Enough is enough.
Never for so long have the media and the “rich and famous” collectively questioned and spoken in one voice on police reforms. This was a subject not for them but the very few (considered crazy) who were fighting in the Apex Court, or speaking and/or writing at the same time — all at their personal cost. I was categorically told by more than one boss to “stop speaking and writing on police reforms”. I did not.
I recall when the Supreme Court judgment on police reforms was delivered, in September 2006 and January 2007, it did not get due attention for wider dissemination, though it actually merited banner headlines. I personally tried to provoke our leading TV news channels to have some intensive discussions on the issue. But they were by and large evasive. They could not spare time for the Apex Court’s directions to make the impact and create opinion amongst the masses. Interestingly, these were also being opposed by the respective state administrations and the police leadership, including the one in the capital.
For the last 60 years, Indian policing has remained stuck in its pre-Independence state. By this I mean enslaved, hierarchical, scared, ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-paid, ill-led, ill-resourced, obedient, at places equally indisciplined, law-breaking, rich and powerful oriented, and non-accessible to the poor while losing personnel each year.
Why did this situation come about? Who is responsible for this state of affairs? Primarily the following six, collectively and individually: The politicians, the bureaucrats, the judiciary, senior police leadership, the educated class and the media. Let me explain as I understand it:
* The Politicians: This class (barring a few exceptions) was invariably of the belief that police was and is part of their fiefdom, always to be at their beck and call. The Police Act of 1861, still in force, places the police under the executive control of the political executive. Over the years it got stretched to negative political interference in investigations, law and order management, postings, transfers and promotions, across all ranks.
* The bureaucrats: This is the least accountable class. They are the persons (again, barring some exceptions) who use the politicians. They are the ones who are status quo-ists. They have successfully blocked police reforms and I have seen this happen first-hand. This class has successfully stalled the spread of police commissioner system in our metropolises, as also having more police officers well versed with operations in the home ministry.
* The Judiciary: It took the courts more than 10 long years after a public interest litigation was filed by Prakash Singh, former DGP, on police reforms, to finally deliver the judgment in 2006. The ball is still in the Apex Court as several states are daring to defy the directions given in the judgment. It is to be seen how the honourable court takes the recalcitrant ones to task.
* Senior Police Leadership: There has been a gradual decline of courage in the higher echelons of the service: The courage to lead and the courage to represent the rank and file before the powers that be; As also the will to show the way, by way of innovation and winning public’s trust. (Isolated cases of raw courage notwithstanding).
* The Educated Class: Moved more towards becoming “gated communities” by increasing private security arrangements in order to secure themselves, rather than becoming powerful voices to question police’s inadequacies. Actually, they just gave up on the system!
* Last but not the least, the media: Had the media been determined to force the change, they could have doggedly followed the police reform judgment as a mark of respect for the Apex Court. They did not. But now they are planning to. For now it is a case of “now or never”. Because now “enough is enough”.
The “Mumbai terror” was preventable, just as all the earlier blasts were. If we had placed internal security reforms at par with economic reforms, if the quality of our intelligence gathering, response time, resources, laws, training, coordination and leadership had all been in place, neither the Taj, nor our sartaj, India’s Parliament, would have been bloodied. Thousands of precious lives would not have been lost. Damage to precious property and our economy, resulting in huge loses, would have been avoided. Instead, this money could have provided for better weaponry, bullet-proof jackets and vehicles, better wireless systems, trawlers to patrol the coastline and more personnel. All found missing as the world watched live! A true embarrasment for the emerging economic superpower!
--Kiran Bedi, now retired from the IPS and a social activist, was the first woman officer in the Indian Police Service
Thursday, December 4, 2008
ASK Yourself
1. Do not worry about those who have come thru boats...
Our forces can easily defeat them.
WORRY about those who have come thru votes....
Those are our REAL ENEMIES….
2. What a shame and disgrace to every citizen of India that the elite
NSG Force was transported into ordinary BEST buses, whereas our cricketers are transported into state of the art luxury buses, these Jawans lay down their lives to protect every Indian and these cricketers get paid even if they lose a match, we worship these cricketers and forget the martyrdom of these brave Jawans.
