Improvements in security arrangements in India after 26/11 (Mumbai Terror Attacks)
This post is in response to some comments I received on the post I wrote on the Mumbai Terror Attacks yesterday. The comments seemed to express a thought that there is no hope, that India is India, that India will never improve, that nothing will never improve. I don’t go by this. And I just want to jot down a few changes that have taken place in the past year which I hope will help India become more secure. Sure a lot of things have not improved, but here I am listing the things which have.
1) We have a new Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, and he has brought in a lot of changes and new initiatives. As this news article says:
Fully utilizing the free hand, Chidambaram has helped in creating a feeling of urgency among various security agencies, intelligence agencies, state police and paramilitary forces, besides resorting to certain legislative actions like strengthening the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act and creation of the National Investigative Agency.
I believe this because I have been following Chidambaram’s moves, and he is far better than his predecessor Patil.
A lot of initiatives of his have been listed in the article, like acquiring of weapons, improvements in the law and order situation in Kashmir, increased efficacy of the intelligence agencies. There is more cooperation between US Intelligence, the FBI and India.
2) Force One, Maharashtra’s “elite security force designed on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG)” has been commissioned a few days ago.
3) Arms purchase has increased in India. Not just in Maharashtra but by the central government, and the Army too.
4) The Navy is also beefing up on infrastructure to protect India from the sea. From aircraft to boats, to the numerical strength of personnel is all being increased.
5) Vacancies in the Maharashtra police, which were at 230,567 on January 1, 2008 are now down to less than 150,000. The central government has ordered that this deficit be brought down further, and infact brought down to zero by March 2010.
6) A 20 per cent increase in the budget for Coast Guard vessels. Manpower is also being increased.
7) The Maharashtra government has set aside Rs 150 Crore to buy speed boats this last June.
8] The government has opened four NSG hubs in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, each having a strength of 241 personnel.
9) NSG will now be better mobilized:
That time lag of Nov 26, 2008 when the National Security Guards (NSG) took about five hours to take up position to combat India’s worst terror attack will never be repeated, promises chief of the elite commando force N.P.S. Aulakh. “We lost time during the Mumbai serial attacks. But things have changed and now we can take up any challenge within just 30 minutes of notice and that too anywhere,’ NSG Director General N.P.S. Aulakh told IANS in an exhaustive interview.
For more details you can check the link.
10) I also think that our media could have learnt a few lessons, although I am not sure about it.
This is not an exhaustive list. Just a few points which tell us that our government is doing something. Its not as if nothing has happened after 26/11/2008. Things have happened, some things have been planned, and more will be done. Things cannot change overnight that is for sure but I think there has been an improvement, as the facts show. One hopes that there is better preparedness next time.
A wide angle view of India 
Excellent post. Most of us denounce the government day in and day out, admittedly for a good reason. We should also be aware of what they are doing so that we can raise our voice if something is not right.
Thanks Rockus. Denouncing the government is fine, but not because we like denouncing the govt. Or because it has become a habit. – Nita
One question remains unanswered is how many perpetrators have been brought to the justice?
krunalc, read my answer to locutus and Dev’s comment. – nita
My opinion in these words after 1 year of 26/11:
Change we believe in —
One year ago Hafiz Saeed was free,
One year later Hafiz Saeed is still free.
One year ago RR Patil was the Home Minister of Maharashtra,
One year later RR Patil is still the Home Minister of Maharashtra.
One year ago the News Channels were playing clips from the 26/11 attacks,
One year later the News Channels are still playing clips from the 26/11 attacks.
One year ago Kasab was alive,
One year later Kasab is still alive.
Congratulations everybody!
We simply changed the date and time,
From 26/11/2008 to 26/11/2009!
Cited From http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/ without permission.
