It is not a mistake to commit a mistake. But it is a mistake to repeat our earlier mistakes. And if we are in key positions where our mistakes adversely affect the lives of other people and cause tragedies, then it is a crime to repeat our mistakes. Unfortunately, this is what has been happening in our India ever since we got independence.

Lack of Professional Internal Security System

Months and Years before 26/11 happened in Mumbai, CNN-IBN investigation reports had revealed that the Indian Coastal Borders lacked any kind of security and it was quite easy for terrorists to enter India via our coast lines. Government ignored that report and within a few days we had Mumbai attacked and more than a hundred killed.

Now who is to be blamed for this attack? Pakistan, LeT, ISI or the political and administrative classes of India?

The nature of the enemies is to attack us, kill civilians and destroy our properties. The raja dharma or the duties of the ruling class is to first ensure best of the arrangements and technology for the internal security of its people, and then go about how to deal with the enemies externally. What right do you have to blame Pakistani terrorists, when you have your borders unprotected so that terrorists  from any corner of the world can come and attack you? What right do you have to blame the Maoists for removing fish plates on the tracks and causing railway accidents when the security standards are to have the tracks welded instead of using fish plates to connect them?

During the 26/11 attack, the FBI who co-ordinated (basically tried to help us) have termed the response of our internal security system as unprepared and immature.

“Half of these guys (Mumbai police personnel) weren’t armed. That’s half the battle.” said Sgt Alan Maltas.

“In the United States, we would bring guns and bullets much quicker than the Indians could have,” said FBI agent Anthony Tindall.

And instead of correcting our internal security systems, every time there is a terrorist attack on India we see our politicians running to US begging them to scold Pakistan. The US promptly asks the Pakistan to do more on tackling terrorist activities emanating from its soil, but the question is, has India done more after 26/11 or after any such tragedies to secure its system? Are we good at learning lessons from our mistakes, or are we good at simply repeating our mistakes? All we see is a media hype for the next few days after a tragedy and a group of people walking in the night carrying lighted candles, and then the politicians making promise about doing something which even his great grand father had promised. During the times of Indira Gandhi, Congress said it will eradicate poverty in the country with its slogal, “Garibi Hatao”. Today poverty still remains in the country, but the slogan is gone and has been replaced with “Aam Aadmi” – the common man, and the common man continues to battle the price rise of all essential goods and services.

Just imagine how bad our political class is in learning lessons when you consider the fact that, even during the 1993 Mumbai blasts it was the same coastal route which the terrorists took, and more than 15 years after that attacks i.e. even in 2008 we had yet not secured our coasts and the result was 26/11. Allocating more funds, or increasing man power, or announcing new projects will never increase your internal security. What you need is a long term strategy, expert identification of weaknesses in the system and detailed planning with a clear end date to cap the weakness, well-planned and a properly working co-ordination system between different security agencies and more importantly creating accountable positions in the system for keeping a check as well as to take responsibilities, give orders and to plan and co-ordinate the tasks during a crisis situation. All of which was lacking on 26/11.

Mumbai's Taj Hotel burning during the 26/11 terrorist attack

If not for the brave Tukaram Omble of the Mumbai police who gave his life to catch Kasab alive, what proof would have India provided for Pakistan’s involvement in this terrorist attack? The proof of communications coming from Pakistan to mumbai terrrorists, all the GPS, Internet and Satellite data were provided by the Americans to us. It was not the system which caught Kasab, but it was the determined act of a brave police officer as an individual who had to pay with his life.  If it were the system then Kasab and his accomplices would have been caught by Indian Navy, or by our coast guard, or by the commando force in Mumbai. What the system instead gave was bikini like bullet proof jackets which neither stopped the bullet nor covered the entire vital body parts. What the system gave was an uncoordinated and ill-armed police force the members of which were acting as individuals and not as a team. What the system provided was a home minister who was busy changing his dress when the attack was underway.

9/11 was one attack which Americans would never forget, but it learnt from its mistakes and further tightened its internal security with measures like homeland security and much more, and after that there has never been another such attack on US. Ten years is not a small time period to make sure that you get no more such attacks. And they are continuing strengthening their security system.

And we in India? Failing both internally and externally. See how our foreign minister S M Krishna was quite when his Pakistani counterpart Qureshi was equating India’s home secreatary to LeT terrorists. What is wrong if Mr. Pillai, the Indian home secretary had revealed a truth linking 26/11 and ISI of Pakistan, the truth that came out from American while interrogating David Headly. What is the point in being scared that, Pakistan might get angry during the foreign minister talks if we reveal the link between ISI and terrorists? After all, what is the use of such talks then?

Lack of Infrastructure

Now look at the tragic accident where an Air India flight crashed in Mangalore killing more than 150 people. And months after that accident we still have Mumbai airport, the busiest in India without center-line lights on both of its runways for the past nine months and would continue to be so till October of this year!! The current plight of Indian airports is that,

• Centre-line on Mumbai airport’s main runway is marked in a curved fashion
• The landing aids installed in the new Bangalore and Hyderabad runways (of so called international standards) were not calibrated properly
• A runway in Kolkata airport is so constructed that it gets waterlogged during monsoon
• In states like Bihar and UP you get incidents of stray animals like cows and dogs coming on a run way of an airport!
• And you keep hearing in the news about just-miss flight disasters that keep happening in the metros of the country

This is the risk we face during an air travel in India.

