Are we prepared to live in a police state? - A Daily Download

Are we prepared to live in a police state?

Sukumar Ranganathan - Friday, November 28, 2008 3:46 PM



Under News

In the wake of the blasts in Mumbai are all of us -- including those who have ways of making themselves heard in print, television, or blogs -- prepared to live in a post-9/11-US kind of environment?
The building where the Mint office is located started checking vehicles and IDs a month or so ago, and judging from the number of complaints I have heard about the process, I am not sure many of us are willing to move to an environment where IDs are checked and access is limited.
I for one wouldn't have any problems moving to such a system -- provided it is uniform.
India's biggest bane has been that it is a country where the government and even companies manage by exception than by rule (one reason why e-governance is the best way forward here) and it is quite likely that this will extend to such inspections as well.
The only time my car was waved in without the regular stop-open-the-boot routine at the Mint office building was when it ended up blocking the entry of one of HT Media's directors.
I narrated this incident to a friend who had an interesting and insightful explanation. "They know he won't bomb the building; they're not so sure about you."

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2 Comment

From shart

November 30, 2008 9:35 AM
Yes , Why Not !! It is a better option to live in Safe environment, but we have to change our system.(system: Govt, Policies & politicians). then only we can say it will happen. here we need a agency(federal) without any Interference form politicians to fight These incidents. co-opreation is required from people of India to build up a new , powerful & Active system to ensure that this will not happen again. Jai Hind & salute to all those Heros who contribute their lives for our free movement.

From bhattathiri

November 30, 2008 9:59 AM
Excellent article. The greed is a more fundamental and better explanation than the principles of economics and the impact of government policy on economic decisions. Misses the point that most people and businesses are motivated to improve their condition and that this force is always at work. Why did greed suddenly cause this meltdown? What allowed it to get out of control. There is one major difference. While Western management thought too often deals with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, our PM tackles the issues from the grass roots level of human thinking. Once the basic thinking of man is improved, it will automatically enhance the quality of his actions and their results. If businessmen wanted to rape and pillage, I mean maximize profit, you wouldn’t have to force them to loan money. Their profit motive gives them an incentive to “serve” the community. If certain communities aren’t being served that signals the presence of other forces dissuading businessmen from selling their product or service. Implicit in this argument is the belief that customers have a right to demand the services and goods provided by businesses. Of course, this idea underlies arguments for universal health care and whatever other service or good deemed to be too valuable to trust to the market.

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