The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

PERSPECTIVE

A Tribune Special
Drifting downhill on internal security
We need to seriously introspect and get professional, says Dinesh Kumar

At the end of a high-level inter-agency meeting organised to discuss the country’s internal security situation soon after the July 2006 serial train blasts in Mumbai which left over 500 dead and injured, a question was asked by a senior official: “What urgent remedial and precautionary measures should we take to prevent recurrence of such incidents?” After a pregnant silence, the sole suggestion forthcoming was: “We must give the Station House Officers in the police stations more and quality walkie-talkie sets to ensure faster communication.”

This suggestion by a top officer despite the monotonous regularity with which terrorist attacks have been occurring in the country reflects both the mediocrity and poverty of thinking by some at the highest levels in our country with whom the security of the nation has been entrusted. The question that follows from this reply, as pointed out by former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, who was present at the meeting, is: “Is buying more walkie-talkie sets the panacea for the tremendous hazards posed to our nation’s security today?”

It took the US just 46 days to overhaul its internal security system post 9/11. That country has since then not witnessed a single terrorist attack on its soil. In contrast, two years after the high-level meeting in Delhi, India witnessed its arguably most daring and horrific carnage comprising over 10 brutal co-ordinated attacks by Pakistani terrorists that lasted about 60 hours (November 26-29, 2008), which left 173 killed and 308 wounded.

Such is the fragility of a country that boasts of having the world’s third largest military force and is among the world’s fasted growing economies with ambition to be a global power that the absence of any major incident in the last 17 months is to be ‘credited’ to not mainly its internal security apparatus but rather to the temporary restraint applied by Islamabad following ‘pressures’ from the US.

This is hardly comforting for a nation. Indeed there is enough evidence to prove that India’s internal security situation continues to drift downhill. There is little in sight to indicate a reversal. Brave words and occasional action by successive governments at the Centre and in the states offer little consolation.

Consider India’s ‘red corridor’. In 2001, the Naxalite presence was confined to fewer than 50 of India’s 639 districts. By 2009, its geographical scope had expanded to 223 districts across 20 of India’s 28 states. In all, about 40,000 sq km of our territory is currently under the Naxalites’ sway. The coordination required between the Centre and the states along with the varying levels of efficiency at the government and police level presents a nightmare for any Union government and the country at large.

In conforming to our ‘strategic culture’, the response has been piecemeal and slow, reflecting on the sloth with which decision making takes place. For example, it was only as recent as 2008-9 that the Union government began raising the fancy-named ‘Commando Battalions for Resolute Action’ with the acronym CoBRA. In all, only 10 such battalions are to be raised by 2011. In addition, it has sanctioned Rs 1,300 crore for police modernisation to improve mobility, firepower, communication systems, infrastructure and forensics. But then, there is no way to rigorously account for the money being spent by states and to ensure uniformity in standards.

The flaws in India’s internal apparatus are considerable and the task is increasingly becoming daunting. India’s internal security problems arise from a combination of factors that include political and administrative mismanagement for which military or police solutions are seen as the way out. The army and the police can at best suppress and even eliminate terrorists.

However, common sense dictates that tackling terrorism, insurgency and political grievances is far more complicated and requires a wider and deeper strategy which entails “the employment of all means for the end”. The key word here is ‘means’ which goes beyond employing policing or military methods alone. A deeper question that requires introspection is whether we, as a people, make good managers, leaders and governors of a country that is among the world’s most multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic.

What are we doing meantime with the very instruments tasked to combat terrorism? Do we have effective instruments to fight the different types of violence whether in the form of terrorism or insurgency in the country?

India’s post-Independence history has shown that state police forces have rarely been effective in quelling externally-sponsored terrorism and insurgency. The north-eastern states and Kashmir are prime examples. The only exception has been the Punjab Police, which with some generous assistance from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Army along with some ‘measures’ taken by both the Research and Analysis Wing and Intelligence Bureau, managed to fight terrorism in Punjab.

But everywhere in the country, standards of policing are on the decline. The concept of the ‘beat constable’, a crucial source of ground-level information, is near extinct. The quality and methodology of recruiting policemen is, to put it mildly, highly questionable. To top it all, politicians are known to have wantonly politicised the force in many states.

Over half-a-century since we first began fighting insurgency in the country starting with Nagaland, India still does not have a dedicated professional force to combat insurgency and terrorism.

