Technological one-upmanship is the name of the game.
This is in continuation of my earlier post “Enhancement of security for railways”.
Couple of days back “Mumbai Mirror” reported the uncanny accuracy displayed by equipment designed to detect the presence of explosive. The equipment was in the process of being tested by the Central Railways Authorities at Mumbai. It was accurate enough to detect the presence of miniscule trace of RDX on the hands of a senior Railway Officer who had touched the explosive out of curiosity and then had taken the care of washing his hands.
The price of that particular explosive detecting instrument was reported to be in the vicinity of 2 – 2.5 lac rupees per piece. Now this is where technology may play a big role in making the world safer. The price is so good that, it may be possible to install such equipments not only at all the railway stations but also in all the trains. And, if Indian Railways places an order for a sizeable quantity, which it is definitely capable of doing, then it may even be in a position to effectively negotiate for a much favourable price.
It must be borne in mind that one way to improve the security related paraphernalia is to keep on using the latest and the most technically advanced equipment. No doubt, the disruptive elements will sooner or later get hold of ways and means to circumvent such equipment but there will be a time lag; and the trick lies in utilizing the time lag to innovate and employ even better and advanced equipment. This will always remain a game of one-upmanship unless and until the fundamental fault-lines are recognized afresh and actions for rectifying them are taken in a holistic manner.
The only saving grace is that as of now, the disruptive elements (read terrorists, crime syndicates etc.) do not seem to be in a position to upstage the mainstream society (read legitimate governments / nations etc) as far as technology is concerned. But the big question is the overall economic cost of this game of one-upmanship, and there lies the catch – even if all goes well, still the world will be paying a massive amount in terms of economic cost.
Couple of days back “Mumbai Mirror” reported the uncanny accuracy displayed by equipment designed to detect the presence of explosive. The equipment was in the process of being tested by the Central Railways Authorities at Mumbai. It was accurate enough to detect the presence of miniscule trace of RDX on the hands of a senior Railway Officer who had touched the explosive out of curiosity and then had taken the care of washing his hands.
The price of that particular explosive detecting instrument was reported to be in the vicinity of 2 – 2.5 lac rupees per piece. Now this is where technology may play a big role in making the world safer. The price is so good that, it may be possible to install such equipments not only at all the railway stations but also in all the trains. And, if Indian Railways places an order for a sizeable quantity, which it is definitely capable of doing, then it may even be in a position to effectively negotiate for a much favourable price.
It must be borne in mind that one way to improve the security related paraphernalia is to keep on using the latest and the most technically advanced equipment. No doubt, the disruptive elements will sooner or later get hold of ways and means to circumvent such equipment but there will be a time lag; and the trick lies in utilizing the time lag to innovate and employ even better and advanced equipment. This will always remain a game of one-upmanship unless and until the fundamental fault-lines are recognized afresh and actions for rectifying them are taken in a holistic manner.
The only saving grace is that as of now, the disruptive elements (read terrorists, crime syndicates etc.) do not seem to be in a position to upstage the mainstream society (read legitimate governments / nations etc) as far as technology is concerned. But the big question is the overall economic cost of this game of one-upmanship, and there lies the catch – even if all goes well, still the world will be paying a massive amount in terms of economic cost.
posted by Better Tomorrow For India @ 9:29 AM
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