If you want development, we must have safety first
Nothing can be more startling and shocking than the disclosure that a serial rapist could be on the rolls of an international company -- Uber -- on the strength of fake identity, address and even a character certificate. The unsuspecting young victim -- a corporate executive herself -- paid the price for believing in the credibility of a US-based entity which was in the sensitive business of providing safe cabs in India but in reality was running a ghost operation.
According to media reports, Uber had no publicly known address, no infrastructure or even a call centre and no India-based head. Any claim of deploying GPS system for its vehicles was false as otherwise there would have been a Control Desk responding to an Emergency indicated by a cab going "off air". The company would not even engage a professional security officer to at least liaise with the concerned police in matters of confirming antecedent certificates and interviewing a potential driver sought to be brought on board. Is this the way foreign companies will run their business in India-taking the systems for granted in a bid to add to their profits?
How does all this reflect on the broader question of policing in our country? There is no gainsaying the fact that the status of law and order -- the sheet anchor of the police function -- leaves much to be desired and has an adverse bearing on our internal security itself. In the Indian context it has to be understood that the role of the police now goes much beyond the maintenance of law and order, which itself may be far from perfect, to include the enlarging responsibility of sharing the task of countering the major threats to national security like terrorism and Maoism.
And what is new is that the police have to provide an environment of peace and stability so that investors could come forth to establish industry. The state of law and order is a major indicator in today's world, of a country's rating as a destination for foreign investment.
A democratic nation works both for the economic betterment and security of its citizens. The ruling dispensation is to be judged on these basic parameters. The earlier regime failed in the first because of a complicit stand on corruption and completely neglected the second. It is no surprise that scams and 26/11 became its defining moments. The new government led by Narendra Modi has to focus on both development and national security in an equal measure.
By firmly deciding to disband Planning Commission -- a non-performing white elephant, mandating that matters would be brought to the Cabinet for decision only after the process of inter-ministerial coordination had been expeditiously completed, and emphasising probity in public life Modi has set the ball rolling in the direction of the "politics of development" that he had talked about in his election campaign.
On national security, the Modi government did take the early step of appointing a professional with an Intelligence background for the job of National Security Advisor and indicating that the set up of national security could do with some revamp and strengthening -- designed to fix problems of coordination, oversight and accountability.
Narendra Modi's emphasis at the recent DGPs conference on perfecting the Intelligence set up for safeguarding internal security showed his astute understanding of the domestic scene. The role of the police in safeguarding national security has acquired a newfound importance in India because the combat against terrorism and Naxalism has to be taken to the states and the districts. The modules of terrorists created by Pakistan's ISI are hibernating on our soil while Naxalites have also dug in their heels at various districts. Never before was the District Intelligence Unit so important as a resource for national security as it now is in today's threat scenario. Intelligence from below must supplement the top down information coming forth from the Intelligence agencies.
The state and district police have to preserve peace in the areas retrieved by counter insurgency operations, so that development projects could be executed there and the hold of Naxalites weakened.
Ineffective policing makes it easy for the adversary to plant agents on the strength of fake identities, false documents and collaboration from criminals. The case of rape in an Uber cab points to the need for the police to go beyond the staple law and order agenda and ensure that all service providers and organisations having dealings with our citizens, follow norms of safety and security. This should apply to transport companies, ATMs and hospitals.
The police should clearly have an oversight on them on these aspects. This is all the more important as the level of deterrence against grave crimes is quite unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons.
Why should it not be laid down, for instance, that the driver and conductor of a bus -- government owned or private -- would be responsible for preventing commission of a crime in the vehicle and even stopping the vehicle for summoning the police? The government of the day must get the bureaucracy to work out systemic guidelines to strengthen safety and security for service organisations right across the country notwithstanding the constitutional arrangement that made the police a state subject.
The nation needs to understand that in the ultimate analysis there can be no development without security.