Yayavar, All I can say is best of luck to Rakesh jhunjhunwala. – Nita
Nita, I admire your optimism and tend to agree with all the points you mentioned. I also think that after 26/11, for the first time perhaps, Pakistan’s government has gone into defensive and it’s direct/indirect support or its failure to control home bred terrorists been exposed much more than ever in front of the whole world by the Indian government. I think that’s an achievement in terms of foreign diplomacy that without waging any real war against Pakistan, India has achieved few important objectives. Yes, the real perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice, but as you mentioned and I also believe, things have only gone forward after 26/11. It’s just a matter of time before the likes of Kasab will meet their fate.
Dev, thank you. I agree with you a hundred percent!! We have achieved a lot vis-a-vis Pakistan! A LOT. I don’t know why people cannot see this. – Nita
It is interesting to see the reactions of Indian citizens one year after the terrorist attack. I feel an undercurrent of despair, fear and anger still persists amongst many Indians. This is because justice has not been done; the guilty have not been punished and the root cause is still alive and kicking in our Western neighbour.
The changes you mention (police improvements, intelligence improvements, coast guard, commandos, etc.) , are, in my opinion, system improvements, repairs and upgrades. I agree that these are essential and long overdue, and well done to the government and other agencies for even going this far! They will definitely make it difficult for future terrorist acts to take place. But unless the root cause is eradicated militarily or handled diplomatically, there still will be fear of such attacks in the future.
Unless justice is done to the perpetrators of this henious act, and to the irresponsible men in authority whose negligence led to this disaster, the thirst for vengeance will not be quenched; the primordial call for revenge against the villains in this dastardly act will not be answered.
This is because punishment brings succor and a sense of closure to the victims, and creates fear in any person planning future attacks like these, because he knows he will not get away, like Pakistan’s ISI and jehadis did after 26/11.
locutus83, I do not agree that justice has not been done. It may not have been completely done but a lot has been done. This case is not a simple mass murder case. There is international politics involved. The Pakistani government is protecting Lakhvi, just as it is protecting Dawood. According to me our government is putting the pressure. I blame Pakistan more than I blame India in this matter. We have all the transcripts, we have given proof, we caught kasab, got his testimoney, we got the testimoney of some other pakistanis involved in the plot, we have done a lot. And now we are putting pressure on Pakistan. It is working, Pakistan is scrambling to protect Lakhvi. Pakistan is being bombed to smithereens. It is protecting Lakhvi because Lakshvi will issue a public statement that the ISI knew of the plot or was behind it. So our enemy is not just Lakhvi. It is not a simple and easy thing to get the ISI and Pakistan. All I can say is that in the last year a lot has been achieved. One major thing is that internationallly Pakistan has been shamed. – Nita
Good post and good reply Nita.
Charakan, thanks. I liked your take on it and am giving the link here:
http://mytake-charakan.blogspot.com/2009/11/year-after-2611mumbai-terror-strike.html
Reading your post made my day! 🙂
“One hopes that there is better preparedness next time.”
This, that there will be a next time, says it all for me. Attacks and security are a cat and mouse game, just like viruses and anti-virus software in computers. Once in a while, the attackers will jump ahead of the game, and some more lives will be lost, until security plays catch up.
What concerns me, and alarms me, is why everyone almost takes for granted that there will be terrorism, and doesn’t try to eradicate the root cause.
True, none of us believe that there will be no attack. As you said the root cause has not been tackled yet. However I think progress has been made. – Nita
I just hope nothing ever happens to again to check the preparedness of all the measures.
I hope so too Reema. – Nita
Recently I saw an NDTV discussion with the HM. He was highly optimistic on the changes. But he wanted to states to do the same thing. Frequent transfers, badly equipped forces and bad cordination and responsibility is the main reason why police are not able handle such situations.
Xylene, there is too much political interference in the police. – Nita
Are the security personnel who lay their lives on the line paid better now? Did we stop demonizing them? Do we ridicule them any lesser?
I am blaming no govt here. Just how much gratitude we show to these men and women. What happened to the families of those security personnel killed in the attack on our Parliament? Very few westerners believe when they hear that police are not considered honorable profession in India.
maald, true they should be paid better and also their living conditions should improve. I guess that is why no one wants to join the police unless they have no choice. – Nita
Even in the US, a cop gets paid less than a mechanic or factory worker. But there is an honor associated with Security personnel that makes up for it. Plus they are well equipped and well trained. And they behave honorably. Society and media never hold back on showing their gratitude to soldiers and police.
