Dsa feb 2016

february 2016

Volume 7 issue 5

editor-in-chief

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ndia has a vast network of Central Armed Police Forces and it is growing exponentially. So much so that it seems empire building is the norm rather than an exception. Over the years various governments have allowed CAPFs the luxury of expanding their numbers without taking stock of what is rational, what is required and how much is necessary. So much so that the various CAPFs are multiplying to such an extent that they now seem to be duplicating roles and some even triplicating as well. So now there is the sight of some BSF battalions during duty on Delhi roads. And the ITBP proudly displaying its dog squad.

How guarding borders brings troops to manning Delhi roads is a mystery and what use do expensive and well trained sniffer dogs have on the cold mountains of the Indian-Tibetan border is even more baffling. The ITBP displayed even greater muscle by declaring an all women battalion operational for duty on the Arunachal border. Granted gender equality and opportunity is the order of the day, but being practical is far more important than earning brownie points for this display. The ITBP shares border duties with the Army on the Line of Actual Control and this move is certain to create more nightmares than any Chinese soldiers could possibly hope to have achieved.

There is a need to have an Indian sense to doing things since we have to operate in this environment rather than what the United Nations or various NGOs would like to see happen. Therefore it is important to inculcate an Indianness to policing rather than continuing the imperial model created for a colonised India by British masters. Police management, therefore, has to improve. For a young and growing India this model cannot sustain its ambitions.

The policing model for India has to be based on a democratic structure that it is now rather than the colonised society it was when the Indian Police was raised by the British authorities. The requirement then was to observe troublemakers, prevent them being a nuisance and enforce the power and authority of the Viceroy on behalf of the King or Queen.

There was no sense or need to provide justice as a first step to governance, rather the preservation of imperial interests. And so structure was modelled on those lines in every district under British rule in India. Native states followed a somewhat similar model.

India despite becoming a republic has continued the same model of policing.

Where preservation of interests of the state are paramount and those of the individual seem to be of lesser value. In a democracy this is an unacceptable scheme of things. And unless steps are taken now and urgently the time may pass when steps can be taken at all. India is in the midst of a global challenge posed by transnational terrorism that is funded by a seamless financial network, travelling on technologies that would seem benign at first glance and which is able to raise foot soldiers at the click of a cursor.

International terrorism is the greatest threat of the 21st century. But the policing structures of India are still stuck in the 19th century. Unless it is realised that the most important link in the vast chain that is required to tackle terrorism is in fact the police, this monster cannot be adequately tackled. Police management, therefore, is critical to managing the national security challenges.

And this management exercise has to start from the shape and structure of policing in the district, which is where the majority of India continues to live.

Once the local police station is modernised, in terms of manpower and equipment, as is the district structure, a coordination cell needs to be set up that works at sharing information and other resources with the CAPFs. Both have critical roles to play in national security and both must be held accountable for it. Wastage of resources is a sin as unacceptable as is negligence. For that to be enforced an overall police management strategy needs to be worked out, from the national level and in consultation with all stakeholders, primarily the citizenry of India. For it is on their enterprise that this country will grow economically, so they have to be kept secure, which is, after all, the primary responsibility of the police.

Manvendra Singh February 2016

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publisher’s view

Police Management

A Crying Need For reforms and modernisation

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Volume 7 | Issue 5 | February 2016 Chairman Shyam Sunder Publisher and ceo Pawan Agrawal President Urvashi J Agrawal Director Shishir Bhushan Editor-in-chief Manvendra Singh Corporate consultant KJ Singh Corporate communication Mamta Jain Natasha Sales Anup Kumar Sinha Creative Amit Kumar Gaur Representative (J&K) Salil Sharma Correspondent (Europe) Dominika Cosic Production Dilshad and Dabeer Webmaster Sundar Rawat IT operations Ankit Kumar Photographer Subhash Circulation and distribution Ashok Gupta E-mail: (first name)@dsalert.org info: info@dsalert.org articles: articles@dsalert.org subscription: subscription@dsalert.org online edition: online@dsalert.org advertisement: advt@dsalert.org Editorial and corporate office Prabhat Prakashan Tower 4/19 Asaf Ali Road New Delhi-110002 (India) +91-011-23243999, 23287999, 9958382999 info@dsalert.org | www.dsalert.org Disclaimer All rights reserved. Reproduction and translation in any language in whole or in part by any means without permission from Defence and Security Alert is prohibited.

