"The home ministry has a major responsibility to provide security to the country. I can say that we have together by and large provided security to the country", apart from two terror attacks in Punjab in 2015-16, the security situation in India has largely been under control and has even seen an improvement, the home minister added. "There is improvement in the security situation in the country. We have been successful in countering the challenges posed by the ISIS," Rajnath said.

"India is the second largest country as far as Muslim population in the world is concerned. I can say with full responsibility that despite such a large population (of Muslims), the ISIS has not been able to set foot," Rajnath went on to say, noting that over 90 sympathisers of ISIS have been arrested by Indian security agencies. Better coordination between states and Centre on security was responsible for the ISIS sympathisers getting arrested.

As part of the government's efforts to check terrorism, five members of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror group were given capital punishment and the ISIS and the Ansar-ul-Ummah, a frontal organisation of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group, were included in the list of banned terrorist organisations.

Rajnath went on to compare his NDA government with the previous UPA regime, claiming that while 239 militants were neutralised between 2011 and 2013, the number has gone up to 369 in the three period between 2014-17, when the BJP has been in power. The home minister also indicated that last year's surgical strikes had proved to be a deterrent, saying infiltration attempts from Pakistan had reduced by 45 per cent in six months following the September 2016 surgical strikes, as compared to the corresponding six months from the year before.

On the Kashmir issue, Rajnath once again indicated that the government was working on a permanent solution, but did not provide details. "Hum kya karenge usey dekhte jaiye (Just keep watching what we do)," Singh said when asked to broadly define the 'permanent solution', which he initially spoke about in India Today interview last week.

"We want a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem. Honestly speaking, we want this permanent solution by taking Kashmiri people into confidence. This problem is there since 1947. It can't be resolved in a trice. It will require time, but we will come out with a permanent solution. We are moving ahead in that direction," Singh said.

Singh said the government is willing to talk to all Kashmiris who were willing to engage with the Centre. When asked if this included the Hurriyat, whose leaders are being investigated for accepting funding from Pakistan, Singh demurred, saying, "There are some forces which are working at the behest of Pakistan to mislead the Kashmiri youth for their personal benefit. It is the same Pakistan which could not save its eastern part (now Bangladesh), Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and FATA. What can Pakistan do? I can't understand what the separatists were trying to achieve by coming under the influence of this Pakistan. We will not allow them (separatists) to play with the future of Kashmiri youth."

Vowing to completely end Pakisan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh, "We will remove all the obstacles which comes in the way of Kashmir's future. Nature has gifted Kashmiri youths with lot of skills. This is not for stone pelting. They are the future of Kashmir. They are the future of the country."

The home minister listed out initiatives taken by his government to provide skill and job opportunities to youths in Kashmir. In the three years of the UPA regime (2011-14), he said, over 1,900 youths were provided skill training and jobs were offered to 1,591. In 2014-17, as many as 20,355 were given training and 30,175 were given job offers. The remuneration given to Special Police Officers (SPOs) had been doubled to Rs 6,000 from Rs 3,000 per month, the home minister said. Besides, 10,000 new posts of SPOs were approved in addition to the existing 25,000, he added. Singh also said that five new Indian Reserve battalions had been approved for Jammu and Kashmir and that the Centre has approved 63 projects under PM package worth Rs 80,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir.

On the topic of Naxalism, Singh claimed there had been a 25 per cent reduction in Naxal attacks in 2014-17 as compared to 2011-14 and that the three years of NDA government had seen a 42 per cent reduction in deaths in Naxal attacks as compared to last three years of the UPA government.