Today’s Times of India (TOI) (May 16) carries a telling graphic. It lists the nine major terrorist bombings that have taken place in the country since 2005 (the latest one occurring in Jaipur two days ago); and the current status of the investigations to trace the culprits. In a word, the current status of the investigations is pathetic. Most of the bombers have escaped or remain untraced; and few of the masterminds behind the attacks have been conclusively identified, let alone brought to justice.
The reaction of India’s security agencies in the aftermath of a terrorist incident has become so predictable, that it is almost text book. A ‘high alert’ is declared; and roadblocks are set up at major traffic junctions. The problem is that, in most cases, the policemen manning the roadblocks have no real idea what they are looking for; and only end up harassing ordinary law-abiding citizens.
It is a classic example of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I am sure the security agencies don’t need to be told that every big terrorist attack is the result of months of meticulous planning and considerable resources. It is ludicrous to expect the terrorists to carry out another attack the next day; or the day after. The emphasis, unfortunately, is everywhere except where it should be – taking steps to prevent future attacks.
As has been proved, even in countries that have first rate security agencies, it is virtually impossible to stop all terrorist attacks. However, a good many of them can be prevented with good intelligence. The tragedy of India is not that its intelligence gathering agencies are totally incompetent – they are not. The shame is that even after intelligence is received by the state governments; it is rarely acted upon in time.
There is no malevolent intent behind this apathy. The slow reaction time is almost inevitable, because the intelligence runs up against the brick wall of the traditionally lethargic Indian bureaucracy. Ironically, I am able to buttress my case with another news report in the same paper.
To most people living in Mumbai, the deadly serial train blasts of July 2006 have been imprinted on their memories. Immediately following the blast, the Maharashtra state government decided to set up an intelligence wing that would work in the same manner as India’s Intelligence Bureau (roughly equivalent to America’s FBI). A good idea indeed, but nearly two years later, it remains on paper. Not a single person has been recruited to man the new wing. The reason is a classic illustration of Indian bureaucracy at work.
To start with, it took more than one and half years after the idea was formulated for the state government to grant the sanction to recruit 900 personnel for the new wing. Two months after that, the government department that is supposed to conduct exams for recruitment is yet to announce the dates. It is not that the responsible agencies are deliberately trying to sabotage the process. It is just the way they function. Our politicians are not displaying any sense of urgency because, to them, it is not urgent. It does not directly affect their continued prosperity, after all. Translation – it is not going to gain or lose them any votes. If I was a terrorist planning an attack in Mumbai, right now I would be feeling pretty complacent.
In this case, the indifferent bureaucracy will find a natural ally in that other bugbear of the Indian polity: corruption. Normally, there are over a thousand applicants for every vacant government position. Here, the new Intelligence Wing may have difficulty in filling its 900 vacancies. As a senior police officer quoted to the TOI, “The fresh staff will be dedicated to intelligence gathering and will work with the State Intelligence Department until retirement.”
In the Indian context, this is anything but an inducement. The most in-demand posts in India’s police forces are those where the cops come in frequent contact with the general public. Frequent contact translates into frequent bribes. There is no percentage in joining an Intelligence department, till retirement, where one has no avenues for personal enrichment.
And so the cycle will be repeat itself ad infinitum. As a wise man once said, “those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Senior_IAS_officer_in_CBI_net/articleshow/1951840.cms
Senior IAS officer in CBI net
NEW DELHI: CBI has booked Delhi government's financial commissioner Rakesh Mohan for allegedly taking a bribe of more than Rs 3 crore in 'kind' for awarding a contract to a private company for renovation of Delhi Jal Board's pipelines at an over-valued cost of Rs 35.84 crore.
The investigating agency found that Mohan, a senior IAS officer of UT cadre, had adopted a unique modus operandi for realising the bribe money. Instead of taking 10% of the contract value in cash, he preferred to have a house in the US for his NRI son-in-law Mohit Mehra, who is an IT professional there.
According to the alleged deal between him and contractor Vijay Kataria, owner of private company Kaveri Infrastructure India Ltd, the latter had to purchase the house, worth over Rs 3 crore, in Los Angeles and execute a special power of attorney in favour of Mehra in 2005 when the process for award of contract was in progress.
