UNDER SCRUTINY INTERNAL SECURITY
Wanted: A common security goal

"the internal situation in the country remained largely under control during the year...." so reads the latest annual report of the ministry of home affairs. the rub lies, of course, in the adverb "largely." with insurgency rife in kashmir, manipur, nagaland, large parts of assam and tripura, organised left-wing violence in another seven states ap, bihar, mp, maharashtra, jharkhand, chattisgarh and orissa, it would be difficult not to accuse the mha of being somewhat liberal with words. and this is not even taking into account the every day murders, rapes, robberies and assaults. for fifty years or so, the security of the country has been handled in a manpower-intensive approach. as a result, state and central paramilitary police forces have grown manifold. between 1988 and today, the central police forces alone have grown from 406,000 to 537,000. in addition, almost one-third of the million-strong indian army is involved in internal security duties. and yet, even the mha will acknowledge off-the-record, that security has not improved one whit. from the point of view of the constitution, the states are responsible for law and order in the country. but in most states, not just the insurgency-ridden ones, their authority is so infirm, that the union government has been compelled to step in with its forces. most authorities recognise that insurgencies cannot be defeated by force alone. it is necessary to treat the their underlying social and political causes. the indian political class is so thoroughly corrupt and self-centred that political dynamics of some states is shifting in favour of insurgents. indeed, so precarious is their position in several states that substantial chunks of police units are used to provide security for the governing elites, be they the netas or babus. just why this has happened has to do with the nature of indian society and politics. the mobilisation strategy of parties, based as many are on caste and religious affiliations, promote tensions within a society already riven with social injustice. were this exercise to be carried out within the confines of the rule of law, it would be fine. but the ascendancy of one group is marked by repression of the other, in most cases, the police personnel being used as the instruments. the depth to which this has reached was evident in the recent drama surrounding the arrest of former tamil nadu chief minister m karunanidhi, union ministers murasoli maran and t r baalu. promoting security by the use of police forces alone is a fools errand. only a just society, or at least one that makes the effort at being one, can become a secure society as well. if india wishes to be seen as a civilised country, the lessons should be obvious : eliminate or fight injustice and promote the rule of law. while the former requires political and social mobilisation, the latter needs deep reforms in the police system and the legal system of the country. it would be difficult to deny that the fight for social justice sometimes creates difficult law and order problems. but the state must refuse to accept the plea of people like mulayam singh yadav or laloo yadav that criminal behaviour can be dealt with leniently because of this consideration. but these are issues that must be confronted in the political arena. on the other hand, various police and law commissions have suggested a variety of measures for strengthening the police and criminal justice system. there are a number of measures that can be taken quickly. first, introducing greater specialisation in subjects like civil policing, crowd control, forensics and law. second, deterrent punishment for police officials who stoop to criminal activity. in the us, it is common for judges to double the sentences of police personnel caught for drug peddling, murder or assault. those charged with keeping the law, must be held to much higher standards of accountability.just applying this seemingly simple principle, can yield big dividends for the people at large.