Big Rush For H-1B Visas As US Economy Picks Up

The US H-1B visa quota for the coming year is expected to be exhausted within five days beginning April 1, marking the first time since 2008 that the cap would be reached so rapidly. 
    
The uptick in the American economy that has created expectations of better IT deal flows is a major reason for this. Some say that growing uncertainties around obtaining L1 visas – the other visa that companies use to send people to the US on work – has also pushed companies to try their luck with H-1B. 
    
“Most of our customers are optimistic of a faster US recovery, which in turn will lead to higher IT spending in the coming months. And this cautious optimism is reflecting in the higher demand for H-1B visas this year,” said Parthasarathy N S, COO of Bangalore-based IT company Mindtree. 
    
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers. Indian IT companies, with American subsidiaries, are the biggest users of this visa, accounting last year for more than half of the quota (if Cognizant is counted as an Indian company). 
    
H-1B applications are submitted from the first working day of April for the financial year beginning October. There is a cap of 65,000 for these visas, and if the number of applications quickly exceeds the quota, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employs a lottery-based selection process. This was used for the first time in 2008, when the quota was exceeded on the very first day for application submission. But following the 2008-09 recession, demand for these visas slumped, and the quota limit was reached over several months. It was slightly better last year, when the quota was reached on June 11. 
    
The Chugh Firm, a USbased legal firm that helps companies with immigration issues, says in a recent newsletter: “We have noticed that as the economy has increasingly been getting better and the unemployment rate has been decreasing; there has also been a steady resurgence in H-1B filings. Many companies were surprised last year when the H-1B visa cap was reached on June 11, leading many to have to wait until this year to file…USCIS anticipates the quota will be used up in the first 5 days. This could be the first time since April 2008 that the H-1B cap will require a lottery.” 
    
Saju James, partner in global corporate immigration law firm Fragomen in India, says the rush for H-1Bs this year is partly a derisking move. “L1 visas are not very predictable especially in moving resources back and forth. There are debates around the nature of specialization of IT service providers within client systems where they are working with the latter’s proprietary products,” he said. There have been reports over the past year that some companies have seen up to 40% of their L1 applications being rejected. Rakesh Prabhu, partner-immigration practice in ALMT Legal, said L1s were not the preferred option for Indian IT companies. 
    
The visa quota getting exhausted in 5 days doesn’t bode well for the Indian IT industry. “It will be a constraint to our plans. We will use other approaches to service our customers. Specifically, we will use local talent in our US delivery centre,” said Mind-Tree’s Parthasarathy.

At 11%, AP Among Tops States In 'Culture Of Giving'

Regions in India can be distinctly identified by the spoken language, cuisine and the general attire of people. Yet, there are other aspects like cricket and Bollywood that exist as universal phenomena across regions. One would presume donations towards social causes too would emerge from every nook and corner of the country in a uniform manner. However, that is not the case. 
    
A study by GiveIndia on donations according to demographics and geographies throws up some interesting trends. Although the concentration of the business community is largely in the west, the southern zone carried the maximum weightage of 43% of donor population. 
    
While west has the maximum share of the total donation amount (42%), south is not far behind on this count as well, at 39%. On the other hand, east gave the least, with only 3% of total donation amount and merely 5% of donor population. North contributed 16% of total donations by amount. 
    
The research is based on a study of giving trends according to online donations made on GiveIndia’s website over the last five years. The sample is a quantum of 1.8 lakh-plus transactions, with donations aggregating over Rs 38 crore. More than 150 NGOs are listed with GiveIndia, which is a not-for-profit organization that carries out due diligence on NGOs to help in a philanthropic exchange from donor to NGO. 
    
The research shows how states such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu rake higher than others in quantum and frequency of online donations. “Nearly half of NGO activity in India is concentrated in southern India. The culture of giving, greater disposable incomes and a heightened sense of awareness coupled with the duty to give back among those in the IT sector has strengthened the need of organizations. That’s probably why the southern region has emerged as among the highest in terms of giving,” said Dhaval Udani, CEO, GiveIndia. 
    
On a state-wise basis, Maharashtra was the most giving state, with 37% of share of total donations, while Delhi contributed only 7%. Maharashtra also holds the highest percentage (31%) of total number of donors, followed by Karnataka (16%), Tamil Nadu (13%) and Andhra Pradesh (11%). 
    
“Recently, there was a report on philanthropy done by Bain & Co which found that more than 70% donors are novices, with less than three years of philanthropic experience. There are also a lot younger people who are giving. May be with more IT companies in the South, there are many more youngsters contributing to philanthropy. Also, with Azim Premji’s Foundation located in South India, may be there is more coming from there, but am not entirely sure,” said Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax India. 
    
Salaries in IT/ITeS sector are higher as compared to others and this could probably be one reason why the southern zone symbolizes the spirit of giving. ``In the South, people have been brought up to give a part of their earnings to temples or causes for the needy --it's a culture they have grown up with. We see that even in our volunteers who show up in large numbers when we organize a visit to a school or children's home,'' said Deepa Kapoor, CSR Leader, Genpact India. 
    