We do give respect to the policemen it turns out that ..they use this as bait of influence to fill their pockets
Nita,I was one of those who had commented on your post.
My understanding is that even the guns have been borrowed from CSIF for the Force one.Is it fair to take i year to order guns?Do they take so long to order guns when it comes to their own security?(it will take few minutes).
Perception…
May be ,they have taken reasonable steps towards security concerns but may be you can conduct a poll through your blog to see if we FEEL safe?NO.We don’t.
I feel it is so because the Govt has lost complete credibility.
Kasab is the most secured man in the country today. I am not.
Even one year down the line-Jawans are sleeping on the pavements, R R Patil is back, Maharashtra police is fighting battle royal between themselves,in such case how can we feel safe? One Chidambaram can not make the difference because if things go wrong ,it is a blame game between centre and state.
That is what I said earlier—-we have lost confidence and Govt has lost credibility.
BKC, I am not denying what you say, perhaps you are right, none of us feel safe. We are not as well fortified as America. No doubt about that. – Nita.
I absolutely agree with you. Chidambram has made a big difference. However I am not happy with what is happening in Maharashtra politics. RR Patil is back, Chagan Bhujbal is back to his old ways and Mumbai police is a divided house. The opposition is playing a very negative role which is again not very good for democracy.
No denying that Prerna. At times I wonder if the BJP in the state assembly would have done better. Unfortunately they have too many friends in the RSS and SS so they had little chance. Its as if MH has no choice but the corrupt politicians of the Congress. – Nita
Nita, I read your responses to my comment.
First thing why we are not in position to take stringent action like what US / UK / Israel takes? One WTC destroyed and they destroyed the whole Afghanistan. Why we can’t do what Israel did to Hezbollah? I don’t want to destroy the Pakistan but at least we should dismantle the terror infrastructure in POK and nearing border area. Why we have to keep begging at the door steps of the western countries to pressurize Pakistan?
Other thing is, Indian government keep making coward statements. Just yesterday, HM made the statement that war with Pakistan is not solution. I agree but why to shout about this. Why we can’t send a strong message to neighbour that enough is enough or else be ready to get destroyed. You should set the fear inside the enemies in order to keep them at bay.
Well, China is taking objection to the PM visiting Arunachal. How this is acceptable? When Dalai lama comes here China makes strong displeasure known to India but does Indian government is taking strong objection to Huriyat leader being invited to China? Why? Do you think we should go to US and ask Uncle sam to pressurize China even?
The biggest problem with India is as a sovereign nation and one of the leading economy in world today, we don’t know how to protect our interests.
I strongly feel that whatever you mentioned is just not enough. (My feeling) . Someone rightly suggested above, about putting voting option to check how many feels that people feel satisfied with what’s done by government in this regard is enough or not?
Ofcourse it is not enough Krunal. But let us at least acknowledge whatever has been done. Thats all I wanted to say. Nothing is ever that black as I see in many blogposts and comments. – Nita
I think we should be proud that India is not a war-mongering nation. Because war is never a solution. Israel and the US can be big bullies and that’s the last thing about them that we should emulate.
A welcoming post,Nita. I say welcoming because I’ve been reading a lot of demoralized posts on 26/11 and let me honest here I,myself was quite let down by the attitude of some of our leaders,for example I still dont understand the reasoning behind reinstating RR Patil as a minister,the only difference being,last year he was the CM,this year he is the home minister. Why was he sacked in the first place then,if he was to be brought back?
After reading this post of yours I see a lot of hope. I said this in Smitha’s post too. Let me say it again. Not voting and feeling demoralized is not the key to ensuring a safer tomorrow. If we want to see a positive change we need to have the right person at the helm. And its upto us to make that happen.
