Perspectives on Terror Management

The students of the SIES College of Management Studies (SIESCOMS) organized an event on the evening of 3^rd January, 2009 at 4 pm in the Institute premises on the topic of "Terror Management." It sought to bring together varied and diverse perspectives on the global menace – Terror and was aptly called ‘The Other Angles – Perspectives on terror management’. The discussion revolved around the current security infrastructure, the onus on the corporate world, and roles & responsibilities that various stakeholders can potentially play in the process of terror and crisis management. The discussion was moderated by an eminent journalist from CNN-IBN – Mr. George Koshy and the panel included representatives from the Police, Non-governmental Security Agency, Media, and the Corporate World, in the presence of management students, alumni and faculty, on a common platform in the SIESCOMS amphitheatre to discuss and debate the intricacies of Terror Management. The panelists included:

Mr. Surendra Mandhane - retired ACP, Navi Mumbai.

Dr. Aakash Akinwar - St. George Hospital (C.S.T), who also witnessed the Mumbai terror attack. 

Mr. Rana Uday Kumar Singh – GM (Operations), Watchguard Security Services, previously handled the Security division of the Indian Air Force for 20 years, was the Head of training – Bombay Intelligence Security Agency and has been handling Corporate security since the past 15 years (Marico, Telco).

Mr. Harish Iyer – Creative professional at Shobiz, Social Activist and blogger of international repute.

 Mr. Sonal Dabral - Bates 141 - Executive Creative Director, Asia Pacific, and Chairman, India. Prior to joining Bates 141, Sonal worked with Ogilvy for 16 years.

Ms. Rashmi Dhanwani - Ex Journalist & Social Activist – International NGO, Breakthrough.        

The evening started off with initial perspectives and first reactions, from the panelists.             Mr. Mandhane shed light on the initial confusion among the police, as to the nature and gravity of the attack. He described the gruesome bloodshed at the C.S.T railway station and the Metro junction.

Dr. Aakinwar, was at the Olympia hotel, opposite the Leopold Café, which was also attacked by the terrorists. He along with his colleague moved the injured to the St. George’s hospital. He quickly mobilized students and interns at the St. George’s hostel and worked through the night, trying to save lives. Ms. Aditi Mishra, a student at the hospital, shared her feelings of fear, as reports of the attack poured in. She stressed upon the lack of preparedness of our hospitals, to deal with a calamity of this scale and how difficult it was to get together, basic medical essentials like blood and suture materials. At the same time, she was overwhelmed by the heartwarming response from people all across the city, calling in to offer help and donate blood.

Mr. Singh, talked about the absence of pro – active security measures and how much things need to change; stressing the need for an independent training agency to handle terror attacks. “Security is sidelined and ignored”, said Mr. Singh and recommended that a basic security module, be made part of the curriculum at the school and college levels.

Mr. Sonal Dabral, who was in Singapore on the day of the attack, shared the feelings of helplessness that washed over him, as he watched the horrific scenes unfold on television. He spoke of how people, irrespective of nationalities, bond together in times like these, calling the attacks as an attack on humanity and not just India and Mumbai.

Mr. Harish Iyer, a creative professional at Shobiz and an activist, discussed the impact of the new media. His popular blog saw responses from all over the world. Relatives of people stuck in the Taj and the Trident, called up, desperate to hear some news about their loved ones.

George Koshy, pointed out how death was a leveler and that terror had no boundaries. Rashmi Dhanwane, who was present outside the Taj and the Trident, reiterated the fact, by calling terrorism a global plot. She commended Mr. Mandhane, Dr. Aakinwar and Mr. Iyer, for knowing their roles and jumping onto their tasks, instantly. She called for a greater clarity on individual roles and responsibilities, including the media, hospitals as well as the citizen.

At this point, George brought in the ‘Citizen’ angle, which was the highlight of the discussion. Asking members of the audience, “Who failed you?” he spoke of citizens as part of the entire link, when the usual suspects were mentioned – politicians, intelligence, and the entire government system.

 The discussion that began with the problem of terrorism, followed by all the things that went wrong, eventually boiled down to the ‘you and I’ element. Various concrete steps for action were brought out by the panelists, which were taken down by the students, to be included in a research project on terror management.

George called for stopping corruption at the basic level, by an increased conscientiousness among the citizens, in what he called as ‘getting back to the basics’. As examples, he spoke of refusing to bribe a cop, if one is caught for violation of a traffic rule or not complaining at security checks at airports.

Rashmi emphasized the need for awareness of local and global occurrences by means of absorbing media reports, various opinions, books and the like. This was a first step, in shaking off apathy. “Be participative” she exhorted and mentioned initiatives like Jaago Re, Jagrut Nagrik.com, ivote.com, United Way Mumbai, as a means of individual involvement in the political system.

As the discussion came to a close, George posed the big question, “Will things change?” As a good number of the panel and the audience responded by saying that, yes, they did believe, that things would change for the better, Harish brought the evening to an eloquent conclusion, by stressing the importance of doing small deeds. “Do things at the micro level. Each one of us bringing about changes in our neighborhood would make a big difference.”