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Why India needs to curb activities of religious ideologues who radicalize young minds

By Sudhansu R Das

The USA’s war against terror with the support of Pakistan has abruptly ended after the US trained Afghan army meekly surrendered to the Taliban. Many US trained Afghan soldiers sold their weapons to the Taliban and ran away. USA has not succeeded in de-radicalizing the Afghan youth because it was treating the symptom and not the disease; it pumped dollars to Pakistan in its war against terror and Pakistan radicalized the young Afghan minds to root out USA’s presence in Afghanistan. 
Radicalization has created an unpredictably dangerous people who can become a permanent threat to peace and democracy across the world. As the story of Taliban horror circulates, the Afghan people scramble for space in the military aircrafts; some people have climbed and sat on the wings, roofs and wheels; they want to escape from a violent age that has just arrived. 
When Taliban controls Afghanistan, India should build its core strengths to counter not only the Pakistan sponsored terrorism with Taliban support but to wipe out the radical religious teaching.
India has to further enhance the morals of the Indian army by putting in place an inclusive promotion policy and an honest and transparent mechanism for every purchase right from grocery item to weapons. There is no dearth of honest people in the army who can build a vigilant army to prevent Kargil type situation. 
Strict border vigilance could have stopped the entry of millions of migrants from Bangladesh into India in the last seven decades. India could have liberated a part of Bangladesh to settle down crores of native Bangladeshi who crossed over to India due to an unsafe and hostile environment. This was also a very live humanitarian issue and it could have ended the plight of crores of Bangladeshi nationals.
In all the wars fought so far with our neighbours, India has only lost its elite soldiers and strategic land after being in an advantageous position. Had India shown strong resolve after winning the wars, there would not have been any Kashmir issue and refugee problem in our north east border. 
Unfortunately, India has messed up with its neighbors for decades; all for self image which the world community seldom cares about. Small border nations cannot remain independent amid geo-political ambition; they should have remained with India as many of them share India’s core philosophy. India loses much more due to lack of border vision.
It cannot afford to lose its elite soldiers in fighting terrorists; time has come to take a fool proof measure to stop insurgency and cross border terrorism for all time to come. The solution lies in building morally and physically strong people who can further strengthen the army as well as the governance mechanism. 
India should fight malnutrition, food adulteration and enhance the quality of school education within a time frame. Besides, the quality education should be affordable so that children from poor families will be able to compete in the various entrance examinations. Caste divide should be erased as it has no role in nation building. Thousands of crores of rupees pumped into the social sector for the last 76 years has not made backward class people one among equal and created creamy layers who tap all the benefits. Had it been spent on quality education millions of people would have been benefited.
Strict law can prevent malnutrition and food adulteration problems; right agriculture intelligence collection from field level will safeguard crop-diversity which will reduce malnutrition. The return of the Taliban has created much unpredictability both for India, China and Pakistan; when a superpower like the USA failed to control Afghanistan, it seems impossible for Pakistan and China to control a fiercely independent minded Afghan population.
No religion should give cover to the radical ideologues whose only aim is to subdue people from other religions who do not accept their philosophy
In view of the current development, India should curb the activities of the religious ideologues who radicalize the young minds; it should be quick and accurate. No religion should give cover to the radical ideologues whose only aim is to subdue people from other religions who do not accept their philosophy. The growth of radical ideologies resulted into violence which forced the Kashmiri pandits to leave their homes in 1990; now resettling the Kashmiri native pandits in Kashmir is the biggest challenge before the country.
It takes decades for the radical ideologues to infiltrate the young minds; the responsibility of the state is to nip the radical thought distributor in the bud. All Indian schools should be open to inspection and the government should show zero tolerance to schools teaching radical ideologies.
Growth of employment, sports culture and working environment will keep our youth busy in constructive activities. Economic planners have to work hard to understand the ground reality fast; then they can always create a development vision which can provide inclusive opportunities to all. Unless the economic planners travel the length and breadth of the country like common man, live in villages and interact with them, it is impossible for them to develop an India specific development vision. 
Mahatma Gandhi came to know how the British amassed wealth by selling Indian domestic products in the world market after he travelled most of India like a common man. He walked hundreds of miles to discover the hidden potential of the Indian cottage industries. The artisans of the Maoist-hit Bastar region add high value to iron, wood and other metals which no industrial product can do with such a low investment. Indians need to discover themselves and should not be carried away by any other country’s business representatives.
Building a world class infrastructure which remains underutilized will help big corporations and does not help much in inclusive growth. Instead of building world class infrastructure, India should build world class schools, research centres and put honest and talented people at the helm so that India could build its core strength to become a strong nation.

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