Deeps, RR Patil was home minister of MH, not the CM. However I do not harbour that much hatred for him. He has a clean record at least where honesty goes. The real villain of the piece according to me was Deshmukh, and he is gone. Even that other Patil person who was the union home mnister, a chamcha of the congress like Deshmukh, he is gone too. And I agree with that we should not feel demoralized. Frankly I have little sympathy with those who don’t vote because they are “demoralized.” It is the duty of every citizen to vote, even if it is a no-vote. – Nita
Oh,RR Patil was the home minister even then???I thought Deshmukh was brought in place of Patil around that time.
Apologies for the slip up.
You don’t have to apologize for this minor thing Deeps. Not everyone is familiar with MH politics. – Nita
yes true….just cant sympathise with those who dont vote…..But deshmukh is back again …this time as a union minister of state and no voices are raised….
excellent post..
its a relief to see that some things has been done.
the perpetrators should be punished and the whole process should be fast tracked
A good post!
Also criticism of RR Patil (by a number of people) is a little unfair, I had heard him in that “fateful” press conference, he clearly was struggling to answer questions in Hindi.
Shubhendu
thanks Shubhendu. I agree with you about RR Patil. He has some good points. When he was sacked he vacated his bungalow in ONE day! How many ministers do that? – Nita
I have a few things to say about specific items people have mentioned:
1) RR Patil : Many of the top posts in the MH police used to be ‘auctioned’ off (like many other states), but RR Patil, after becoming Home Minister put an end to this. If people would step out of the reactionary, mostly ill-informed English media and start reading local newspapers they would know this. What are all these people after him for ? For that comment after the attacks, is that the sole basis of judging a minister ? He did take responsibility for the attacks and resigned, although there is little point in blaming him alone, it was a massive collective long term failure that will take a long time to rectify.
2) Citizen Apathy : I would like to take the example of Meera Sanyal. Here is a person, who with zero political experience suddenly gets ‘energized’ and lo and behold, contest a parliamentary seat. What did she think ? That just because she speaks English and is sufficiently angry, the toiling masses will just vote for her. Is that anything short of hubris ? Who do you think runs the god forsaken bureaucracy of this nation ? No it isnt the illiterate masses, it is people like you and me. Nobody is apathetic when hit him/herself, but a nation is one where you are not apathetic when someone else is hit.
India refuses to learn the past because we lack solidarity for each other, as long as they entertain/defend us, they are our fellow Indians, but as soon as the question of their right to life, food and security comes, “arrey yaar, yahan par to aise hai, kya kar sakte hain”.
Thanks Vikram. I agree with your points. I actually saw a post on another blog, which one of the commentators of my earlier post had directed me to, and I was amused to see some sort of harangue against RR Patil. RR Patil is a small fish in all this and I think people and the media have picked on him because they want to add “points” to their writings, or write something sensational. And yes I have heard about his honesty and that other point you mentioned.
I also agree with this sentence:
People are apathetic about certain things either because it doesn’t affect them directly, or because they are lazy. But then everyone wants to rationalize and give some plausible reason for their apathy. So blaming someone else is a good way!
Well said Vikram.
nice
Good to see a positive post on this topic. Though it is agreed that some security measures would have been taken to handle emergencies better than last time, are we doing enough? Are the people even bothered about the details? There is no point in reacting after incidents!
But when people want concessions in input quality (reservations, bribing etc) the output quality will no wonder be poor!
Destination Infinity
I have watched a program on Discovery Channel “Surviving Mumbai”. One man who survives (not an Indian) says while he was hiding himself in the hotel room from the terrorists for 2 days, he found a man looking through bathroom window, the apartment next to the hotel, brushing his teeth and he didn’t even care about the what is going on..
I just don’t understand how come this attitude, does it mean that terrorism is not new for us..
One thing is sure, we have been hit worse in tourism..
still there is loads and loads of work to be done..was watching an episode of citizen journalist on the bombings that took place in south delhi market last year..there some guy had opened a shop in the Police beat box..this is the kind of repect ,trust people have on the police…and in Ahmedabad Police rushed in Asaram Bapuji’s Ashram assaulting people who were praying over there …for no fault of there’s.