In the east, the leading giving state is West Bengal (59%), followed by Orissa (22%), while in the north, Delhi is the largest giving state (43%), followed by Haryana (27%) and Uttar Pradesh (18%). 
    
States like Gujarat and Kerala did not show up in the study, which means contributions from these states were low.

Land Acquisition : Why It's Not So Easy?

Land acquisition requires significant investment of research and money, and it pays to invest wise. Here’s how. The core issues that surround the acquisition of land in India are more complex than those related to builtup property. Some of these are: 

• Litigations due to inheritance 
• Multiple sales which have not been properly recorded 
• Pledging of land to local money lenders 
• Fragmented holdings 
• Requirement of cash while dealing with sellers 
• Difficulty in obtaining contiguous land 
• Lands which have been granted to SC/ST by the Government 
• Land ceiling laws 
• Tough resettlement and rehabilitation laws 

As things stand now, land acquisition has become a means for a multitude of middle-men to make a lot of money. This is because the tough regulations and complexities related to acquiring land today provide huge arbitrage to such people. If the Government starts simplifying the process, middlemen can be eliminated, reducing the cost arbitrage and passing the benefit to the actual land owners. Until that happens, the availability of fool-proof deals in land will remain scarce on the ground. For the record, a good deal is one wherein one can buy, in one go, a clean title property that complies with all Government plans and stipulated usages. 

How To Avoid Bad Land Deals One can avoid bad land deals by: 

• Using experienced lawyers for the transaction 
• Doing a detailed due diligence 
• Employing the services of a reputed real estate consultant with in-depth market knowledge. 

When it comes to land acquisition, there is no question of a free lunch or short-cuts. If something about a land deal seems out of whack, then it can be taken for granted that there is an issue with the land. As things stand today, fraud happens as because people buy land without complete due diligence, which leads to faulty acquisition of land with title issues. 
    
The objective of buying land for development should be getting a clean, secure title and being able to develop on the plot without facing any future complications at the development stage, and within a stipulated time. 

Developers' Nightmare 
In the whole morass of problems related to land acquisition, developers face the greatest challenges in obtaining a clean, bankable title to a contiguous land parcel of sufficient dimensions to develop projects. Another issue they face is the loss of control on cost during acquisition, since the cost of acquisition after completion of the entire process is often so high that any development becomes prohibitively expensive. 
    
Often, the only way in which developers have been able to circumvent the complexities involved in the acquisition and development of land is via land pooling. This is a process wherein a number of land owners agree to pool their land holdings and then develop them together. Successful cases include Amanora in Pune and Magarpatta, also in Pune, where various land owners pooled their land and developed townships to service the growing residential and office real estate needs of Pune's IT industry. All the original owners have a stake in the developing company. 

The Role Of The Government 
The present laws are such that it is next to impossible to get 100% clean title for a land parcel of any significant size. The problem is that the law does not have provisions to stop a claimant from approaching the courts at any stage and at any time. The only secure way to get land with a 100% secure title in India was through the Government. However, with the issues that have been raised as farmers went to court at Noida West and Greater Noida, even that route has now come into question. 
    
In order to make acquiring land India easier and more beneficial, the Government needs to make more proactive laws for the process of acquisition, as well as for resettlement and rehabilitation. Two of the most critical needs of the hour are the abolishing of the Urban Land Ceiling Act across country, and the formulation of laws that encourage participation of the owner in development of land. The Government cannot wash its hands off the responsibility of providing land for development, especially on rehabilitation and resettlement. 
    
The Government should devise a mode to provide title security, and laws need to be made in a manner that ensures that old laws like ULC do not have an overhang on the land. 
    
If we want our country to be truly global, and to grow more rapidly, land for development needs to be made available more easily. Cases like Singur, Greater Noida and Noida West must be avoided at all costs, as they shake global confidence in investing in India. 

India To Reject Global Arms Trade Treaty

Lack Of Indigenous Defence Production Industry May Become A Strategic Vulnerability For Nation. New Delhi is set to reject a global arms trade treaty (ATT) since the agreement is heavily loaded against weapons importing countries like India, and let exporting nations like the US and China call the shots. The treaty, meant to regulate all transfers of conventional arms around the world, is likely to be passed by the UN General Assembly next week. India’s inability to establish an indigenous defence production industry may now become a strategic vulnerability. 

    

New Delhi had several concerns which Indian negotiators, led by Sujata Mehta, who heads the Indian mission at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva, fought on, but virtually none of them have been incorporated by the treaty’s co-authors, led by Peter Woolacott of Australia. The current round of negotiations in New York is the second and final round. The first round, held last July, didn’t have an agreement largely because the US backed out. 

