The firing by suspected NSCNIM cadres at Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday morning when he was alighting from his helicopter at the Ukhrul helipad was perhaps a warning in good measure of what to expect before or during the assembly election due sometime in February-March next year. Ibobi was to inaugurate a100-bed district hospital at Ukhrul and commission a power sub-station some kilometres away but had to abandon his programnme following protests and return to Imphal.

That this has happened in Ukhrul comes as little surprise because that hill district belongs to Tangkhuls and Somdal village there assumes significance because it is NSCNIM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s birthplace. The Tangkhuls dislike Ibobi because they feel he is a hindrance to Muivah’s efforts to secure greater Nagaland. Ibobi has steadfastly defended the state’s territorial integrity. Also the Tangkhuls have not quite forgotten how in May 2010 Ibobi aborted Muivah’s attempt to enter the state through the Mao gate 72 km from Imphal that delineates the border between Manipur and Nagaland.

At that point of time the Nagas in Manipur had imposed an indefinite economic blockade of the state’s national highways and tension had been running high. When Muivah’s team tried to enter Manipur a strong police force stopped him and in the clashes that ensued two persons were killed in police firing. This took place despite the Centre’s request to the Manipur government to make necessary security arrangements for Muivah who has not visited his native place since joining the rebel ranks way back in late 1959. Ibobi was perhaps right when he argued that Muivah’s visit was undesirable because a criminal case was pending against him. No chief minister worth his salt can abdicate his responsibility to defend his state’s territorial integrity.

Manipur’s powerful United Naga Council is clamouring for an alternative arrangement for Nagas in the four hill districts of Senapati Tamenglong Chandel and Ukhrul independent of the Ibobi government.

It has boycotted the autonomous district council elections the bottom-line being separation from Manipur and to be part of the ldquo;Greater Nagalandrdquo; scheme. Last but not the least the occasional firing of guns by NSCN IM cadres and their activities in Manipur contradict the outfit’s very assertion that Manipur also comes under the jurisdiction of the July 1997 ceasefire agreement signed between the Centre and the NSCNIM leaders. There are distinct prospects of law and order going from bad to worse in the run-up to the election. nbsp;

The firing by suspected NSCNIM cadres at Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday morning when he was alighting from his helicopter at the Ukhrul helipad was perhaps a warning in good measure of what to expect before or during the assembly election due sometime in February-March next year. Ibobi was to inaugurate a100-bed district hospital at Ukhrul and commission a power sub-station some kilometres away but had to abandon his programnme following protests and return to Imphal.

That this has happened in Ukhrul comes as little surprise because that hill district belongs to Tangkhuls and Somdal village there assumes significance because it is NSCNIM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s birthplace. The Tangkhuls dislike Ibobi because they feel he is a hindrance to Muivah’s efforts to secure greater Nagaland. Ibobi has steadfastly defended the state’s territorial integrity. Also the Tangkhuls have not quite forgotten how in May 2010 Ibobi aborted Muivah’s attempt to enter the state through the Mao gate 72 km from Imphal that delineates the border between Manipur and Nagaland.

At that point of time the Nagas in Manipur had imposed an indefinite economic blockade of the state’s national highways and tension had been running high. When Muivah’s team tried to enter Manipur a strong police force stopped him and in the clashes that ensued two persons were killed in police firing. This took place despite the Centre’s request to the Manipur government to make necessary security arrangements for Muivah who has not visited his native place since joining the rebel ranks way back in late 1959. Ibobi was perhaps right when he argued that Muivah’s visit was undesirable because a criminal case was pending against him. No chief minister worth his salt can abdicate his responsibility to defend his state’s territorial integrity.

Manipur’s powerful United Naga Council is clamouring for an alternative arrangement for Nagas in the four hill districts of Senapati Tamenglong Chandel and Ukhrul independent of the Ibobi government.

It has boycotted the autonomous district council elections the bottom-line being separation from Manipur and to be part of the ldquo;Greater Nagalandrdquo; scheme. Last but not the least the occasional firing of guns by NSCN IM cadres and their activities in Manipur contradict the outfit’s very assertion that Manipur also comes under the jurisdiction of the July 1997 ceasefire agreement signed between the Centre and the NSCNIM leaders. There are distinct prospects of law and order going from bad to worse in the run-up to the election. nbsp;

The Reserve Bank on Thursday permitted startups to raise external commercial borrowings ECBs of up to 3 million in a financial year a move aimed at boosting innovation and promoting job creation.

quot;The borrowing should be denominated in any freely convertible currency or in Indian Rupees INR or a combination thereof.

quot;In case of borrowing in INR the non-resident lender should mobilise INR through swapsoutright sale undertaken through bank in Indiaquot; the RBI said while issuing norms for ECB route for startups.

