Kalam calls for national campaign against terror

Public-private partnerships and ending terrorism were the key elements of President A P J Abdul Kalam's pre-Independence Day speech which contained an implied criticism of the way central and state governments had been handling the issues of terrorism and national security.

Security and safety were the central motif in the President's speech. He wanted both Houses of Parliament to debate and adopt a resolution that India would be transformed into a safe, and economically developed nation before 2020.

He said there were "challenges to peace from across our geographical borders, from terrorism and violence, and from scarcities created by rapidly depleting natural resources".

Kalam said one way of addressing this challenge was to use the economy. He said at present, "the areas close to the international border and Line of Control are not used for economic activity. The government may consider using the available land for promoting economic activity with people's participation".

He suggested a National Campaign to Eradicate Terrorism (NCET). This, he said, was prompted by the pain of the victims of the Mumbai blasts and in the north-eastern states, and specific terrorists threat cited by four governors.

He, however, said national security would be achieved only if "at the State-level" there was "greater and more effective coordinated decision-making ability".

"While we have the basic structure in the form of law, police cadres, intelligence agencies and judicial system, we need to reinforce them with required updates with a code of conduct. Every citizen, every group, every religion and every political and executive system should allow the law to function without interference," the President said.

The idea of NCET was to have an "alert and dynamic movement" which would prevent "hotels and homes being used as a shelter by terrorists and extremists". The President suggested introduction of national ID cards, a national e-governance grid in two years and the creation of special monitoring system for unusual and abnormal banking transactions.

"The judiciary must consider the creation of a fast track judicial process for settling terrorism-related cases," he said.

The President urged Parliament and government to formulate a Citizens' Security Bill, an Energy Independence Bill and adopt a resolution that India would be "transformed into a safe, prosperous, happy and socio-economically developed nation before the year 2020".

On development, the President talked about the dual problem of flood and drought, and once again emphasised on the project to interlink rivers.

He said there were a number of success stories to suggest India could increase foodgrain output from the existing 200 million tonnes per annum to nearly 360 million tonnes per annum before 2020.

The President spoke in glowing terms about the work of private organisations like the Azim Premji Foundation which has brought down dropouts from schools substantially and healthcare medical schemes like the Narayana Hridayalaya that is benefiting over two million people.