Adding to what Pradeesh said,
The program also showed how the Taj hotel staff kept around 200 people hidden in some area of the hotel unknown to the terrorists. Some politician(Discovery Channel did not reveal his name) amongst them gave an interview to the local radio station and let the world hear about the hiding place. Soon other media broadcast it for everybody else to hear. Even the handlers of the gun men also heard it and directed the gun men to them. This caused many deaths.
Had the politician kept quiet and called the security forces instead we would have seen lesser or avoided deaths at the Taj. The attitude needs to change for a lot other people too, I am glad that the center is taking initiative and leading it.
Thanks for this optimistic post Nita…. I know P.Chidambaram is performing better than Shivraj Patil and the most important of all his work is unique identification number for each citizen of our country… truly appreciable one…
but then.. I am seeing the leniency in our security in railway stations and all…. no checking none-so-ever… They are all so active for one month after the attack was happened.. but now its not the case.. and I am saying.. this is where we are behind and losing to terrorists….
Agreed but is all this enough? And I feel the internal threat is greater than the external one…and no I don’t mean the naxals alone, but others as well..
It is sad indeed that hindus have no unity–that is why india will be attacked again and again till it is brought to its knees-whether it be china or pakistan.
A so called intellectual indian hindu speaking on the bbc world service on the issue of swiss vote against minerets, not only boasts about india having the second largest muslim population but then goes on to tarnish hindus with the same brush as muslim fundamentalism.
It truly amazing how little hindus think of their religion and culture. Hindus are ripe pickings by the intolerant Abrahamic faiths. It makes me shudder at the prospect of total islamification of india but i don’t think it is too far away.
I hate to be the cynical pessimist. But accurate introspective self-realisation is the price we have to pay for giving ourselves, as a nation, a truly realistic chance at evolving and improving.
Has India’s security and intelligence capabilities improved since 26/11?? Probably yes. But reactive improvement is always going to be sub-standard as the counter-party is always evolving too.
Are India’s current security and intelligence capabilities sufficient to avert future terrorist attacks, or to provide appropriate post-event backup/care/security??? NO, and I doubt if it ever will be.
For a city/state/nation to have the realistic capabilities to combat modern day terrorism there needs to be cutting edge application of technology, equipment and human resource that have undergone the requisite level, frequency, volume and intensity of training. It is not good enough to just have an elite counter-insurgency unit/s. These units needs to be supported symbolically and tactically, by the below:
>> Suitably trained complementary units in the military, military police, local police – counter-insurgency, SWAT teams, hostage specialists, air support units, canine units, anti-bomb squads etc.
>> Efficient and responsive medical capabilities (paramedics, ambulance, ER units at hospitals, air-lift units)
>> Suitable technology and equipment – weapons, clothing, accessories, vehicles, choppers, GPS capabilities, database mining and analysis, analysis/monitoring of traffic across telecommunications, internet and other systems.
>> Appropriate capabilities at various agencies – intelligence, immigration, customs >> all with a view to swiftly identify potential terrorist threats, sleeper cells, etc.
For the above to be efficiently implemented, there need to be billions of $$$ in investment, and this has to happen as part of a sustained and concerted continual program. It HAS to be a highly planned initiative direct from the central and state govts. In any case, all the equipment and trained resource is redundant, unless backed up by the below:
>> appropriate political leadership that provides sufficient powers and freedom to the military/police leadership.
>> Non-negotiable ability for the leadership (be it political, bureaucratic, military, defence, police, etc) to act swiftly and without red-tape/bureaucracy, at the time of an event, and mobilise the required man-power, equipment and other resources towards the event, with minimum disruption to civilian life
>> suitable policies and practises to manage the media during such events. Yes, the public forum needs to be kept aware of happenings during the event, but efficiency in conduct of police/military/tactical affairs often requires swift and fast action, which can only happen if the decision makers are not hampered by unnecessary meddling from the media and excessive sensationalising by the press.
