We all know and it is a cliché that we Indians are very warm, friendly and affectionate. We care about the people we know and in certain occasions we tend to care about people we do not know. We are a bit of an extroverts regarding the issues and matters related to the people we know. We have an inclination towards finding out the cheerful, sorrowful and problematic situations of the people there after enjoying, empathizing and solving them respectively.

All of this is completely unintentional and is out of love towards the people. But, unfortunately not everyone can understand this love and care which we shower on them in all aspects of their life but, in turn they tend to feel morally offensive, insulted and as an act of breaking through their privacy and personal life.

As far as my experience is concerned and the circumstances I have faced with, in accordance with the issues (Good or bad) related to me, the people whom I know and also the ones whom I barely know turned out to be a bit unaccepted. Most often people tend to share their happy moments with others without asking them.  Also we could force them or try and get to know these happy moments.   

Having said this, there can be certain limitations that could be set for our own welfare and also to maintain a good relationship with others. Now it is time to shift the state of cliché that we Indians besides being very friendly and showering love by enjoying others happiness and by solving others sorrows, problems in all the ways possible, also understand that a person will have a private and personal issues which he would not prefer to be discussed unless he/she feels comfortable.

Here are few examples of rules and limitations I would follow conforming to the subject of this article.

• If a person has written an exam, I would never ask his/her result and marks.
• If a person is not married and it is the high time, I would never ask him/her about the plans of getting married.
• If a person is unemployed, I would never ask him/her about the information about their trials, the number of hits and fails.
• If a person is married and has not planned for kids yet, I would never ask them about his/her plans and time of them having kids.
• Finally, if a person has an idea about what blogging is, I would never ask him/her if he/she has written a blog or is he/she planning to write one or I would not force him/her to blog some or read one.

I would be happy to discuss in these kinds of situations unless they themselves pick on a conversation regarding their issues. Thank you. I know I am trying to be an intelligent Indian trying hard to follow these set of rules and more, to ensure ones comfort while having a conversation with me and I am sure you will as well    

Image Courtesy: Internationalrivers.org

Note: When I speak “WE”, it does not cater to everyone but only the ones who possess the traits I am talking about.

Popularity: 9%

The recent Mumbai attacks might have seen many heads roll at highest level, but there also have been some good announcements by our new home minister after assuming the new office. Mr. Chidamabaram insisted the need of FBI kind of agency in India and said there would soon a decision be taken on the setup process. This agency is going to be seup on the lines of similar body in the US, FBI. Until a name is decided for the agency by our Govt, let me call it “IFBI” (Indian Federal Bureau of investigation).

Image Courtesy: Newsx

It may be too early to say what pros and cons this new agency would bring in. But there are some thousand questions spinning in the head – what is the need of “IFBI” whilst we already have a similar body like CBI in the country. As National Security is prime important, but what lead to this decision of having another body of investigation – jurisdiction problems? Too many investigators like Local police, CBI and CID working to investigate the issue? 

We may just need to look into series of past events on what warranted to form CBI and FBI in India and US respectively. Perhaps this might help us analyse what is the need of new “IFBI” in India at this juncture.

Lets take a look back into history on CBI formation in India; CBI was originally formed to investigate cases related to bribery and economic crimes. As the years passed, the functions of CBI were enlarged to cover special crimes besides cases dealing with terrorism. But more and more conventional murder cases (like recent Aarushi’s murder case) being referred to CBI for investigation by supreme court and central govt. Has this defocused CBI from issues related to national security and laid pavement for new agency like “IFBI”?

On the other hand the US FBI , a Federal Bureau of Investigation, a primary investigative agency in the United States has also evolved similar to CBI. It was formed to fight corruption and crime initially during president Roosevelt times. There have been considerable contributions by FBI in the US during World War I and II in cracking and thwarting insurgents’ plans within the country. Then the 1993 bomb blasts on World Trade Center was an eye opener for US government to make amendments to the jurisdiction of FBI. In fact it’s the 9/11 that made FBI fully empowered to protect US against terrorism and foreign intelligence threats.

The situation is no different in India. 26/11 becoming an eye opener to act against terrorism in the country more severely than ever before. CBI has seen the same phases as FBI in India from its inception till date. As I welcome this great thought of having a new federal body (“IFBI”) on counter-terrorism and national security in India, a million dollar question of what is that CBI cannot be empowered to do, the new “IFBI” can. Are we in a position to spend critical time building this “IFBI” or could we use CBI in status quo with some additional empowerment? Or do you consider it to be a political gimmick by our new home minister to woo opposition?

These developments do raise another concern if “IFBI” would completely or partially replace CBI in the near future. Coming months are witness to judge this notion.As long as such investigating bodies are not being politicised, we are sure to see some results.

Popularity: 13%

26th November 2008 will be remembered for the most audacious and daring terrorist attack that was launched on Indian Soil. Ten terrorist came down in a trawler and were able to take the whole nation hostage for over 60 hours killing over 180 people. Mumbai’s well known landmarks like the 105 year old Taj Mahal Hotel, Leopold Café, the CST Railway Terminus and the Oberoi Trident were the targets.

For over 2 decades now, India has been reeling under these terror strikes at prominent places which were supposed to be most secured. This means that the terrorists have been able to walk in freely and execute their strike successfully without much hindrance.

When most of the terror strikes were analyzed, two things have often stood out:

• Ineffective intelligence gathering
• Improper Policing

Ineffective Intelligence Gathering

As the popular adage goes “Prevention is better than cure” an effective intelligence can prevent these kinds of terrorist attacks. An effective intelligence gathering includes gathering ground information and then passing on the information to the required people to act upon post analysis.

Indian intelligence agencies on many occasions have failed in atleast one of the activities of effective intelligence gathering. Most of the defense analysts have criticized our premier Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Agency RAW for being good at covert action but not good at intelligence assessment and analysis.

It has not always been the Intelligence agencies that have been at fault. Sometimes intelligence agencies have supplied credible information to the Central and the state government entities and the police but they have been unable to act upon it because of bureaucratic hurdles or lack of supporting infrastructure.

For instance in the case of the Mumbai attacks, the information of the sea routes being used for some kind of terrorist activity was given to Maharastra state a day before the attacks, but nothing was done.

Improper Policing

As in the case of the Mumbai attack, when intelligence was available to the Police and the government about the possible sea borne attack, they couldn’t respond effectively as they lacked the resources to commission a reconnaissance. The below facts about our porous coastline are even more worrying:\

• India’s 7500 km coastline which has many critical installations and ports don’t have any kind of surveillance, electronic or physical.
• Against the sanctioned 73 police stations we have only 55 operational, but they lack proper equipment like speed boats and the like
• Illegal smuggling has been going on through these coasts to which the governments of these states have just turned a blind eye to

When the terrorists had attacked the CST Terminus, they had AK-47s and grenades with them and what did our police have a lathi and World War era rifle. Most of the police force in the India has faced similar problems when they come across the anti social elements like the jehadis or the Maoists.

To add on to the woes when these anti social elements were caught, the lack of proper laws have prolonged their cases and because of which most of them are still serving as under-trials when these people ought to be doing their time in the prison.

All these problems have been around because of the lax attitudes of our leaders towards terror when they enjoy Z category security for themselves. These clearly goes to say that our politicians can go to any extent to fill up their vote banks but will not do much that will help the common man or to make him feel secure.

Image Credit: BabaSteve

Popularity: 10%