An Indian Railway Accident

If we leave the planes and get into trains instead. Are they safe at least? Look at the number of train accidents killing scores of people that have taken place just in the past few months or so. What have we learnt from these accidents? When countries like China are getting with 300 km/hr trains, we have accidents traveling even at 50-60 km/hr! India and China might be competing economies of global size, except for that fact that the Chinese are using their forex reserves to build world class infrastructure where as our ruling class are using the economy for more corruption and to open more swiss bank accounts and fill them, God knows to serve what purpose.

Why blame the Maoists for train blasts? What happened to all those track security vehicles that were promised in the railway budget?

Industrial Tragedies

Now see how our enlightened media and social activists and even the uninformed general public  are hunting for Warren Anderson, the CEO of UCIL for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, where as the real culprit on that day which killed over 10000 people is the system that existed in this country, not just in 1984 but even today. Read a Tragedy of Errors about Bhopas Gas Leak to know the facts in detail that are summarized below

• First and foremost it was the Government which gave the land for UCIL to open its plant near Bhopal in 1969. UCIL wanted land which was away from a populated area, and government gave the land assuring UCIL that at-least 2 kms radius around the plant would not be allowed to be populated. And what happened after that? By 1984, the  year in which the tragedy took place – forget 2 km radius of unpopulated area, instead there were densely populated slums that were literally touching the walls of the industrial plant. And it is in this radius where most of the deaths took place when the poisonous gas leaked.Before the tragedy took place, almost every month UCIL used to send letters to the Government asking it to remove these slums since they were inside the Industrial Area. What’s more is that the state government instead of having the slums removed near the Industrial area, got then legalized!!
  Now who is to be blamed for this? UCIL or the Government of Madhya Pradesh?  UCIL can as well argue that the vicinity of any chemical or nuclear plant is hazardous and should be declared a restricted Industrial area and it was the Government’s fault which failed to do so.
• Then we have the then Collector of Bhopal who is the district administrative head who panicked and ran away from Bhopal, and in the mean time also ordered for a complete evacuation of the city without consulting for any opinion.  This collector was the first to run away from the city before ordering for its evacuation, what an example! On the other hand there were railway employees who gave their lives while ensuring no trains entered the city during the tragedy and also ensured that all the trains currently in the station left as soon as possible. The Government and organizations who cry about justice for the people of Bhopal, have they ever remembered and honored these brave men?
• The ordering of the evacuation by the Collector was another factor which resulted in large number of deaths. If an expert had been immediately contacted during the tragedy, he would have advised the collector that people should be asked to lie down on the ground with a wet thick clock covering their face. That is because, the poisonous gas that leaked Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) would go up in air and also would be absorbed by water. Asking for a panicky evacuation would cause people to run along with the gas, most of them being poor ran instead of going by vehicles which increased their breathing resulting in more gas being taken in, and thus resulted in much more deaths. Now who is to be blamed for the tragedy, wasn’t it the collector who is a part of the government machinery who gave evacuation orders without taking an expert opinion? A lot of those people who stayed in house instead of evacuating and laid down and got their faces covered with wet towels got their lives saved. A lot of those who ran out of the area died.
• Then we have the nearby hospitals where the gas victims were admitted, and the doctors there did not know the correct anti-dote for the gas, and gave a wrong one, causing more deaths. Wasn’t it the duty of the local health administration to ensure that the doctors of the local hospitals are properly informed about the hazardous chemicals in the vicinity and the treatments to be used in case of a contact with the chemicals? The doctors at these hospitals instead of calling up UCIL to learn about the anti-dote, instead searched their medical manuals and did guess works. It is said that almost every body who received the anti-dote died!

How can we prevent Bhopal-1984 like Tragedies?

So here you have, a government which allowed the hazardous area around the chemical plant to be populated, and then a collector who ordered for immediate evacuation of the city without considering any expert advice and then a set of doctors who treated the victims again without any expert advice.

Now can’t the UCIL argue that the deaths were caused not by the gas but by state government negligence, unprepared district administration and ill-informed doctors who gave the wrong treatment?

And even today more than a quarter century after this tragedy we have industrial plants coming up near densely populated areas and vice versa all over the country. Do we ever learn lessons in this country? Industrialization comes with its own risks, it happened in the Three Mile Island in USA, at the Chernobyll nuclear reactor in Russia, at Bhopal in India, and so on. What is required is to undertake modern security measures along with the modernization of the business and economy, and this is exactly what we lack today.

All those who are behind the protests to get Anderson arrested and extradited to India saying that the CEO of a company should take the blame for a tragedy caused by it, have they protested and got the then Chief Minister of the state arrested and prosecuted for the crime the administration under him committed by allowing population settlement and legalizing it in the vicinity of the UCIL Plant?

The Final Blame

Multi-National Companies are out there to make money. It is the duty of the local governments and administration to ensure that the MNCs do not violate security norms and concerns of the local population in doing so. But when the government itself violates the very rules to which it promised to abide by, and allowed people to settle down and live in a potential hazardous zone, what right do we have to say it was only the mistake of UCIL?

So does the blame lie with the government, politicians and administrators finally? No, it lies with you and me, with those who go to vote during the elections and vote for the undeserved, and those who stay back at home without casting their vote but keep complaining about the system and situations.  It lies with us who do not want to create an accountability in the system for ourselves but expect everybody else to be accountable. We are comfortable with bribing here and there to get out work done. Corruption has become an integral part of our lives and work. The blame lies with us who vote in the name of religion, caste and what not ensuring that democracy remains a mob rule in this country where 51% of the mob rule over the remaining 49%.

Unless and until this attitude of the masses does not change, nothing much can change.  If people of a country say, who cares, then the country has little hope for a bright future.

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