Raksha Anirveda
Book review
Intensified Plan needed to The World is becoming hazardous day by day. Toxic materials are proliferating. In the post cold war era, a large stockpile of WMD materials may have exchanged hands with rogue and out-of-job scientists and nonstate actors. Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats are increasing. India is not yet fully prepared to respond to a terrorist attack that uses CBRN material. An intensified national programme should be put in place to address the CBRN threat. In his book ‘Toxic Portents’, Col (Dr) Athavale analyses India’s preparedness and urges all stakeholders to act on the gaps with urgency
By Sri Krishna Toxic Portents: CBRN Incident Management in India Author: Col (Dr) Ram V Athavale (Retd) Publisher: Vij Books India Pvt Ltd Language: English Pages: 238 Price: `995.00
is not yet fully prepared to respond to a terrorist attack that uses CBRN material. “Of all the threats that could inflict major damage to the country, terrorists using CBRN materials is the threat for which the nation is least prepared. Although the existing capabilities work well for natural disasters such as the Gujarat earthquake and Tsunami, no integrated system is in place to deal with a threat of the magnitude, complexity and severity of WMD terrorism or CBRN incidents,” he says.
Higher priority
T
he earth is turning into a huge heap of toxic waste. A lot has been done to control this rot, but there are huge gaps in awareness and preparedness to deal with the threat from the hazardous material. The amount of toxicity surrounding us in daily life is compounded by increasing population, growing industrialization, depleting natural resources and burgeoning waste. India is among many countries that face threats from the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) material. This threat has been highlighted in a book titled ‘Toxic Portents’, 86
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written by Col (Dr) Ram Athavale. An Indian Army veteran from the 1981 batch and a specialist in the CBRN Security, Risk Mitigation and Incident Management, Col Athavale holds a PhD degree in the CBRN counter-terrorism. He says that in the post cold war era, large stockpiles of CBRN material may have been procured by rogue out-of-job scientists and non state actors. This clandestine proliferation of CBRN material can lead to disastrous CBRN terror incidents. Col (Dr) Athavale’s book focuses on CBRN Incident Management in India. He writes in the book that India
The main source of a nuclearterrorist threat to India stems from the jihadi groups such as Harkat-ulMujahideen, the Jaish-eMohammed, Lashkar-eTaiba, Indian Mujahideen and their affiliates
Col (Dr) Athavale goes on to say that the government should give a higher priority to the threat of WMD terrorism in the national security policy. What he says is indeed very significant in the contemporary scenario when there is an increasing number of non-state actors who are one of the major players in terrorist activities as was seen in the November 2008 Mumbai attack. He suggests that an accelerated and intensified national programme should be put in place to address comprehensively the CBRN threat, including CBRN terrorism. It should be integrated across the entire nation and managed as a structured programme, Painting a grim picture, the author says that WMD poses
