For example, connecting every police station is going to cost hundreds of crores of Rupees. Where is that money going to come from? Are you willing to pay extra tax to raise that money?

–Projecting the indigenous jihad movement which has the covert tactical support & sympathy of the Muslim community almost enmasse, as a war like situation would polarize the society, & the clandestine movement would come out in the open, having given the legal sanction of war, would prove to be detrimental to the Nation.
Be rest assured, on their part there is no war of minds, they are very clear of their ‘holy duties’ & ‘the ticket to paradise’ and care 2 hoots for what any India stands or sits for, it’s none of their concern.

2. Assure the nation that we will fight—and win—this war. This will bring fence-sitters onto the side they think that will win. But the assurance must be credible.

–All attempts for any such ‘credible’ assurances will lead the masses in the Rss / VHP brigade’s laps, who are in the making of the Hindu version of Taliban. (I’m more comfortable with the jihadi morons,- atleast I am aware & alert that there is a stealthy snake in my backyard & whom I can deal with effectively, lol).

Dominate the battle on the ground
3. Connect every thana, every chowki (and in future every policeman) to a national database and network. Neither POTA nor a new anti-terrorism agency is crucial: connect existing intelligence and law-enforcement agencies through a common network.

-I would prefer to leave the police with it’s policing & with regards to existing intelligence agencies, strengthen them more with fresh recruits, more overriding powers, an exclusive judiciary, & centralized state level sizable units specifically to deal with terrorism & any such anti-national activities. Let’ not forget that recently even the armed force specially the air force had been indicating of jihadi elements entering their ranks. The Mumbai police & Indian politicians still have a large number of Dawood’s ‘men’ & the D companies ‘business’ is flourishing in India.

4. Empower police by implementing police reforms. Use the Supreme Court of India’s judgement in Prakash Singh & Others vs Union of India & Others to generate momentum. Strengthen police-public partnerships.

-By all means, but the police-public partnership sound a wee bit idealistic.

5. Move internal security to the PMO. The Prime Minister should chair a Cabinet Committee on Internal Security; a dedicated internal security advisor (rank of secretary or higher) should be appointed to act as the point man covering all aspects of internal security.

-Isn’t there already a NSA in place, & do not the IB, RAW report exclusively to the PM?

Engage the nation (don’t merely ‘secure their approval’)
6. Mobilise the nation through a national satyagraha against terrorism. Get the grassroots to be uncompromising and unrelenting in the battle against terrorism. Pay special attention to reconciliation and form national integration committees in sensitive areas.

-The present ground realities in India are much too complex to be solved in a simplistic manner as suggested by you, rather on the contrary, Any such stupidity will only serve the purpose of vested interests & shall be shamelessly exploited & mauled by pervert prevailing vote-bank politics, at it’s worst, may also create a civil war-like situation, any such exercise in today’s scenario has the potential to go horribly wrong, best let it be seen (even though it’s not so) & projected as a law & order situation & give space for the state machineries to deal with it.

7. Liberalise the economy. Terrorism and dissatisfaction are a direct result of the polices of “communal socialism”, a form of social “license-raj” that stifles socio-economic mobility. Economic freedom will lead to economic growth that will undermine the jihadi base.

-Islamic terrorism does not fit in your liberalization logic, or else how would you explain the Islamophobia of the western liberal world? Mercifully we are not a paranoid society like them. Even though the dismantling of the legacy of the nehruvian curse is a must, it should be done in a speedy phased manner & not in an authoritarian manner.

—Further any such ‘patriot Act’ are not for India, America & most of the western world are exclusively Christian countries, & their so called indigenous terrorists are merely immigrants, who can be packed back from here they have come. Such isn’t the case with India, which in it’s self is a mini-earth with all social & environmental global ingredients in almost the same proportion, relatively speaking.

Points #1 and #2 are designed specifically to address people like you.

Let’s be honest about this: there are clear answers to each and every one of your questions. But it so happens that questioning the existence of those answers is often used to hijack the discourse on counter-terrorism policy.

- An anti terror law on the lines of US Patriots Act.
- A Federal Agency on Crime.
- National Communications and Surveillance systems.
- Fortifying all state borders. Looking at all entry and exits of citizens – either tourists or migrant blue collar or white collar workers.

- A statewide database of hotels, lodge and guest houses. With full record of guest lists.
- Removal of all muslim slums in all major cities.
- Embed agents in islamic regions to extract any ground information on suspicious movement or activity.
- A national database on crime with photo and fingerprint records.

- Allowing Special Police Forces to Quarantine entire regions and conduct house to house search operations.
- Implementing a national three tiar alert system similar to the one adopted by US.

- A national citizens register.
- Mandatory Citizen ID cards.
- An agency in the lines of National Immigration Service in the US {NIS}- that can detect, detain and deport aliens.
- Creation of a detention center on the lines of Guantanamo. This will house all radicals, islamic preachers and ideologues identified as threats, as well as those who run support systems for sleeper cells.

- New citizenship laws that puts a very high premium on Indian Citizenship.

We need to have systems adopted by western european countries regarding citizenship. {Currently, gaining a fake ration card for Rs. 500 is passport to Indian citizenship}.

DAY1:
Blame the Home Minister and the police

DAY2:
Hold RSS, BJP and Modi responsible

DAY3:
Assert that Muslims are the real victims. Criticize the law-enforcers for taking suspects into custody.

On that note, I wonder how many people use the existing system. And going by this story, dialling 100 (and other emergency numbers) may not be free from non-BSNL mobiles. That post is from 2006, but if it is not free even now, a whip needs to be cracked somewhere (TRAI?).

About your other point, I think the police agencies already have various agreements in place that allow them access to databases of ISPs and e-mail providers. I am not sure what “real-time” would mean in this context, but text-scanning (or any such content-scanning technique) is easily defeated, real-time or otherwise. Lets not give the police and/or their political masters an excuse for their incompetence.

On both these counts, I do not trust politicians and bureaucrats to not abuse any “extra” powers that they might be given.

It is virtually impossible to prevent all terrorist attacks in India (too large a country, too many people, too many borders with hostile States), but the cases remaining unsolved for months/years indicate a rot that should not be allowed to hide behind an apparent lack of e-mail monitoring or e-mails getting printed in the media (a very recent phenomenon anyway).

Here’s an old post that provides a background on the judgement.