    

India wanted the treaty to regulate arms transfers to non-state actors like terror groups. New Delhi’s focus was on terror groups that target the nation or even internal insurgent groups like the Maoists but this was shot down. Countries like the US and the UK who supply arms to opposition groups such as in Syria and Libya wanted to retain the flexibility to continue to do so. Terror groups do find mention, but only in the non-binding preamble, and not in the main body. In her remarks, Mehta said, “Without such provisions, the ATT would in fact lower the bar on obligations of all states not to support terrorists and/or terrorists acts … We cannot allow such a loophole in the ATT.” 

    

Second, India wanted to preserve bilateral defence cooperation agreements (arms supplies are covered under such pacts) from the ATT’s purview. This hasn’t found favour with the treaty’s authors, either. Mehta said, “Such a loophole in the Treaty would have the effect of strengthening the hands of a few exporting states at the expense of the legitimate defense and national security interests of a large number of importing states.” Once this treaty goes through bilateral arms supply agreements could come under this treaty if the exporting country makes an “export assessment” under article 7 that it feels warrants stoppage of supply. This would be disastrous for India, as was evident during the Kargil war in 1999. 

    

India and China are the world top arms importers, according to the latest figures by SIPRI. But China itself has climbed to the top five global arms exporters last year — and the bulk of its arms exports are to Pakistan. Given the nature of China-Pakistan relationship, Islamabad is unlikely to suffer even if this treaty comes into effect. On the other hand, for India, it will become the conventional version of the global nuclear suppliers’ regime. Once this treaty goes through India will have to provide similar kinds of end-user verification and access to satisfy exporters that it does with nuclear imports. 

    

India feels the burden of obligations rests largely on the importers because they have to satisfy the exporters on end-user verification, on keeping national records of weapons and ammunition used, etc. In fact, New Delhi wanted ammunition transfers to stay out of the treaty’s scope, but that too fell by the wayside. 

    

A lot of international arms transfers are no longer outright sales, but incorporate leases, and even barter deals in exchange for resources etc. That should have been part of the treaty but it isn’t. The treaty absolves any state which transfers arms under its own control if it states that it retains control of such arms. This means diversions and illicit transfers will continue to happen under different guises. 

    

The treaty applies to transfers of battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, small and light weapons, while ammunition and parts and components are also brought under scrutiny.

'Modi Darshan' Sold In US For $16,000 Per Person

An elite group of American and NRI entrepreneurs who signed up for an India trip that included a meeting with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi are said to have forked out up to $16,000 per head for what was billed as a ''seven-star'' spin across the country.
   
The trip, which has attracted immense attention in India because the delegation has three American lawmakers who called on Modi, who Washington has banned from visiting the United States, was put together by a Chicago businessman with ties to the Overseas BJP. An NRI from Punjab, Shalabh Kumar is the chairman and CEO of AVG group of companies which specializes in industrial automation.
   
Kumar, who describes himself as a Reagan Democrat, has been active in US politics more recently, backing conservatives such as South Carolina’s Indian-American governor Nikki Haley and one-time Republican Congressman Joe Walsh. Neither the Indian Embassy in Washington nor the US Embassy in New Delhi was involved in the trip which appeared to be an entirely private enterprise.
   
According to an account in the Chicagobased ethnic newspaper ''Hi India,'' Kumar canvassed for the trip through an invitation from the National Indian-American Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI). As per the invitation, the trip was ''limited to (an) elite group of American business persons'' who would be guests of the Gujarat government on March 28 and attend a dinner hosted by Modi. This would be followed by a visit to ‘Gandhi Smarak,’ a stay at the Lake Palace in Udaipur, a visit to Karnataka as guests of the state government and a trip to Tirupati, a visit to the Taj Mahal, the tiger reserve at Ranthambore, a night at the Rambhag Palace, a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and a dinner hosted by Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, and a ''Bollywood Extravaganza.''
   
The cost options given in the invitation were: 7 star trip-(business class travel, private air charter) $16,000 per person and $29,000 per couple; 4 star trip (commercial travel in India with visits to the palace excluded) $10,000 per person; and Economy option -- with all travel and hotel expenses at the individual’s cost --$3000 per person.
   
At a press conference held in Chicago prior to the trip, Kumar had reportedly announced that the delegation would comprise four members of the United States House of Representatives -- Marlin Stutzman, Cyntia Wiederspahn, Cathy Rodgers and Aaron Schock, all from the Republican Party. However, reports from India spoke of only three lawmakers, Schock, Rodgers, and Cynthia Lummis.
   
It was not clear if the lawmakers paid for the trip. The US has strict rules governing acceptance of gifts and sponsored trips by lawmakers.

Many Teaching Positions In IITs & NITs Lying Vacant

Situation At Old NITs Worse With 57% of Faculty Jobs Finding No Takers; Hyd IIT Better Placed With Only 1% Shortage. At a time when the ‘skill shortage’ is frequently bemoaned by industry, nearly half of all teaching positions in the IITs and over half in the NITs are lying vacant. That’s the sobering fact revealed recently in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. 
    
If you think the problem must be largely with the newly created IITs and NITs, think again. The old IITs have over 40% of their teaching positions vacant and the situation in the old NITs is even worse with 57% of faculty jobs finding no takers. 
    
