On the need to think big!!

"We have been. . . thinking small. And if we look around us, countries like China have grown so much by thinking big. I would urge that we all, in the coming years, think big, think of doing things not in small increments, not in small deltas, but seemingly impossible things. But nothing is impossible if you really set out to do so. And we act boldly. Because it is this thinking big and acting boldly that will move India up in a manner different from where it is today".

Ratan Tata's words of inspiration

Measures of deterrence…………! (Series C)

History is evident that the strongest of the nations have fallen due to internal clashes and feeble internal security system. India is facing varied challenges in the management of its internal security. Deterrence is crucial and the following can prevent such happenings:

• India has given to the world the principles of ‘NAM’ and ‘Panchsheel’. The Tashkent and Shimla agreements, international commitment on ‘NO- to the first use of nuclear weapons’, ‘Agra Summit’ in the post Kargil escalations, commitment to solve the border problems by mutual discussions etc. shows maturity in her foreign policies and relations. A farther-deeper understanding and mutual cooperation with the neighboring countries may help curb terrorism. Else, she should take bold steps, diplomatic or otherwise, to uproot terrorist training centres from the soils of the neighboring countries.


• An international platform on the lines of UNO, SAARC and such others should be formulated at her behest to exclusively deal with global terrorism. Such a body should be politically, economically and militarily strong to take preventive or corrective measures on terrorism and also against the countries perpetuating this heinous crime against humanity.


• The ruling and opposition leaders in the country should dissolve their internal differences on the issues related to the prevention of terrorism and issues of national interests.


• India’s anti-terrorism laws, like:
  The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967
  Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA)1987
  Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) 2001 have all been weedy so far, and, therefore needs to be well thought over and worked upon.


• Separatist leaders (political or religious) should be dealt with strictly and at par with the terrorists.


• The coordination among the defence – paramilitary forces and the forces responsible for internal security should be strengthened. The intelligence agencies should be made efficient and federal.


• Illegal infiltration across the border should be checked by increasing border vigilance and enforcing institutional measures.


• The issues of social inequality and regional disparity in the distribution of national income should be dealt with understanding, planning and sincerity.


• Common man also needs to come out of their inhibitions and bring a comprehensive socio-political change in the nation if the system goes moldy and when the administrators take everything to be granted forever.

To read more, Click here

Also Read articles 1 and 2.

The picture is taken from here.

“…………becoming a soft target on home ground!” (Series B)

Map (In the Indian context): ISI and State sponsored Terrorists - Maoists-Naxalists axis culminating at the Jaffna Peninsula (a strong hold of the LTTE) - Terrorist centres in Bangladesh - Training/hiding grounds for the Insurgents of NE India in Myanmar.

Whereas the causes of Insurgency and Naxalism in India can be chiefly attributed to socio-economic and political neglect of certain communities and tribes from the mainstream of national development, rise of Terrorism has baffling reasons in the Indian context, viz.:
Geopolitically, India is surrounded by some of the hostile countries whose soils serve as the operational grounds for various terrorist groups. After being defeated in 1965 and 1971 wars and also in the border escalations in 1948 and 1999, Pakistan has waged a proxy war against India by perpetuating terrorism, first in J&k…..next in Punjab and now in whole of India.
Further, to guard a vast land boundary of about 15,000 kms from the west to the east is also a Herculean task. This makes our borders porous to the anti-national forces.
Politically, the leaders of today lack courage and vision to deal with this menace. In the fear of throbbing religious sentiments of certain communities and the filthy vote bank politics, they hesitate to take stern steps.
For e.g., the master mind behind the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13th December 2001 is not yet hanged till death (though he is convicted by the Supreme Court of India), why?, ..........................probably everyone knows!
Economically, widespread unemployment, unequal distribution of income and disparity in regional development has been preparing recruitment grounds for the terrorists.
About some youths taking to terrorism to make some easy money can also not be discarded completely.
Demographically, the Indian society is a mosaic of various socio-religious groups which are further divided in the name of caste, sect and dialect. The anti-national elements have been, from time and again, playing their nasty cards on these sensitive issues.
Besides, loopholes in the legal system, or say, anti-terrorism laws, dearth of anti-terrorism squads and weak intelligence inputs compounded by the lack of coordination among the defence, paramilitary forces and the bodies responsible for internal security has made India vulnerable to terrorist attacks often frequently.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/13/newsid_3695000/3695057.stm
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=134107

source: offstumped.nationalinterest.in/wp-content/upl

Terrorism, Insurgency and Naxalism - a conceptual difference (series A)

Of the three G’s, viz:
· Global population increase
· Global warming
· Global terrorism,
……..the emergence of terrorism is the gravest danger which mankind faces in the 21st century and India is no exception to it.
However, one needs to keep in mind that all types of violence are not the terrorist acts. There lies a very thin line of difference among these heinous forms of crime against humanity, viz. Terrorism, Insurgency and Naxalism.

