Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 21

Besides a steep fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market, the other area where Narendra Modi government proved fortunate for the country is internal security, as no big incident took place in the last two years, which could be compared with the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and the ambush laid by the Naxals in 2010 in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed in Chhattisgarh.Many in the security establishment believe that “nothing substantial” has moved on the security front since former Home Minister P Chidambram left. “But during his tenure structures (like National Intelligence Grid, National Ivestigation Agency) and procedures (specific standard operating procedures) were put in place in such a way, particularly after the two watershed incidents (2008 and 2010) that our security architecture so far proved robust,” a senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs  said.”Thankfully”, the incumbent Home Minister Rajnath Singh chose “status quo” in security matters and instead opted to move faster with regard to “disaster management” and “disaster relief distribution”, the performance of the ministry in the last two years could safely be termed as “satisfactory”, said a former IPS officer. India, in the last two years, witnessed only a few scary moments, when a BSF convoy was attacked in Udhampur, A police station was made the target in Gurdaspur and the Air Force base was stormed by terrorists in Pathankot. But in all these cases the terrorists were neutralised with minimum damage. After witnessing repeated attacks in border areas of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Government has formed a committee under the chairmanship of former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta to suggest measures to make India’s borders foolproof. However, the exercise of police modernisation and enhancing police-public ratio, which was started by Mr Chidambram, took a beating, as budgetary allocations under these heads were cut substantially.

Achievements

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has taken forward from where the previous regime left as far as infrastructure and procedures to counter terrorism are concerned
• Barring Gurdaspur and Pathankot incidents, no major terror attack in the last two years; terrorists neutralised with minimum damage
• A panel led by ex-Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta formed to suggest measures to make India’s borders foolproof

Downside

• Many in the security establishment believe nothing substantial has moved on the security front since former Home Minister P Chidambram left
• The exercise of police modernisation and enhancing the police-public ratio, started by Chidambram, has taken a beating, as budgetary allocations under these headscut substantially
• Rising cases of intolerance and insurgency in the East continue to be a major challenge