Mullappally Ramachandran, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs , in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha yesterday stated that the government is planning  a national database of arms license holders.

The government will review various provisions of the Arms Act, 1959 and Arms Rules, 1962 with regard to grant of arms licenses for possession of arms and ammunition by individuals and manufacture of fire-arms in the country.

The amendments will include a provision under the arms rules, under which the licensing authorities will be required to maintain a database and to share the data with the central government which shall maintain a national database, the MoS stated.

In an attempt to have the application of information technology (IT) and e-governance in the security setup of the nation, the government earlier has announced a proposal to set up a national intelligence grid (NIG) and is also working on a national mission mode project for police called the  crime and criminal tracking network system (CCTNS).