In the eight older IITs (including IT-BHU and Roorkee University - now converted into IITs) the sanctioned strength of teaching staff is 5,356 but there are only 3,158 teachers in regular positions, resulting in 41% vacant seats. 
    
With 57% vacancy, IITBHU has the worst figures. It is followed by IIT-Delhi (50%), IIT- Kharagpur (48%) and IIT-Guwahati (42%). For the remaining four IITs, the vacant teaching positions range between a low of 19% of the sanctioned strength for IIT-Kanpur and 38% for IIT Roorkee. The NITs are even worse. Of the 5,891 sanctioned teaching posts in the 20 odd NITs, only 3,083 are filled by regulars. The 48% gap between required and employed teachers is much higher than the vacancies in the IITs. The NITs at Warangal, Patna, Srinagar, Jamshedpur, Kurukshetra, Agartala and Raipur have over 50% vacancies in teaching positions. The NITs at Calicut, Silchar and Rourkela are the only institutes where the vacancy is less than 40%. 
    

Considering the shortage of academic staff in old and reputable colleges, you would assume the condition of newly created institutes would be even worse. Yes and no. The data throws up some surprises. Four of the eight new IITs are at par or even better than most of the older institutes.IIT-Hyderabad has only 1% of its teaching positions vacant while the corresponding figures are 26%, 46% and 57% for IIT Patna, Indore and Ropar respectively. 
    
The remaining four new colleges have more than 60% vacancy while IIT-Bhubaneshwar doesn’t have a single regular teacher against a sanctioned strength of 90. 
    
Once again, the new NITs do even worse. There isn’t a single regular teacher in the 10 new NITs. According to the NIT Act and IIT Act, these institutions are declared as institutes of national importance and government spends thousands of crores of rupees to encourage technical education in the country. For 2013-14, the budget estimates an expenditure of Rs 3,670 crore on IITs and of Rs 1,719 crore on NITs. 
    
If these institutes are in such a pitiable condition, one shudders to think of what the state of other governmentrun engineering colleges would be. 
    
The parliament question inquiring about the shortage of faculty in NITs and IITs was answered on March 13, 2013 and the ministry noted that the main reason for the shortage is lack of PhD candidates in engineering. It also observed that a majority of students prefer corporate jobs over the teaching profession. 
    
To make up for the shortage, the institutes resort to contracts, adjunct, visiting faculty and online mode of teaching. 
    
It was also recently reported that the government is planning to engage trainee teachers who will be selected from the top 15% of students from these institutes. Government sources said students opting for corporate jobs over teaching as reason.

Will Charminar Bag The UNESCO Tag?

Armed with a 400-year-old history and a glossy dossier that won Charminar a nomination on Unesco’s World Heritage list, the city’s eight million residents are hoping to break into celebrations once the results are announced later this year. While optimists appear to be on a high, heritage experts confess that the monument’s chances do not seem too encouraging owing to the global body’s stringent selection standards. 
    
The designation of ‘World Heritage Site’ is coveted as it gives a monument international recognition and major tourism boost. It also secures commitment from the home country for the monument’s protection. Iconic Charminar’s first attempt at bagging the tag was made in 2001 when a document was presented to Unesco to nominate Hyderabad as a heritage city. However, the submission fell through as it was not sent through the Union HRD ministry, whichis authorisedtosend allsuch proposals. Another feeble attempt made in 2005 was turned down as the submission was not in the format prescribed by the World Heritage Committee (WHC). The last attempt madein 2010 to putCharminar on the list of hopefuls along with Golconda and Qutub Shahi Tombs under the theme ‘Qutub Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad’ succeeded. 
    
After a scrutiny of the dossier submitted by WHC and secretariat of its advisory body InternationalCouncilon Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a team from ASI arrived from Delhi to gauge the state of preparedness. It offered suggestions to ensure all goes well during inspection by ICOMOS experts, which was scheduled later that year. 
    
However, when a team from ICOMOS arrived at Charminar in November last, it did not like what it saw. The team noted with annoyance the ugly paan stains and chipped walls though the government officials had tried to hide the defects. Besides the visible lack of upkeep, ASI had no explanation for the presence of religious elements in the vicinity of Charminar. It was also learnt that lack of a concerted effort to manage the environs was a reason for displeasure of the inspection team. 
    
Conservation experts see the urgent need to have a management plan for the Charminar area, award or no award. “A body on the lines of the Buddha Purnima Project Authority should be created to managetheCharminar area.Thiswillhelp bring about architectural control while allowing urban development. There should be a single authority that focuses not just on conservation of monuments but also works to exclusively manage and monitor the area by bringing together monument custodians, various bodies of civic administration, politicians and locals together,” said Vasanta Sobha Turga, citybased architect. 
    
Despite apparent drawbacks, there is some hope as a rejection from WHC would make a new nomination difficult. A heritage activist hopefully said, “We cannot be confident of a win owing to several loopholes on the ground. But recent efforts have taken us the farthest we have ever got.” The world heritage committee is expected to meet in June to announce sites selected for inscription on the World Heritage List. 
  