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Editor: Manvendra Singh

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he world has now recognised the power of management and the consequences of mismanagement. In an era where the complexities of warfare are changing rapidly from conventional to the ‘war by proxy’ modus, India is learning its lessons the hard way … as the attack on the Pathankot airbase by Pakistani terrorists has recently demonstrated. India needs to apply both ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ management techniques to improve and amalgamate the respective qualities of its armed forces, the paramilitary forces collectively called the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and the State police to set up a flexible but impregnable shield against foreign inspired terrorism, smuggling, arms transfers, counterfeit currency and organised crime.

The spectrum of conflict is wide and unnerving and is fast becoming worse confounded by a spate of internal security incidents in the form of militant strikes, foreign inspired insurgencies, Left Wing Extremism and communal riots that have conspired to inflame Centre-State relations because of the compartmentalisation of control and command. Within the architecture of internal security, the Central Armed Police Forces administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs play a stellar role in controlling conflict situations.

In today’s world, nothing is possible without proper management. Every activity is required to be well planned with great precision and managed with available resources for outstanding performance and effective results. If just one link malfunctions, the whole chain of management and the entire process is defeated and thus we are unable to attain what we intend. The engineering fraternity underscores the importance of the concept of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and I believe that the same applies to our Police, both Central and State along with security forces too.

I came across this phrase while visualising the February edition of DSA on Police Management – Role of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and State Police Forces in National Security. I think that it is the need of the hour to have workshops, conferences, seminars on training, management and deployment procedures of the Police and Security Forces immediately. I remember how the first lady IPS Officer, Dr Kiran Bedi introduced some very effective management activities during her tenure as the Director General of Tihar Jail, which actually brought a drastic change in the mindset and perceptions of jailors and inmates alike at Tihar.

If this metamorphosis can be accepted as a welcome change by jail inmates, then I am sure the same can most certainly be replicated with the Police and security personnel in India! The level of threats and challenges being faced by our police and security personnel today have multiplied several times during the last two decades, but unfortunately, we are still running our security apparatus on the British vintage parameters. It is now mandatory that the government craft a strict management system where the performance of each individual is enhanced along with accountability and answerability.

Calls for reforms in security architecture, especially in the Indian Police have resulted in the installation of umpteen committees which have given valuable suggestions that have floundered on the shoal of political indecision and inordinate delays. During the first decade of the 21st century alone, India has witnessed setting up of committees to reform the police and criminal justice system at the rate of one per year, indicating an urgency of reforms and simultaneously attracting the spotlight on the political inability to take the bull by its horns and implement the suggested reforms. That law and order is a ‘State subject’ is the unconcealed barrier against which these reforms have crashed.

I feel, a ‘Manual of Police Management’ at the earliest can ensure efficient and effective handling of challenges and threats, creating a much safer and secure environment. Substantial results may take some time but if done in a planned manner it will definitely be a value addition to India’s national security apparatus.

Jai Hind!

Defence AND security alert

Pawan Agrawal

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Contents

An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Magazine

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Sneak Peek

03

DSA Interview Commissioner Of Police, Mumbai

06

Role And Challenges In Securing International Border With Pakistan And Bangladesh DK Pathak IPS

09

Police Reforms Senguttuvan Balasubramanian

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Smart Policing India’s Growth Imperative Prakash Singh IPS

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Theme Of The Month

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Know The Chief Commissioner Of Police, Delhi

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Community Policing Challenges And Recommendations Satyajit Mohanty IPS

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Effective Internal Security Need For Police Reforms Kamal Kumar IPS

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Is That A Way To Stop International Terrorism?

V Balachandran

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CRPF’s Role In Internal Security Prakash Mishra IPS

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Valour Under Fire Meemansa

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Synergy Between People And The Police Arun Bhagat IPS

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Creating Ethics And Integrity Framework For Police Rohit Choudhary IPS

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Police Impunity And Police Reforms Indian Experience KS Subramanian

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Smart Policing And Public Safety Shelly Bhasin

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Community Policing Experiment Gopal P Choudhary

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Role Of ITBP In National Security Krishna Chaudhary IPS

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State Of The CBI Problems And Prospects Dr RK Raghavan IPS

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Permeable Borders Scourge Of Perimeter Security Cecil Victor

58

Time To Implement New Procurement Procedures Col KV Kuber (Retd)

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February February2016 2016 Defence DefenceAND ANDsecurity securityalert alert

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interview COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MUMBAI

Policing A Megacity

Ahmad Javed IPS Commissioner of Police, Mumbai graduated from the University of Delhi (St Stephen’s College) and joined the Indian Police Service in 1980. He has served as Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai and Director General, Home Guards and Commdt General, Civil Defence, Mumbai. He was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and The Director General of Police’s Commendation Insignia in 1996 and in 2004 he was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services.

