Home Minister P Chidambaram’s pet project, the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) constituted with the specific purpose of serving a nodal agency co-ordinating all for all anti terror activities finally got the government’s nod on 12 January. The NCTC will be responsible for collecting information and scrutinising information on terrorism and at the same time will formulate policies that would help to counter terrorism.

This agency will report to the home ministry and integrate inputs from the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies. In the coming day’s effectiveness of this agency will be matched with that of US NCTC established after the attack on the World Trade Centre. Chidambaram while talking to reporters in the national capital recently said that with the CCS approval the ministry will announce its Director and core team member so that it can start functioning at the earliest. On 23 December, 2009, home minister P Chidambaram while addressing the Directors General and Inspectors General of Police in the national capital had said that the Government will soon form an NCTC with plans to merge agencies like National Investigating Agency (NIA), National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the National Security Guard (NSG). NCTC will be headed by a senior IPS officer of the rank of additional DGP, who will be entitled to report to the Intelligence Bureau director, Union home secretary and Union home minister. It is most likely that DP Sinha, Additional director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) would become the head of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). There are also reports that the new version of the NCTC will have a permanent secretariat headed by the director. The chief of the NCTC will be assisted by three joint directors.