The borrowing per startup will be limited to 3 million or equivalent per financial year either in Indian rupee or any convertible foreign currency or a combination of both it said.

The borrowing RBI added can be in the form of loans or non-convertible optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares and the minimum average maturity period will be 3 years.

ECBs can be raised from a country which is either a member of Financial Action Task Force FATF or FATF-Style Regional Bodies.

However overseas branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks and overseas wholly owned subsidiary or joint venture of an Indian company will not be considered as recognised lenders the RBI added.

India has the third-largest number of startups globally.

In January Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a slew of incentives for them including tax holiday inspector raj-free regime capital gains tax exemption and Rs.10000 crore corpus to provide funds. Government has also relaxed procurement norms for them.

The Reserve Bank on Thursday permitted startups to raise external commercial borrowings ECBs of up to 3 million in a financial year a move aimed at boosting innovation and promoting job creation.

quot;The borrowing should be denominated in any freely convertible currency or in Indian Rupees INR or a combination thereof.

quot;In case of borrowing in INR the non-resident lender should mobilise INR through swapsoutright sale undertaken through bank in Indiaquot; the RBI said while issuing norms for ECB route for startups.

The borrowing per startup will be limited to 3 million or equivalent per financial year either in Indian rupee or any convertible foreign currency or a combination of both it said.

The borrowing RBI added can be in the form of loans or non-convertible optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares and the minimum average maturity period will be 3 years.

ECBs can be raised from a country which is either a member of Financial Action Task Force FATF or FATF-Style Regional Bodies.

However overseas branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks and overseas wholly owned subsidiary or joint venture of an Indian company will not be considered as recognised lenders the RBI added.

India has the third-largest number of startups globally.

In January Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a slew of incentives for them including tax holiday inspector raj-free regime capital gains tax exemption and Rs.10000 crore corpus to provide funds. Government has also relaxed procurement norms for them.

The Reserve Bank on Thursday permitted startups to raise external commercial borrowings ECBs of up to 3 million in a financial year a move aimed at boosting innovation and promoting job creation.

quot;The borrowing should be denominated in any freely convertible currency or in Indian Rupees INR or a combination thereof.

quot;In case of borrowing in INR the non-resident lender should mobilise INR through swapsoutright sale undertaken through bank in Indiaquot; the RBI said while issuing norms for ECB route for startups.

The borrowing per startup will be limited to 3 million or equivalent per financial year either in Indian rupee or any convertible foreign currency or a combination of both it said.

The borrowing RBI added can be in the form of loans or non-convertible optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares and the minimum average maturity period will be 3 years.

ECBs can be raised from a country which is either a member of Financial Action Task Force FATF or FATF-Style Regional Bodies.

However overseas branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks and overseas wholly owned subsidiary or joint venture of an Indian company will not be considered as recognised lenders the RBI added.

India has the third-largest number of startups globally.

In January Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a slew of incentives for them including tax holiday inspector raj-free regime capital gains tax exemption and Rs.10000 crore corpus to provide funds. Government has also relaxed procurement norms for them.

The Reserve Bank on Thursday permitted startups to raise external commercial borrowings ECBs of up to 3 million in a financial year a move aimed at boosting innovation and promoting job creation.

quot;The borrowing should be denominated in any freely convertible currency or in Indian Rupees INR or a combination thereof.

quot;In case of borrowing in INR the non-resident lender should mobilise INR through swapsoutright sale undertaken through bank in Indiaquot; the RBI said while issuing norms for ECB route for startups.

The borrowing per startup will be limited to 3 million or equivalent per financial year either in Indian rupee or any convertible foreign currency or a combination of both it said.

The borrowing RBI added can be in the form of loans or non-convertible optionally convertible or partially convertible preference shares and the minimum average maturity period will be 3 years.

ECBs can be raised from a country which is either a member of Financial Action Task Force FATF or FATF-Style Regional Bodies.

However overseas branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks and overseas wholly owned subsidiary or joint venture of an Indian company will not be considered as recognised lenders the RBI added.

