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One of the things bothering us the most about the latest spate of bomb blasts is IT. India, which is delivering IT solutions, including many in security, to the world, has miserably failed at home. During the blasts the cameras that were supposed to be monitoring and recording busy market places were not working, or if they were, they were not storing the images.

The reasons for this state of affairs are many. Firstly, there are plenty of loopholes. For instance, the rule that nobody can use an Internet caf unless and until the person furnishes identity proof, made a few years back, is not followed anywhere. Similarly, there is no check to see if the personal information provided by mobile phone subscribers is correct or not. Cameras that were installed after earlier blasts are not checked for regular maintenance.

Another big factor is the poor state of education and awareness about IT. It is no secret that even among senior level police and security agencies, knowledge of IT is abysmally low. This is clearly visible from one simple thing: the government at the center, as well as states have been fighting with each other on some very important matters like ID cards for its citizens and common database. This is a matter pending for years and even now has not been resolved. I think one of the first steps toward the fight against terror will be a citizen ID card, and obviously only IT has the solution for that.

Of course, there are other reasons too for this lack of understanding between governmentseveryone wants to have his own people bag and execute citizen database projects.

One of the biggest reasons why those who are arrested by police are later freed by the court is because we use very primitive criminal investigation tools. Our police do not have latest technologies used for tracking criminals.

It was only a month ago when we heard about the wrong picture and name on Sheila Dixit, Delhi chief ministers voter ID card. Just imagine how serious the people concerned would be about voter ID cards of the common man, including criminals who mingle with these common people. Clearly nobody takes critical things like citizen ID cards seriouslyespecially those who are assigned with the task of implementing some of these services and solutions. No wonder the cameras in the bombed marketplaces had not been working for months and no one knew about it.

India and its security agencies need to wake up. Especially when it is being alleged that the mastermind behind the blasts is a tech savvy demon. It would be a shame otherwiseif the country which leads the world in IT, is not able to use IT to defend itself.

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