A republic needs rules

A republic needs rules

By Shankar Roychowdhury

LITTLE Drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land…”

But what about little drops of blood? What do they create?

On the immediate eve of the 61st birthday of our republic, this is the question to be addressed as a priority, at a time when assorted violence is claiming the lives of our fellow citizens on an unprecedented rate. The state of the nation seems to be symbolised by Netai, an obscure hamlet in the tribal belt of West Bengal, which came to national attention recently when eight persons were killed and 18 injured in an exchange of fire between two armed groups — subsequently identified as armed militia of the ruling political party, and villagers used as human shields by Maoists. The situation is not unique to this state. Similar situations are prevalent elsewhere.

Omissions and commissions in general governance have allowed political violence and subversive activities to reach a stage where they threaten the security fabric of the country. The nation seems to be staring into an abyss, demonstrating before the world an apparently fatal flaw in its societal nature where the practice of social and political democracy has become an extremely violent process at the grassroots, on scales that could well match the darker areas of Latin America. Sustained corrective action is required to be taken in hand urgently.

The basic reason for the descent into looming chaos is sheer lack of accountable governance at all levels of government, both at the Centre as well as in the states. India’s fabled corruption and administrative inefficiency have created an all-pervading environment of systemic fragility in the country, though it must be stated in all fairness that states have often been more culpable in this respect than the Centre, and amongst them some states more than others.

Insurgency and terrorism are all essentially manifestations of warfare, as also is organised crime. Logistics constitutes the soft Achilles’ Heel of all military systems, whose destruction or degradation will severely circumscribe and cripple the main operational effort. The same principle requires to be applied to the war on terror and crime, where criminal logistics require to be high priority targets because like all other quasi- military enterprises criminal and illegal activities too require fairly substantial logistic and administrative infrastructures of their own. These support systems draw upon the general civil and commercial infrastructure, providing a profusion of targets amongst the network of channels for procurement or manufacture of illegal weapons, ammunition and explosives, illegal financing and covert administrative support systems like safe houses and medical facilities for subversives and criminals. The targeting process has to comprehensively cover the entire gamut of activity because it is difficult to interdict contraband selectively. Interdiction operations are primarily based on strong police, intelligence and preventive services. Conventional military deployment is generally not necessary under these circumstances, except for elements of military intelligence where necessary, but if deployed will generally be in a supporting role. Again, as in all operations, integrated functioning is the key.

Proliferation of locally-manufactured small-bore country weapons is more or less a cottage industry flourishing in many parts of India, amongst which the Monghyr region in Bihar is perhaps the closest Indian equivalent of the fabled village gunsmiths of Darra Adam Khel in Pakistan. Country weapons are crude but undoubtedly effective for the purpose intended, and their design parameters are showing increasing sophistication, along with some rudimentary efforts at quality control. The innumerable small workshops in the country provide adequate machining facilities and technological experience is readily available everywhere, but a system of overwatch is required on their functioning and outputs so that they are not diverted, voluntarily or under threat, to the fabrication of illegal country weapons. It will not be possible to control the menace otherwise.

Military-grade explosives like CX or RDX are difficult to acquire or pilfer, and must of necessity be smuggled, usually through (and from) Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nepal. Therefore, terrorists have to assemble explosive devices either by pilferage from the mining industry, or from commercially-available expedients like ammonium nitrate, a widely-used chemical fertiliser freely available as perfectly legal purchases in the open market. Ammonium nitrate in the correct combinations with other ingredients like charcoal or fuel oil (“ANFO” — ammonium nitrate — fuel oil) creates improvised-explosive devices (IED) commonly known as “fertiliser bombs”, whose makers in the underground bazaar command high prices for their services. However, assembly instructions for explosive devices are now freely available on the Internet and even rates are mentioned in Wikipedia.

Illegal finances are somewhat less readily available, even though unaccounted black money is flourishing, while illegal hawala transactions are too well known to require further elaboration or discussion. As a result, an industry of lucrative high-intensity crime has sprung up featuring bank hold ups, dacoities and, above all, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. The consolidated financial proceeds of all types of crime sustain criminal politics and their practitioners. The government(s) and their police have to become serious and sustained gang-busters if they really intend to clean up the situation, whose dimensions are well known.

The solution to the present situation is deceptively simple, but like all such, difficult and perhaps even impossible to execute within the given realities of the present national environment. Good, unbiased governance at all levels of the public, political and administrative structures is the sole remedy, to legislate, uphold and implement laws even-handedly in letter and spirit, without being influenced by local, political or other considerations. India has in its legal armoury some of the best economic, social and homeland defence legislation in the world. Let these weapons be brought out and deployed in full intensity to save the country and cure the wasting disease which has confined it to the sick bed notwithstanding India’s economic “great leap forward”.

On this 61st Republic Day, we the people owe it to ourselves.

(- Gen. Shankar Roychowdhury is a former Chief of Army Staff and a former Member of Parliament) SOURCE:DECCAN CHORNICLE