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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081015T053000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081015T053000
DTSTAMP:20261105T202340
CREATED:20231223T222534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231224T130744Z
UID:63746-1224048600-1224048600@idsa.in
SUMMARY:Does India Need a Federal Agency to Deal Effectively with Terrorism and Inter-State Crimes?
DESCRIPTION:The spate of terror attacks in various towns and cities across the country and the subsequent debate on combating such acts of terror have brought to fore the need for a co-ordinated pan-Indian response. In this context\, the IDSA’s Internal Security cluster organised a Round Table titled ‘Do we Need a Federal Agency to Deal Effectively with Terrorism and Inter-State Crimes?’\, on October 15\, 2008. A brief backgrounder was forwarded to all the participants prior to the discussion to set the tone for the discussion. The Roundtable was attended by eminent security analysts and former senior officials – Mr. B Raman\, former Additional Secretary in the Research and Analyses Wing (R&AW)\, Mr. Prakash Singh\, former Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF)\, Mr. D. C. Nath\, former Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB)\, Mr. Joginder Singh\, former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Mr. P. P. Shrivastav\, member of the North East Council (NEC). \nIn his introductory remarks\, Mr. N. S. Sisodia\, Director General IDSA\, said that the repeated acts of terror across the country indicated that the phenomenon has not only acquired a wide geographical spread but it also appears to be much more home grown than before. There is also evidence of lack of co-ordination among investigative agencies along with considerable amount of confusion about the facts\, the likely perpetrators and the masterminds. This clearly highlighted the need to take a detailed look at existing laws and agencies and configure them to combat terrorism effectively. In the last few years many committees\, task forces and commissions had recommended the setting up of a federal investigative agency\, but this has not been implemented. \nInitiating the discussion\, Brig. B. S. Sachar noted that the series of attacks in recent times has exposed the Indian state’s vulnerability to terrorist strikes and its utter inability to prevent them. The ‘Indianisation’ of jihad with the aim of destroying India’s secular and democratic ethos was a dangerous trend and needed an early and effective response. If the terrorist bombings continue in this manner\, with the Indian state considered by foreign governments and investors as helpless\, the inflow of FDI would dry up and travel advisories against visiting India would be issued\, impacting the economy adversely. He argued that given the all India reach of the home grown terrorists and their control centre outside India\, it was essential to have an all India perspective on their modus operandi\, ideology\, linkages and support base\, to successfully prevent such attacks. A pan-Indian threat\, he said\, required a pan-Indian response both at the political and professional levels. He also advocated an inescapable need for the police to be given special powers. \nWhile agreeing with the need for establishing a separate agency for investigation and prosecution of federal offences\, Mr. B. Raman expressed the need to first lay down the federal offences. According to him\, terrorism and white collar crimes can be considered as federal offences\, but there is a need to separate the two as the latter is prone to political interference. He felt that in the wake of terrorism assuming a new gravity\, there was a need to have centralised co-ordinated investigation of these cases. The establishment of a federal agency should be based on the assessment of the duration of the terrorist threat. If there is a long term threat then a new agency could be set up\, but if it is considered short term then an existing agency could be invested with special powers to investigate terror related crimes. He cited several ‘best cases’ from the Indian experience as well as from experiences of law and order institutions of other countries. In the Indian milieu\, the working of Tamil Nadu’s Special Task Force in investigating Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and the Mumbai Blasts investigations were cited as models that were worth emulating. As good examples of strong and therefore effective institutions\, mention was made of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police\, which enjoyed overriding powers\, authority and sanction to take the lead in investigating federal crimes. Mr. Raman also recommended special powers for interrogation and collection of technical intelligence. He highlighted the need for successful prosecution to act as a strong deterrent for terrorists. In the end he recommended that special powers should be incorporated in general laws (ordinary law of the land) instead of enacting new laws. This would allay fear in the minds of people\, especially among the minority community. \nMr. D. C. Nath stated that terrorism has grown from individual acts of violence to group acts\, organisational activity to a movement. He argued that unless the need for a centralised response is realised by all political parties\, the creation of a federal investigative agency would not be possible. He\, however\, suggested that instead of creating a new agency either the IB or the CBI should be empowered to tackle the problem suitably. He also emphasised the need for a non-governmental approach to tackle terrorism through public education programmes of\, for example\, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to make the public aware of its responsibilities. He also recommended that the concept of ‘good citizen’ should be propagated by educating the people about their fundamental duties. He also said that in the absence of a declared national terrorism doctrine\, India will be handicapped in