India has the third-largest number of startups globally.

In January Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a slew of incentives for them including tax holiday inspector raj-free regime capital gains tax exemption and Rs.10000 crore corpus to provide funds. Government has also relaxed procurement norms for them.

It comes as no surprise that it has been left to home ministry officials to do some loud thinking actually test the political waters on resurrecting the proposal to establish a National Counter Terrorism Centre. No minister would have wished to re-float a proposal for an organisation of that nature: not after Narendra Modi when chief minister of Gujarat had been among the most strident of objectors when the UPA government did the groundwork for it after the terror outrage in the nation’s financial capital. Several non-Congress state governments had then insisted that the NCTC conceived on the pattern of an American system created after 911 would infringe upon their rights and the union government would acquire ldquo;backdoorrdquo; control over law-and-order — which the states consider a cherished right under the Constitution but do little to effectively discharge their responsibility.

At a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs the home secretary is reported to have said ldquo;no final decisionrdquo; had been taken. Another official of the ministry said elsewhere that ldquo;the NCTC is not dead and buriedrdquo;; but officials are wary of saying more on the politically sensitive issue. Given the reality that under the NDA administration the political divide has been exacerbated a new nomenclature and altered powers could be a way out of the impasse that had caused the initial effort former home minister P Chidambaram was said to be its architect to be shelved.

Whether Modi and Mr Rajnath Singh will be able to come up with an acceptable alternative is a query only time might answer — provided they take the hard decision home ministry officials are dropping hints about.

Most counter-terrorism ldquo;professionalsrdquo; lament the absence of a centralised unit that would collect and collate various intelligence inputs necessary to mount a comprehensive war on terror — the need for which is underscored by Pakistan’s continued ignoring of international opinion and using terror as an instrument of state policy. No state-level agency can tackle the problem on its own.

Many experts apprehend that merely sharing of intelligence is not enough: some information may actually be leaked. Or that the time-lag between receiving an input and acting uponnbsp;it could render the input useless. Hence thenbsp;initial proposal to empower the NCTC to make arrests to which the states are so bitterly opposed — perhaps because of the unhappy experience of the Centre misusing the CBI and other enforcement agencies for political ends. If and when an equivalent of the NCTC does take shape itnbsp;

would be worth estimating how much was ldquo;lostrdquo; while the proposal was hanging fire. It will indicate the price the nation paid for its petty politicking.

It comes as no surprise that it has been left to home ministry officials to do some loud thinking actually test the political waters on resurrecting the proposal to establish a National Counter Terrorism Centre. No minister would have wished to re-float a proposal for an organisation of that nature: not after Narendra Modi when chief minister of Gujarat had been among the most strident of objectors when the UPA government did the groundwork for it after the terror outrage in the nation’s financial capital. Several non-Congress state governments had then insisted that the NCTC conceived on the pattern of an American system created after 911 would infringe upon their rights and the union government would acquire ldquo;backdoorrdquo; control over law-and-order — which the states consider a cherished right under the Constitution but do little to effectively discharge their responsibility.

At a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs the home secretary is reported to have said ldquo;no final decisionrdquo; had been taken. Another official of the ministry said elsewhere that ldquo;the NCTC is not dead and buriedrdquo;; but officials are wary of saying more on the politically sensitive issue. Given the reality that under the NDA administration the political divide has been exacerbated a new nomenclature and altered powers could be a way out of the impasse that had caused the initial effort former home minister P Chidambaram was said to be its architect to be shelved.

Whether Modi and Mr Rajnath Singh will be able to come up with an acceptable alternative is a query only time might answer — provided they take the hard decision home ministry officials are dropping hints about.

Most counter-terrorism ldquo;professionalsrdquo; lament the absence of a centralised unit that would collect and collate various intelligence inputs necessary to mount a comprehensive war on terror — the need for which is underscored by Pakistan’s continued ignoring of international opinion and using terror as an instrument of state policy. No state-level agency can tackle the problem on its own.

Many experts apprehend that merely sharing of intelligence is not enough: some information may actually be leaked. Or that the time-lag between receiving an input and acting uponnbsp;it could render the input useless. Hence thenbsp;initial proposal to empower the NCTC to make arrests to which the states are so bitterly opposed — perhaps because of the unhappy experience of the Centre misusing the CBI and other enforcement agencies for political ends. If and when an equivalent of the NCTC does take shape itnbsp;

would be worth estimating how much was ldquo;lostrdquo; while the proposal was hanging fire. It will indicate the price the nation paid for its petty politicking.

