Saturday, October 30, 2010

SECURE INDIA FROM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THREATS

We need to resolve once for all that terror needs to be dealt with a coherent strategy , all shades of indians united as a people and IT NEEDS TO BE DONE ON A PRIORITY BASIS immediately. We, more than one billion people with nationalism as a top agenda with no place for petty political squabbles should realize what we are facing is a full fledged diplomatic offensive by our uneasy neighbours on our very existence by challenging our very established borders and lines. Inside Naxals and Kashmiri stone pelting are a front but for discernible eye there is no smoke screen to see the obvious as these are a challenge to a United prosperous India. USA might because of compulsions to deal with Pakistan may have different views on issues which concern us also but we should have our nationalism agenda cut out with some flexibility built in. We must remember any problem not dealt with in time frames festers like a wound. I also think that why a terror attack should only unite us and why we should have any fissures at all politically while dealing with national sovereignty issues . Does not it needs to be looked from all possible angles which cause these fissures in the first place. Is the situation beyond redemption or still by some bold political action the situation can be salvaged or remedied. We as a country including the loud mouthed politicians and the silent intellectual majority need to introspect what has gone wrong.
To do all this we need a national will to change certain things which have gone wrong and need culling .additions, modifications and curing. This is a long term and time consuming measure but there are some short time measures which need to under taken soonest. I think the most pertinent is to secure our borders - sea air and land by unscrupulously honest Indians who will not falter on the twin alter of duty and honesty. Their compensation packages should be the best as we need to get this out of our mindset the WORK PAY comparison .Please for god sake do not compare forces (includes every body who is involved in tasks which demands guts like NSG commandos going in for sure death while operating) with others including babudom while deciding pay commissions because blood will always sell dearer than ink. Any body who is on a high risk assignment give him more –nobody will grudge that because they are the one who make you cozy in your well furnished AC rooms .By giving them the most handsome salaries and making them above financial allurements -you are securing them against one of the weapons used against the citizens of any poor country - the weapon of financial allurement /bribes which we have seen has been used all over the world by the terrorists in advancing their designs. But IF they still falter in the line of DUTY than nothing less than capital punishment for TREASON should be given because this is the biggest crime a citizen can commit against one's own country. If we need to amend the constitution/IPC make new laws/acts and any other legal statutes -we need to do so post haste. Why we must move on these issues with alacrity because we are moving into an era where our resources of safeguarding ourselves are getting spread thinly but of the resources of terrorists are fast getting concentrated. A day is not far when you will under the threat of a sub kilo ton nuke threat or under the threat of a biological/chemical bomb. This is a real possibility with Al Qaida and the likes. We need to train more and more small groups from the armed forces, Para military and police on NSG pattern and this should be a continuous process because terrorists actions in future may give you a very short reaction time - they could go in initially before the terrorists establish and others could later build on them. We must train civilian volunteers also to reduce reaction time -Let us not leave every thing in the hands of a few elite forces and just watch TV - remember we are plus 100 Crore. Also needs immediate attention is the bureaucratic delays of intelligence interpreting which should be curtailed by having an agency that works 24X7 which acts and reacts on real time basis. We do not need to announce we killed so and so master mind but we need to follow the Israeli zeal in going after the perpetrators of such attacks on our sovereignty..Let them feel we are not a soft state and they can get away like Kandahar hijacking any more because this time in Mumbai we have shown that resolve to seek out and go for the kill come what may. What we need to appreciate is that we need to need to watch ,patrol dominate each cove and beach by physical presence as well as electronic means because without doing so we will remain very vulnerable . I am sure that India incorporated will not hesitate to contribute some percentage of their profits if GOVT OF INDIA is short on funds to execute such elaborate and fool proof border control measures so that we all citizens of this great country can have a safe and secure environment to run our daily lives and businesses. It goes without saying that actually the central government is the sole agency which decides how to secure this country's frontiers and coastlines.
 I appeal to all the decision makers and well meaning individuals in places of power not to waste this chance to secure our borders now and do what actually we should have done after 1993 Bombay blasts so that we do not have repeats of 10 terrorists holding our nation hostage for 60 hours. It is never too late to make amends.

Monday, October 4, 2010

GOOD GOVERNANCE DELIVERY VERSUS NUMBERS OF POPULATION

I want to bring the discrimination based on population numbers vis a vis the quality of governance to the notice of our ever alert politico bureaucratic system. As we are all aware that when there is a provision to have a Lok Sabha constituency based on the population numbers . It is simply surprising that why we are not applying the same principle when we come to the delivery of services by the state to the same population at the district administration level. My question - Is Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Ludhiana holding charge of 30 Lac population ( as per census2001) more efficient than the DC of Moga with a population of 9 Lacs approx ?
As we all understand that the cutting edge of efficient or good governance is the delivery of services and regulatory services by the Deputy Commissioner as he is the sole repository of power in a district.Therefore we need to have a re look on this whole issue. Major cities which are already having Commissioners of Police system need to have Multiple DC level officers under an Additional Commissioner if the hierarchy needs to be established with the Divisional Commissioners. My point is that why should a concentration of population in a particular district due to its industrialisation, religious significance or geographical situation on GT road be denied the right to good governance just because our system allows only ONE DC PER DISTRICT. When police can increase their numbers to match the crime rate as per population - I think we have more than one reason to increase the numbers of persons directly responsible for efficient and effective delivery of governance. The need of the hour is not to provide more additional deputy commissioners but increase number of DC's that is the delivery system heads. Hence existing district administration organisation needs to replicated twice or thrice as per the numbers of population which need to delivered these services while keeping the loose geographical contiguity of areas in mind. This will bring in transparency and faster delivery of services.
Why deny these facilities and rights of faster and efficient delivery of services to the public when you are charging and earning more revenue from each square yard sold and bought in these over populated districts. Therefore there should be no lack of funds and hesitation to spend on the salary and establishment of these additional organisations and posts . This is the responsibility of the state to make good governance available to its constituents in the shortest possible time to eradicate corruption and avoid need less harassment to those being governed which is enshrined in our constitution.