Why India was more unsafe than Syria in 2014

Deeptiman Tiwary

Feb 12, 2015

NEW DELHI: Far away from the virtual war zones of Syria and Afghanistan, it's in India where more bombs are exploding. In 2014, India witnessed 190 IED explosions, putting it just behind Pakistan and Iraq in the list of countries worst affected by bomb blasts.

And while VIPs continue to clamour for security, they make only 3% of the target as compared to the general public which accounts for 54% of blast targets. Maoists continue to remain the biggest enemy of the state executing more than 50% of the blasts followed by Northeast insurgents accounting for 30% of the explosions.

According to latest data released by National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC), Pakistan witnessed the maximum number of blasts in the world with 313 explosions followed by Iraq which suffered 246 blasts. Afghanistan with 129 blasts is far behind India. Syria, which has seen pitched battles between ISIS, Kurdish Peshmargas and Nato forces, has seen only 32 blasts.

These five countries have together account for almost 85% of the 1,127 blasts across the world.

India, however, has been able to reduce the number of explosions and casualties in 2014. While 2013 witnessed 99 casualties in 212 explosions, 75 people lost their lives in 2014. This is in keeping with the trend across the world.

What's worrying is that in 92% of explosions in India, high explosives were used recording an increase of four percentage points over 2013. This indicates the ease with which anti-national elements are able to lay their hands on explosives and electronic detonators.

NSG chief JN Choudhury blamed it on 'less-than-satisfactory' control over sale and stocking of explosives and detonators. "All 190 blasts in India used electronic detonators. We see a ban on the sale of detonators desirable, but that's not possible. There needs to be some control on sale and secure storage and use of detonators," Choudhry said.

He said, "It seems when licence for use of detonators is given out by district magistrates, it is done in a very routine manner with no monitoring of its end use."

Internally too, India is witnessing a geographical shift in pattern of blasts. Jammu and Kashmir which has witnessed a 30% drop in explosions is no more among the top danger areas. Ditto for Manipur which has seen a 45% drop from 66 blasts in 2013 to just 36 in 2014. Conversely, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand witnessed an increase of 33% and 50% respectively in number of explosions.

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