Ironically, though India has among the world’s largest Central Police Organisations (CPOs), none of them is trained to fight insurgency and terrorism. The primary aim of the Border Security Force (159 battalions), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (45 battalions) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (41 battalions) is to guard the international border. Yet, the BSF is often deployed on counter-insurgency operations.

The CRPF (206 battalions) again is not specifically trained in the specialised art of fighting terrorism or insurgency. Yet again, it gets assigned to duties that range from guarding historical places of worship, crowd management and quelling riots to fighting insurgency in Kashmir and violence by the Naxalites.

A direct entry into the officer cadre of any of the country’s CPOs can never hope to command the force in which he has given his working life. That privilege is reserved for officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS), almost all of whom join the police by default after falling short (in marks) to qualify for the IAS. In other words, officers are not selected to the IPS on the basis of their aptitude for what is otherwise a very difficult and exacting profession that contributes to the security of the country.

Such is India’s generalist approach that even the National Security Guards, a quick reaction Special Force to counter hostage situations on board aircraft or fight close quarter battles in built-up areas, is headed by an IPS officer, who until recently could have been Commissioner of a metropolis with no prior knowledge about special forces.

It is rare, if ever, for an IPS officer to serve as a Commandant of a CPO battalion. Like officers from the IAS, who prefer to seek deputation to Union ministries at the pivotal division head level of Joint Secretary and above, IPS officers too seek deputation to CPOs at the rank of Deputy Inspector General and above since it does not involve commanding troops on ground. This ad hoc and generalist system leaves it on IPS officers at the individual level to show interest and display initiative.

The Army, which has been spearheading counter-insurgency operations for over half-a-century, is over-stretched and fatigued. The Army’s ‘internal health’ is not just about growing incidents of corruption. It suffers from a serious crisis that ranges from officer shortfalls of about 12,000 which works out to slightly over 25 per cent of the sanctioned officer strength, a rising number in pre-mature retirements, suicides and service problems-related cases filed by about 9,000 officers who account for about 30 per cent of the Army’s existing officer strength.

Besides, prolonged deployment in counter-insurgency operations has a disorienting effect on the Army, which according to an internal Army report, was evident at the start of the limited war fought between India and Pakistan in the high altitude Kargil region from May to July 1999.

Our strategic culture, which can be summed up in two oft-repeated words – chalta hai and jugaad – is reflected in the way we treat internal security. India’s internal security is too serious a matter to be left to such ad hocism. Our pontifications on “our rightful place in the world” will never get taken seriously unless we start taking ourselves seriously and change both our mindset and the way we think.

Our approach that “we have a thing or two to teach the world” is better left to the flourishing cottage industry of our god men. As a nation and people we need to seriously introspect and get professional. Let us always remember: History is replete with examples of nations perishing all because their leaders were unfit to govern.

Wanted: A specially trained force to combat Naxalites
by Lt-Gen Harbhajan Singh (retd)

Union Home Minister P. Chidambram’s statement that the Naxalites are active in 20 out of 28 states is alarming. Clearly, it has become a huge inter- and not intra-state problem. It has to be tackled at both the Central and state levels, requiring close coordination and perhaps, under a centralised operational command.

If each affected state goes its own way with little coordination, it will be playing into the hands of the Maoists. Perhaps a new legislation has to be brought out for Central intervention to ensure unity of command and effective coordination between the states.

An armed struggle has to be met with the armed might of the nation and it just cannot be left to individual states with different political parties in power. A state of emergency may have to be declared in affected areas. However, the real battleground of this ‘war’ is not in the forests of Jharkhand’s Dantewada but in the national and state capitals. The political challenge the Naxalites pose seems greater than the military one. Consider what happened in Nepal. Therefore, we should not lose time anymore.

The Naxalite movement is neither a classic war nor a law and order problem but in between. The jungle/semi hilly terrain in and around Central India, the kind of arms and weapons being used and the reasonable high level of tactics employed by them necessitate use of specially trained paramilitary forces. They should be well armed with mortars and machine guns on the lines of the Army and be highly trained and motivated.

These forces should be able to live and fight in inhospitable areas and be tough physically and mentally. Above all, they should be trained by those who will live, fight and lead from the front as Army officers do, leading to high morale and operational domination over the rebels.

It would be worthwhile to raise a new force on the lines of the Rashtriya Rifles/ commandos. Volunteers can be requisitioned from paramilitary forces. A mix of paramilitary personnel and the Army should help as this can lead to two groups being formed in units. However, advisers/ instructors can be seconded from the Army for a year or two or retired Army personnel having experience in anti-insurgency operations recruited.

