Friday, January 17, 2014

Recent Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections and the Fallouts

The Drama of Electing representatives for the Legislative Assembly in Delhi finished towards the end of Last year.  Oh, yeah it was one of the most speculated Drama of Democracy (लोकतंत्र की नौटंकी) in recent times as the results were even more dramatic.  Suddenly we realize that the underdog really turned out to be the winner forming the government for the State of Delhi.  It was a really interesting development to watch from the time the election results were declared to the day finally Aam Aadmi Party formed the government.  

For many AAP forming the government was a real shocker and for others it was a wake-up message.  But for the political circles it was something that they haven't dreamed off and it turned out to be nightmare. They suddenly found an Anti-Corruption Crusader holding the baton of the government and becoming the Chief Minister of Delhi.  So what were the Fall-outs from this Drama of Democracy? Let's try and count them - 
  1. People of Delhi at least won and they brought a change 
  2. The AAP government took over the reigns under a High Pressure situation and heavy load of expectations
  3. The People of Delhi started measuring the Govt from the day of Swearing in ceremony
  4. The Political parties - Opposition for that matter started clamping down on AAP with various comical statements, pictures and interpretations on Social Media as well as Conventional Media
  5. One of the AAP MLA revolts against the Party and Govt calling the CM as liar and one who betrayed the people of Delhi - one twisting tale
So with the various aspects that are discussed above and the various other aspects that are coming into light, I am a bit surprised to the way people are reacting.  The people need to understand that the Governance issue can't be corrected over-night and that they need to give time to the new government to settle in the office. They never measured the previous governments from the day one then why they are pressurizing the Government by measuring its performance from Day 1.

On the other side of the case, somewhere AAP itself is responsible to let these issues loom.  The areas where they themselves created the mess may be listed as - 
  1. Letting politicians cross over from other parties to AAP.  Their biggest mistake.  The Revolting MLA actually crossed over from another Party that AAP had sighted as Corrupt
  2. Continuing as Crusader even after coming to the Power.  Now that AAP has formed the government, they need to follow the law rather than mock it
  3. Making statements that themselves may be contradictory to what other's in the party have to say.  They need to understand that before entering the politics, the points they used to make were considered as their personal opinion, but now they are considered as the voice of a political outfit and somewhere of the Government of Delhi.
It's a pretty poor start for the AAP Government in Delhi and it is important that they mend their ways for they have been bestowed with trust by the Citizens of Delhi. They need to behave responsible and ensure that they Act with all their integrity in these torrid testing times.




Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Need to install Cell Phone Jammers in Prisons/Jails

With the advent of communication technology the world has been benefited a lot but there has been a flipside to it.  The Underworld, Anti-social elements and others of the same cadres have been using the communication technology to their benefit in much better a way than the society in general.  For them the Mobile-phones as well as Satellite phones have provided a new way of controlling their teams across the geography irrespective of their own locations including the jails / prisons.

Though the rules state that Mobile Phones etc are not allowed for anyone who is behind the bars, we have often heard that the use of Mobile Phones is wide-spread among the High Profile Prisoners.  How do they get these devices in prisons/jails in something that have always been talked about and is a no brainer with the visitors being allowed or with the involvement of corrupt officials.

So what is the way out? How do we control use of devices or how do we break this communication channel?  There are two options to it - 
  1. Strict Vigilence on Jail inmates and their visitors
  2. Install Jammers to Jam signals within Jails.
Though Option 1 would be a good step, but then with the involvement of corrupt officials, the purpose would always be defeated. Had it worked, we would not be having the problem of remote executions.

Option 2 is the only viable option that I see at this time.  Installing Jammers would ensure that the Range of Mobile Signals is not available in the Jails / Prisons and that would curtail this issue to quite an extent.  But, will it solve the problem, I believe not 100% as there are other areas where those serving the sentence are taken and where they can use the devices to their benefits.

What the Prison/Jail authorities would have to do is to ensure that the prisoners are frisked before they are taken to such places as well as ensure that the option to install Jammers at such places is evaluated.  For instance if the Prisoners are being taken to a Query as part of Operations, then the area needs to be cordoned off with security fence and Jammers must be installed to wipe off any chances of getting mobile signal coverage....

I really appreciate the step that has already been taken up by the Govt of West Bengal to install Jammers at its facility, at least they have taken a step towards this.  And I really hope that this step by Govt of West Bengal would encourage other state Governments to take similar steps. Specifically the Govt of Delhi to install Jammers at Prisons in Delhi, Govt. of Maharashtra to install them at Prisons in Mumbai, Pune and Thane where the high profile prisoners are housed.

It is the need of time to take this step and Central Cabinet Security Cell must release a notification to this effect giving blanket approval to the State Governments to take this step forward.

We know that Communication is key to success and if we break the communication, the execution would break in itself. So its time to break the communication channel for ensuring that the Criminal Activities specifically of Crime against Nation are curtailed......