We don’t need to go too far to know as to why have we failed to combat terrorism, for reasons are homemade. Here i have drawn up a list of reasons known to all of us:

-Lack of political will

-Poor policing

-Lack of a robust intelligence gathering system

-Absolute lack of coordination between the centre and the states

-Communal forces

-Lack of fast track and special courts to try accused in such cases

-An ever growing number of fundamentalists

An elaboration of the first reason is very easy. Lack of political will can be assessed by the fact that even on an issue which demands the coming together of the centre and opposition: we see a Federal agency Vs POTA debate. Why can’t the UPA and opposition sit and weigh the pros and cons of each other’s policies and seek a common solution of the matter? Simply because our national parties are busy listing the problems instead of finding solutions to them. All that they are interested in is scoring brownie points over each other even at the expense of national security.

As for the police it is busy raping women, drinking, creating scene on roads. Leave aside a few decent cops but including those the police is ill equipped in dealing with terrorism cases. Lack of funds(read:corruption), lack of means to gather intelligence signals leaves them handicapped in such situations.

There is no coordination between the centre and the states. The equation is somewhat different in case the party in centre forms the state government other wise the case is even more worse. There is little intelligence sharing between the centre and the states. While it is a known fact that we need a close coordination between the two. The reason is simple for the states have better access to information about the local sleeper cells and government has better means to tackle this.

The growing number of extremists in the country ensure lessons on hatred for the other communities have been taught to the young. Being vulnerable makes them easy target. These extremists misinterpret ‘Quran’ and this misreading fuels terrorism.

We need a federal agency on the lines of FBI, US. The main task of the central government has to build consensus on this matter. While the task is tough it is not impossible

Agreed that law and order is a state subject, national security is and ought to be everyone’s subject!

Afzal Guru seems to be telling the Congress Hang me if you can; while talking to a news agency from the Tihar Jail. It is after a long time (read:3years) since one has heard of Afzal. The turn of events in this case have been ironic. Afzal was convicted by the court in 2004, the year UPA came into power at the centre and so the party saw little sense in rubbing minorities the wrong way. Afzal was put into the jail till Congress caught up into the Govt. business. As of now almost everything seems to be against the Congress. Amidst the inflation debate, the almost dead nuke deal his statement has added to the party’s woes.

Without getting into the big debate as to whether or not capital punishment plays a role in lessening the criminal tendency in people, i want Afzal to be hanged. For me it seems right. Why right? Because i think that not only the punishment would be logical but also it will send the correct signal to those who kill innocent people in the name of ‘Jehad’ and ‘Qatal’(read:the new term in terroism lingo). And for all those joining not-all-muslims-are-terrorists groups on social networking sites, i have just one thing to say: while its true that an entire community cannot to be blamed for the ill doings of a few individuals. At the same time i want to underline the obvious fact that majority of the terrorists are Muslims. For all those who resent over why Muslims are viewed as terrorists, they must know that people who feel so have some logic if not sound logic guiding them in such perception.

Also its high time for our Home Minister to take some cue from Afzal’s statement the next time he draws similarities between Afzal and Sarabjit. Afzal said he sympathizes with Sarabjit, adding that any comparion between himself and Sarabjit are uncalled for. So the bottom line is that a convict himself has said that please hang me for he doesn’t want to be among what he termed as ‘living dead’. Anyone listening? So while my sympathies are with Congress for its inability to decide anything about everything, at the same time i condemn it for the vote-bank politics which is the defining factor of its politics. So the next time Rahul Gandhi eats with a dalit family you know the reason for it. Congress’ strategies are too simple, on your face but stupid.

May be firing the strategists would help,may be ...

Mr. Patil has drawn parallels between Afzal Guru, an Indian citizen who masterminded the 2001 Parliamentary attack and Sarabjit Singh, an Indian incarcerated in a Pakistani jail. Add to this the carefully crafted law-will-take-appropriate-stand on Afzal Guru. But his craft of shielding Afzal is poorly crafted, for one can see the signal this ironical comparison is sending to the Pakistan sponsored militants. Yes-you-can-get-away is what Mr.Patil seems to be telling the terrorists.

But one fails to see where the congress actually stands on the Sarabjit Case. On the one hand Mr.Pranab Mukherjee who is in Pakistan talked of discussing Sarabjit Case whose clemency petition is pending before a Pakistani court on humanitarian grounds, on the other hand we have Mr.Patil’s poor comparison of Sarabjit and Afzal.

The remark must also be seen in the context of what importance our politicians attach to the judiciary’s decisions. It must be recollected that in the case of Afzal Guru the Supreme court deemed it fit for him to be sent to the gallows. Mr.Patil’s remark is anything but respectful of the court’s decision.

The Congress dragging-its-feet attitude on Afzal’s hanging clearly is representative of the fact that the congress is trying to shield Afzal Guru by comparing it to the emotive case of Sarabjit. It has all the reasons to do so, its logic might have been derived from the given facts. Firstly at the time of parliament attack in 2001 BJP was in the power and this reason is enough for the Congress to take a why-should-we-do-something-about-it approach. This unfortunately is very narrow view, for the petty rivalry between the two parties cannot overrule the parliament attack, for an attack on parliament is in effect an attack on the Indian Democracy. Imagine what this attack would have done to the faith of millions of Indians when one gets to see that the highest legislative body can be attacked by the terrorists at their will. Secondly when Mr.Patil says a particular community cannot be attacked for every attack on the country, he is appeasing the minority. For this means more votes and the power hungry congress knows how crucial it is to have the minority votes.