It is critical for the anti-Naxalites forces to have much greater mobility than the insurgents. Only helicopters can provide such tactical mobility in jungle and semi-hilly terrain. The armed troops should be able to slither down from hovering helicopters; the latter will have to be armed to deter the Maoists from firing at them as also to provide close support to troops being inducted by helicopters.

Speed will be the crucial factor, implying that the helicopters will have to be dedicated for anti-Naxalite operations with the Force commanders having operational control over the helicopter assets. The normal procedure of every time requisitioning helicopters from the Air Force will not work. Special helicopter units may, therefore, have to be raised for anti-Maoist operations.

These forces should have modern intelligence gathering gadgetry like UAVs. However, human intelligence will remain the key. Excellent communications including satellite phones should be provided to the troops. The need for integral medical resources for on-the-spot medical aid and speedy casualty evacuation including helicopters cannot be overemphasised.

Generous special allowances and promotion prospects for the paramilitary personnel engaged in such operations should be thought of to attract volunteers and keep their morale high.

When insurgency loomed large in the North-East after Independence, a specialised cadre of administrators for the North East was started. Since, Maoists problem is a manifestation of bad governance, a new set of administrators should be formed to administer Naxalite affected areas. Military officers may be laterally inducted in such a cadre as was done for the North-East cadre. The local population needs to repose faith and confidence in the administration through pro-active and bold administrators, if they are to be weaned away from supporting the Naxalites. This is also how the security forces will get more sources for human intelligence.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly stated that the Naxalites are the greatest challenge to India’s internal security and this cancer has spread to too many states. He should now cut the red tape to raise a new force post haste, equip it, train it and not allow a turf war to prevail. The police and civil servants who are responsible for the Maoist cult having reached such an enormous proportion must be kept away.

In fine, isn’t it time the Indian polity seriously looked at the abysmal functioning of the two main arms of administration — the IAS and the IPS — which have left India bleeding internally for decades and urgently undertake administrative reforms? The Prime Minster in his second term owes it to the nation. Otherwise, just GDP growth will leave India highly vulnerable and with a hollow foundation.

OPED

Punjab’s drug bazaars
The police-politician-peddler nexus the root cause
by Chitleen K. Sethi

It’s only 7.30 p.m. and the bazaar on the main road in the Gandhi camp area in Batala is abuzz with shopkeepers marketing their stuff. Its dark bylanes, known across Punjab as the Ground Zero of prescription drug abuse, however, has sellers shooing away customers, for the day’s stock is finished.

The customers, mostly school children or college youth, beg for just one more strip of capsules or another injection shot. But by sun set everything is sold out. ‘Come tomorrow and you’ll get all that you want,’ is the promise.

The Gandhi camp in Batala, Gurdaspur is one of the emerging ‘capsule bazaars’ of Punjab, catering to the increasing number of youth who are using pharmaceutical drugs for intoxication. Common painkillers like Proxivan, Par Onespas, Texavon and injectibles like Norphine, Fortvin and Diazepam are stocked in huge quantities by peddlers and openly sold from houses and on wooden planks laid out in the gallis. The local youth, whose deadly addiction leads them to this area every evening can be seen sitting in dark corners injecting themselves, some other lying listlessly on the side.

An affidavit filed by the Punjab government in the Punjab and Haryana High Court last year stated that more than 67 per cent of households have at least one drug addict. “Since 2007, we have seized drugs worth Rs 8 crore out of which 80 per cent were prescription drugs being misused for intoxication. Abuse of pain killers, cough syrups and anti-diarrhoea drugs is touching grave proportions and is feared to emerge as a serious threat to community health as also a law and order problem”, admits Bhag Singh, Drug Controller, Punjab.

Dr Sandeep Bhola, psychiatrist, Civil Hospital, Kapurthala and in-charge of the Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre (DDC), says the sharp increase in the number of substance abuse cases in Punjab in recent years is mainly due to the easy availability and affordability of intoxicating medicines.

“For the addict, a prescription drug is a cheaper option than smack, cocaine and heroin. A strip of proxivon has ten capsules and costs Rs 30. A hardcore addict consumes up to 30 capsules a day and even if he gets the strip at double the rate in these areas he is able to feed this deadly habit in about Rs 150 a day. The kick that an addict gets out of an overdose of intoxicating medicines is exactly the same as he would get from any other drug,” pointed out Dr Rana Ranbir Singh, psychiatrist and in-charge of DDC, Civil Hospital, Tarn Taran.

