CII conference calls for intensified security parameters

The refrain at the two-day conference on Safe Cities 2010 was integrating technology as a force multiplier in securing cities, borders and the country, per se. With security forces and in turn the people at large, exposed to greater threats, post 26/11 and the regular terrorist/naxalite attacks, the importance of heightened security needs no more emphasis. India reportedly spends less than one rupee per capita on security. Homeland security has never become this critical.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference on Safe Cities gained importance in this background, notwithstanding the thin attendance at the conference and the absence of policy makers (the monsoon session of the Parliament is on).

Be that as may, the conference dwelled on several themes but noteworthy were – critical infrastructure security; integrating technologies to create safe cities; and cyber security, while underlying the fact that all of these will find success faster with public-private partnerships.

The Additional Director General, Central Industrial Security Force, M.S.Bali acknowledged how there was a “transformational change” in airport security with some of the airports getting privatized. “Security concerns are addressed fast and efficiently in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports and decision-making exercises are ego and hassle-free.” The need to cut bureaucratic red-tape for quicker implementation of security measures cannot be over-stated.

Airports, ports, railway stations, games complexes, shopping malls and other places with good foot-falls are under intense security scanners nowadays. In the next two to three years, India’s purchase bill is expected to go over $ 10 billion for homeland security weapons that include secure communication systems; high-tech weapons; multi-utility vehicles; transport aircraft and helicopters; unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) etc. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), Director General, Prasun Mukherjee said the entire gamut of security was getting intensified and that the BPRD was looking at various technologies for various user needs and integrating them to deal with national security challenges.

Though there was a passing reference to the kind of security required for the Common Wealth Games happening in Delhi in October, a few retired police officials who participated in the conference cautioned that by “merely putting more numbers of security personnel may become counter-productive”, thus opening up the need for technologies as force multipliers. The Delhi police has reiterated that there would be a 5-tier security system and also use of technology to ensure that the CWG would be held in a safe and secure environment.

Lt. Gen. (Retd.) P.P.S.Bhandari, Member, CII National Defence Council and President, Rolta Thales Limited, said “industry has practically everything the user needs. You have to demand it, you have to customize it.” Earlier, the Inspector General, Border Security Force, Jammu, Sidharth Chattopadhaya had pointed out to technology gaps, seeking surveillance equipment which could penetrate both fog and rain and also thick foliage. The BSF officer was keen on high-tech equipment which could seal the vast borders of India and it could be “virtual” sealing, if not physical.

The session on information and communication security (read cyber security) threw new challenges to homeland security. Lt. Gen. (Retd.) P.C.Katoch, former Director General of Information Systems, Ministry of Defence, opened up the debate by stating “cyber warfare is here” and how it had the potential of shutting down not just information and communication systems, but various other utilities. A recent cyber attack from a neighbouring country, he mentioned, had penetrated 1,200 systems in the US and other countries, a new risk which can spread fast and have devastating effects.

Gen. (Retd.) Yair Cohen, Head, Intelligence and Cyber Solutions Division, Elbit Systems, Israel, talked about the possibility of a “digital Pearl Harbour” and the need to secure against multi-lateral cyber attacks. Experts Dr. Anupam Joshi, visiting Scientist, IBM Research India and Edgar Dias, Director, Campus and Data Centre, Juniper Networks, India &SAARC, came up with tiered-structure security solutions working on “real-time situational awareness” and providing “actionable intelligence”.

The exhibition had several indigenous players displaying latest technologies in homeland security and also many R&D organizations giving an insight into the efforts that are on to combat security issues at varied levels.