carried out, which enabled the government gain control over properties worth more than Rs.1,00,000 Cr.”