Will Chidambaram’s brainchild see daylight today?

The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) is pinning hopes on Thursday’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting to give green signal to the fresh draft of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), a brainchild of P Chidambaram.

The NCTC — aimed at preventing and countering 26/11 kind Mumbai terror attacks —  has been hanging fire for almost two years because of several glitches and misgivings.

The new draft was prepared by the cabinet secretary, Union home secretary and the defence secretary after the first draft was rejected on account of serious reservations by the defence and finance ministries who considered it as an overarching monolith that would make the MHA all powerful.

The new draft is understood to have sorted out the differences to make the idea now amiable to its critics.

Basically meant to collate and analyse information and translate it into actionable intelligence, the NCTC is expected to be a separate body under the control of the MHA.

The NCTC would replace the now functional multi-agency centre (MAC) and make the flow of information, with the help of National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), smooth among various intelligence agencies.