The Unesco’s World Heritage Tag could play a vital role in saving the Charminar, the soul of Hyderabad, from disintegration. Attempts to get the tag have not fructified because the state has not demonstrated the seriousness it requires. The only way out for the government to save the monument is to send an urgent, clear and strong message to all related agencies that it means business and no one will be spared for missing the target.

'Too Many Spooks Spoil The Case'

Liaquat Shah’s case is a symptom of the colossal anti-terror mess. Dozens of agencies, turf wars, power centres, crossed wires. Is the NCTC the answer?

On22 March New Delhi woke up and counted its blessings. Officers of the Delhi Police Special Cell claimed they had averted a major terror strike by arresting Hizbul Mujahideen commander Liaquat Shah on the Indo-Nepal border near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. A cache of arms and ammunition, including AK rifles and grenades, too had allegedly been recovered from a guesthouse in old Delhi. As 24×7 news channels showed a haggard-looking man, shouting his innocence, in the grip of gun-toting Special Cell men, the National Capital Region and perhaps the whole country heaved a sigh of relief. Memories of the twin blasts that rocked Hyderabad on 21 February were still fresh in their minds.

The police claimed that Liaquat, a resident of Kupwara in Jammu & Kashmir, had slipped into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1997 and received arms training. They said Liaquat had returned to oversee a terror attack to avenge the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The terror story ruled the airwaves for a few hours before it exploded in Delhi Police’s face. As soon as news of Liaquat’s arrest went public, his family and the J&K Police debunked Delhi Police’s claims. According to the J&K Police, Liaquat was a reformed militant coming home to start a new life. His relatives claimed they had notified the cops on 5 February 2011 about Liaquat’s planned surrender. The route that he had taken, entering India through Nepal, is the most preferred one for reformed militants and many who availed of the state’s surrender policy had used it.

J&K Police also claimed that two policemen had gone to Gorakhpur to pick up 9-10 people, including Liaquat, and had kept the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Delhi Police in the loop. When the handover happened, the J&K Police allege that the Delhi Police didn’t allow them to take Liaquat into custody. Two days later, he was paraded as a terror mastermind.

However, a Delhi Police officer begged to differ and made some counter-claims.

• If the J&K Police had received the surrender application in February 2011, then why did they file an FIR against Liaquat in March for waging war against the nation?
• Why is the J&K Police refusing to reveal the identity of the two personnel who had gone to pick up the contingent?

The Delhi cop also wondered whether his colleagues were foolish enough to jeopardise an operation in which both the IB and the J&K Police were kept in the loop.

The Kashmir Valley, which was already reeling under curfews imposed after Guru’s hanging, erupted in protest. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was quick to remind the Centre that Liaquat’s arrest might deal a big blow to its flagship programme aimed at bringing back reformed militants who had crossed over to POK. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti added that Kashmiris are nabbed without evidence and treated as fodder for rewards and medals.

Two days after Omar made the demand, the Union home ministry announced that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe the curious case of Liaquat.

This is not the first time such claims and counter-claims have exposed the lack of coordination between various intelligence agencies. And it won’t be the last.

As a home ministry official puts it, “Intelligence agencies have a ruthless desire to put one’s interest before everything and make sure they get all the credit. The nation’s interest can go to hell for all they care.”

So, how does one explain Liaquat’s arrest? Was it due to a bad intelligence input or an insatiable greed on the part of the security agencies to have a terror arrest against their names so that their annual confidential report looks good? There are close to 23 security agencies, 35 state anti-terror cells and special units operating in India on hundreds of cases in which people have been branded as terrorists, only to be found innocent after a trial extending from five years to eternity. By that time, the officer concerned has moved on in his life, with a gallantry medal pinned on his chest for exemplary courage. INN has relentlessly chronicled the plight of such innocents, who were falsely implicated. INN has also tracked the alarming chaos and difficulties faced by India’s anti-terror establishment. 

When P Chidambaram took over as home minister after the 26/11 attacks, it was seen as a welcome relief. He touted the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) as a magic wand that will rid Indian intelligence agencies of their turf wars. Four years later, the NCTC has turned out to be the biggest bone of contention between the Centre and the states. The fate of Chidambaram’s pet project will be known at the internal security meeting of the chief ministers to be held in Delhi on 15 April. So, with the NCTC’s dilution, are we once again taking one step forward and two steps back in the fight against terror?

“If everybody in the intelligence community had shared inputs, 70 percent of the terror attacks would not have taken place,” says an intelligence officer. “But then, given the stakes involved, it is also asking for the impossible.” This sums up the attitude of the intelligence agencies, who are busy fighting a turf war rather than the war against terror.

When two blasts rocked Dilsukhnagar, a crowded locality in Hyderabad, on 23 February, terror made its first visit to India in 2013. The twin blasts killed 17 people and injured more than 100. What followed was something that has played out again and again after every terror attack.

