Terror struck Mumbai responds

MUMBAI: Six days after the terror strike on Mumbai, the metropolis' numbed citizenry comprising top corporates, bankers and Bollywood actors assembled near the state secretariat on Tuesday in a bid to impel the government to provide fool proof safety to its citizens.
A ten point action plan was signed by scores of individuals from all segments of society and the same is to be presented to the governor.Thereafter, the group plans to set out to Delhi by road on the 10th of this month, reaching the capital four days later. The group is determined to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi and present them with their demands.
"It doesn't end there. We will not keep quiet. We will go back again and again to see what action they have taken," said Aroona Bhat, one of the active members who organised the peaceful demonstration in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
"Terrorism Will Not Go Away By Wishing It, We Have To Make It Go Away By Killing It," is what the demonstrators have been screaming. Roughly the ten point programme to be presented to the government of India is:
A single federal anti-terror agency - with a significant presence in each city - rapid response and the best equipment money can buy - why was Karkare's bullet-proof (BP) jacket inferior to the NSG BP jacket in this age and time when India pays Rs 5 trillion in taxes?
Network the communication and financial data - Post-9/11 the US and UK networked their communication and financial data so that security agencies could check on their computer screens on any terror suspect - India is nowhere near that nor are we even thinking of it.
Anticipation of attacks rather than post-facto preparation - When the terrorist started hijacking planes and entering through the Indo-Pak border, post facto we enhanced checking at airports and fenced the border. So he shifted to hotels and the sea route; post facto we shall make all our hotels and sea ports and coastlines secure. When he shifts to malls and micro light aircraft, post facto we shall make malls and the air space more secure and so on...
For countering terrorism (as compared to normal policing) we need much higher number/ levels and grades of police/ intelligence infrastructure.
Intelligence operatives to population ratio in India is less than 5 per lakh in India compared to above 40 in many countries - this, despite India being beset with multiple types of terror - Islamic, Kashmiri, Hindu, Sikh, north-east and Naxals - much more than only Islamic terror threat for the west, Russia, China etc.
We need a tough anti-terror law and the judiciary to act quickly.
We kept Maulana Masood Azhar in our jails as an under trial for 6 years and released him to the Kandahar hijackers - he is the current big boss of the LeT in Pakistan. Why did the judiciary take so much time? At that time we had the strictest of laws - TADA.
In 2000, post-Kargil a Group of Ministers made a report to realign and resolve India's security infrastructure - red tape has killed it. To get over the red tape, the pm in 2005 announced the Police Mission to reform the police system - red tape killed that too.
We need to fill senior level vacancies in IB & RAW. IB and R&AW have suffered 40% vacancies in top level supervisors (IPS officers) for more than a decade now and 50% vacancies in levels of SI and Inspector!
Mumbai needs to have a directly elected mayor, who will act as the head of government for the city (and head all the local level organisations like BMC). While statehood (like Delhi) would be ideal, let's start with a directly elected mayor, like London, New York, Shanghai.
Massive investment in the training of the police, firemen and citizens with security drills, evacuation and sanitization procedures. Also provide a CCTV network across the city with a coordinated crisis management cell during emergency, colour coded alerts and a media/communication strategy. Many lives could have been saved by a faster and more professional response, such as by the fire department and the police. Training and drills must be undertaken regularly so that people know exactly what to do in an emergency- during the emergency there is no time to think and then start planning or making ad hoc decisions.
Implement national ID card project for all citizens.
Regular communication and updates - the nation needs to be informed of the progress in implanting this plan. Start with daily/weekly briefings by the home ministry on the total progress in the prior period and action taken, and action to be taken as a formal media brief. Within the next seven days a time line for communicating to the nation: who was responsible; confront with evidence and seek global alignment for action; action for attack and neutralise.
A little further down and in the vicinity of last Wednesday's terrors target the Oberoi-Trident hotel at Marine Drive, former sheriff of Mumbai, Nana Chudasma organizsed a solemn gathering where people were asked to pay homage to the slain heroes who were killed fighting the terrorists. Hundreds of grateful Mumbaikars were signing and putting their thoughts on a chain of banner, laid out on the sidewalk.