tackling the menace of terrorism head-on. Finally\, he stressed on the need for enabling the police to respond effectively by filling up the vacancies in various police organisations and providing them better infrastructure and equipment. \nMr. Prakash Singh said that terrorism had become a pan-Indian phenomenon and had developed linkages with global Islamic Jihad. He brought out the dangerous manifestation of organised crimes like arms smuggling\, drug trafficking\, counterfeit currency\, etc. and recommended the need to enact special laws to deal with such crimes. The Indian Penal Code\, which was enacted in the 19th century\, cannot deal with present day crimes. He then gave details of the Public Interest Litigations he had filed in the Supreme Court on police reforms. He advocated that incidents of terrorist violence and organised crimes should be treated as an act of aggression and any law passed to tackle these crimes should be described as a law ‘in defence of the country’. Supporting the idea of setting up a federal agency\, he said that it is necessary to have an institutional framework to deal with terrorism. In his view\, the setting up of a federal agency did not need an amendment but a correct interpretation of the constitution. He also clarified that the states will not lose their jurisdiction over federal crimes with the setting up of a new agency\, given that both the centre and the states would have concurrent responsibility. He opined that the charter of the CBI should be enlarged to include suo moto investigation of terrorist and organised crimes and there was no need to have a separate agency to deal with such offences. He also advocated the need to enhance the capacity of the police instead of raising more paramilitary battalions. \nMr. P. P. Shrivastav said that the need for a federal agency is very well accepted by all right thinking people. He argued that the country’s internal security problems have international linkages. Hence\, instead of a national response\, a united international response to tackle this problem should be undertaken. Establishing a link between organised crime and terrorism\, he said that wherever there is illegal accumulation of money\, it would eventually lead to terrorism. He described both terrorism and white collar crime as multi-dimensional aggression perpetrated not only by non-state players but also by states. He highlighted the need for creating public awareness to fight such aggression. He recommended that the National Security Council Secretariat be entrusted with the responsibility of formulating a centralised response to terrorism. He backed Mr. Prakash Singh’s efforts of approaching the judiciary to formulate a response strategy against terrorism and organised crime. \nMr. Joginder Singh also supported the establishment of a federal investigative agency. He\, however\, said that unless it is backed with requisite sanctions\, constitutional status and infrastructure\, it would remain ineffective. He highlighted the lack of proper infrastructure and equipment with the police\, due to which it could not respond effectively. He said that a federal investigative agency should not be treated as a panacea and states should also build expertise to investigate and prosecute cases of federal law violations. The fear among states that once the investigation is taken over by the federal agency it will move at a pace the central government wants it to move\, is somewhat justified. He recommended that only terrorism\, counterfeit currency and narcotics should be included in the list of federal crimes\, which he felt would be agreed to by the states. He emphasised the need to build trust between state agencies and minority communities. To improve the quality of human intelligence he recommended that more Muslims should be recruited into intelligence agencies. \nDr. Arvind Gupta\, Lal Bahadur Shastri Chair at IDSA\, said that India is faced with the terrorism problem because the state has ignored governance and police reforms. He felt that unless ground level policing\, physical infrastructure of police stations and intelligence gathering are strengthened\, a federal agency might not be able to deliver. He said that it is also important to create public awareness and publicise success stories of police investigation and prosecution. He concluded by saying that at the heart of things\, it is a political issue. \nDiffering from the general view\, Col. S. K. Saini argued that a holistic approach should be taken to tackle terrorism. He argued that state government agencies should be strengthened rather than centralising such crimes due to the peculiar federal nature of our polity. Mr. Ali Ahmed viewed the whole debate of increasing terrorist threats with international linkages as an exercise to justify the need to have a federal agency and tougher laws. He considered it important to trace the causes of the internal security problems facing the country. He recommended that the federal agencies should investigate all such groups that are subverting the state’s authority. \nIn the final analysis\, it can be said that there was a consensus on the need to have a centrally co-ordinated investigative response to terrorism. However\, the consensus was not in favour of setting up a separate structure\, but to empower existing agencies like the CBI to carry out investigation and prosecution of identified federal crimes. To achieve a consensus among the states for centrally co-ordinated investigation\, it was recommended that to begin with only willing states should be co-opted. When the investigative agency becomes successful\, more states would be keen to join such an arrangement. It was also felt that police reforms should be implemented without any further delay. Last but not least\, the public should be made aware of its responsibilities through NGOs and trust should be built among various communities of the country\, thus paving the way for harmony. \nCompiled by Dr Pushpita Das\, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses\, New Delhi.