I feel sorry for Mr.Patil for expressing such views and thus drawing flak from almost everyone in the country. Mr.Patil is just the face behind the message, he is expressing his party’s views on the matter. In other words he did nothing but his job. Unfortunately he has gone blind doing his job, for he cannot see the difference between Afzal - a terrorist and Sarabjit - a victim of mistaken identity. What Mr.Patil and Congress have failed is that while taking a stand on Afzal’s case they missed on a very crucil point. Here is the point, that the Indians are neither blind nor dumb and this translates to the fact that people can clearly see through the Congress’ poor strategy. Firstly it was an unexplained delay in Afzal’s hanging, this time it is yet other pretext for the same.

Justice Balakrishnan who headed the Constitution bench on the OBC quota matter,said earlier matriculation was the benchmark was the benchmark for determining the SEBCs (Socially and economically bacward class) which has now gone up to graduation. Now the point is that even if one concedes to the reservation policy as a means of upliftment of the people who have had a history of being denied equal status and growth opportunities in our society, one cannot close his eyes to the almost no result of the reservation policy. A superficial view may take you look at a handful of people belonging to these classes drawing benefits from such a scheme but the ground reality is that those who need such policy the most have little knowledge of it, keep apart the benefit they would derive out of it. So what the CJ said, in effect translates to the fact that instead of a positive effect of the policy it has made the matter worse. In simple terms,People who needed the reservation till the level of graduation now need the benefit at the postgraduate level too. Not just there is reservation for them in the field of education alone they avail of the same privilege in jobs, promotion. In such a situation one tends to see reservation more as a problem and less as a solution. For the justice meted out the backward classes is an injustice for the other people. This i guess is a grave problem for it will turn out to be a vicious circle with no end.

I am strictly against caste based reservations and i have some logic in support of my firm stand on the issue. Firstly nobody would deny the fact that with the changing times one needs to look at these concerns in view of the realities of the present world. Today the emphasis is on talent and merit rather than anything else. As citizens of the global world one needs to look beyond the ever so narrow distinctions of religion, caste and creed. India cannot afford to lag behind in this world of cut throat competition embracing the excuse of reservation. Secondly, the social exclusion and exploitation the backward classes faced was in the ancient Indian society. These days as far as i now we don’t live in a society where the Hindu hierarchy is divided into four Varnas namely Kshatriya, brahmin, vaishya and shoodra. There has to be no reservation for the backward classes as the society has no reservations against them, atleast this holds true of urban India.

On the other hand i feel there is a strong need for reservation for the havenots in the society. Caste is no longer an indicator of social status but money is. For people with lack of resources are seen as outcast in the society. If we want a spirit of fair competition to prevail, both the competitors X and Y need to be at the same level with the equal resources at each end.

As far as the Arjun Singh’s rhetoric or reservation goes it has just one explanation that Congress will leave no stone unturned cashing on it in view of the upcoming elections. The government’s mindless reservation policy can be assessed by the fact that after more than 50 years that reservation has been put in place there have been no efforts to evaluate its result. This is nothing but vote bank politics, Congress is pro at. We must not let petty politics and poor logic behind the caste based reservation let pass with our passive attitude. We need to ask them,On what basis is the government going ahead with the new reservation scheme for the OBCs when the result of the reservation policies in the past has not been evaluated till now?We need to question those who rule us for it we who have given them this reservation.

His knowledge of world affairs is amazing so is his decision making ability. So he searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, when there existed none. His blatant support to Mr. Musharaff in his so called Anti terrorism tirade paid him little dividends. The result of his strategies is for all to see. While his personal fight against Saddam Husain in Iraq did little then to break the country into pieces. As to the support he meted out to Musharaff had few takers in the latter’s own country. The present scenario has Musharaff clutching on to power like his personal property as Pakistan is seen grappling with the worst ever political crisis in its history.

Now i have some news for Mr.Bush.In what has come as a blot on the credentials of his statement - The Global Food Market Report of the Food & Agricultural Organiation of the UN says that the increase in India and China’s food consumption rate has been dismal in the last one year as compared to America. In America the food consumption rate jumped from 27.76 Crore tons(2006-07) to 31.04 Crore tons(2007-08). In terms of percentage rate it translates to a substantial 11.81%. With these facts by your side Mr.Bush i think you will come up with a much accurate answer, the next time someone pops the question:Who you think is responsible for the global food crisis?

Consider this:Congress Election Manifesto includes-

. Providing Rs.25kg of rice at Rs.2perKg for green ration card holders.
. One colour TV set for all green card holder families.
. House for 1.5million houseless families in 5 years.
. A waiver for all Ashraya(Housing scheme for poors).
. Indira Aawas Yojna Home loans.

From BJP’s stable the freebies offered are:
. Providing Rs.25Kg rice at Rs.2 per Kg.
. Free power to farmers.
. Farm loans at 3-4% interest rate.

While it is not the first time that the parties have employed this way to garner votes. Regional parties have played this freebies card from time to time to varying effects. Even as the State Election Commission has tightened the noose on such a practice, with it having seized 30,000 watches in Chikkaballapura, 1,100 sarees in Ramangara. The onus to stop this undemocratic practice of luring voters with bribes, lies solely with the voters, and rightly so.

For in my view, it is the voter who has to decide if the freebies which is their priority or a good governance. While a short term gain may appear tempting to the common voter, it is he with whom lies the authority to choose the government. The voter has to shoulder the onerous responsibility of not undermining the worth of his vote. The voter has to be educated of his rights and responsibilities. While the election manifesto has traditionally been a tool to make big, tall promises, it is rare that a party lives upto it. Keeping the democracy alive is not just the EC’s job it is the job of a voter too. Remember in a democracy all of us have to fulfill our responsibilities to the best of our potential and the present time calls for it.

Thought for today:Voter bribery cannot make up for a good governance.