Sensationalising 26/11

Had no plans of writing this post but just found an article on Times of India website so thought of spreading it. Everyone these days is so distressed after Mumbai attacks left so many dead. Many palns were cancelled (including our Goa trip), tourism dipped and what not happened. States were blamed protest marches and other ways of registering the protest. But just look at this:

People killed in Road accidents: 314/day. Calculate 314*365=?
People killed by Lightning (it may look amusing): 2,700/yearly
People killed by terror activities-
Terror activities in North-East: 498
Rest: 235

Now one cant blame the govt or anyone for lightning (i donno how to avoid it), but what about road accidents? When so many marches can be taken out to better equip the police why not take out a single one for traffic police. And I didnt find any records for murders and abductions and rapes. These are much more serious problem our country is facing that 26/11. I agree that steps should be taken to prevent terror attacks also but public should not just stand up cause it had much more drama in it. I am not at all being insensitive here to talk like this. I respect every person who fought or held in any way but people should not stop looking at other problems.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Lightning_kills_more_than_terror/articleshow/3848333.cms

Hanging of Afzal Guru

Initially even I was confused that why is Afzal Guru still alive? He has been convicted by every court including Supreme court. So why is he still alive? Many have this question including the opposition but I believe that given the circumstances any party in power wont be able to hang him.

Everyone will know that there is a similar prisoner Sarabjit Singh who is convicted of bombing in Pakistan and has been sentenced to death by their Highest court. I know many will shout at this point that both cases are different, but thats just point of view here. They wont be feeling the same in Pakistan.

So what happens if Afzal Guru is hanged tomorrow? I know Pakistan does nt acknowledge Afzal as their own, but we can all assume where their heart lies. They'll obviously want to give a reaction (like everytime an Indian missile is tested, withtin a week Pakistan missile is tested). So we can all guess what their reaction will be. I know no gevernment can directly give the reason of why its delaying the hanging but no government can also hang him and allow death of Indian citizen.

So it would be much better to understand this than make an embarrasing position for any party in power by questioning again and again.

Breaking apart the system

Open any television channel these days and what you hear is anger of the people. The anger is justified. The politicians are corrupt. Otherwise with the kind of money India has, our security forces can be so well equipped that nobody dare attack us. But at the same time I start hearing views like-
* Stop paying taxes
* Stop voting
*"I want to hear from Mr Singh tomorrow morning that we are going to destroy all camps in POK and Pakistan"- heard on NDTV
*Comparison with America on how they had no more terror strikes.

Now this is what I feel. People (from here on including me) dont want any responsibility but just know how to shout and show their anger. Who are those politicians? They are from among us. We voted for them. I know we can have better politicians but where are those better persons? Why aren't people like Murthy or Shreedharan fighting elections. I'll support them and I know many else will too. And for those who are shouting to stop paying taxes here is my question to you: Why dont you join politics? Why dont you even go for IAS, IPS where you can really change the system (am on purpose not mentioning the defence academy because in armed forces you can serve the country but you cant change the country). And I dont know personally any of those shouting but I can tell from their remarks that 99% of them will be even worse politicians than we have today. They may be energetic, may even not be corrupt (not for sure how any human will react when 10000000 Rs is placed in front of him but I assume positively) but do they really have the knowledge to run this country? Is India just in Mumbai, Delhi and other big cities. Have any of us even visited any village to understand its problems? Its very easy to sit and shout but nobody is willing to take the responsibility.

Now for war on Pakistan. They talk as if its a big joke! My question is for that man who said on NDTV: "Will you yourself go and fight along with your sons if any?" Do they have any idea what the loss of lives would be if there is a war. I agree it would not be intheir city Mumbai then but still a human life would be lost. But yeah that man will feel safe. I dont think thousands of men should go and fight to keep that man safe. Especially when it wont achieve anything as it will just destroy the government and maybe army but not terrorism.
And another thing, India is not USA and Pakistan is not Afghanistan. Any Indian fighet jet that goes into Pakistan has no surety of coming back. Probability is that it wont. Also in America the public is more organised (it may be good for security but I still prefer the carefree attitude). They dont mind the security checks or waiting in line. And most importantly they are very less in number. 1/5 th of India's population. Its just not possible to achieve same levels of security in India with the kind of density we have. That too when many are in poverty.

Its not that I dont mourn the dead or am trying to be pro-government. Its just that breaking aprat the system is the worst thing we can do. Instead of shouting outside it would be much more fruitful to look what we did or didnt do. These acts are such that whether it be BJP or Congress, they will still happen. Both the parties are corrupt. Both have Z-plus security and hence their leaders are safe. Although in the current scenario I'd support Congress anyday but its just like "andho mein kana raja". Its not that they have the best leaders or anything. But for BJP i'll just say that no matter how tough they are on terrorists (read muslims) every Babri, every Godhra creates a 1000 more terrorists inside our own country which is the worst thing we can ahve as far as security is concerned. Its much better to stop those 1000 from getting misled.

So guys, stop blaming and start acting. Our system is good enough, its just that no one is managing it efficiently.

Private Security- Time for India to have one?

After the Mumbai terror attacks there have been lot of talks of private firms having security for themselves. But the kind of security that is needed (seeing the sophistication of terrorists) involves arming private security guards with AK-47's and even heavy firepower like machine guns and not to talk about the defensive requirements like shields etc. But there are number of problems associated with this:

1) What if the weaponry for security is used for non-security purposes like personal score and flaunting (we all know how people love to flaunt their status). We see lot of that happening with just guns that are distributed among people.

2) What if these weapons fall into wrong hands. When police cant protect itself from naxalites how to ensure that these weapons go to their hands.

3) If a private security guard is armed with AK-47 then its but obvious (to me atleast) that the police if not better atleast be equally armed. Otherwise what is gonna happen if any incident happens.

So not only do we have to ensure security for the client but also secure the security (pun intended)
I dont think any method can be foolproof but here is a structure within which it may work:

1) Give only few agencies right to provide security, preferably government corporation (will talk about this later)
2) Security is to be provided only to establishment. No security for any person or any moving vehicle.
3) The security must have minimum standards. Like minimum of 20 guards, control room, securing all entry points etc. This is again more for protection of guns than for the establishment.
4) Mandatory trainging and checking of credentials of all agents working in the agency. Army personals would have been preferable but it would be below their dignity to guard a private property.
5) All corporations or agencies to remain under Defence department. A senior defence personal to have a say in their functioning. And a team of senior officers to regularly conduct surprise checks of any establishment.
6) Revoking of licence of the agency if in any way security of guns is compromised. Now in continuation of this I will explain why a government corporation would be a better option.
I agree that in no government agency can be as efficient as a private one. But any private agency is more prone to compromise standards for more money (there is a counter example also- private agency will fear revocation of licence more than a government one so less prone to corruption). But if there is an option between less security or free distribution of AK-47's, I'd prefer the former.

My aim while formulating the above was first ensuring security of guns and then allowing security for private frims.

I'd surely like to listen to more ideas of implementing private security.