Terrorism
· It is a well thought-out and premeditated use of violence against civilians, armed personnel and the nation by some persons or groups to promote a political cause.
· It can be across the border and against one’s own or other country.
· It may or may not have the support of the local people.
· Some of these groups are:
Al Qaeda, Harakat ul-Ansar, Harakat ul-Mujahidin, Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed), Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Army of the Righteous), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam etc.
http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/terrorist-groups.cfm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/issues/terrordata/
http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/04spec.htm

Insurgency
· It is violent action or intensive agitation by a group in the form of uprising against a constitutionally formed government.
· It is confined within the national boundary and is directed against one’s own elected government.
· It is often operated with the support of a section of the local people.
· In the Indian context they were / are:
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Kuki National Army (KNA), Kuki National Front (KNF), National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force (BLTF) etc.
http://news.oneindia.in/tags/insurgency+naxalism


Naxalism
· It is an ideology based violence which has created a serious law and order problem before the nation through killings, blasts, extortions and kidnappings.
· It is basically confined to the tribal belts. However the network of naxalists has widened to urban India for logistics, finance and manpower through global terrorist links.
· It has voluntary / involuntary rural support.
· In the Indian context they are:
The People’s War Group (PWG), Maoists Communist Centre (MCC) etc.
http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/naxalite_map_india.gif
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0428/p99s01-duts.html

Infact, the involvement of foreign agencies and state sponsorship compounded by the misuse of advancement in IT has diluted the very differences among these.
These inhumane acts aim to weaken the nation and its people for its territorial division.

"taming the Kosi - a 'lag time' approach."

………………to be very precise on this context, the fundamental to handle the furious Kosi is to increase the ‘lag time’ in its entire catchment area, as rivers with a short lag time are more likely to flood.

Lag time is the time difference between maximum rainfall and peak flow.

The fluvio-geomorphological and meteorological changes and increasing human interventions in the form of:

• global climatic change and the resultant changes in the elements of weather / climate and their pattern
• alterations in the river basin morphology and its characteristic features
• removing woodland and forests, rapid urbanization, straightening river channels, artificially raising the height of river banks, and, so on and so forth, interferes in the factors and processes of the hydrological cycle.

Under normal circumstances the ‘precipitation input’ and ‘stream discharge’ equation goes like this:

The highlighted text in red background and font shows the area where humans negatively interfere into the system, thereby compelling the river to over flow its banks.

The ‘lag time’ can be increased by allowing the basin area to perform more of interception, percolation and storage than any type of flows and the ultimate discharge into the river channel.

Some of these following human activities can increase the ‘lag time’:

• planting more woodlands and forest.
• building dams to store and control discharge.
• diverting the flood water to other basin areas, say through river linking project.
  
• river channel dredging.
• extracting water for industrial and domestic uses.
• maintaining the wetlands as storage tanks.
• more number of percolation pits with the rapid urbanization process, etc.

In short, at macro (like the entire catchment / basin area) as well as micro level (water percolation pits) there need to be long term strategies and follow ups on flood management in the region.

“The swollen Kosi – an erroneous human approach”

Whereas River Damodar (once called as the ‘sorrow of Bihar and West Bengal’) has been tamed under the DVC Project by following the principles and approaches of TVA on river water management, the Kosi River has again dubiously gained the distinction of being called the ‘river of sorrow’. Its flood havocs have killed many hundreds, rendering more than three million homeless and completely uprooting the rural economy.
Fluvio-geomorphologically, Kosi is a part of the Ganges riverine system which comes out from the Himalayas on a steep gradient course. One of the reasons behind its frequent flooding being a break in the river gradient on entering the Plains of Northern Bihar, multiplied by heavy silt load and incessant rain followed by peak discharge in the basin area (particularly in the Himalayan catchments). The aspect of deforestation, filling of the natural and man-made waterholes that were existing in the form of lakes, ponds and marshy lands etc., large scale settlement in the flood plains can also not be ignored.
However, a lack of political will on part of the Central and State government is equally to be blamed for the same. Though in 1950s, the then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru had directed the Central Water Commission for a long term solution to tame the river, the government has since then settled on interim and temporary arrangements on a barrage at Hanuman Nagar, Birpur (Nepal) and construction of embankments. It is an open fact that these measures have been grossly erroneous as Kosi:

• is a highly meandering river and has drifted more than 150 kms. in past 120 years. In other words, it has a highly unstable channel / course.
• carries heavy silt load, the source being the fragile sedimentary and crystalline rocks of the Himalayas.
  The silt is infertile unlike the alluvial deposits, and therefore, has devastating effects on the agrarian economy of the state.

It seems that the natural tendency of Kosi do not approve of the steady-water equilibrium engineering of those who are at the planning and execution level in managing this furious river.