Defence and Security Alert: You have recently taken over as the Commissioner of Mumbai Police reputed to be the best and most professional police force in the country. In your estimation, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the force under your command in carrying out its mandated duties and responsibilities?

Commissioner of Police, Mumbai: Policing a megacity like Mumbai is unlike any other big city given its size, its people, its geography, the existing ground realities especially in the area of infrastructure and being the financial capital, mega media centre, a large population representing the entire country, multiple languages etc.

Strengths: A professional, clued-up, urban, tech-savvy.

Weakness: Many a times overworked, increasing non-core duties, some infrastructure-deficit.

DSA: A massive well-structured modernisation of the Mumbai Police took place in 2005. How do you rate the Mumbai Police in comparison to the police forces of other megacities around the world?

CP Mumbai: We have had upscaling on a big level including the latest implementation of the state-of-the-art CCTV network (Phase I) a new command and control centre, increased mobility and

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communication, better marine capability, hence will compare competitively; but there is always scope for further upgradation.

DSA: Mumbai is a big port city with many authorised container terminals. It also has many unregulated coastal landing areas which are used by anti-national and anti-social elements for smuggling and other nefarious activities. How is Mumbai Police securing and guarding all the port and coastal areas?

CP Mumbai: We have enhanced our marine policing capabilities with the inclusion of newer faster boats, some amphibian vehicles; and with addition of two new Coastal Police Stations to the existing one.

DSA: In 2009, Mumbai Police started a special drive to tackle cyber-crime. Since then cybercrime and social media have become global networks of Frankenstein proportions. How well equipped and trained is Mumbai Police to counter this escalating security threat?

CP Mumbai: It’s been an ongoing and continuous process of upgrading our skills and knowledge. We were one of the first to start a full-fledged dedicated Cyber P Stn; as also the Cyber Lab for training inputs. We regularly interact with domain experts; and various stakeholders.

Even now an upgrading exercise is going on.

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interview COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MUMBAI

DSA: In the aftermath of 26/11, Mumbai Police created a specialised counter terrorism unit FORCE ONE and initiated many new programmes to bolster the security apparatus. How well prepared is Mumbai Police to face such an eventuality now?

issues of underworld criminal activities we have in addition to the police station policing, dedicated units in the Crime Branch. Mumbai Police has been tackling these activities effectively since quite some years as can be seen from the facts on the ground.

CP Mumbai: Force One is our State level response unit based out of Mumbai. To my mind, it is one of the best such forces in the country, coupled with a variety of newer weaponry, vehicles, boats, inter alia, we can say our response mechanism has come a long way. We are better positioned.

DSA: Community participation in policing is the new catch phrase. How much importance do you give to this and what initiatives have you taken to encourage community participation in policing?

DSA: Safety and security of women and children is a big issue in Mumbai. What is Mumbai Police doing in this area of critical importance?

CP Mumbai: We have multiple level initiatives. Being one of the focus areas, a dedicated helpline, additional women staffed patrol-cars and an independent Crime Against Women unit under a DCP, awareness programmes, many others.

DSA: Ethnic and communal clashes and gang wars are other perennial problems of Mumbai city.

Do you have a road map to put an end to these recurring nightmares?

CP Mumbai: Perennial problems? Not accurate! We have various mechanisms in place to tackle law and order issues; on the one side dedicated Riot Control Police Units to bolster the local police station response to greater community outreach and community engagement via mohalla committees etc. To tackle

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CP Mumbai: We have a long tradition of having a healthy community outreach activities like mohalla committees, regular interactions and arranging sports activities etc. We engage with the citizens through the social media also to widen the base of two-way communication.

DSA: As a dynamic and conscientious police officer, what is your vision for Mumbai Police and what thoughts and ideas will you like to share with the residents of Mumbai, the people of India and DSA readers around the world?

