Internal Security- What Election Manifestos of Cong, BJP Promise To Do

With manifestos of both BJP and Congress out in the open, it would be interesting to take stock of where the major parties stand so far as key national issues go. As part of a series of articles on election manifesto, this one would concentrate on the issues of internal security. Incidentally internal security today has become one of the biggest challenges for India.

What Congress Manifesto Says

The Congress Manifesto states, ‘Left Wing Extremism will be dealt with a firm hand. We will strengthen our security forces deployed in LWE affected areas by augmenting equipment, infrastructure and manpower, while also pursuing a development agenda to empower locals.'

Sadly, even when this article was being written, a CRPF Deputy Commandant bled to death in Bihar after getting severely injured in an explosion, conducted by Maoists. For six hours, the CRPF officer did not get any medical help in spite of profusely bleeding and eventually died.

This incident is just one of several such instances which keep on happening day in and day out in the Maoist prone areas. Almost every year over the last one decade, there have been several major instances of ambushes and sabotage leading to death of thousands of civilians and police personnel. This includes the gruesome massacre of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh in 2010 and derailing of Gyaneshwari Express by Maoists in Bengal in which more than 150 people had died.

The UPA have for most of the period remained completely clueless as to how to deal with the menace of Maoist. Lack of cohesive national policy on the issue of dealing with Maoist menace has also been a major problem.

The Congress Manifesto likewise, remains silent on the issue of escalation of terror attacks in J&K as well instances of cross border ambushes on Indian outposts by Pakistani Army personnel. It is also silent on how it plans to prevent the recurrence of 26/11 kind of terror attacks.

Further, the manifesto does not mention anything about how it plans to stop the rise of indigenous radical extremist groups including the likes of Indian Mujahideen and SIMI. The issue of too many acquittals in terror related cases, communalising terrorism cases and confusing statements by ministers have not helped the cause of fight against terrorism.

The Reality Check

While Congress promises to augment the equipment and manpower of Central Police Forces deployed in Maoist areas, the shocking fact is that over the last one year or so, there has been drastic reduction in the allocations made to Central Police Forces for purchase of weapons and equipment. Reports state that during the financial year 2013-14, while the Central Police Forces like ITBP, CRPF, CISF, BSF and NSG had sought Rs 2,360 crores from the Home Ministry for purchase of critical equipment, they were actually provided a pittance for the same.

While CRPF had sought Rs 873 crore for purchase of critical equipment, it was provided a mere Rs 20 crore. Likewise, BSF, which had sought Rs 694 crore for purchase of critical weapons, it too got a mere Rs 20 crore. The same is the case with Assam Rifles which had sought Rs 309 crore but got a mere Rs 28 crore. Further, NSG, which plays such a critical role in safeguarding the nation from major terror attacks, had asked for Rs 118 crore for purchase of modern weapons but was allocated a mere Rs 86 lakhs.

Against this backdrop, the Congress pledge to equip India's Central Police Forces with modern weapons, actually is hard to believe. The manifesto also remains silent on what Congress plans to do with the issue of a large number of Central Police Personnel quitting jobs because of pathetic work condition, indifference of senior officers, lack of timely leave and lack of even basic amenities. More than 60,000 Central Police personnel have taken voluntary retirement from Central Police Forces in the last six years.

The Congress manifesto also remains silent on the issue of cross border illegal infiltrations from Bangladesh and how it plans to contain it.

What BJP Manifesto States

The BJP manifesto on the other hand makes promises of reviving ‘the anti-terror mechanism that has been dismantled by the Congress, strengthen the role of NIA and put a system in place for swift and fair trial of terror related cases.' This is a clear indication that BJP, if voted to power would bring into place a POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Acts) kind of strong anti-terror law and change the architecture for speedy trial in terror related cases.

The BJP manifesto also pledges to insulate the intelligence agencies from political interference. This is perhaps one of the most important things that is needed to be done, given the rampant and most blatant misuse of intelligence agencies, especially the Central Intelligence Bureau, has happened in India.

The Ishrat Jahan case has been striking example where CBI and IB came at loggerheads with each other and eventually IB Director Asif Ibrahim even went to extent of stating that charge sheeting IB officers in the Ishrat Jahan case would have severe impact on the morale of IB officers and can severely impact counter-terror operations.

However, how BJP plans to insulate IB from political interference and witch-hunting, would be interesting to see. The best way forward would be to make it a constitutional body though a statutory act of parliament much on the lines of CAG and Election Commission. It would be even better if NIA, NSG, IB and a few other agencies are integrated into one cohesive counter-terror, intelligence gathering and national security agency.

