The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Centre must help States stamp out terrorism”

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“Centre must help States stamp out terrorism”

Special Correspondent

Disruptive movements are not comparable with criminal activities: Alexander

CHENNAI: Terrorism can be rooted out in India only through a coordinated crackdown, in which the Centre proactively assists the States, the former Governor of Tamil Nadu, P. C. Alexander, said on Thursday.

In his keynote address at the International Leadership Conference hosted by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF-India), he said that though law and order was a State subject, no government could effectively tackle insurgency or terrorism without critical support from the Centre.

Such disruptive movements were not comparable with criminal activities that could be curbed by the State. “Such movements were far more dangerous, as they masqueraded under the cover of an ideology that promised a glorified future for the poor and the oppressed,” he said.

The theme of the meeting was ‘Towards a New Paradigm of Leadership and Good Governance.’

According to Mr. Alexander, the other important parameters of good governance involved ensuring equality of opportunity across social strata and weeding out the canker of corruption. Corruption, once confined to a few hands, had now become all-pervasive, largely because of society’s permissive attitude.

Contradictions and contrasts

Mr. Alexander said India could not be compared with any other country, as the contradictions and contrasts found in the country had no parallel in the world. Inequities were also multi-layered across social strata.

To drive home India’s uniqueness, Mr. Alexander said, the country packed 16.67 per cent of the world’s population on barely 2.49 per cent of the world’s aggregate land area, whereas the U.S. had three times this land area to house a population that was one-third that of India. Besides, every year India added an estimated 20 million to its population that was approximately equivalent to the total population of Australia, a country two-and-half times bigger.

Due to various factors, India which cradled one of the world’s great civilisations, suffered the ignominy of being ranked 128th on a list of 177 countries evaluated against their Human Development Index by the United Nations.

Award presented

Mr. Alexander was earlier conferred with the “Leadership and Good Governance Award” instituted by the federation.

M. S. Swaminathan, founder chairman of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, said the development that was taking place in the country was exclusive, as it failed to adequately engage the poor. One of the requisites for inclusive development was “harmony with Nature and with each other.”

Malnourishment

According to Dr. Swaminathan, the cruellest form of denial of equality was malnourishment of pregnant mothers. This led to every third child being with born low-birth-weight. This denial at birth itself compromised forever the child’s cognitive and brain development capabilities. “Any society striving for inclusive growth should tackle the denial of opportunity at birth.”

Dr. Swaminathan called for using an intelligent combination of technology-driven distance-learning and classroom teaching to spread literacy and education in rural areas. He also advocated a sustainable lifestyle to reverse the anthropologically induced biodiversity loss, as no one had the right to jeopardise the health of future generations.

Walter Davaram, former Director-General of Police, said movements similar to naxalite organisations could be effectively eliminated by combining ruthless measures with development initiatives that addressed deep-rooted social inequities.

Ursula McLackland, secretary-general, UPF-Asia; K. V. Rajan, executive vice-chairman, UPF-India; and Gita Rajan and Robert Kittel, UPF representatives, participated.

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