CP Mumbai: To be, the best professional force; best in infrastructure and processes; enhanced sensitivity and responsiveness. And for the Mumbaikar, who has traditionally partnered with us to make Mumbai one of the safest among all the major cities of the world, to enhance their contribution by being more dutiful and law abiding especially in the area of traffic management, display enhanced civic-sense; more informed and more aware in areas of security and crime prevention. w

police management ANTI-INDIA MINDSET

Role And Challenges In Securing International Border

With Pakistan And Bangladesh

BSF has been taking required measures to keep the sanctity of India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, intact. Erection of border security fence in leftover areas, upgradation of weapon system, induction of high-tech surveillance systems, floating border outposts and high-speed boats to dominate riverine areas etc are some of the steps that have been taken to tackle the situation.

T

he challenges on eastern and western borders of India became part and parcel of constant attention seeking mechanism from very beginning because of their capricious nature and growth prohibiting potential.

India has to keep herself prepared under constant threat of conventional external aggression by a hostile State. She is also facing long enduring cross-border state-sponsored terrorism of different magnitude in different parts of her territory.

The overall environment in South Asia region is of trust deficit and the region is amongst the economically least integrated regions of the world despite its long shared socio-ethnic-linguistichistoric ties. For getting full advantage of the regional integration in the South Asia and to change the inter-State boundaries from boundaries of limitations to the boundaries of opportunities, there is a need for better infrastructure facilities,

DK Pathak IPS The writer is Director General, Border Security Force. He has been decorated with Police Special Duty Medal, Police Aantrik Suraksha Medal, Police Medal for Meritorious Service and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

policy alignment and an effective and efficient border management regime.

BSF Rationale

The Border Security Force (BSF) was constituted as a Central Paramilitary Organisation in 1965 for guarding the nation’s International Borders.

Originally, the main role given to BSF was divided into two categories ie Peace Time Role and War Time Role. Although, the concept of border security has undergone a sea change with the growing vulnerability of the borders, yet the Peace and War Time Roles of BSF have remained the same as under.

Peace Time Role ● Promote a sense of security among the people living in the border areas. ● Prevent trans-border crimes, unauthorised entry into or exit from the territory of India and ● Prevent smuggling and any other illegal activities.

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police management ANTI-INDIA MINDSet War Time Role ● Holding ground in assigned sectors. ● Aggressive action against Paramilitary or Irregular forces of the enemy. ● Maintenance of law and order in enemy territory administered under the Army’s control. ● Guarding of Prisoners of War camps. ● Acting as guides to the Army in border areas. ● Provision of escorts. ● Anti-infiltration duties in specified areas. ● Performing special tasks in connection with intelligence including raids.

Challenges On India-Pakistan Border

Impact On Border Management

Widening tentacles of Talibanisation, competition between ISIS and Al Qaeda, may lead to border outposts and border villages being targeted by non-State actors from the counterpart side and logical retaliation by India be propagated as aggression to the world community by Pakistan. In case Pakistan falls to radical elements, many moderate, secular and religious minority people would like to leave Pakistan. In such a scenario border may witness waves of human migration from Pakistan to India.

The way radical ideas and sectarian conflicts are spreading in Pakistan, spillover impact is likely.

Should that happen border will bear the first impact.

The radicalisation of Armed Forces might lead to erosion of central authority and all small little factions and groups start acting autonomously. This may lead to situation as prevailing in Lebanon. This again will keep Indian border guards constantly engaged.

Closely associated with this is the increase in attempts to pump in drugs and fake currency to cripple society and economy of India.

The challenges of border management have different forms and manifestations. One such form depends on endemic factors like terrain, demography, weather conditions etc. Manifestations of such form remain almost constant and the border man has to battle it out on regular basis. Next in the series consists of those which are influenced by the prevailing political, social and economic conditions on both the sides of boundary with present and future manifestations.