The Jawans should be paid the salaries of the cricketers and the cricketers should be paid the salaries of the Jawans.
3. An ace shooter shoots and gets gold medal, govt gives 1cr, another
shooter dies while shooting terrorist, govt gives 5 lakh.
WHO DESERVES MORE? Huh.. This is our India....
Please be a patriot and forward this to everyone u know.
-Indian
courtesy Manjunath Bellakki
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Good , Bad and Ugly
THE GOOD
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, 31yrs, who succumbed to injuries during the Black Tornado operation inside the Taj Hotel, Mumbai was the only son of retired ISRO officer Mr. K. Unnikrishnan and Mrs. Dhanalakshmi.
He was such a patriot since childhood that he even attended school in a crew hair cut.
"Do not come up, I will handle them." These were probably the last words which Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan told his men as he was hit by bullets while engaging terrorists.
I salute to the HERO.
THE BAD
Azam Amir Kasav, 21 yrs, is the only terrorist captured alive by police and is currently in Indian custody.He comes from a very poor landless peasant family,reportedly from Faridkot, near Multan, in Pakistan. His brother, Afzal, works as a laborer or cart-puller in Lahore (Pakistan), his father, Mohammad Amir Iman, makes his living by a snack cart in Faridkot. Ajmal is the third of five siblings.
He dropped out of school at age 13, with a fourth-grade education, in 2000, and worked as a laborer, or petty thief.A senior Lashkar commander, reportedly offered to pay his family Rs.150,000 for his participation in the attacks.
He told the police that he was trained to "kill to the last breath", but when he was arrested, he pleaded with the medical staff: "I don't want to die. Put me on saline".
Azam also revealed that he and his associate stayed in Room 630 in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel where they stored ammunition and had many visitors. They had booked the room for four days using fake Mauritian identities.ATS sources indicate that blood and urine tests on Azam showed that the terrorist was heavily drugged while committing the acts of terror.
THE UGLY
Though after the attacks Deccan mujahideen has claimed the responsibility, the sole captured terrorist confirmed that these attacks were planned and executed by Lashkar e taiba.
In March 2000, Lashkar-e-Taiba militants are claimed to have been involved in the Chittisinghpura massacre, where 35 Sikhs in the town of Chittisinghpura in Kashmir were killed.
2005 Delhi bombings: During Diwali, Lashkar-e-Taiba bombed crowded festive Delhi markets killing 60 civilians and maiming 527.
2006 Mumbai train bombings: The investigation launched by Indian forces and US officials have pointed to the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Mumbai serial blasts on 11 July 2006. The Mumbai serial blasts on 11th July claimed 211 lives and maimed about 407 people and seriously injured another 768.
A big list goes on til Nov 2008.
There were 11000 terror attacks across the world since Sep 2001.
God bless India!
Jai Hind,
Dr.Usha...
Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, 31yrs, who succumbed to injuries during the Black Tornado operation inside the Taj Hotel, Mumbai was the only son of retired ISRO officer Mr. K. Unnikrishnan and Mrs. Dhanalakshmi.
He was such a patriot since childhood that he even attended school in a crew hair cut.
"Do not come up, I will handle them." These were probably the last words which Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan told his men as he was hit by bullets while engaging terrorists.
I salute to the HERO.
THE BAD
Azam Amir Kasav, 21 yrs, is the only terrorist captured alive by police and is currently in Indian custody.He comes from a very poor landless peasant family,reportedly from Faridkot, near Multan, in Pakistan. His brother, Afzal, works as a laborer or cart-puller in Lahore (Pakistan), his father, Mohammad Amir Iman, makes his living by a snack cart in Faridkot. Ajmal is the third of five siblings.
He dropped out of school at age 13, with a fourth-grade education, in 2000, and worked as a laborer, or petty thief.A senior Lashkar commander, reportedly offered to pay his family Rs.150,000 for his participation in the attacks.
He told the police that he was trained to "kill to the last breath", but when he was arrested, he pleaded with the medical staff: "I don't want to die. Put me on saline".
