PM’s reaction after attacks

These days it has become a norm for politicians and people in power to give big condolence statements after terrorist attacks but do nothing to prevent them in future. Just like every other attack, the incident is allowed to gradually fade from public memory. There is no real urgency displayed by the government to go after the culprits, prevent such attacks as is evident from the recent past. Probably the Govt thinks that India has a population of 1 billion and a few people lost here and there will not make any significant dent. What else can we think of such lackluster attitude from our government.

Probably it is because of such laid back attitude of our government,  any attack in India hardly causes a blip in the world media. Compare the reaction of the world media and the public for the London bombings to that of the recent blasts in Ahmadabad or Hyderabad or in Jaipur etc.  Simply, there is just no comparison and I think the govt should take the blame for that. When we ourselves don’t care for such things, how can we expect others to care about it?

Lets look at the reaction of our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh after such attacks.

After Ahmadabad July’26 2008 50 dead

“I have come to express our solidarity with the people of Gujarat in their hour of crisis. I commend the people of Gujarat for the resilience they have shown,” he said.

“These terrorist acts are aimed at destroying our social fabric, undermining communal harmony and demoralizing our people. As the people of Gujarat have shown so admirably, these efforts will not succeed.”  “We will rise to the challenge and I am confident we will be able to defeat these forces. “

No one arrested till date.

Jaipur Blast May’13 2008 60 dead

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deplored the attack on innocent victims, his office said, assuring assistance to Rajasthan and the victims’ families.

No one arrested till date

UP blasts in Varanasi, Lucknow Nov’24 2007

Some routine comments released by PMO.

They could not find the culprits till date

Hyderabad blast May’18 2007 16 killed

The Prime Minister also condemned the blast and urged members of all communities to maintain peace and communal harmony,” PM’s Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru said in a statement.
He said the Prime Minister has conveyed his condolences to the relatives of the victims.

They could not find the culprits till date
March 07-2006 Varanasi blast 20 dead
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed for calm.

They could not find the culprits till date

Mumbai blasts July’16 2006 207 killed

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh praised this wounded city for its strength Wednesday, vowing that “no one can make India kneel,” while a senior investigator said the Mumbai train attacks that killed at least 200 people could be linked to a Kashmiri militant group. Singh highlighted the achievements of this city of 16 million, which staggered back to life despite attacks on the commuter train network Tuesday that killed at least 200 people and wounded more than 700. “Your resilience and resolve will triumph over the evil designs of the merchants of death and destruction,” Singh said in a televised speech. “Let me say again, no one can make India kneel. No one can come in the path of our progress.”

They could not find the culprits till date

New Delhi Blast OCT 29′2005 55 killed
October 29, 2005

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has condemned the serial blasts in Delhi. He was informed about them upon his arrival at Kolkata from Agartala. In a message, he said: “The target is clearly the innocent citizens. Efforts to spread chaos and disturb peace will not be allowed to succeed at any cost. The Government is determined to defeat nefarious designs of terrorist elements. The perpetrators of these heinous acts will be dealt with firmly. The security agencies are already working in this regard. All sections of society are required to remain calm and extend fullest co-operation to them.”

Dr. Singh expressed deep shock and grief over the loss of lives and grievous injuries caused to innocent civilians in these bomb blasts. He expressed heart-felt condolences to the next of kin of those killed in the blasts.

They could not find the culprits till date.

Do you see the similarities in all these statements?  Probably they have something allready typed up to read out after such incidents!

Instead of just giving such statements and complaining that we had already told the state govt, wouldn’t it be good if the govt actually does something to prevent these dastardly acts?

How to prevent terrorist attacks?

We all have been seeing the barbaric acts being unfolded in Bangalore and Ahemadabad in the last few days. Even though these are the most recent attacks, there have been a series of attacks in different cities in the last few years all over India. As always, there is public furore after such attacks, politicians come up with the same monologue about not giving into such people etc etc… However everything is back to square once the incidents fades away from the public memory and things goes into a deep hibernation to be risen only after another attack.  Also, it has become a common practice to blame the sitting govt, the police and the intelligence agencies for the attacks.

so, it is so shocking that even after 20 years of fighting this menace, India still lacks a concrete formula to prevent such attacks. we have all seen the efficiency with which the agencies have thwarted attacks in US after 9/11.  Is it possible to achieve such kind of success in India?

1. Effective Intelligence: Indian context is very unique what with a very floating population in our urban areas. In such a scenario, human intelligence becomes a very vital tool in deciphering the different designs of these outfits. These days intelligence agencies are busy catering to their political masters rather than chasing the terrorists. A country with an effective intelligence agencies can achieve more than just preventing attacks. Secondly, deciphering the information also becomes very vital in this context. An efficient setup to analyze and act on such information is very vital for the prevention of such designs.

2. Political Mindset: In India,  somehow the politicians think that they are the one who should all the work. You see these ministers visiting the attack site with all their followers. What good will come out of those visits only they should answer. They should understand that their role is to facilitate those who are expert in that area to work with out any interference and provide with all the necessary infrastructure and backup. Recently one news paper even complained that the concerned minister is not taking a tour of the attack sites in Bangalore and that he is spending time in his office!! One has wonder as to the motive of such papers. It is a well known fact that the police force in India has been forced to kneel down to its political masters in every aspect of its functioning. We have seen lightening results where the police force has been given a free hand to investigate. However in most cases, the political set up tries to manipulate the investigation to suit its political needs which is very unfortunate.  A paradigm shift in thinking of the political class is the need of the hour to prevent these attacks in future.

