India’s national security reform is in the second stage
Going by most media reports, you will be forgiven for believing that M K Narayanan’s movement to West Bengal as governor has got entirely to do with an energetic home minister winning turf battles and the Congress party president going one up on the prime minister. Or [...]
But then…
So what if you are one of the top leaders of one of India’s largest underground Maoist party. You still need to get in touch with the wife. In an interview with Romita and Aveek Datta, Mint’s intrepid reporters, Communist Party of India (Maoist) politburo member Koteshwar Rao says:
My wife Maina is now at [...]
Citizens and self-defence
What should you do if you are confronted by a terrorist? Over at INI Signal, a decorated former army officer argues that potential ‘victims’ must charge on the terrorist and incapacitate him.
A marksman who can ‘shoot to kill’, achieves that status by practice, practice and only practice. In contrast, a terrorist in most [...]
Planned spending, informed planning
Sushant K Singh and Ramavtar Yadav make a case for police reforms in today’s Mint.
Social and economic security needs to be immediately adopted as one of the Plan sectors by the commission. This sector should set national objectives and provide assured resources—funds, manpower, equipment and training—for policing and encompass crimes, crimogens, criminal [...]
Centralisation is not a silver bullet. Citizens will get internal security only when they demand it from their elected representatives.
In this month’s issue of Pragati, Ajit Kumar Doval, former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, argues that the “structural architecture of India’s legal-constitutional framework” poses a challenge to evolving a national counter-terrorism policy. He points out [...]
Riots with Chinese characteristics
It looks like a term used in quantum physics. But it’s a term used in China. Rather, by China. Mass incidents cover anything from public protests and demonstrations to violent riots. Their number might be increasing, but details remain sketchy.
So even as China’s actions in geoeconomics are being closely watched—not least [...]
The protecting railway passengers edition
When the state is perceived to be failing in its duty to impose order through its monopoly over the legitimate use of force, it provides excuses for vested interests to take on that role.
Alleging a ‘breakdown’ in the law and order machinery in Maharashtra, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said unarmed [...]
A flip after the flop
And just one day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that his government has “no fixed, inflexible or ideological view” with regard to anti-terrorism laws, and that it was actively considering strengthening the legal framework in line with “global consensus”, his government has announced that it won’t be doing so after [...]
Yes, it was the UPA’s political persuasions that got in the way of fighting terrorists
On June 8th, 2004, the UPA government presented its programme in parliament, in the president’s speech:
My government is concerned about the misuse of POTA in the recent past. While there can be no compromise on the fight against terrorism, the [...]
A revolution in investigative affairs?
The use of brain mapping in investigation, and most recently the acceptance of brain mapping reports as evidence by Indian courts has raised many eyebrows. Today’s New York Times has a report by Anand Giridharadas on this:
The Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature test, or BEOS, was developed by Champadi Raman Mukundan, a [...]
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