The Hindu Business Line : Young heads, bold feet

When this newspaper launched its Mumbai edition in 2004, the newspaper and this writer earnestly felt the launch was in celebration of Mumbai’s resurgence.

Mumbai’s status as a globally prominent financial centre underscored the context. It could not be imagined at that time that its people would be the targets again and again of bloody and cruel assaults. Terror could reappear anywhere. Murderous assaults, death and devastation could be the results anytime. Yet, the cold-blooded assault on Mumbai last week has blown the sense of resignation away. Why? This attack could have been stopped. Even as the initial reports trickle in, there is information that those with their ears to the ground had expressed their assessment that Mumbai would be attacked. These warnings had come from people holding positions of responsibility and accountability and acting on the warnings would have protected Mumbai.

The purpose of cold-blooded assaults is to shatter people’s confidence in themselves and in their institutions. The Mumbai massacre by contrast rekindles hope that Indians will be able to protect themselves and their homes, workplaces, institutions and public spaces from bloody assaults. The cold feet go away. Bold feet come in their place. These bold feet will belong to the young of India. The youth have a very big stake in investing in and preserving the friendly warmth and security of their neighbourhoods.

India’s neighbourhood

India’s youth live at a time when India has emerged as an economic, political and cultural power in recent years. A country with a billion and more people has been led, navigated and inspired by a crowd of prime ministers and political parties. India has had eight prime ministers since 1984. By contrast, the US has had four presidents.

The crowd and the parade of political parties have not hindered the emergence of India. India has found its own alchemy to grow the economy and preserve its multicultural identity because of its political pluralism that has only grown since 1984.

India’s geopolitical neighbourhood is such that it is difficult for some to acknowledge and accept India’s accomplishments with goodwill and in good humour.

What this means is India may continue to be a target for bloody attacks. It would be naive to expect otherwise. The methods and the geographic spread may increase and it would be naive to think that warnings and security assessments will have to arrive afresh in the future.

India’s parents

India was not expected to hold together its diverse creative energies and build a big, cohesive and prosperous society but it has done well amid apathy and anxiety. Economic aspirations have risen. Livelihoods have expanded.

Incomes have risen. India’s youth have much to be grateful to their parents for having lifted the economy and society to where they are now.

Therefore, it is appropriate that the same society and its economic strengths be put to use to save the lives, the livelihoods, the dignity and the freedom of movement and residence of its parents. Towards this, India’s youth will have ‘to intervene’.

This term has been made popular by the Director General of the National Security Guards (NSG), Mr J. K. Dutt. There is a certain aptness to the usage of this term in the context of the awesome and noble rescue efforts of the NSG commandos. They intervened to force open doors of hotel rooms thought to hold the vicious terrorists.

India’s youth

The motivation for suggesting the ‘young-head, bold-feet’ role for India’s youth needs to be understood first. India’s youth (under 30 years) comprise more than 60 per cent of the population.

They constitute a large part of the electorate and turn the wheels of the economy. They are the principal human capital of companies that pay tax, and excise and Customs duties. And, the consumption of goods and services by the youth has made India what it is today.

But what is appalling is that India’s youth do not have as big a presence and as big a role in government. Governance, policymaking and policies, the security apparatus, and the police and policing are not oriented towards the youth. Both parents and the youth of India live in a society that is ‘perfunctorily compliant’.

This explains why all the warnings since August 2008 that Mumbai would be blasted were lost in the perfunctorily compliant security maze.

What this means is India is also a ‘ritualistic governance’ society. Many components of governance and the security apparatus are rituals.

But it is fortunate that India’s youth are not the ones that make them so ritualistic. And, it would be unfortunate and deadly if they let them remain so.

Perfunctory compliance and ritualistic governance are India’s principal weaknesses. The terrorists know this. They will continue to exploit this.

Tough terror laws, fast-track courts, bigger jails and the quick execution of the guilty will not make India any safer than what it is now. It is plain spin aimed at keeping the two principal weaknesses hidden. India’s youth have a chance to change this.

The intervention

India’s youth will have to understand the difference between the prevention of terror and the prosecution of captured terrorists. Prevention is obviously costly.

Funds will have to be spent to secure the borders and the internal neighbourhoods; to install the devices and build institutions that pick the warnings in time and deal with threats. But the payoffs from prevention are positive and very big.

Prosecution is apparently cheap. After a bloody and murderous assault, some terrorists may be captured. After that, the courts of law will act.

Verdicts and sentences will follow. Regardless of how harsh the sentences are, the terrorists will have nothing to lose because they had come prepared to die. But the costs of prosecution are negative and very big because the acts of terror would have been committed. Prevention is what India needs. Prevention will need funding.

The funding will have to come from all those parts of the governance and security apparatus that perpetuate perfunctory compliance and ritualistic governance.

Their perpetuation may be by design or could be there as result of legacy. But both make indefensible and large demands on taxpayers’ monies and on the time spent by the so-called public services.

This is the intervention that India needs. India’s youth will have to act with determination and without fear in asking for and getting all the working and moving parts for the prevention of terror across the nation.

If they feel they are short of courage and determination, they will have to imagine the unlimited loads of determination and fearlessness the small band of young terrorists came with to deliver death in an alien land with a billion people. What would it take for India’s youth to deliver life and security to people in their own land?

(The author is a financial analyst. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

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