It comes as no surprise that it has been left to home ministry officials to do some loud thinking actually test the political waters on resurrecting the proposal to establish a National Counter Terrorism Centre. No minister would have wished to re-float a proposal for an organisation of that nature: not after Narendra Modi when chief minister of Gujarat had been among the most strident of objectors when the UPA government did the groundwork for it after the terror outrage in the nation’s financial capital. Several non-Congress state governments had then insisted that the NCTC conceived on the pattern of an American system created after 911 would infringe upon their rights and the union government would acquire ldquo;backdoorrdquo; control over law-and-order — which the states consider a cherished right under the Constitution but do little to effectively discharge their responsibility.

At a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs the home secretary is reported to have said ldquo;no final decisionrdquo; had been taken. Another official of the ministry said elsewhere that ldquo;the NCTC is not dead and buriedrdquo;; but officials are wary of saying more on the politically sensitive issue. Given the reality that under the NDA administration the political divide has been exacerbated a new nomenclature and altered powers could be a way out of the impasse that had caused the initial effort former home minister P Chidambaram was said to be its architect to be shelved.

Whether Modi and Mr Rajnath Singh will be able to come up with an acceptable alternative is a query only time might answer — provided they take the hard decision home ministry officials are dropping hints about.

Most counter-terrorism ldquo;professionalsrdquo; lament the absence of a centralised unit that would collect and collate various intelligence inputs necessary to mount a comprehensive war on terror — the need for which is underscored by Pakistan’s continued ignoring of international opinion and using terror as an instrument of state policy. No state-level agency can tackle the problem on its own.

Many experts apprehend that merely sharing of intelligence is not enough: some information may actually be leaked. Or that the time-lag between receiving an input and acting uponnbsp;it could render the input useless. Hence thenbsp;initial proposal to empower the NCTC to make arrests to which the states are so bitterly opposed — perhaps because of the unhappy experience of the Centre misusing the CBI and other enforcement agencies for political ends. If and when an equivalent of the NCTC does take shape itnbsp;

would be worth estimating how much was ldquo;lostrdquo; while the proposal was hanging fire. It will indicate the price the nation paid for its petty politicking.

It comes as no surprise that it has been left to home ministry officials to do some loud thinking actually test the political waters on resurrecting the proposal to establish a National Counter Terrorism Centre. No minister would have wished to re-float a proposal for an organisation of that nature: not after Narendra Modi when chief minister of Gujarat had been among the most strident of objectors when the UPA government did the groundwork for it after the terror outrage in the nation’s financial capital. Several non-Congress state governments had then insisted that the NCTC conceived on the pattern of an American system created after 911 would infringe upon their rights and the union government would acquire ldquo;backdoorrdquo; control over law-and-order — which the states consider a cherished right under the Constitution but do little to effectively discharge their responsibility.

At a recent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs the home secretary is reported to have said ldquo;no final decisionrdquo; had been taken. Another official of the ministry said elsewhere that ldquo;the NCTC is not dead and buriedrdquo;; but officials are wary of saying more on the politically sensitive issue. Given the reality that under the NDA administration the political divide has been exacerbated a new nomenclature and altered powers could be a way out of the impasse that had caused the initial effort former home minister P Chidambaram was said to be its architect to be shelved.

Whether Modi and Mr Rajnath Singh will be able to come up with an acceptable alternative is a query only time might answer — provided they take the hard decision home ministry officials are dropping hints about.

Most counter-terrorism ldquo;professionalsrdquo; lament the absence of a centralised unit that would collect and collate various intelligence inputs necessary to mount a comprehensive war on terror — the need for which is underscored by Pakistan’s continued ignoring of international opinion and using terror as an instrument of state policy. No state-level agency can tackle the problem on its own.

Many experts apprehend that merely sharing of intelligence is not enough: some information may actually be leaked. Or that the time-lag between receiving an input and acting uponnbsp;it could render the input useless. Hence thenbsp;initial proposal to empower the NCTC to make arrests to which the states are so bitterly opposed — perhaps because of the unhappy experience of the Centre misusing the CBI and other enforcement agencies for political ends. If and when an equivalent of the NCTC does take shape itnbsp;

would be worth estimating how much was ldquo;lostrdquo; while the proposal was hanging fire. It will indicate the price the nation paid for its petty politicking.