Azam also revealed that he and his associate stayed in Room 630 in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel where they stored ammunition and had many visitors. They had booked the room for four days using fake Mauritian identities.ATS sources indicate that blood and urine tests on Azam showed that the terrorist was heavily drugged while committing the acts of terror.
THE UGLY
Though after the attacks Deccan mujahideen has claimed the responsibility, the sole captured terrorist confirmed that these attacks were planned and executed by Lashkar e taiba.
In March 2000, Lashkar-e-Taiba militants are claimed to have been involved in the Chittisinghpura massacre, where 35 Sikhs in the town of Chittisinghpura in Kashmir were killed.
2005 Delhi bombings: During Diwali, Lashkar-e-Taiba bombed crowded festive Delhi markets killing 60 civilians and maiming 527.
2006 Mumbai train bombings: The investigation launched by Indian forces and US officials have pointed to the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Mumbai serial blasts on 11 July 2006. The Mumbai serial blasts on 11th July claimed 211 lives and maimed about 407 people and seriously injured another 768.
A big list goes on til Nov 2008.
There were 11000 terror attacks across the world since Sep 2001.
God bless India!
Jai Hind,
Dr.Usha...
Where are the Leaders ?
Dear Friends,
I am sure that all of you might have watched the TV coverages last one week with lot of frustration and helplessness and anguish ...etc etc...
The time has come for the second freedom struggle. This time it is against our own political system and our own failures.
Educated are taking back seat. That is the main reason for the failures. Education here means not having degrees. It is not having commonsense. In fact, fishermen from west coast are much better than the so called educated TV Anchors. They wrote a letter about what they have observed and requested the police to take action. Where as anti terror squad is busy in projecting our own army people and Hindu religious activists as TERRORISTS. ATS chief paid the price by loosing his life for yielding to political pressures.
Our TV anchors helped the terrorists in locating which direction our commando's are coming in to the building etc by doing live coverage just to improve their ratings and to get foreign investors in to their TV channels or for improving their personal resumes. One silly example is WE PEOPLE Show by Barkha dutt.
Journalism is loosing its core values. So called Critics becoming pseudo intellectuals by pointing out BJP or VHP. I dont see Shabana Azmi or Javed Akthar or Arundathi rai or Sitaram YEchuri, Chandra babu naidu or including any new political entrees such as Chiranjeevi or even Loksatta Jaya Prakash Narayan or any damn celebrities opening thier mouths.
If a cricketer hits a six then state govts in India awards them lakhs of rupees and lands for house construction. But none of these players have come forward to condemn the attacks openly with a united voice. No patriotic feeling among any celebraty or other important figures of India. No Govt except Gujarath came forward to help the people who laid their lives for the sake of this country.
In fact, I hate to write to any further on these thick skinned people of our Country.
But we can do something. A common man can do a lot. So why not we the people of India come together and represent our voice through blogs and u tube videos etc.
Let us ignite a small spark in the hearts of people and see what will happen.
I request you all to visit saveIndia blog which was initiated by Durga, Usha, Raj Manju and many more and contribute your views. Initially it is a chaos. But I am sure slowly we can organize ourselves and do more things. First let us vent out our feelings on HOW TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY FROM THE PEOPLE WHO CAME THROUGH OUR VOTES.
Also please forward the information about this blog to all.
First thing please be a member of it and represent your voice and check for updates of our course of actions too.
Thanks
Srinivas
I am sure that all of you might have watched the TV coverages last one week with lot of frustration and helplessness and anguish ...etc etc...
The time has come for the second freedom struggle. This time it is against our own political system and our own failures.
Educated are taking back seat. That is the main reason for the failures. Education here means not having degrees. It is not having commonsense. In fact, fishermen from west coast are much better than the so called educated TV Anchors. They wrote a letter about what they have observed and requested the police to take action. Where as anti terror squad is busy in projecting our own army people and Hindu religious activists as TERRORISTS. ATS chief paid the price by loosing his life for yielding to political pressures.
Our TV anchors helped the terrorists in locating which direction our commando's are coming in to the building etc by doing live coverage just to improve their ratings and to get foreign investors in to their TV channels or for improving their personal resumes. One silly example is WE PEOPLE Show by Barkha dutt.
