Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on October 27 that States should have a uniform law and order policy as certain crimes such as cross-border terrorism and cybercrimes transcend regional and international boundaries.

Shah stated that by 2024, to counter terror activities, each State would have a National Investigation Agency (NIA) office as the agency had been given “extra territorial jurisdiction” and additional powers to confiscate property in terror-related cases. He called for the centralization of data on terrorism and other crimes and stated that the NIA had been given the responsibility of maintaining a national database on terror, the Enforcement Directorate a dataset on financial crimes, and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) a dataset on narco crimes, following the  principle of “one data, one entry.”

The National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), which was already operational, was encouraged to be used by the States by the minister. Datasets of 11 agencies are brought together on one platform by NATGRID. He said he had received thousands of suggestions on revamping the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and soon the amendments would be presented in Parliament.

Shah said, “the nature of crimes is changing, and they are becoming borderless, that is why all States will have to battle these by having a common strategy. To formulate and implement this under the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism,’ Cooperation, Coordination, and Collaboration between the Centre and the States is required.”

To secure border and coastline security, he also emphasized that border States would need to coordinate more with central agencies and security forces. To combat the country’s challenges, he said that internal security resources needed to be used optimally and rationally.

He said that a new beginning of peace and progress had started in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370 of the Constitution   In the 37 months following August 5, 2019, there had been a 34% decrease in terrorist incidents and a 54% decrease in deaths among security forces compared to the 37 months prior to that date.

The Union Home Minister was addressing State Home Ministers, Home Secretaries, and Directors-General of Police and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) at the two-day Chintan Shivir on various internal security issues at Surajkund in Haryana’s Faridabad.