Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today assured that the National Counter Terrorism Centre, NCTC will soon become a reality after addressing the concerns raised by some Chief Ministers. Talking to media persons in Bangalore today, he said that some of the concerns raised by the Chief Ministers, such as NCTC coming under the Intelligence Bureau and also on the powers of NCTC to take up any action on its own in the states will be addressed soon.

Speaking about the state of economy, the Home Minister said, due to preventive measures and stimulous packages, the growth rate stood at 6.7 percent last year, which is one of the highest in the world. The government is
trying to contain fiscal deficit by tightening revenue collection and stopping wasteful expenditure.

The Current Account deficit is tackled by confidence building measures to attract more investments. He informed that the Government has made strides in improving human development index. The infant mortality Rate has come down from 58 to 47 per thousand. The Maternal mortality rate has reduced from 301 per one lakh to 212. The literacy rate has gone up from 64 percent to 75 percent.

Speaking on the occasion, Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, special pendency reduction drive in courts is helping in clearing long pending cases. He said, last year six lakh cases were cleared under the drive. He further added that number of minorities in public sector undertakings has increased from 6.93 percent to 11.99 percent today.