‘Visible improvement in security scenario in country in last 4 yrs’

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry on Sunday claimed there has been “visible improvement” in the security scenario in the country since the Narendra Modi government assumed office four years ago.

This was made possible due to sustained action against terrorists and negotiations with extremists groups which abide by the Constitution, it said.

In a booklet, Country First, released a day after the completion of four years of the Modi government, the ministry said special initiatives have been taken to accelerate development in Left-wing Extremism-hit areas, the northeastern region, Jammu and Kashmir, along the international borders and the coastal areas.

There has been visible improvement in the security scenario due to adoption of a multi-pronged strategy in the last 48 months that include sustained action against terrorists, extremists and insurgents, the booklet claimed.

“The government is negotiating with those extremist groups which abide by the Constitution,” it said.

The ministry said there has been 63 per cent decline in insurgency incidents in the northeast, 83 per cent reduction in civilian deaths and 40 per cent decrease in security forces casualty in the region.

The geographical spread of the Lwe-hit areas has been reduced from 76 districts in 2013 to 58 in 2018 while there has been 36.6 per cent reduction in incidents of violence in these areas and 55.5 per cent reduction in deaths, it said.

The booklet said 619 terrorists were neutralised in Jammu and Kashmir between 201417 in comparison to 471 killed between 2010-13.

However, there was no mention in the booklet about the incidents of violence and casualties of civilians and security personnel in the last four years in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the data given by Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir in the Lok Sabha on February 6 this year, 201 security personnel and 72 civilians were killed in terrorist violence in J&K between 2015-17.

Ahir had said there were 342 incidents of violence in J&K in 2017 alone in which 80 security personnel were killed.

The minister had also said 572 civilians lost their lives and 199 security forces personnel were killed in violence perpetrated by Naxals between 2015-17.

The booklet said 113 sympathisers of the dreaded terror group ISIS were arrested by the central and state agencies by working in tandem in last four years. BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said he was at the 'mercy' of Congress and not the 6.5 crore people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate which his party had sought in the assembly elections.

Ahead of his Delhi visit to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other union ministers, he reiterated that farm loan waiver was his priority as he had promised and he would resign if he failed to fulfill it.

However, he reminded people that JD(S) did not get an absolute majority, which meant he and his party were rejected by the electorate. "The people of the state rejected me and our party. I had sought an absolute majority. I have heard the statements of farm leaders too and how much they supported me," he said. "Mine is not an independent government. I had requested the people to give me a mandate that prevents me from succumbing to any pressure other than you. But today I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state," Kumaraswamy said.

The Chief Minister said he has certain compulsions as a politician. However, he has absolutely clarity on the issue of farm loan waivers, he said.

Slamming BJP and other farmers' leaders, he said there was no need for any farmers' association to pressurise him (on farm loan waiver).

"I am one step ahead of you to work for the farmers. You need not have to ask me for my resignation over farm loan waiver. "If I fail to do that then I myself will resign from the post. Farm loan waiver is my priority. Can't you wait for a week? Even the cabinet has not been formed yet," he added.

Kumaraswamy urged farmers not to take the extreme step of committing suicide and to wait for a week as he was in the process of finding a way out to waive loans. SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police has a new task at hand -- identify the ₹keypad jehadis' who spew venom on social networking sites to try and create a law and order situation in the state by spreading on the Internet rumours or giving communal colour to any event.

The police has registered cases against five twitter handles and filed complaints with service providers against such misleading posts on Facebook and Whatsapp so that necessary action is taken at the earliest, officials have said.

The officials said a communication had been sent to the micro-blogging site for providing details of the twitter handles so that punitive action could be initiated at the earliest as it would help in reining in what is called ₹keypad jehadis'.

Police has laid special emphasis on monitoring the social networking websites and also various groups created on messaging services like Whatsapp, Telegram and similar such tools available on the Internet, they said.

The idea behind the crackdown on ₹keypad jehadis' was to ensure that police could concentrate more on nabbing or eliminating terrorists with real guns rather than those who wage war against the state machinery using keypads.

The officials said post-2016, the misinformation campaign from some groups in Kashmir as well as in Jammu was at its peak with each party trying to project an incident for their political goals. KOZHIKODE: The death toll due to Nipah virus rose to 13 in the southern Indian state of Kerala, with one more person succumbing to the deadly virus on Sunday. Twenty six-yearold Abin, hailing from Palazhi in Kozhikode district, died at a private hospital after battling for life for one week, official sources said.

Kalyani, a septuagenarian woman who was undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College in Kozhikode, had died on Saturday. After the outbreak of Nipah at a hamlet in Perambra here last week, 16 people have tested positive, of whom 13 have died so far.

State Health Minister K K Shylaja told reporters that the authorities had collected details of people who had direct contact with the deceased persons and all of them are now under observation.

However, the authori- ties are still clueless about the actual source of the spread of the virus.

As samples of insectivores bats tested negative for the virus, the Kerala Animal Husbandry Department and the Pune based National Virology Institute (NVI) are jointly collecting samples of fruit-eating bats to be sent for expert tests.

The samples would be sent for tests at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal city in central India, official sources said.

Meanwhile, state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government and the department would take the initiative to alleviate the concerns among tourists and stakeholders following the outbreak of Nipah. The effective steps taken by the government and the health department had helped contain further spread of the disease and the situation is under control now, he said.