‘Security for all’ also means ‘all for security’

BY D.C. PATHAK

The first duty of a democratic dispensation is to protect the state and its citizens from external threats and internal disorder. Our defence forces safeguard the borders while the police network across the country takes care of law and order within the country. In between is the national security set-up and the Intelligence agencies which among other things, detect and neutralise the enemy agents including terrorists working covertly on our soil to damage our assets, subvert the loyalties of the citizens and steal our state secrets.

The security tasks are huge and the government never hesitates to spend on safeguarding our borders and maintaining internal security. Since a nation is essentially a collectivity of human beings bonded together by a shared sense of destiny, it needs be understood that the burden of security should also be shared by the people whom the state was committed to protect. National security is not the responsibility of the state alone and is dependent significantly on the cooperation of the citizens as well. People are alive to this and in a security emergency like war they do rally behind the rulers to contribute their mite to the task of protecting the nation.

In the unsafe world that we live in, however, threats from the 'unseen' enemy have multiplied and reached closer to the ground and a watchful citizenry is now a crucial partner of the state in meeting this new challenge of security. Subtle ways have to be found to inculcate this thought amongst all citizens in all walks of life by enlightening them on the relevant aspects of national security as such.

Any knowledge received in the early years stays longer. There is need for carrying security education to the schools since grown up boys and girls are well placed to absorb the essence of risks and opportunities that existed in the environ around them. As an extension of social sciences and general knowledge they could be told about the nation, its religious and cultural spread and roots and the rights and duties of the citizens of a healthy society. Importance of safety against crime and disorder and the ability to observe anything that was out of the ordinary or suspicious, should be emphasised.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that the present government is seriously engaged in examining the question of introducing education on national security in schools and also enriching the syllabi with the help of NCERT in this regard. This will be a desirable way of enhancing national unity and integration since the impact of threats to national security is felt by all citizens regardless of community, class or region. Our youth, growing with a sense of belonging to the nation, will be better equipped this way to work for further enriching the democratic content of India. A country where 65 per cent of the population is below the age of 35, any initiative that inculcates the feeling of 'one nation' makes India strong and forward looking.

In a democracy like India's, the elected political executive exercises the power of sovereignty in laying down policies but the quality of its governance is largely determined by the bureaucracy including the police. India inherited the legacy of the 'steel frame' -- comprising the IAS, IPS and the Central Services post- Independence -- and it was expected that with a public service orientation and a 'mission and delivery' mode, it will work for national integration and progress. Extraneous influences, political interference and a certain dilution of the rigour of selection on merit, have weakened this machinery of governance.

In a timely move, the Centre has strengthened the Foundation Course -- where all new entrants to IAS, IPS and Central Services are put together for a spell of training -- by introducing discussions on India's national security and strategic affairs in it. This is an excellent way of putting all young civil services officials serving the Centre and the states on a common grid of understanding of national issues and inculcating in them a lasting acquaintance with each other for the future. This would facilitate coordinated working during their spells in senior positions in the government later, where they would often have to respond to national security-related challenges together. The experiment is already yielding excellent results.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, in his first tenure, called for a university-level institution to engage in the study of national security and related subjects like the police -- this objective has been achieved with the Parliament in its last session passing an Act creating the Rashtriya Raksha University at Ahmedabad. The Union Home Minister in his speech at the Police Commemoration Day parade in Delhi on October 21 gave out that the newly-created university will be the first of its kind in as much as it would run degree courses on national security studies and produce qualified youth for a career in this field.

The governing structure of the Raksha University will have some veteran national security experts to assist it. The Modi regime has once again demonstrated its will to adopt policies it thinks were in the interest of the nation and ensure their early implementation. National security includes internal stability and calls for strong arrangements to prevent and control mob violence -- often instigated by vested interests on one pretext or the other. Over the years, the role of the police has expanded -- beyond law and order management -- to include the task of being the first responders to threats to national security from terrorism, play of agents provocateurs and the enemy behind drug trade and influx of fake currency. The accepted doctrine that 'national security is inseparable from economic security' has widened the area of responsibility for both security agencies as well as the police set-up. We need youth trained in security and police skills in large numbers for the times ahead. Establishment of Rashtriya Raksha University has come not a day too soon.

In developed societies, the people are alive to their share of responsibility in preserving law and order and promptly report to the police any suspicious activity or situation they noticed in their neighbourhood or elsewhere. This is because they had faith in law enforcement and a conviction that police was a friend of the law abiding. We should move in that direction so that information relevant to national security flowed to the authorities from the public. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 laid down Fundamental Duties to complement the Fundamental Rights. Art 51A defines these duties -- as a moral obligation for all citizens -- and they include showing respect for the national flag, preventing destruction of public property, keeping from practices that were derogatory to the dignity of women, promoting brotherhood among all communities and responding to any call for joining national service for defending the country. A democratic state is nurtural about taking care of its citizens even as it creates deterrence against indulgence in crime and violence through strict enforcement of laws and rules. Police is the principal instrument of the State for establishing this kind of relationship with the citizens. To ensure 'security for all' India should work a little more for creating the awareness among the people that they were 'all for security' for attaining that objective.

(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)

Source: IANS