The Centre on Saturday failed to break the impasse over the National Counter-Terrorism Centre with the Opposition and allies continuing to oppose the proposal.

The Centre failed Saturday to break the impasse on National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) with allies and the Opposition continuing to oppose the proposal.

In his opening remarks at the NCTC meet

In a significant breakthrough, Central and state intelligence agencies cracked the Maoist gameplan while Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon was being kept hostage by the Maoists.

In a move to ensure greater accountability and transparency within the bureaucracy, the government is firming up a draft Civil Service (Performance and Accountability) Bill, an early version of which has been vetted by the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a significant move to ensure transparency and accountability within the bureaucracy, the government is firming up the draft Civil Service (Performance and Accou-ntability) Bill, which has been vett

At a time when the Naxal threat is looming large over some states, Union home secretary R.K. Singh has pointed fingers at some state governments saying they lack “commitment’’ in fighting Naxalism.

Virtually rejecting states’ demand for clipping the wings of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Centre has decided to retain its power to “arrest and search or seizure.” The standard operating procedures (SOP) circulated by the Union home ministry to states ahead of the May 5 NCTC meet, clearly says that “the operations division of the NCTC may invoke powers of arrest and search or seizure... in circumstances where immediate action is required on an intelligence input’’.

Virtually rejecting states’ demand for clipping the wings of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Centre has decided to retain its power to 'arrest and search or seizure'.

The standard

President Pratibha Patil on Saturday appointed former SPG chief B.V. Wanchoo governor of Goa while Uttarakhand governor Margaret Alva has been transferred and appointed governor of Rajasthan for the remainder of her term. A new face, Dr Aziz Qureshi, has taken over charge from Ms Alva in Uttarakhand. The terms of the governors of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have been extended.

Paving the way for the signing of a liberalised visa pact with Pakistan, the government on Thursday cleared the bilateral visa agreement which will now be inked when home secretaries of both countries