Stubborn nation!

The Mumbai blasts have taken the country by storm and the security agencies are once again on the mat. On the mat for not being able to prevent such incidences from happening and on the ground for having to deploy extensive forces almost everywhere in the country primarily to make a big show of security preparedness and confidence building measure.

Is it not an almost impossible task to maintain a security vigil over a developing country of over 1200 million people? Besides, the extensively prevalent chaos supported by the absence of an appropriate information technology infrastructure helps to make matters worse. Yet the security forces and its top bosses continue to take the flap for an apparently impossible task.

When shall we realize that a well oiled and efficient intelligence gathering machinery would be far more effective in preventing such incidences than a fleet of gun toting men who are also from the same "uncivil" society as the rest of the sarkari mulazims who are not delivering, by choice.

If lack of deliverance on the part of the entire sarkari machinery cutting across sectors and states has become an accepted phenomenon, would it not be illogical to expect a very high level of preparedness and delivery from the internal security forces? The sloth has to be uniform, almost everywhere with perhaps the exception of the nation's military, that surprisingly despite odds is ranked as one of the finest in the world.

And that brings us to the basic issue of delivery in the sarkari sector. The rotten decision making and contractual mechanisms have helped us in retaining our lowly position in the human development index and shall continue to do so.And I am sad that nothing is going to change even after such ghastly incidents.After a brief furore, there is again going to be a lull till the next incident once again jolts us back into action.