URL:https://idsa.in/idsa-event/does-india-need-a-federal-agency-to-deal-effectively-with-terrorism-and-inter-state-crimes
CATEGORIES:ROUND TABLES / WORKSHOPS,EVENT REPORT
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081015T053000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081015T053000
DTSTAMP:20261105T202340
CREATED:20231223T222534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231224T130744Z
UID:63747-1224048600-1224048600@idsa.in
SUMMARY:IBSA Dialogue Forum: Problems and Prospects
DESCRIPTION:India will be hosting the third IBSA Summit on October 15\, 2008 at New Delhi. Inaugurated in June 2003\, the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Trilateral Dialogue Forum is a unique model of trans-national co-operation\, as the three countries come from three different continents and yet share similar worldviews and aspirations. Five meetings of the Trilateral Ministerial Commission have already taken place\, the last one in May 2008 at Pretoria. The first historic IBSA summit was held in September 2006 at Brasilia and the second in October 2007 at Tshwane\, South Africa. Around sixteen working groups have been set up to cover diverse areas like agriculture\, climate change\, environment\, education\, energy\, health\, science and technology\, tourism\, trade\, transport\, culture and defence\, amongst others. \nThe IDSA organised a round table on September 15\, 2008 to discuss the problems and prospects of the IBSA Dialogue Forum. The objective of the roundtable was to generate a fresh perspective on the issue prior to the forthcoming IBSA summit.  \nAround twenty experts from the diplomatic corps and academia participated\, including Shri Shashank\, Former Foreign Secretary\, Ambassador R. Rajagopalan\, IDSA EC Member\, Shri Amit Dasgupta\, Joint Secretary\, MEA\, Mr. Ashok Tomar\, Joint Secretary\, MEA\, Prof. Varun Sahni\, Prof. Abdul Nafey\, Prof. Hussein Solomon from JNU\, Dr. Ash Narain Roy\, the Institute for Social Sciences\, Dr. Arvind Gupta\, Lal Bahadur Shastri Chair at IDSA\, Ms. Ruchita Beri\, Research Officer at IDSA\, Sujit Dutta\, Senior Fellow at IDSA\, Prof. P. Stobdan\, Senior Fellow at IDSA\, and others. \nThe discussion focused on several issues like possibility of long term existence and functioning of the forum\, its importance and role in the international arena\, the relevance of IBSA Dialogue Forum for India in the present international context and in future\, as well as the challenges and limitations facing the forum.  \nStrategic Partnership\nIs IBSA dialogue forum only a vehicle for South-South Cooperation or does it serves a larger purpose? There was a consensus that the forum is not merely a grouping for South-South Cooperation\, but that it is a strategic partnership between the three countries. The contours of the partnership are being defined in respect to the changing international and regional environment. A number of factors contribute to the strategic partnership between the three countries. First\, all the three member countries\, India\, Brazil and South Africa\, are emerging powers that are also dominant in their respective regions. At the same time\, for all three partners IBSA is an important tool of foreign policy. Moreover\, the forum has helped fructify common positions on various strategic issues like UN reforms\, climate change\, fairer trade regimes etc.\, by the three countries. They have been able to coordinate some of their positions in the WTO. Most importantly for India\, South Africa and Brazil’s backing has played a great role in the Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement passing through the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). \nIt was also felt that the dialogue forum is aimed at improving understanding among each other and the fact that its leaders meet at regular intervals and feel the need to talk to each other is a pointer towards the importance of the forum in the years to come.  \nRelevance for India\nThe IBSA forum is very important from India’s point of view. Both Brazil and South Africa are important for India\, economically and strategically. India has a bilateral trade of around US$ 4.5 billion with South Africa and it is about $2.5 billion with Brazil. Indian companies are acquiring presence in Brazil and South Africa. Participants agreed that diversification of India’s foreign policy is extremely important at this moment. It is very much in India’s interest to give priority to a forum like IBSA. It was felt that\, unlike India\, the other two countries are regionally united and function in a cohesive regional environment. In that sense\, it remains a challenge for India to deal with these two countries.  \nThe world is changing fast and diverse interests are emerging every day. India must learn to grow in an environment of varieties of regional cooperation\, global impacts\, etc. IBSA provides the forum for India to interact with important countries in different regions of the world. As an emerging global power\, India must understand other countries. India should deal not only with the big powers but also with other regional powers and explore opportunities in every region. For that\, India needs to significantly increase its manpower and establishment. In clear strategic terms\, it is important for India to build relationships/partnerships around the world. \nLimitations and Challenges\nParticipants felt that there were some limitations and challenges that the forum is facing at the moment. There is a visible lack of coordination among the three member countries. The three countries have to synergise their efforts and build upon mutual complementarities. The conference also felt that all three countries of the forum face severe challenges and competition from other countries of their respective regions for the leadership role. For instance\, India faces challenges from Pakistan\, Indonesia and Malaysia; South Africa from Nigeria and Egypt; and Brazil from Argentina and Mexico. Also\, the agreements individual members have signed with other international organisations/entities can have an impact on the coordination and functioning of the forum. The forum can grow effectively only if it functions without any hindrances. There are several internal issues that haunt the three member countries – corruption\, increasing crime rates\, political violence\, economic inequality\, etc.