Within no time, the Union home ministry issued a statement that it had shared intelligence inputs with the Andhra Pradesh government, which they “failed” to assess and act upon. Not wanting to be left out of the action, Delhi Police Special Cell officers told friendly journalists that two Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives had confessed in late 2012 that Dilsukhnagar was one of the areas where they had done a recce. The officers claimed they had passed on the information. But the AP Police rubbished those claims, saying the intel inputs were not that specific.

Forty-eight hours later, the NIA took over the probe. A crucial piece of information emerged when CCTV footage revealed a man visiting the spot on a bicycle. He was seen leaving a bag and fleeing just minutes before the blasts. Going by the modus operandi, the NIA suspect that IM operatives Tabrez and Waqas, who were part of the 13/7 Mumbai attack, had a hand in this operation as well.

However, 12 days before the blasts, something interesting had happened in Mumbai. On 11 February, the Mumbai Anti- Terror Squad (ATS) had announced a reward of 10 lakh each for information on four IM operatives alleged to be behind various terror strikes across India in the past couple of years, including the 2012 Pune blasts. They were Yasin Bhatkal, the founder-leader of IM and one of India’s most-wanted terrorists, Asadullah Akhtar alias Tabrez, Waqas alias Ahmed and Tahseen alias Raju bhai. For a long time it was believed that Tabrez and Waqas were Pakistanis, but the Mumbai ATS claimed that they were, in fact, Indians.

But the Mumbai ATS failed to disclose that had it not been for a major goof-up, involving the Delhi Police, IB and Mumbai ATS, three out of the four IM operatives would have been behind bars and maybe the lives of the 16 people in Hyderabad could have been saved.

Chronicles of a Terror Foretold
Five cases where lack of coordination among the security agencies cost the country dear 

1. Hyderabad 2013 The 21 February blasts in Hyderabad could have been averted if the Mumbai Police had not arrested Naqi Ahmed Wasi in January 2012. Wasi, a Delhi Police informer, was on the verge of leading the police to Indian Mujahideen operatives Waqas and Tabrez, when he was nabbed for his alleged role in the 2011 serial blasts that rocked Mumbai. Security agencies suspect that Waqas and Tabrez were instrumental in the Hyderabad blasts

2. Kolkata 2009 Indian Mujahideen founder-leader Yasin Bhatkal was arrested by the Kolkata Police in 2009 on charges of carrying fake currency. But he was set free after only a month in jail as he could convince the police that his arrest was a case of mistaken identity. Unfortunately, the police had no way of cross-checking with a national database

3. Mumbai 2008 Despite having concrete intelligence, the investigators could not join the dots, leading to audacious terror attacks on 26/11. The Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) knew of the training and sea movements of Lashkare- Toiba terrorists and the IB had a list of 35 cell phone numbers, but those leads were not pursued. The role of the Mumbai ATS also came under the scanner for its inability to access the information

4. Kargil 1999 The IB had 45 specific intelligence inputs. The most concrete input received in June 1998 said that Pakistan was building bunkers, but it was not shared with everybody. The then RAW chief Girish Saxena was livid enough to put his displeasure on record, saying that the turf war had cost the country dear

5. Purulia 1995 In the Purulia arms drop case, where automatic weapons and ammunition were dropped from an aircraft in West Bengal to be used by a militant group, RAW had the information at least a week prior to the incident. “We gave the information to the home ministry 4-5 days in advance. The ministry sent it by registered post to Calcutta,” says a former RAW official

On 20 November 2011, the Delhi Police Special Cell announced that they had busted a homegrown terror module and arrested six people. They were Mohd Qateel Siddiqi, Mohd Irshad Khan, Gauhar Aziz Khomani, Gayur Ahmed Jamali and Abdul Rahman (all from Bihar) and Mohd Adil (from Karachi). This module was allegedly behind the terror attacks at German Bakery in Pune, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and the Jama Masjid in Delhi.

It was a joint operation by the Delhi Police Special Cell and the IB, but what was not revealed in the press conference was the identity of the seventh person, Naqi Ahmed Wasi Shaikh, who was also arrested. Naqi was a resident of Darbhanga district in Bihar and owned a leather-processing unit in Byculla, Mumbai.

Naqi told the Special Cell that he knew about the hideout of Bhatkal and two other IM operatives in Mumbai and could lead the police to it. Though Bhatkal and his accomplice had vacated the place, they were yet to collect their advance of 1 lakh. The Special Cell had put the phone line of Rubina, the landlady, on surveillance. On 1 January, they got a lucky breakthrough when one of the “Pakistanis” made a call to Rubina, who asked him to call back in an hour. The suspect called after three hours but Rubina told him that she needed more time to return the money. The call was traced to a phone booth in Dadar. The sleuths were confident that they were on the verge of effecting a big breakthrough.