Challenges prevailing on borders with Pakistan India-Bangladesh Border mainly include illegal infiltration by the anti-national Border Security Force has to withstand the challenges elements (ANEs), smuggling of drugs, weapons, posed by nature with a lot of determination. pumping in of fake currency notes and unprovoked Bangladesh border, which may seem peaceful, has firing by the Pakistan rangers. These challenges many strategic implications for India. Particularly should not be seen as simple criminal activities what is happening in the east and the northeast may rather their magnitude and not come as a major event, but associated ferocity depends over a period of time certain Attempt on the part of on deliberate design by developments which have State actors in Pakistan. taken place in certain stretches Pakistan politicians and This again has a lot to do of areas, have made them very Army has been to depict with prevailing condition vulnerable. The recent events, in Pakistan. The canvas of such as arrests in Burdwan India as a monster Pakistan is conspicuous and subsequently in Assam, by the presence of show that knowledge about four major fault lines. They are sectarianism, some developing network and its linkages are ethno-nationalism, Talibanisation and economic missing, which have not yet been activated to do crisis. These fault lines have been widening owing something sinister, but might act at short notice. to presence of conducive atmosphere in Pakistan This is something which should send very strong and are gradually proving to be detrimental to the signal to all who have a security interest of nation at stature of Pakistan as a nation-State. heart and who are actually engaged in guarding the border. Some of these elements do maintain links Anti-India Mindset across the border. Bangladesh is itself fighting an Ever since inception of Pakistan a deliberate attempt existential battle with itself. If Bangladesh loses this on the part of politicians and Army has been to depict battle of controlling the fundamentalist, the problem India as a monster, to the people of Pakistan, ready will increase in a manner not witnessed or felt so to destroy or capture Pakistan. To this end numerous far. It is well known that Bangladesh is being used methods have been adopted, which include fanning of Pan-Islamic feeling, false propagation of deliberate attempt by India to restrict the flow of river Indus to spoil the agriculture, false propagation of India inciting Sind, Baloch nationalism to break Pakistan.

In addition to obliterate the growing hold of India in Afghanistan, Pakistan has demonstrated its anti-India mindset in all forums. To ventilate its internal problem settled strategy on the part of Pakistan has been to engineer some or the other violent incidents either at border or in hinterland or at Indian establishments abroad.

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as transit, there is a lot of commonality between populations on both sides of border and there is a lot of movement across the border. These all are interconnected. Simultaneously and insidiously a network of fundamentalists is also growing, that is something which needs to be taken note of.

Human trafficking is another cause of concern. It can be considered as the worst form of human rights violations. To tackle this problem there is a need for coordination, coherence and integration of efforts of different players. Prevention, protection and prosecution all have to come together. Informal trade is another important challenge having both social as well as huge economic dimensions. Illegal migration is another important challenge which BSF has to grapple with on daily basis. According to the latest world population data sheet, brought out by the Population Research Bureau, the population of Bangladesh is likely to reach 226 million by the end of 2050s thus showing a growth of 37 per cent as compared to 162.2 million in 2011. It is estimated that population of urban areas will increase by 50 per cent by 2040. Bangladeshi scientists have put forward that global warming and consequent flooding would cause a loss of 20 per cent of arable land by 2030 thus affecting 20 million people. Where will they go?

Crime And Fundamentalism

While at present there does not appear any organised threat from across the India Bangladesh border, the influence of growing religious fundamentalism in different parts of the globe is likely to further radicalise society in Bangladesh and influence its networking with the terrorist organisations active in India. Serious investigations by NIA led to unearthing of 58 terrorist cells across India. Therefore, security agencies of India require keeping a constant vigil on the developments.

Today the traditionally liberal society of Bangladesh with democratic values is fighting an existential battle with the growing fundamentalism and radicalisation of society. This is one of the major security concerns for India. At the same time the helping gesture of the government of Bangladesh towards India by neutralising several terrorist organisations active in India, working from Bangladesh soil, deserves appreciation and reciprocation.

The adoption of non-lethal strategy by BSF in manning the India-Bangladesh border is one of such reciprocal measures. Though on the broader canvas, it is a welcome gesture; at micro level, it has some undesirable fallout also. It has resulted in emboldening more of cross-border bootleg smugglers

than the innocent citizens working near the boundary lines. These emboldened smugglers are now even resorting to attack the BSF personnel on duty with firearms and other lethal weapons.

According to an estimate in a study conducted by the World Bank, around two-thirds of total trade between the two countries is through informal routes, which is a glaring example of unexploited potential of formal trade between the two countries.

Cattle happen to be the major commodity of informal trade between the two countries. There is talk of connection between the ‘Pink Economy’ and ‘Pink terrorism’. The cattle trade, which is totally unregulated, helps in thriving of various criminal networks.

The requirement of raising the effectiveness level of the force is also felt in efforts towards the prevention of illegal migration and in the most urgent subset within it, towards checking human trafficking. Therefore, there is requirement of increasing the effectiveness of the Force by way of infrastructural facilities, institutional empowerment and capacity building.