Journalism is loosing its core values. So called Critics becoming pseudo intellectuals by pointing out BJP or VHP. I dont see Shabana Azmi or Javed Akthar or Arundathi rai or Sitaram YEchuri, Chandra babu naidu or including any new political entrees such as Chiranjeevi or even Loksatta Jaya Prakash Narayan or any damn celebrities opening thier mouths.
If a cricketer hits a six then state govts in India awards them lakhs of rupees and lands for house construction. But none of these players have come forward to condemn the attacks openly with a united voice. No patriotic feeling among any celebraty or other important figures of India. No Govt except Gujarath came forward to help the people who laid their lives for the sake of this country.
In fact, I hate to write to any further on these thick skinned people of our Country.
But we can do something. A common man can do a lot. So why not we the people of India come together and represent our voice through blogs and u tube videos etc.
Let us ignite a small spark in the hearts of people and see what will happen.
I request you all to visit saveIndia blog which was initiated by Durga, Usha, Raj Manju and many more and contribute your views. Initially it is a chaos. But I am sure slowly we can organize ourselves and do more things. First let us vent out our feelings on HOW TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY FROM THE PEOPLE WHO CAME THROUGH OUR VOTES.
Also please forward the information about this blog to all.
First thing please be a member of it and represent your voice and check for updates of our course of actions too.
Thanks
Srinivas
See what the so-called President of India doing when Mumbai was burning !
How many of us know,
that Indian President has continued her on going foreign tour when Mumbai was under Siege, even though foreign leaders like John McCain and Condolezza Rice are making unplanned visits to India? And she returned back to India on Sunday only after she was informed that the operation was over.
that President Pratibha Patil "forgot" to salute the Indian flag at a ceremonial reception for her in Mexico?
that President Pratibha Patil does a regular, expensive, state sponsored holiday trips with more than a dozen family members? At a holiday trip in the Andaman islands, more than 400 trees were chopped to make way for a helipad for the President's chopper and another 60 trees were felled as they would block the President's view of the beach.
that President Pratibha Patil claimed on TV camera, that she has spoken to the spirit of the deceased leader (Baba Lekhraj) at their headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
that as MP from Amravati between 1991 and 1996 Pratibha Patil had diverted Rs 36 lakh from her MPLADS fund to a trust run by her husband Devisingh Shekhawat. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisation run by their relatives.
who is the Vice President of India? You'd have known at least now if Vice President of India had raised voice or condemned the attacks.
that a 25 year old commando lost his left eye on 27th Nov and rushed to hospital? He did not have any visitors until the next day when his fiancee and parents arrived. This is how we respect our real heroes.
"You can choose to defeat terrorism or be defeated by it. Defeat is certain."
Jai Hind,
Raj Pyda....
that Indian President has continued her on going foreign tour when Mumbai was under Siege, even though foreign leaders like John McCain and Condolezza Rice are making unplanned visits to India? And she returned back to India on Sunday only after she was informed that the operation was over.
that President Pratibha Patil "forgot" to salute the Indian flag at a ceremonial reception for her in Mexico?
that President Pratibha Patil does a regular, expensive, state sponsored holiday trips with more than a dozen family members? At a holiday trip in the Andaman islands, more than 400 trees were chopped to make way for a helipad for the President's chopper and another 60 trees were felled as they would block the President's view of the beach.
that President Pratibha Patil claimed on TV camera, that she has spoken to the spirit of the deceased leader (Baba Lekhraj) at their headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
that as MP from Amravati between 1991 and 1996 Pratibha Patil had diverted Rs 36 lakh from her MPLADS fund to a trust run by her husband Devisingh Shekhawat. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisation run by their relatives.
who is the Vice President of India? You'd have known at least now if Vice President of India had raised voice or condemned the attacks.
that a 25 year old commando lost his left eye on 27th Nov and rushed to hospital? He did not have any visitors until the next day when his fiancee and parents arrived. This is how we respect our real heroes.
"You can choose to defeat terrorism or be defeated by it. Defeat is certain."
Jai Hind,
Raj Pyda....
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