Terrorism is a buzz word in the present world. It has pushed the world into the new age of insecurity. It is present in numerous forms like political terrorism, bioterrorism, nuclear terrorism, cyber terrorism, eco-terrorism, narco- terrorism etc. In this article, we will be dealing specifically with understanding the meaning of the term terrorism and its effects on the society.

Meaning of Terrorism:

The word terrorism is often misunderstood as targeted violence directed only against the state to achieve a political objective. But terrorism is not committed only against the state rather it may be directed against the society or a group with other than political objectives like religious objectives.

Terrorism is basically a an organised system of violence or intimidation. It is broadly defined as violent behaviour designed to generate fear in the community, or a substantial segment of it for achieving particular political, social, or religious objectives.

According to UN Security Council Resolution 1566 (2004) , the term `terrorism` includes criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with intent to cause death or serious bodily injury or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing an act.

This provided definition is a comprehensive definition of terrorism. Thus, we can say that terrorism is an act of committing violence or threatening to commit violence against the state, a particular section of society or general public to achieve some objectives. One who is involved in this is known as terrorist.

Effects of terrorism on the society:
Terrorism has multifold effects on the society ranging from political, economic, psychological to environmental sphere.

They have been discussed in the following:
Political impact: Terrorist activities make the people loose their confidence over the govt and to believe their govt to be impotent to provide security and look after their interests. Due to the continued presence of terrorism in the society, the government`s attention gets concentrated towards combating terrorism and thus, the other matters of importance gets overshadowed due to this.

The government becomes unable to discuss the rising public issues which need immediate attention and all the discussions whichever happen, happen on the security concerns. This further alienates the people and pushes them into having doubt over the government.

Economic impact: It also harms the society economically in the way that terrorists destroy the property, kill people i.e destroying the human resources of the society and a lot of money has to be allocated towards building up the security to combat terrorism. Also, due to the frequent terrorist attacks, scope of getting investments reduces, supply chain management gets impacted and sectors like tourism and hospitality get impacted further slowing the growth of the economy. Due to the terrorist attacks, many families lose earning hands.

Psychological impact: Those people who witness or suffer terrorist activities have to go through many psychological problems like anxiety, fear, depression, reduced confidence etc. Over and above, the whole society remains in fear and tension where such terrorist attacks are very frequent. All this may lead people to loose their confidence, initiative and creativity.

Environmental impact: Terrorists sometimes destroy the natural resources like burn the forests etc. In testing the missile weapons and other weapons , the environment is harmed. For proper surveillance purpose, land may have to be made devoid of forests and vegetation thus in turn harming the biodiversity.

Violation of human rights: The biggest harm due to the presence of terrorism is done to the human rights. Violation of right to life happens due to the terrorist attacks, curfews are frequently declared and the movement of the people is regulated or scrutinized violating the freedom of movement of the people and enjoyment of other rights like right to education, right to work etc gets hindered.

Marginalization: Social exclusion of the those groups from which terrorists come is common occurrence and thus, innocent people have to suffer.

Thus, terrorism has a huge impact over the society and is a menace to the society and thus, has to be dealt with immediately.