3. Effective police force: In the post 911 scenario, police force all over the world have been modernised to meet today’s challenges. However, it is such a pity to see police in India still clinging to their British era 303 rifles most of which will not even work. How can these policemen guard the public or themselves against the AK 47 wielding terrorists? For some reason the state Govt’s in India just doesn’t show that kind of an urgency that is exhibited elsewhere in the world in meeting upto the challenges of the present day.  Recently during Akshardham attack in Gujarat, it was so pity to see that the whole rescue operation had to wait until the NSG troops arrived from Delhi. If that is the scenario, one cannot expect any timely intervention or action by the police force to prevent any terrorist attacks. Every state has to raise its own “Anti Terrorist Squad”, fully trained and equipped to handle any scenario.

4. Enact Necessary Laws: In the post 911 era, while most countries raced to set up necessary legal framework to backup their security agencies to effectively carry out operation, India on the other hand repealed such a law.  These are extraordinary situation that we are witnessing today and the laws drafted 30-40 years ago might not fully assist the agencies to carry out the tasks demanded  by the current situation. However contrary to this, the current India Govt thinks that an age old law is still enough to handle the situations. All the agencies are unanimous in their opinion. They don’t have the necessary legal back to take actions that are demanded by the emerging situations of the day. The true dimensions will become clear only when we see the situations devoid of any politics. If it the assumption of the Govt that any anti terror law will hurt the minorities, well that is one big blunder a govt can do to its citizens.

5. Effective Monitoring: Extra ordinary situations demand extra ordinary solutions. In UK, the city of London is monitored round the clock by thousand of cameras placed at strategic locations. These cameras might not prevent an attack but will give definite clues about the perpetrators. We have witnessed this during the train bombings in London few years back. We know that all major cities in the world are embarrassing this method. I think even in India, the govt should follow this method in all the major cities. Yes, there might be cry from organizations about civil liberties, but the people understand that this is a small price to pay when compared to the cost of not doing anything.

6. Public Awareness: The authorities should take steps to spread general awareness among the public to thwart any design of the terrorists. Being aware of the general surrounds is important for every individual. All suspicious items should be promptly reported to the authorities. It was shocking to see people investigating the bomb by themselves  in Bangalore before calling the authorities. One man said that after seeing the unknown item, he rolled it couple of times and saw some wires coming out. It was a live bomb and that man could have lost his life. This is very much similar to those people who went to the beach to catch fish when water receded during 2004 Sunami! What a pity!

Finally, I think everybody has their own responsibility in preventing the beastly acts that we have witnessed this last weekend in Bangalore and Ahemadabad.  As long as we don’t realise this responsibility, incidents like these will keep happening and we continue to suffer. I hope at least this time the Govt and the public wake and realise that the people who lost their lives, did not loose it in vain. Lets give some meaning to their sacrifice and resolve to prevent such acts with all our might!.

Please write to us about your thoughts on this issue.

Should Govt compensate for personal mistakes?

Today in karnataka, there are lot of people who expect Govt to pay compensation for every tragedy that befalls the public not of the Govt’s making.

Some of the instances where Govt dispersed compensation are:

1. Govt paid Rs 1 lakh for all the people who died consuming “Kalla Batti” or hooch.

2. Govt paid compensation for farmers who committed suicide because of loans.

3. Demand for compensation in the name of support price when there is a bumper crop. Again demand for compensation when there is no crop! etc, etc…

It looks like there is no uniformity in the compensation that is doled out nor there is any specific guideline under which it is decided.

This is a topic that needs to be debated at length since the govt pays these compensation from the tax money it collects from the public.

Lets consider the issue of compensating those who lost their life drinking hooch.  Doesn’t this constitute abetting crime? When people clearly know that drinking hooch is illegal and dangerous, how wise is it for the govt to compensate them from our tax money? 

Farmers commit suicide every year for various reasons.  Recently, it has come to light that even when people die of natural causes, there were attempts to label it as suicide related to fertilizer and claim compensation.  I think such compensations breeds greed and it is unfortunate that people take advantage of a sensitive situation.

Instead, the Govt should formulate guidelines for compensation clearly stating the conditions that qualify for Govt compensations and most importantly, it should stick to those guidelines.  Wasting tax payers money to gain political mileage should not be the end game nor should it become a means for some people to exploit the situation.

These days we see farmers demanding govt help for each and every thing. They depend on govt for fertilizers, compensation when the crop fails and again compensation when there is bumper crop. Dosen’t it reflect the problem in the system?  Farmers demand loans from the banks which they never repay. There is no accountability or the commitment for loan repay.  Recently, the govt  waived off loans of farmers upto Rs 25k. Will this really help? Apart from spending 1,400 crores by the state govt and 72,000 crores by the central govt, I don’t think this solved any problem on the ground. All these farmers will again demand  fresh loans from the already bankrupt banks.

Recently, a farmer committed suicide when ICICI bank sent him notices for defaulting on his loan of 6 lakhs. There was such a huge protest by pro farmers group and finally ICICI had to settle with his family. Reportedly, the bank gave his family 10 lakhs. Isn’t this black mail? Why was the farmer not educated of the pitfalls of a huge loan by the very same pro farmer leaders? Also, it will be a big issue if any bank refuses to give loan.  In my view, this is nothing but looting the banking system.

I feel the govt should formulate proper procedures to educate farmers about all the issues related to farming in today’s global context. Yes, there are lot of risks involved in farming which the poor farmer is ill equipped to face. Govt instead of doling out free money should try to educate the same in better farming techniques, insure the crop so that the farmer is insulated from the vagaries of the climate and possibly purchase the crop well ahead to prevent price drops. Also, the govt should encourage private companies to get involved with the state’s farming community for the betterment of the society as a whole.

Hopefully the new GOVT lead by Mr B.S Yaddyurappa will actively work in solving this vexed recurring problem.