Dispirited

We live in troubled times. Delhi, Varanasi and now Bombay. And of course countless blasts and killings in Kashmir which I am sure no one bothers about.

I am sick of hearing about the Spirit of Mumbai on every channel today. I dont think there was anything ever wrong with the Spirit of Mumbai or any other city for that matter. I am sure New Yorkers and Londoners would have similar stories about their citizens. But what is different in Mumbai and India in general is the fallout from these incidents.

The media doesnt seem to be ask the most pertinent questions. While the US hasnt seen a repeat of 9-11 in 5 years why have had 3 major blasts in 1 year? After 9-11 there was a complete overhaul of the Intelligence and Security set up in the US. While there is scepticism about the results of the overhaul the important thing is that someone was willing to admit there might have been mistakes and look at corrective measures.

Given our security and police infrastructure, I think it is a great credit to our intelligence agencies that such attacks are not more common. But I am sure there is tremendous scope for improvements in coordination among the different agences. There is definitely a case for reviewing our security infrastructure. But all we will hear about is increased alert levels in other metros, Metal detectors at Mumbai stations and so on for the next few days and then silence until the next such incident.

Case in point - baggage screening at most Indian airports. Most baggage is screened by Airline staff before checkin. How difficult is it for people to distract these untrained staff and sneak in stuff? Security checks are not very thorough. Seldom are your wallets etc. scanned. Instead you just dump them in a bowl which is never scanned. In the US security checks are done by a trained dedicated agency (TSA) and are very thorough with everything including your shoes being screened. Still a recent review of the US airport security measures said this was not good enough because the technology employed for screening is dated. If this is the case with the US what can we say about the checks in India?

While at the earliest opportunity every DGP & commisioner bemoans that his police force is understaffed how many of them have a plan to overcome the shortage? In a city like bangalore which is growing at a phenomenal rate how come we still have the same number of policemen? I am sure the revenues of the city are growing too from all the economic activity but has the security spend grown at the same rate? If it has grown at all where are we spending the money?

Why is there no replacement for Pota or Tada? Maybe these laws were draconian but should we be reforming them or doing away with them completely?

Why dont I hear Rajdeep Sardesai ask these questions instead of gloating that the whole world is seeing the blast images on CNN-IBN? Why isn't NDTV talking about these issues instead of showing slick ads saying Salaam Mumbai? It is a huge disrespect to the courageous people of Mumbai that all we can talk about is their spirit while ignoring the real issues.