Organisational Response

Aware about these challenges BSF has been taking required measures to keep the sanctity of India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, intact. Erection of border security fence in leftover areas, upgradation of weapon system, induction of high-tech surveillance systems, floating border outposts and high-speed boats to dominate riverine areas etc are some of the steps that have been taken to tackle the situation. Apart from that BSF has a well-oiled training regime. Instructors of the training institutions happen to be those who have had a good academic as well as professional profile.

Institutional mechanism of training infrastructure keeps on analysing future threat and adjusting training requirement to meet the task. Be that as it may, response can become more effective if management of data and related research gain foundation.

Conclusion

Besides mitigating the pressures of cross-border crimes through promoting trade and transit, through more number of formal border crossings and border ‘haats’, the effectiveness of the existing force level is required to be augmented with the help of technologies, surveillance systems effective in rainy conditions as well as during fog and night, the obstacle system on borders on non-permitted path by designing appropriate obstacle systems depending upon the requirements of force, crime pattern and terrain conditions.

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police management SYSTEMIC FLAWS

Police Reforms

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The besetting sin of our police is not the lack of innovation, which is forgivable, but they lack humanity. For the police force to be efficient and honest, it should be freed from the executive control and be allowed to function with independence and with Rule of Law as their master.

n a Social Welfare country such as India, police have myriad expectations to fulfill, even though they are, unfortunately, ill-prepared for the tasks. The primary tasks for the police are maintenance of law and order and criminal investigation. Maintenance of law and order involves a legion of subsidiary tasks, viz terrorism-watch, crime-prevention, traffic-regulation, vehiclecheck, street-patrol, picket-posting, surveillance, intelligence-gathering, protection of VIPs, monitoring religious movements, watching out for cyber-crimes, conducting rescue work and what not. The duty of maintaining law and order is so enlarged that it touches almost all spheres of life. The other essential function of the police, viz criminal investigation involves bringing the offender to book. In India, which follows the adversarial system of criminal justicing, the police have a challenging duty to identify the crime, the criminal and to procure legally acceptable evidence and marshal the evidence before the criminal court through the public prosecutor to bring the guilty to book. But these are easier said than ever done.

Unsavoury Legacy

The Indian Police have an unholy past that they have to live down. From the Mughal and colonial period, the police have always been used as an instrument of harassment and torture against the people. In the era

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prior to the colonisation and during the colonial rule, the barbarities committed by the police with impunity in India rival only those committed by the Gestapo under the Nazis. It is unfortunate that despite the six decades of freedom no change worth the name has been effected in the system. Thus, weighed down with the burden of their own inglorious past and lack of proper training in scientific investigation, the Indian Police, are now unable to perform their duties within the framework of Constitutional imperatives.

It is not unoften that they resort to the third-degree methods. Hung-over with the unaccountability of the colonial era, the police are unable to deliver the goods in the face of human rights. The oft-repeated complaint voiced by the police is that the laws do not give them complete freedom to extract the truth from the offender. It is presumed by them that the crime can be proved when the presumed offender coughs up a confession and he is not likely to confess unless he is treated with violence. What glorious ignorance! The law of the land is that the suspect need do nothing and say nothing. He is not under any obligation to prove his innocence. It is the duty of the State to prove his guilt. The presumption of innocence weighs in his favour. It is his constitutional right to remain silent; and refuse to answer questions that have a tendency to incriminate him. Thus, the police are required to adopt a strategy other than inducing

confession by violence. In comparison with the police force in the rest of the world, say for instance in Japan, the Indian police appear in poor light. The police force in Japan is the friendliest. It enjoys the confidence of its people in full measure. The police force in India was originally conceived as a tool for the rulers to be used on the ruled. Even today this idea persists. The Indian Police have not been trained in the sophistication of scientific investigation and in the need to respect human rights of the citizens of India.

Now when the crimes are committed by individuals using sophisticated scientific ploys, the breakthrough does not come easily. The police are almost always worsted in all the high-profile cases.

Institutional Flaws

The flaws of the police force owe their origin to the faulty method of selection, choice of training, lack of scope for self-improvement, lack of upward mobility, faulty deployment techniques, susceptibility to political influence, lack of integrity, ignorance of criminal procedure Senguttuvan and indifference to human rights.