To make the transaction legally foolproof, a loan of approximately Rs 3 crore against this property was taken from a bank in the US on the basis of the power of attorney. The CBI suspects this was done by the accused to avoid detection.
"These transactions were registered two days before recommendation for awarding the contract was made," a CBI spokesperson said.
Mohan was the CEO of DJB at the time.
The case against both Mohan and Kataria was registered by CBI on Monday. The sleuths on Tuesday conducted searches at 13 places in Delhi and Faridabad and recovered a number of incriminating documents.
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The bureacrats pretend that while they are by and large honest, they are stopped by 'evil politicians' from discharging their duty. Nothing can be farther from truth. True that our politicians are corrupt. But bureaucrats are much worse.
Politicians are at least afraid of bad publicity. But these bureaucrats are a law unto themselves. Polticians are accountable to public and have to come back to public for election every 5 years. But bureaucrats are eternal and run a parallel government. Corrupt politicians are voted out but corrupt bureaucrats are merely suspended and then sneak back comfortably.
When Rajiv Gandhi said that only 10 paisa reaches the people, it meant that 90 % of funds is eaten up by bureaucrat-neta-contractor nexus out of which bureaucrats share is biggest !! Remember 100-crore A.P. Singh, ex-chief secretary of U.P. or 'maha-brasth' Neera Yadav.
Look at the government departments like customs and income tax where political interference is minimal but the corruption is maximum !! Bureaucrats convenients blame politicians for their sins.
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Dear Mr.Philippi
You raise some very valid issues. till our bureaucracy tones up there is little we can do to stop these ghastly acts
rgds
socrates
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Not just bureaucracy, it is politicians in equal measure. What about when the culprits are caught and not allowed to be hanged? And I do not understand human rights when it comes to pardoning a terrorist who has been responsible for taking several lives.
Avinash
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Great post
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Mr.Garimella...I am presuming that you are an IAS officer yourself (serving or retired) and I appreciate your constructive criticism of my article. I admit that I may have oversimplified things a bit, but that is one of the constraints of blogging.
In my previous profession as a Civil Engineer, I have had many occassions to interact with IAS officers; and i agree that many of them are conscientious and efficient. Unfortunately, some of them are forced to compromise their principals due to the inordinate (and unjustified) hold the politicians have over them. That said, you cannot deny that red tape on this country has become an art form; and decision making and granting permissions move at their own glacial pace. I am willing to accept that the politicians bear the greater responsibility for this sad state of affairs.
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My dear phillipp99 garu,
Ur blog is very unkind to all bureaucrats. For ur information if the country is running at the way it is managing today it is because of the bureaucrats. It is grossly unfair to put the blame for everything at their doorstep. First the politicians introduced the reservation system in top bureaucrats and created some incompetent fellows. Secondly the politicians play merry hell with them.
The police are mostly engaged in the security of our VIPs and have few resources left to discharge their functions. If they were so scared of their life why did they join politics?
If u interact with some of the IAS and IPS guys u would know how committed they are but they find many road blocks set up by the politicians. The politicians should confine themselves to legislation only and leave the executive powers to the beauracrats.They should not interfere with the working of the babus.
The terrorists enjoy a great andvantage. They look like u and I and not easy to detect. Secondly terrorism and JIHADI is a global phenomenon today. All the Governments should ensure that the small arms, the grenades and RDX are not made available to any privat parties. We should employ strict checks and measures to prevent even a single detonator from falling into wrong hands.
I can give u some hundred points defending the beauracrats.
All I want to say that u oversimplified the problem. The Editor of TOI thought that he was doing the second most important job in the country. What delusions of grandeur without logic?
Take the TOI report with a spoon of salt. Even Mousad the Israeli intelligence agency could not stop these type of attacks. Think of the role of the WB Govt for mny years when they let the bangladeshis come in without any let or hindrance.
It is time our politicians did some soul searching and carried out a reality check.
Ramarao.
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It happens only in India!
the only thing we learnt from history is "we do not learn from history"!
Garv se kaho, "mera bharat mahaan"
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