So, call me bitter, but I just don’t see the above capabilities and resources as being in place anytime soon. The above requirements shall be hugely hampered and compromised by the huge crowds, horrendous traffic, general bureaucratic mindset, self-serving politicians, total lack of infrastructure – all the day to day woes of life in India. The funds allocated towards establishment of appropriate equipment, resources, capabilities, training etc…will be lucky to have even 50% realistically deployed towards the target initiatives, and even that will take far more time to happen that it should.
Basically, Indian cities are sitting ducks for terrorist attacks. I just pray that we don’t see more of these.
I have myself wondered, as to how so much of ammunition came into the Taj, without the knowledge of the hotel staff or without the staff being a party to it. But, that’s on a different note..
But, what have we done as Indians:
a. We gave gallantry awards to three police men who least deserved the same – at least they died as lame ducks!
b. Mumbai citizens lit a few candles here and there everything died off after that.
c. We voted for the same government Congress back in power only because of lack of knowledge from illitrate people of villages(Congress Govt took advantage of Vote bank from illitrate people of various villages by offering money.
d. We must educate people in every state , but, our Govt will never ever want to do this. what has been done by us on the ground. We are really taking all this lying down.
When everything is for the vote-bank, how do we expect the Govt. to ban the Wahhabi madrassas and the Deobandi school?Few years back in Hyderabad, A.P I saw one poster mentioning that 5% reservation for muslims then how about other people i.e.., Hindus, Sikh and christians?do Congress Govt govt has answer for my question? what a shame for Congress Govt(Sonia Ganghi). They cannot afford to annoy the muslims, specially when the government at the centre thinks that the Congress(Sonia Gandhi) is in a resurgent mode?
It is a really sad state when we know the facts, but, still tend to ignore them. In case of Kasab too, we know that he is a part of the whole conspiracy. In the coming years I do see Kasab actually being set free & do know the case of Afzal Guru, Abu Salem this people are free & abu Salem is planning to go for election in UP and stupid people of UP support Abu Salem why ??only because of Congress Govt.ha this people never afraid of our Govt to be frank I think our Congress Govt is with Terrorist.then why the hell they are afraid of Terrorism??Narendra Modi is Real Man he did right thing in GUJRAT.When will we get a state which will be as brutal with these terrorists as they have been. They have to be punished as nobody has been ever.
When I see these pictures, It really bothers me. Anybody could have been there in their place – I, you, our families, and, even the families of the people in the government. And, it would still be the same for us!
How to control terrorism:-
There should be vigil by people especially the employee of the industries and any suspicion and doubt should be immediately reported to police by people While renting the premises to the persons who are new, there should be police check up.
All establishments should have the round clock with Metal Detectoes, CCTV patrolling and CISF persons should be posted major important areas of shopping complexes, bakeries,theatres, railways & bus stations, malls etc.
Since law and order is subject of state government, the police force should be trained and enough man power should be recruited latest equipments should be procured and the central control room should keep vigil, any suspicion and doubt action should be taken immediately. Companies and other services industries should thoroughly check the antecedents of the people while recruiting.Our Govt must give authority to special Dept like CBI,CID etc.., to check every houses especially in old cities thrice time a week this must be made compulsory if anyone has objection must be straight taken to custody.
good one
Hi Nita,
I appreciate ur article. But people involved on the ground fighting these militants 24/7 feels something different. Please go thru my article on the link below. I have taken a big risk by speaking out n wud like to share my thoughts wid u. I wud also like to tell u dat I hv arrested 7(seven) militants so far and my house have been bombed twice(2 times) by militants and I have escaped death on the night of 26th of oct, 2008 when 2(two) militants ambused me on the way and nearly fired at the back of my head. I Hope u will read and reply me. Thanks a lot.
warm regards,
N.Johnson
http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=education.Scientific_Papers.Indian_Special_Forces_and_Proxy_war
Our Indian Armed Forces are doing their job very well , but its the Poltician i.e. Defence minister who decides the secruity policies. Due to their negligence all the bad things happens in the country.