On 23 January, the Mumbai ATS announced to the world that they have arrested two people from Bihar in connection with the 13/7 Mumbai blasts. One of them was Naqi. A stunned Special Cell then leaked the news that Naqi was their informer, triggering a war of words between the Special Cell and Mumbai ATS. The moment Naqi’s arrest was made public, all the clues simply disappeared.

This is touted as a classic case of how lack of coordination, inflated egos and the constant game of one-upmanship are compromising the fight against terror.

However, this was not the only embarrassing story that emerged out of that breakthrough. During the course of interrogation, the revelations made by Mohd Irshad stunned and embarrassed the Delhi Police. Irshad told them that Bhatkal had lived in New Delhi for 8-9 months in 2011.

Bhatkal was married to Irshad’s daughter and was living in the industrial belt of Meer Vihar, in west Delhi’s Nangloi area. When the police raided the area, they found a small ordnance and weapon factory. The locals told police that Irshad and Bhatkal mostly kept to themselves and didn’t interact much with others. The police believe that Bhatkal was in the city even after the 2011 Delhi High Court blast.

But if you thought that the intelligence agencies’ tryst with embarrassment and Bhatkal ended here, think again.

In late 2008, on an alert given by the IB, the Kolkata Special Task Force busted a fake currency racket and arrested Bhatkal. He claimed that he was Mohammad Ashraf from Darbhanga in Bihar and showed a voter’s ID card as proof. The address and other information checked out to be true. After a month in jail, he was let off.

However, when the footage of the German Bakery blast was released by the IB, the Kolkata Police was shocked to find that the person they thought was a petty thief was India’s most-wanted terrorist.

Intelligence officers and security experts agree that in cases like these, if even a little cooperation is extended, big results can be achieved. Bhatkal is not the only case where lack of coordination botched up the case, it’s just the latest.

“The 2006 Mumbai train blast is yet another example of how the lack of coordination led to this situation,” says a senior IB officer. “RAW was aware of the movement of the LeT module, which came to do the recce, and even the IB knew this. However, none of them shared the information with the higher-ups and therefore a golden chance was lost to prevent that attack.”

Months before the 1999 Kargil War, the IB had 45 specific intelligence inputs. In June 1998, the IB had intelligence that Pakistan was building bunkers but they did not share the information with anyone. The result was there for everyone to see.

The disconnect is also illustrated by Riyazuddin Nasir’s arrest. In 2008, a sub-inspector in Bengaluru saw Nasir carrying several car number plates and enquired about it. Unable to get a satisfactory reply, he booked him under a vehicle theft case. In a chance encounter, the SP crosschecked Nasir’s details with the IB, and found that they had arrested one of the country’s most-dreaded terrorists.
Even the 26/11 attacks, one of the most audacious that the country has ever seen, is not without its share of goof-ups.

“We had a lot of information about 26/11 and that too well in advance,” says SD Pradhan, former chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee and former deputy National Security Adviser (NSA). “In 2006, RAW knew that 150 LeT men were undergoing training in water tactics. In June 2008, we got inputs that the Taj Mahal hotel and Leopold Café were going to be attacked. But the biggest problem was that these inputs were with different agencies — RAW or IB or DIA. In mid-November, another input was given to the Coast Guard, Indian Navy and the Mumbai Police that 10-12 people were coming towards Mumbai from Karachi. They scanned the coast but didn’t find anything. Another alert was sounded on 19 November, but they thought they had already checked. There was plenty of intelligence to be acted upon. If only somebody had connected the dots.” Even these inputs were not shared with the NSA.

Incredibly, highly-placed sources have told INN that the cell phone numbers used by the 10 LeT terrorists were available with the IB at least five days before the attacks. The sources shared the contents of a ‘secret’ note that mentioned 35 cell phone numbers. Of the 35 SIM cards, 32 had been bought from Kolkata and three from New Delhi by LeT’s “overground workers”, and sent to POK by mid-November. The precise contents of the ‘secret’ note could not have been more direct. “The numbers given below have been acquired from Kolkata by overground workers and have been sent through Pakistan-trained militants based in Kashmir to POK,” the note said. “These numbers are likely to emerge in other parts of the country… and need to be monitored and the information taken from these numbers regarding the contents of the conversation and call detail records are required for further developing the information. The monitoring is possible at Kolkata.”

Sources reveal that this crucial piece of information was received by the IB on 21 November, at least five days before Ajmal Kasab and his nine accomplices got off the inflatable dinghies on the evening of 26/11. Both the prime minister and the home minister were aware that the numbers were available, but they were not being monitored. The lapse is all the more critical because at least three of the 32 numbers contained in the secret note were the exact same cell numbers that the terrorists used to keep in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. It is possible that the terrorists only activated their cell phone numbers after reaching Mumbai but why were the numbers not put under surveillance despite the knowledge that they had been sent to terrorists in POK?

Former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh agrees that had a national commission like the one formed by the US after 9/11 been appointed by India after 26/11, several heads would have rolled.