“Interestingly, when one gathers information from the addicts about where they procure the capsules or injections, most of them refer to a few common pockets in Punjab. Everyone seems to know about these areas but the state authorities prefer to look the other way”, said Romesh Mahajan, running the Red Cross DDC in Gurdaspur.

Other than the Gandhi camp in Batala, another small town near Dinanagar in Gurdaspur called Avankha is famous for its drug street. “Every evening, women of a particular tribe along with their children sit on the sides of foot lanes and sell strips of pain killer capsules and bottles of cough syrups?”, informs Mohit, a 23-year-old addict from Pathankot being treated at the Gurdaspur centre.

Several addicts in the centre said they also procured drugs from village Aujala. Narcotics are peddled by an uncle-nephew duo and their house is easy to locate in the village. The tell tale sign is the large number of motorcycles parked outside. Addicts of the area leave their motorcycles, mobiles, watches, etc. besides money to pay for their habit. Addicts also said they got smack from Sant Nagar where 90 per cent of the addicts on smack bought drugs.

In Amritsar, Anngarh and Maqboolpura are said to be active trading centres for international drugs, almost akin to the imported goods market in cities. In Jalandhar, Danash Banda, Rama Mandi, Kaazi Mandi, Bhargava camp and Adampur have emerged as busy trading points for drugs.

The emergence of drug bazaars can only be read in terms of the economics of death, perpetuated, if not openly encouraged by the ruling powers of the state. At most of these places the local police is said to be actively involved in the peddling of drugs or, as a resident in Batala said, too scared. The local councilor or the local politician are also said to be the beneficiaries of the trade. “These bazaars are able to thrive because of the sinister police-politician- peddler nexus”, pointed out a resident in Gurdapsur.

“There is nothing much that the police can do in cases of unbridled sale of prescription drugs in these areas. Sale of medicines is regulated by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for which the authority concerned is the Drug Controller. However, whenever we have any specific information about sale of prescription drugs for abuse we work in collaboration with the drug controller and health authorities. The solution lies in declaring sale of prescription drugs a cognisable offence like it has been done in UP, Orissa and West Bengal”, said RP Meena, IG, Punjab and Member Secretary, Anti- Narcotics Task Force.

“The situation is bad now mainly because appropriate measures were not taken at appropriate time. There was a time when there were only six drug inspectors in the state and such pockets proliferated freely. But things are now changing. We have improved infrastructure to regulate sale of medicines through chemists. We have cancelled several licenses and also raided godowns where stocks are stored”, said Bhag Singh.

The writer is Principal Correspondent, The Tribune, Chandigarh. The article is in part-fulfilment of her fellowship project instituted by the National Foundation for India, New Delhi

On Record
Giving new life to old paintings and manuscripts
by Shahira Naim

Dr Virendra Kumar

The Government of India-run National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLCCP) in Lucknow is playing an important role in restoring rotting wood carvings, decaying wall paintings, disintegrating manuscripts and so on. A premier institution in South and South East Asia, it was established in 1976 to carry out research in the methods of conservation and for providing assistance and training to museums, archives, libraries, etc.Dr Virendra Kumar, Senior Technical Restorer, talks passionately to The Tribune in Lucknow about his work at the NRLCCP.

Excerpts:

Q: How did you think of choosing a career as a conservationist of cultural property?

A: After doing M.Sc in Chemistry from Allahabad University, I worked in an inter college. I was then selected as a research assistant in the ‘wood preservations section’ of Dehradun’s Forest Research Institute. Thus started my specialisation in wood conservation.

Q: What is the NRLCCP’s mandate?

A: Museums, archeological departments, libraries and related institutions seek our technical help in the conservation of their collections. Our experts inspect their objects and advise them how to treat the objects.

Q: How is the restoration work done?

A: This is a very scientific exercise. Everything that we come across is either organic material (paper, wood, textile bones, ivory, leather etc.) or inorganic like metals etc. So an analysis of the object is undertaken to understand its nature, behaviour and extent of deterioration. Accordingly, a strategy is chalked out for its suitable conservation. For instance, all manuscripts are now being restored by sandwiching them with banana tissue paper. This is being done after fumigating them with chemicals for treatment of termites and fungus etc.

