According to the report of Global peace Index (GPI), 2011, India has fallen into the 20 least peaceful countries list. India is queuing up with countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. The country is been ranked 135 out 153 nations in the world. Pakistan is ranked 146 and Afghanistan 150
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The Global Peace Index is an initiative of the Institute for Killelea's Economics and Peace, an international think tank that explores relationships between business, peace and economic development. Now in its fifth year, the GPI measures the relative peacefulness of 153 countries by looking at both qualitative and quantitative indicators that combine internal and external factors determining a nation's peacefulness. These include arms imports and exports, violent crime, battlefield deaths, prison populations, potential for terrorism, political stability and the likelihood of violent demonstrations. The Index also seeks to understand how peace impacts global economics and business, and vice versa.
The advisory panel apportioned scores based on the relative importance of each of the indicators on a 1-5 scale. Two sub-component weighted indices were then calculated from the GPI group of indicators: 1) a measure of how at peace internally a country is; 2) a measure of how at peace externally a country is. The overall composite score and index was then formulated by applying a weight of 60 percent to the measure of internal peace and 40 percent for external peace.
India's total score was 2.570. A few details of the peace indicators scores are as follows, Number of external and internal conflicts fought -5, Relations with neighboring countries-4, Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population-1, Level of disrespect for human rights-4, Potential for terriorist acts-4, Number of homicides per 100,000 people-2, Level of violent crime-3, Ease of access to small arms and light weapons-4, Military capability/sophistication-4 and Political instability-1.25.
India's score remains the same on most parameters compared to its last year scores. Homicide and crime rates in India, too, are a lot lower than many other countries but the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society.
Now, it is very easy to dismiss this report, to say that the factors are skewed and the report is tailored against India. Indians are best at dismissing any negative reports, after all! But the fact is there was an explosion outside Delhi High Court on Wednesday, and no one even cared. Reason, it was a low intensity explosion and no one died! It has, in fact become a routine of our lives to keep hearing about an explosion every now and then.
The advisory panel apportioned scores based on the relative importance of each of the indicators on a 1-5 scale. Two sub-component weighted indices were then calculated from the GPI group of indicators: 1) a measure of how at peace internally a country is; 2) a measure of how at peace externally a country is. The overall composite score and index was then formulated by applying a weight of 60 percent to the measure of internal peace and 40 percent for external peace.
India's total score was 2.570. A few details of the peace indicators scores are as follows, Number of external and internal conflicts fought -5, Relations with neighboring countries-4, Number of displaced people as a percentage of the population-1, Level of disrespect for human rights-4, Potential for terriorist acts-4, Number of homicides per 100,000 people-2, Level of violent crime-3, Ease of access to small arms and light weapons-4, Military capability/sophistication-4 and Political instability-1.25.
India's score remains the same on most parameters compared to its last year scores. Homicide and crime rates in India, too, are a lot lower than many other countries but the fall in rankings is largely due to an increasing perception of criminality in society.
Now, it is very easy to dismiss this report, to say that the factors are skewed and the report is tailored against India. Indians are best at dismissing any negative reports, after all! But the fact is there was an explosion outside Delhi High Court on Wednesday, and no one even cared. Reason, it was a low intensity explosion and no one died! It has, in fact become a routine of our lives to keep hearing about an explosion every now and then.
More interesting is the way we tackle such things as a nation. I read some of the comments on the news item in TOI, and they showed a clear picture of the so called “Unity” in our country. Instead of condemning the act, people were discussing saffron and green, throwing derogatory comments on each other’s religion. Had it been a major explosion, it would definitely have widened the gap between the communities.
Let’s talk about our capability to tackle terror as a nation on a whole. We may boast about our military capabilities, but what about our intelligence and internal security? The GOI, recently handed a most wanted list of fugitives to Pakistan, only to find out two of them were actually living in India, bringing shame on the country! The foreign minister blamed CBI, which in turn made a scapegoat of some lower level officers. Interestingly, CBI, the premier intelligence agency of the country didn’t refreshed the list in last one decade! David Headley in his trail told that Mumbai attacks were cancelled twice before finally being carried out on 26th. In both the cases, the terrorists entered Indian waters. So our intelligence failed not once, but thrice!
Even when some of the criminals are put behind bars, what we do to them? We treat them of course! Guest is God after all! A nation where two-third of the population lives below 2$/day, spends more than 10 crore on a terrorist’s safety! It eludes me how can we afford it! Then there is the famous case of Afzal Guru, who no one wants alive except our great leaders and President. They are waiting for another plane hijack, I guess!
