Enough is enough!

I cannot help if I am harping on this again and again. But something has

happened since, that no Indian can ignore. The Mumbai attacks have once again

exposed our vulnerability. Not a single day goes in the media without discussing

Indias emerging superpower status. I dont think any self-respecting nation can

tolerate such barbaric attacks on its people, such loss of lives, let alone a

superpower. We often compare with 9/11. But how many incidents have happened

after that? I do not even feel like counting such incidents in India!

This is what I was impatient about in my column in the last issue of DQ and

before that in the DQ Governance Quarterly. Success of e-governance projects is

fine, our great IT prowess and surging exports is fine, but how can we just sit

and watch as terrorism and natural disasters claim the lives of hundreds of our

fellow countrymenis what I had asked. I am just repeating the question. The

only difference is that today the nation feels it is time to answer the

questions ourselves. The same way the people of Mumbai showed during the last

floods that they cannot depend on the government, it is time for us to ask what

we can dorather than asking what the government can do. The governments have

let us down again and again.

shyamanuja das

I am hopeful. The IT industry in Bangalore has reacted with asking for

licenses for guns in their campuses. That is an emotional reaction and a

short-term measure, not to say that it would not be effective. I am all for it.

My point is: we need to get at the problem, at a much deeper level.

If IT has indeed been our passport to emerging super-powerdom (though no one

would claim that with a straight face for some time), cannot we do something

about this national problem: terrorism? As one security expert from Israel said

in a television interview, If India does not solve it, no one else can do

anything about it. Harsh but true.

I just want to take a step further. Should weas the IT sectornot contribute

more directly? As the Mumbai attacks have showed, it was a clear failure of

maritime intelligence, which a little technology can easily tackle. Security at

the public places: the only way to do that without interrupting normal lives is

by using technology to pre-empt such strikes.

I agree, like most Indians, I am being a little emotional in my reaction. The

government still has a role to play. But why cannot we initiate action and make

the government follow?

Yes, lives of our own employees are important and we should directly and

quickly do something about it, as the demand for guns by Bangalore IT executives

shows. But cannot we go to the government with a solution?

Cannot the IT community come forward with some proposal like contributing

directly to creation of a more elite, tech-equipped security force? The NSG

could do well with more people and better technology. The private sector, led by

IT, could well contribute directly toward creation of a better force. Sure, we

all pay taxes for all that. But this is the time of a national emergency and we

need to do more than that.

However, this will not achieve the desired results if there is no

accountability from the government. Any contribution to the government system

should be coupled with a direct audit by a panel comprising of eminent citizens

including from business, judiciary and other public services. For long, we have

been denied many things in the name of security. Now, when that fails miserably,

we the people must take over.

Many of our business leadersincluding from the IT industryare ones that the

people of this country look upon with a lot more trust and respect. I am sure

the citizens will be supporting any initiative to bring accountability to the

system. But for that we must start with proactive measures from our side.