Millennium Mess

The Tribune, August 1, 2016

Gurgaon now Gurugram boasts of being the Millenium City. What earned this sobriquet could be the offices of several IT companies and grand edifices and Malls which are touted not as shopping places but as a destination and tourist attraction.

While concentration of IT companies brings in thousands of young minds to the city along with revenue, it is certainly not this alone that should earn Gurugram the sobriquet. Silicon Valley in the US is home to who's who of world IT industry. But then Silicon Valley is also known for the 6th highest GDP in the world, the best air and water supply anywhere on the planet Earth. The infrasturcture is awesome and always being upgraded.

And here is our Millennium City overwhelmed by one hour's downpour. Thousands of motorists stranded everywhere. Engines stalled. People abondoned their cars on the roads and trudged home in knee deep water. NH 8 was flooded and continues to be submerged.

And to make matters worse there was a power shutdown. The Police Commissioner had to come on the radio to request workers to exercise the choice of working from their home, if they could. In fact he was defending those whose inaction and inefficiency led to traffic chaos in Gurugram.

Most of us believe that the reason for these ills is faulty planning and engineering. Most of the HUDA sectors have been carved out by acquiring village land. Each village used to have a big pond which served as a receptor of excess water. With the disappearance of these water bodies and disregard to the natural slope of the area storm water management has become difficult.

Unlike Panchkula, Gurugram is not a zero hawker city. You want to sell fruits, just start doing so on any pavement or footpath in Gurgaon. All that you need to do is to perhaps grease the palms of a few unscrupulous municipality or police officials. It is no body's business to see how many hawkers, rehris and other vendors have illegally occupied the public footpaths. What ever trash their businesses generates, goes into the drains which are never cleaned. Cleaning of drains may be a major issue in Delhi but not in your Millennium City. Not even a single cleaning staff was deployed today to clear the plastic and bio waste that clogged the drains.

Thank God the heavens did not decide to open up today! Imagine what would have happened.

It is time the Gurugram officials were slapped on their wrists by their political masters to get their act together and take corrective measures in the next few months.

The article can also be read at the following link:

http://epaper.tribuneindia.com/892508/The-Tribune/TT_01_August_2016#page/9/2

RESEARCH CAN HELP IN TACKLING RADICALS

Following is the test of my article that appeared in The Tribune, dated 15.7.2016

Opinion » Comment

Posted at: Jul 15, 2016, 12:02 AM; last updated: Jul 15, 2016, 1:36 AM (IST) Research can help in tackling radicalsSomesh Goyal

Initiating academic research on counter-terrorism will enable a comprehensive vision rather than a blinkered security point of view. 

Somesh Goyal

THE  recent wave of violence and arrest of large number of IS sympathisers  in the subcontinent show that Muslim youth across all strata of society and level of education are getting drawn to the dangerous path of jihad and Islamic terrorism. Some of them are in their teens, from affluent backgrounds educated in premium liberal schools and colleges are being swayed primarily by the net and televangelists. They abandon normal life and join either the ranks of terrorist outfits operating locally or the IS.

The Bangladesh massacre at the Holey Artisan Bakery in the hip Gulshan area and the subsequent attack at the Idgah by the youth shocked the world and brought the focus on causes of radicalisation. 

The myth that poverty and lack of education among the Muslim youth makes them susceptible to radicalisation seems to be evaporating as smart, city-bred and educated youth from all the continents fall prey to radicalisation and join the cadres of terrorist groups. More than economic reasons, it is the exposure to jihadi literature freely available on the net and social media and distorted and nuanced commentary and speeches creating fears of persecution and need for a befitting response in the service of Allah, that radicalises the youth. They are further guided by a local field operative to the training facilities and so-called battlefields. 

Radicalisation has captured the imagination of security experts all over the globe. Police forces have been able to intercept potential recruits, arrest recruiters and block social media sites and pages with varying degrees of success. In most countries, Intelligence agencies are devoting resources to the study of this phenomenon. The Intelligence organisations and government institutions in India are known to be tight-fisted about their databases and analysis. Nothing much is allowed to spill into the public domain. In the name of security, most of the data is classified too. Whatever data on terrorism is available is through the South Asian Terrorism Portal, a non-government initiative. 

Research by intelligence agencies suffer from over reliance on the security aspect than the understanding of the problem to find holistic answers. Alex P. Schmid  a research fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) and Director of Terrorism Research initiative (TRI) hit the nail on the head when he said: “Clearly the gap between academic research and counter-terrorism intelligence needs to be narrowed. Intelligence agencies and law-enforcement agencies often have too many data but lack time and as well as the analytical skills available in academia to exploit this heap of unprocessed raw data. The problem to get security clearances makes it, however, difficult for researchers to work with primary sources. Most governments keep their in-house information close to their chest.”

We must realise that radicalisation and terrorism is here to stay in the subcontinent and in other parts of the world as well. Perceived discrimination, persecution, hate mongering and economic, social and political disparities will continue to provide fertile ground to terrorist organisations for radicalisation and recruitment of the youth. The government can consider funding research by academia in this field.

We have several good institutes and universities where promising young scholars can be motivated to undertake research and come up with their understanding of the issue which may provide a different perspective than the official version. The conclusions of the studies may even be critical of the security forces' and government's policies and strategies to deal with the problem. But these will help frame better policies and strategies. A Burhan Wani can be killed but what about the thought that produces such radicals? The Indian State needs to invest in decoding the matrix underlying the jihadi mind which is possible only when quality research in this area is initiated and sustained over a long period.

The writer is Director General of Police, Prisons & Correctional Services, Himachal Pradesh. The views expressed are personal

The article can also be read online at:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/research-can-help-in-tackling-radicals/266049.html