After 26/11, the then home minister Shivraj Patil resigned and Chidambaram took charge and advocated the NCTC’s formation. However, the plan ran into rough weather. It was scuttled by at least seven non-Congress CMs. The biggest stumbling block proved to be the NCTC’s power structure. That it would be reporting to the IB director and have the power to arrest people without informing the local police made non-Congress CMs see red. After stiff objection, the Centre decided to place the NCTC under the home ministry and clarified that whenever any arrest is made, it will inform the local police. Besides, the DGPs of respective states will be on the NCTC board, so that any action will have their consent or be in their knowledge.

When Sushil Kumar Shinde took over, he sounded out a conciliatory message that until all the CMs’ concerns are addressed, the NCTC won’t become a reality.

Experts like Pradhan feel that since the Indian model of NCTC has been borrowed lock, stock and barrel from the US, there was no need for Chidambaram to change it. The US NCTC makes it abundantly clear that the agency will have no power to arrest or assume operational responsibilities. “The NCTC is a very powerful body. The states are legitimately worried. Only the KGB had the power to arrest and needless to add, it was grossly misused,” he says.

VK Singh, former Joint Secretary (technical wing), RAW, narrates how multiple agencies work at cross-purposes. “After I took over, I had a chat with the army. We knew what equipment the Pakistan and Chinese forces were using and I offered to exchange information. When I told my superiors, they didn’t buy the idea.

“The aim of the NTRO (National Technical Research Organisation) was to bring all technical resources under one umbrella. Everyone is doing the same job, monitoring radio or microwave link. Besides duplication, it’s resulting in a wastage of effort. The aim almost became a reality during APJ Abdul Kalam’s time but RAW refused to play ball. The IB and army also did the same and we were back to square one.”

But former RAW chief Vikram Sood questions the very need for NCTC. “Whenever we are in a crisis, we create a new agency,” he says. “After 1962, we had the ARC and SSF. After the Mizo mess in 1965- 66, we created RAW. In 1971, we won the Bangladesh war, so nothing was created.

In 1999, after Kargil, we created the NTRO. After 26/11, the NCTC proposal came up, which has still not taken shape. Have you thought through the concept? It has to be a bottoms-up, not a top-down system.”

A serving senior IB officer agrees with the potential of misuse. “Even in the IB, there are various stories of misuse,” he says. “After 1977, the Shah Commission had documented the IB’s misuse during Emergency, and this is when the agency didn’t have any power to arrest. So you can understand the fear of these states when the powers of arrest and independent investigation are given to the IB.”

Security experts are also of the opinion that instead of creating more bureaucratic hurdles and agencies, the government should concentrate on beefing up the existing system. “How will the NCTC be helpful in preventing attacks?” asks noted security expert Ajai Sahni. “Show me anything the NCTC brings to the table that does not already exist in the IB or the Multi- Agency Centre (MAC). All they are doing is cannibalising existing institutions to create a new and weak institution. In a country with 1.2 billion people, how can you be successful when you have barely 300-400 people committed to anti-terror intelligence gathering in the IB?”

The crippling shortage of manpower in the IB is also manifest in the response of Minister of State, Home, RPN Singh in the Rajya Sabha on 12 February. Reflecting the apparent state of disarray, he said, “Despite a sanctioned strength of 26,867, the IB has only 18,795 personnel. Nearly 1,500 slots in the deputation quota could not be filled due to non-availability of suitable officers.”

The figures mean the IB is functioning with only 70 percent of the required manpower and the gap is increasing every year. The minister added that the “actual induction figures are much less because many selected candidates don’t turn up”.

But experts like Prakash Singh are in favour of setting up the NCTC as they feel that without it the individual agencies will keep indulging in turf wars. “If the states feel that the NCTC is encroaching on their territory, then why do they ask for Central forces after terror attacks?”

Intelligence experts also question the need for vesting investigative powers with the NCTC when the NIA already exists. The NIA was created in 2008 to ensure that all terror-related investigations are streamlined. Four years later, the NIA is still grappling with internal issues. The government’s seriousness about its creation can be gauged from the fact that the agency was initially operating out of a shopping mall in south Delhi. The agency also got a taste of the turf war during the probe into the 2011 Delhi High Court blast when the police was left fuming after the home ministry transferred the case to the NIA.

“A major flaw in the current proposal is that the sub-structures needed for the NCTC’s functioning have not been included,” says Pradhan. “It must be understood that the mere creation of the NCTC won’t suffice. Unless the sub-structures are created at the state and district levels, it won’t be able to function efficiently.

“There is a need to create district-level collation centres (under district police chiefs) for examining the collected inputs from thanas, which are needed for counter- terrorism. Such inputs should be sent to the subsidiary MACs for examination and integrating related information. These centres should be chaired by the state DGs to ensure that they are fully aware of the developments and place their resources for further action or developments of leads.”

Following the outrage over Liaquat’s arrest, the Centre has announced a new policy framework for the rehabilitation of surrendered militants, as the arrest is seen as a symbol of the lack of coordination among security agencies. In the coming months, the Centre is expected to consult with the states to firm up the policy.