A special mention as also been mentioned in the manifesto for protecting migrant workers as well as for introduction of NCC at universities and strengthen Civil Defence for community defence, civil defence and disaster management. For a country which is so much prone to natural disasters and terrorism, development of community defence and disaster management skills is a much needed programme.

On the issue of Border Management, the BJP manifesto pledges to introduce punitive measures to check illegal migrations, which today has become one of the most critical internal security issues. It also pledges to deal with cross border terrorism with a firm hand.

However, on the issue of addressing grievances of the Central Police Forces, nothing specific has been mentioned in the BJP manifesto as well. Ideally, if BJP comes to power, it has to solve the systemic issues of the Central Police Forces on a war footing without which the war against Maoists and cross border terrorism as well as illegal infiltrations, cannot be fought.

Source: http://news.oneindia.in/feature/internal-security-what-election-manifestos-of-cong-bjp-promise-to-do-lse-1427205.html

Value of the life of a CRPF jawan in India?

What is the value of the life of a CRPF jawan in India? Perhaps extremely low and that is why neither the country nor the Government react much if CRPF jawans get killed with impunity time and again by the Maoists. In April 2010, 75 Jawans of CRPF and 1 of the Chhattisgarh State Police were brutally massacred by the Maoists in Dantewada region of Chhattisgarh. Even when they were dead, their bodies were brutally mutilated by the Maoists to instil fear among others. In July 2010, the Maoists derailed Gyaneshwari Express in West Bengal leading to death of 150 innocent people. In between there have been several such attacks in which hundreds of police personnel and innocent civilians have been killed of police personnel, and Maoists even going to the extent of opening up the stomachs of dead soldiers and planting IED explosives with timers inside and then stitching them up again so that when the bodies are carried back to hospital bombs would set off then, killing more people. The Maoist attack on CRPF jawans in Chhattisgarh last Tuesday in which 16 police personnel were killed was a repeat of what has become a routine. Had it been any other country, it would have collectively gone for a total war against the perpetrators of such heinous crimes but not India. Thus the attacks kept on happening and the hapless Indian kept on paying the price.

A Clueless Central Government Each time, after a Maoist attack, the official statement from Government of India has been either that It is too early to comment or that warnings were given to the respective state about such attacks or that Law and Order is a state subject and that it is the responsibility of the concerned state government to take care of it. Even before investigations on one such attack gets over and blame games continue, news of another such attack creeps in. When no defence works, one can hear the Ministry of Home Affairs singing the same old song of not having any concrete intelligence inputs about the impending Maoist attack, as if the Maoists were supposed to courier or email their next destination of attack before committing the attack. The Heinous Effort of the Left Liberal to Justify Maoist Terror - The issue of relentless Maoist attacks and the brutal killing of hundreds state police and central police personnel is just one aspect of it.

The other shocking aspect is the manner in which even today there are people in the intellectual echelon of the Indian society who still try to justify the actions of Maoists. There is no dearth of the likes of Arundhuti Roy and her ilk who would say that the Maoists are doing it for the rights of the hapless poor tribals (sic!!). Nothing is far from the reality than this. The Reality of Maoists- Brutal and Ruthless Till 2013, in just five years, more than 2500 civilians had been brutally killed by Maoists and on most occasions, the victims have been hapless tribals of India. In 2009, the Maoist had beheaded Inspector Francis Induwar, a tribal, in Jharkhand. The nation was shaken by the cry of the child of Francis Induwar who had vowed to grow up and become a police officer to take revenge on the Maoists for the death of his father. In July 2013, the Superintendent of Police of Pakur district in Bihar, Amarjeet Balihar, a tribal too, was killed along with his security personnel in an ambush by the Maoists. In between, there have been countless such incidents of killing of tribals. Incidentally, a sizeable proportion of police personnel fighting the Maoists are tribal and the Maoists have been more brutal on them.

There have been several instances where it became clear that Maoists have been forcing hapless tribal villagers to make their children join Maoist movement. On several occasions it became apparent how the Maoists have often used children and women as human shield when attacked by Police. And yet, as a nation, India prefers to remain under the illusion that Maoists are messiah for the poor. Yet it is not just the police and the hapless tribals who have been at the receiving end. Attempts were made on the lives of former Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal namely, Chandra Babu Naidu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. In the recent past several top politicians of Congress were killed in an ambush in Chhattisgarh.

