National law on terror: Bring a national law to deal with terrorism. The 2002 Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) was being misused in many areas, but what was needed was to fix those problems, not throw out the law altogether.
Create a Department of National Security: Dealing with terrorism is a state subject, and officers in many states find themselves at sea. A national organization – perhaps modeled after the National Disaster Management Authority -- should be created that deals directly with terrorism and has specialized crack units all over the country, which seek help as and when required from state colleagues.
National database of suspects: If a terror suspect from Ahmedabad walks out of India through the land border with Pakistan, the security guard at the immigration counter has no way of knowing who he is. Create a national database of suspects connected in real time to the Interpol database.
Bring in the CBI: State police in India have a conviction rate of 20 per cent – compared to 70 per cent by the CBI. The agency's hands need to be strengthened and terror cases need to be handed right away to the CBI, not after evidence has been ruined, leads have run out and state police cannot do much.
Police the police: Last – and the most important – infuse life into the beat constable, and do not bog them down with work that has nothing to do with the police force. The beat constable is the person who will first spot the stranger in the
