Violence in the country still at unacceptably high level: Chidambaram

The government today admitted that violence in the country was still at an "unacceptably high level" and reminded militant groups of the futility of armed movement saying only talks can bring solution to their problems.

"Violence is still at an unacceptably high level and every effort will be made to contain violence," Home Minister P Chidambaram said at a press conference here.

The home minister said militant groups would be prevailed upon, through judicious mix of police action and developmental action, to realise the futility of violence and that the only way to resolve differences in a democratic society is through talks.

"In any democratic society that wants a peaceful atmosphere, containment of violence is always the buzzword. We have to bring down violence near zero level and make people understand the futility of violence. Nobody is going to over throw the state by violence. So, it is a completely futile method to achieve one's goal," he said.

Asked what will be his priority in the new year, Chidambaram said in 2012, capacity building would continue to be the buzz word and it would take two to three years, to reach a capacity where government can say that it can meet the challenges.

"But when the adversaries increase their capacity, obviously we have to match their capacity too. The second watch word would be settlements or talks leading to agreement with larger number of groups. I think it is possible to reach settlements with at least four groups in 2012," he said.

The home minister said the July 13 bomb blast in Mumbai and September 7 explosion outside Delhi High Court were a stern reminder that terrorist modules continue to be active in the country.

"In 2011, 18 terrorist modules were neutralised. While investigations in the Delhi bomb blast case have led to the arrest of three persons and to the identification of three wanted persons, investigations are underway in the Mumbai bomb blast case," he said.

He said 2011 has been a satisfactory year with many achievements but some setbacks. Capacity building in the future would have to take note of technological advances and incorporate new technology into the security architecture, he said.

Chidambaram said the Home Ministry was working on several key legislations that include Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, Prevention of Torture Bill and amendment to Sexual Offences Act and hoped these would be approved by Parliament in 2012.

Asked whether there was any progress on the Telangana issue, he said the Telugu Desam Party has not conveyed its decision on the issue yet and hoped that when an all party meeting would be convened, the regional party would express its view.

However, he refused to speculate when the meeting would be convened.

Asked about the recent controversy over the withdrawal of three cases against a Delhi-based hotelier, said to be his former client, Chidambaram said his ministry has issued a directive to all officers saying that when a draft is being prepared and finalised with a note that this issue has the approval of the home minister or home secretary, the draft must be put to either of the two.

The home minister said he did not agree to the rejection of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Bill by a Parliamentary standing committee and fully supported the UIDAI mandate to issue the Aadhar number - the unique identification number.

"The only point of difference between UIDAI and RGI (Registrar General of India) is who will capture the biometrics. Whether the biometrics will be captured by the RGI or the biometrics will be captured by the UIDAI authorised agencies. That is the only point of difference. So, I am certainly not in favour of rejecting UIDAI or aadhar. I support it fully," he said.

Asked about the progress of investigation into September 2010 firing incident near Delhi's Jama Masjid, Chidambaram said the IM module, which the investigating agencies believe was involved in it and in the blast in Bangalore's Chinnaswamy stadium, has been busted and arrests have been made but  till they were looking for some more people.

"Only when all the wanted persons are arrested, a charge sheet will be filed. But we think that this is the module (which was busted) which was involved in the Jama Masjid incident," he said.

Asked whether 2011 was the toughest year for him as home minister, he replied in the negative saying the two blasts - July 13 in Mumbai and September 7 in Delhi -- saddened him greatly.

"They were blots..otherwise I do not think....you seem to feel the challenges more than I do...," he said.

Asked whether BJP's boycott of him in Parliament embarrassed him, he said, "No, it saves me a lot of energy, I suppose".