\, which need to be addressed properly by the individual countries for the forum to be successful. \nApart from the usual channels of political and economic cooperation and development\, participants felt that the involvement of civil society and business enterprises should be strengthened to make the dialogue forum more successful. Some were of the view that civil society participation should not be independent of the government. Rather\, it should be a public-private partnership to be more effective. Participants also felt that further cooperation in the fields of energy\, food security\, transport\, health\, security and information technology can be mooted in the coming days and that member countries should learn from each other’s best practices in various fields. \nFinally\, a consensus emerged around the table that the potential of the IBSA forum as a strategic partnership between three regional powers from three different continents remains beyond doubt. Compared to other multilateral fora of which India is a member (e.g. IOR-ARC\, BIMSTEC) IBSA’s record is quite creditable. However\, the grouping should move in due course from being a forum for dialogue to becoming a vehicle for concrete socio-economic cooperation so that its benefits are shared by the common man as well. Awareness about IBSA is low and needs to be increased. Member countries need to address the limitations and challenges the forum faces\, urgently. It remains to be seen how the forum plays a role in the international arena and influences multilateral entities like WTO and the UN.  \nRecommendations\nThe Round Table felt that given the growing importance of the IBSA dialogue forum as a vehicle of cooperation between India\, Brazil and South African\, IDSA jointly with the Ministry of External Affairs should establish an IBSA Strategic Dialogue\, bringing together experts from these three countries to brainstorm on the path of the IBSA strategic partnership. This could be organised as a part of the larger IBSA summit outreach events\, with IDSA as the nodal point in India. Further\, academic exchanges amongst the universities and ‘think tanks’ of the three countries should be enhanced. This will help generate knowledge about each other and also strengthen trilateral ties. \nPrepared by Ruchita Beri and Prasanta Kumar Pradhan.
URL:https://idsa.in/idsa-event/ibsa-dialogue-forum-problems-and-prospects
CATEGORIES:ROUND TABLES / WORKSHOPS,EVENT REPORT
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081030T053000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20081030T053000
DTSTAMP:20261105T202340
CREATED:20231223T222534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250311T043946Z
UID:63744-1225344600-1225344600@idsa.in
SUMMARY:Global Strategic Trends: Global Perspectives
DESCRIPTION:A strategic affairs workshop “Global Strategic Trends out to 2040” was held at The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) organized jointly by IDSA and DCDC (Developments\, Concepts and Doctrine Center) of the Ministry of Defence (DoD)\, UK on 30-31 October 2008. The aim was to gain a firm understanding of global and regional defence and security issues up to 2040. The DCDC\, in particular\, is interested in gaining insight into the views of a region which will be a major global power within the timescale of the study. About 30 representatives of service HQs\, think tanks\, the business community and IDSA participated. The inaugural session was addressed by Mr. K. Subrahmanyam\, IAS (Retd). It was conducted over five sessions in which the changing global power structures\, resources\, identity and interests\, security challenges and implications and the future nature of conflicts were discussed. \nAs part of the UK MoD\, the DCDC is engaged in updating its publication ‘Global Strategic Trends’\, through a series of workshops held in the Middle East\, South and East Asia. These workshops build on the seminars and studies already held in the UK and in South Africa. The aim of these workshops for the DCDC\, UK\, was to gather views and perspectives on the regional and global environments from a non-UK perspective. The review of DCDC Global Strategic Trends 2007-2036 applies the programme’s global analysis process to identify the key themes and drivers that are likely to have an impact on global defence and security during the next 30 years. It is available at www.dcdc-strategictrends.org.uk. \nThe DCDC team comprised Commodore Sloan accompanied by Mr. Mark Ronald\, a senior civil servant employed by the MoD\, UK; Wing Commander Andy Burton\, Staff Officer responsible for Geo-Economics; Mr Jess Odedra\, Senior Scientist with responsibility for global science and technology issues and Commander Aiken\, Staff Officer responsible for Geopolitics\, currently the Royal Navy’s Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Brig. Elderton\, DA\, UK High Commission\, was also present. \nFirst\, the DCDC introduced their work in a short presentation on results and findings so far of their study. There was a lecture by Mr. K. Subrahmanyam\, on Indian thoughts on strategic issues. The audio of the lecture is available for download here. Mr. Subrahmanyam complimented the DCDC on taking out a commendable publication and went on to suggest areas that the workshop could focus on. He also covered the global implications of the economic crisis underway. The workshop was conducted in two syndicates over two days. \nClick on the Play button to listen to Mr.Subrahmanyam’s lecture
URL:https://idsa.in/idsa-event/global-strategic-trends-global-perspectives
CATEGORIES:ROUND TABLES / WORKSHOPS,EVENT REPORT
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