The Systemic Problems of India's Policing System- No prize for guessing that the Indian policing system is today in a mess and suffer from a large number of deficits, the biggest of them being complete lack of decisive leadership. Be it the Central Police Forces or the State Police Forces, most the senior positions are held by IPS officers. And the biggest grievance of the police forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations continue to be the fact that their senior officers never lead from the front. It is extremely rare to find a senior IPS officer leading men from the front in the anti-Maoist operations, even though there were exceptions like K Vijay Kumar who as Director General of CRPF always was by the side of his jawans. But he was an exception.

On most occasions the CRPF and the state police forces are led by Sub-Inspectors or Inspectors during operations while at times one would find Assistant Commandants or Deputy Commandants of CRPF joining the operations, neither being an IPS. Sad part is that on most occasions the men on the ground are given directions by their senior officers who prefer to be at a safe distance. In fact it was reported in 2012 in an article published in The Telegraph, how a top level Indian Army officer had told the then Home Secretary "Get your IPS officers to command battalions and lead from the front instead of making them babus behind desks."

It was similarly reported by India Today in 2012 as to how a large number of top level posts in the Indian Central Police Forces have remained vacant because of the reluctance of IPS officers to get posted in difficult and challenging terrains. Is it possible for any police force to ever win a battle against perpetrators of crime if top leadership's commitment to lead from the front remains a questionable issue? One would simply have to ask the hapless CRPF or the state police jawan battling the Maoists in the deep forests to find out as to how many times he found top officers of his battalion by his side in the battlefield.

The management of the Central Police Forces in this country have been so lacklustre and so much devoid of any imagination or rather common sense, that over the last four years alone more than 16,000 CRPF jawans and including many officers quit the force. In the last few years more than 65,000 have quit jobs from all Central Police Forces, a further reflection of the sheer mismanagement of the Central Police Forces in India, especially at a time when it has been facing major internal security challenges from all fronts.

The Mismanagement of Central Police Forces The shocking saga is the manner in which CRPF has been used as nothing less than a beast of burden with companies and battalions of CRPF being made to be on harsh anti-Maoist and counterinsurgency duties all the year round. In most cases they are made to be in J&K, then posted to Norhteast and then back to Maoist regions followed by J&K again. In between they would be taken to any part of the country wherever there is a law & order problem or would be deployed for election duty. For all practical purposes it is impossible for a normal human being to be on harsh duties for whole of the year. The Army makes it a point to have timely rotation of duties between field posting and peace time postings but not the Central Police Forces. The CRPF japans hardly get leave on time since being far away from their battalion headquarters (another major reflection of mismanagement), sanctioning of leave take lot of time. In addition to that, very high level of stress, lack of even the very basic amenities, worst kind of living conditions, shortage of basic necessities and a hopelessly ridiculous promotional scheme wherein most japans of CRPF remain at the constable rank for almost 20 years before getting the first promotion to the rank of a Head Constable, have all contributed to the creation of the mess, In 20 years of service , a jawan of the Indian Army becomes a Junior Commissioned Officer while a Central Police jawan can at best hope to become a Head Constable.

When Will India Wake Up? But before everything else, the nation as a whole would need to decide as to whether it wants to continue with this mayhem or solve it forever. It needs to decide if it wants to fight the war against Maoists or let them continue with the mayhem and brutal killings. It is either India fight the war against Maoists in the manner in which a war is supposed to be fought or it not fight it at all. But let us not fight half a war. A war against terror cannot be won with demotivated soldiers and self-serving top officers. If India has to win the war against Maoists, it has to make sure that its foot soldiers are given their dues in terms of timely promotion, adequate compensation, timely leave, rotation of posting. Further, they need to be led from the front by the top officers. The legacy of deputation of IPS officers in the Central Police Forces need to be replaced by more avenues for the officers of the Central Police Forces who should be restructured into an organised cadre.

It is also imperative for the nation as a whole to come out of the illusion that Maoists are a good lot. Today they have been reduced to nothing less than an organised crime syndicate or a terror group which is brutal, which is exploitative and which has a dangerous agenda. Most of their top leaders are filthy rich and dream of ruling India one day after brutal suppression and devastation of the Indian state that they want to bring. And the hapless tribal is their cannon fodder for all this. It is time the Indian state wakes up before it is too late. India has been extremely successful in quelling terrorism in J&K, Punjab and in Northeast. There is no reason why it cannot root out the Maoist menace.

Source:http://news.oneindia.in