Internal Security
The internal security situation in India continues to be influenced by 'proxy war' unleashed by Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir, 'insurgency-related' problems in some States in the North-East, sporadic violence indulged in by divisive forces and traditional crimes and social tensions.
During the last year, several initiatives taken by the Government - both in anticipating the problems with a view to preventing them and for containing terrorism -have yielded positive results. .
Law and Order Situation
The overall law and order situation in the country remained, by and large,, satisfactory during the year under report, except for insurgent and militant activities in the North-East and Jammu & Kashmir, Left-wing extremist violence in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa and caste and ethnic conflicts and communal tensions in certain States..
Kabir Puraskar
... Kabir Puraskar Grade-III was conferred on Smt:Santana Deb Barma on November 3, 1998 by the Home Minister
The National Foundation for Communal Harmony ... The Foundation is providing assistance to children whose families have suffered loss of an earning parent in communal riots. So far. the Foundation has assisted 1198 children.
On Policy Initiatives
Several other policy initiatives were taken to help serve the cause of peace and order, harmony and social progress in the country, some of the important ones being:
· Circulation of guidelines to all States for promotion of communal harmony and protection of the interests of the minority communities;
. Introduction of PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) Card scheme exempting the Cardholders from the requirement of visa and extending to them other benefits in the economic, education, financial and cultural fields ...
· Emphasis on protection of human rights of all people in the country; and
· Impetus to the scheme of wire fencing and flood-lighting of borders to prevent cross border terrorism and smuggling of arms and drugs.
Communal Harmony Awards
... The awards for 1997 were conferred on November 3, 1998 on Shri Asghar Ali Engineer, Chairman of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai in the individual category and Qaumi Ekta Trust, New Delhi in the organisation category. For the year 1998, the well-known Delhi based Islamic Scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has been nominated.
Minority Cell
A Minority Cell has been created in the National Integration Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs with effect from 21s November, 1996 to look after the problems and grievances relating to law and order and security aspects of minority communities in the country.
Communal Violence
Fundamentalist mercenaries targeted Hindu families in the Kashmir valley and in Doda. Some incidents targetted against Christians also did take place in Madhya Pradesh; Gujarat and Orissa. Caste wars in Bihar took a considerable. toll of lives. At the same time, there was a decline in communal violence and there was no large-scale sectarian flare-up in the country.
... On the communal front, there has been a marked decline in communal violence during the year 1998 as compared to the previous year. The year witnessed 626 incidents claiming 207 lives and 2065 injuries as compared to 725 incidents resulting in the death of 264 and injuries to 2503 as in the previous year.
About 90% of the communal incidents were reported from the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Except for Karnataka. Maharashtra and Rajasthan, which registered slight upswing in communal incidents, all other States reported a declining trend. However, Andhra Pradesh witnessed more deaths in 1998 as compared to previous year due to a major riot in Hyderabad.
Although the communal violence has been on the decline since 1993, the communal divide has widened due to aggressive postures adopted by both Hindus and Muslim fundamentalist organisations ... The Southern States are showing greater tendency to communal disturbances, particularly on account of manifold increase in activities of organisations like Al-Umma, TMMK, MIM, NDF etc.
In the year 1998, there were 84 incidents of anti-Christian violence as against 30 incidents during the corresponding period of 1997. Some of these cases were crime oriented and it was a coincidence that the victims were Christians. In a few cases the attacks were deliberate and dastardly, as the burning alive in Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons in Orissa would go to show. Certain religious organizations accused Christian missionaries of proselytisation activities. The Government has shown its determination to put down such incidents with a firm hand.