Q: What is your most challenging assignment?

A: The restoration of a unique collection of 20 larger-than-life-size oil paintings depicting the Nawabs of Awadh at the Mohammad Ali Shah Picture Gallery under the Hussainabad Trust in 1984.

The hall in which these paintings were hung was like a common room with unrestricted entry. Pigeons lived on the paintings and spoiled them. We suggested a barricade in the hall to prevent visitors from touching the paintings.

Q: Are the paintings in good shape?

A: Except for a miniscule number interested in history and conservation, the common citizens don’t take pride in our cultural heritage as is visible abroad. When some awareness about the heritage is visible, there is a monetary motive behind it. Some people make a fast buck by selling off artifacts on the sly.

Q: Are there any exceptions?

A: Yes, there is good awareness about conservation in Kerala and West Bengal. The two states have taken the initiative to conserve cultural property. Our director Dr M.V. Nair has facilitated a project for the conservation of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings. The state government is setting up a museum of the latter’s paintings.

Q: Are your customers happy with the work done?

A: We had restored a huge 16 x 6 feet oil painting of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on display at the Jallianwalla Bagh Museum in Amritsar. It was in a terrible shape with fungus, humidity, holes and even General Dyer’s face being ripped off. We managed to clean the painting and return it. But the museum authorities told us that General Dyer’s face had not been restored.n

Profile
Rana’s distinction: C’wealth prize for second novel
by Harihar Swarup

There are very few literary figures whose first or second work pitchfork them to the rank of most gifted writers, that too, at an young age. Solo is Rana Dasgupta’s second novel and it has won 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His debut novel Tokyo Cancelled also made waves in literary circles.

Rana is 39 and he published his first novel in 2005. Tokyo Cancelled is an examination of the forces and experience of globalisation. Billed as a modern-day Canterbury Tales, 13 passengers stuck overnight in an airport tell 13 stories from different cities in the world, stories that resemble contemporary fairytales, mythic and weird.

Rana Dasgupta now joins the rank of most gifted writers like Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jonathan Safron-Foer. Solo is a novel with one character and it is an attempt to understand failure — failed men in a failed country.
The tale revolves around 100-year-old Ulrich, a Bulgarian, who reads a story in a magazine before losing his sight; a group of explorers came upon a community of parrots speaking the language of society that had been wiped out in a recent catastrophe.

Astonished by this discovery, they put the parrots in cages and sent them home so that linguists might record what remained of the lost language. But the parrots, already traumatised by the devastation they had already witnessed, died on the way.

Wondering if, unlike these parrots, he has any wisdom to leave the world, the old man embarks upon an epic armchair journey through the twists and turns of his country’s turbulent century, of love and failed chemistry. And finally, he finds enlightenment.

Bulgaria joined the wrong side in every war. It had been occupied several times, had been taken by the erstwhile Soviet Union. The country, which was set up after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, has a chequered political history.

In 1912-13, Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan wars and during First World War, it found itself on the losing side because of its alliance with central powers. In 1944, the USSR declared war on Bulgaria and ravaged the tiny land-locked country.

Born in England, Dasgupta has been living in Delhi for a decade. He is now writing a non-fictional book about what he calls “my adopted city”. He has been quoted as saying that “the book is a kind of quest through many spheres of life in Delhi, trying to probe how the city works, the problems and what does this confusion means to us and the reasons to be horrified. This 21st century may be a significant moment in history”.

The yet-to-be-named book, is a departure from his previous novel Solo which is a soliloquy about a 100-year-old Bulgarian. The new volume is about hard facts. Dasgupta sees Delhi as an impenetrable, wary metropolis, a city with a fondness for barbed wires, armed guards and guest lists.

Though its population now touches 20 million, India’s capital remains curiously faithful to the spirit of British administrative enclave. Delhi-ites admire social rank, name-dropping and exclusive clubs, and they snub strangers who turn up without proper introduction, he says and adds, a number of forces have suddenly converged on the city which has radically changed the way the city looks.

What can we expect from his forthcoming book? He has reportedly said, “I don’t know yet”, but “I want to write it as a portrait of 21st century. I think, the things I have seen in Delhi during the decade I have lived here, are of great significance”.

Born in Canterbury, England, Dasgupta grew up in Cambridge and studied at Balliol College, Oxford. He worked for a marketing consultancy in London and New York before moving to Delhi and taking to full-time writing.