Balasubramanian The present method of selection The writer is AIADMK process leaves much to be Member of Parliament desired. The training at the level representing the Vellore of the Subordinate Services, lays Lok Sabha Constituency, Tamil Nadu. He has Corrupt And Inhumane stress on the brawn rather than Master Degrees in Apart from incompetence, the police force is tainted on the brain. At the higher level, English Literature and Law. with corruption. It may hurt them that they are though the selection process is thought so, but it is the reality. The pity is that the okay, the training imparted leaves police reforms are not carried out perhaps because much to be desired. The training seems to aim at the political establishment forever wants the police cramming too much within too little time. Newspapers to be their cat’s paw. The police are trained to be reported recently that the Police Chief of a South Asian pliant tools of the ruling political party regardless country lay off his force to read up on Shakespeare. of the compulsions of the Rule of Law. The police It may be wondered why. He identified the area of are often compelled to do unconscionable things shortcoming. The police force lacked the compassion that they would not do if they were independent. In and humanity which should inform the discharge the process, they hurt their own of their duties. Therefore, training humanity. The besetting sin of our of police personnel should start The Indian Police police is not the lack of innovation, with Humanities, Human Rights have an unholy past and Constitutional Law, with and which is forgivable, but they lack humanity. For the police force to within the framework of which they that they have to be efficient and honest, it should should operate and should comprise live down be freed from the executive control of criminal law both substantive and be allowed to function with and adjectival and crime detection independence and with Rule of Law as their master. methods, art of interrogation. There should be The police are governed by the provisions of the continuous workshops on the criminal procedure, law Police Act of 1861 in addition to equally old State Laws. of evidence and other relevant and recent enactments The Police Act of 1861 was enacted in the immediate having a bearing on criminal investigation. It is better aftermath of the Indian War of Independence in 1857. if they look outside their own cocoon for mentors The Police Act was enacted with a view to suppressing instead of lazing in the comfort zones and cosiness of all forms of dissent. The then existing Kotwali System their own preconceptions and pet aversions. was adopted under the Act. The National Police The world today is facing unprecedented violence.

Commission, Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms, Humans die in large numbers not from diseases Padmanabhaiya Committee on Police Reforms, of the body but from the disease of the mind. The Justice Malimath Committee on Reforms to Criminal danger is not so much from the nuclear arms pile-up Justice System and the Supreme Court in 2006 in but from the trained and indoctrinated extremists Prakash Singh v Union of India, have urged the who go berserk killing innocent men, women and repeal of this Police Act of 1861 and have called for children; and from the masterminds of mindless police reforms. But it takes an eternity for them to be violence causing carnage in public places. You see brought into force. The police reforms are long overdue it every day and everywhere when you open the as has been held in Vineet Narain v UoI: [1998] 1 SCC newspapers. The single-minded objective of these 226: 1998 SCC [Cri] 307 and in Prakash Singh v UoI: criminals engendering mindless violence is to paralyse [2006] 8 SCC 1. There is a long credibility gap between democratic institutions of the world. the police and the citizens whom they claim to protect.

Public confidence in the police machinery is at an Police Credo all-time low. The morale of the police force is at a low With the advance of science and technology, the ebb. So much so that no one but the most naĂŻve has instruments of destruction have become more and any faith in the police. It is an open secret that no more sophisticated; criminals are surprisingly matter however high or however low a person is placed, well-educated, well-trained and well-heeled. Hence, he tends to avoid having to work with the police. The police need to have a clear perspective on crime aggrieved persons as well as the witnesses do not prevention and detection techniques; and unless they trust the fairness of the police. keep pace with crime, they would become irrelevant

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police management SYSTEMIC FLAWS and be consigned to the junkyard of history. The flaw of our police force is their extraordinary willingness to be a ready and compliant tool in the hands of the ruling party of the day to achieve their parochial and political goal without any manner of compunction whatsoever.

The observations of Lord Denning in RV Metropolitan Police Commr: [1968] 1 All ER 763 are pertinent in this connection. “... I have no hesitation, however, in holding that, like every constable in the land, he [The Commissioner of Police] should be and is, independent of the executive. He is not subject to the orders of the Secretary of State. I hold it to be the duty of the Commissioner of Police, as it is of every chief constable, to enforce the law of the land. He must take steps so to post his men that crimes may be detected; and that honest citizens may go about their affairs in peace. He must decide whether or not suspected persons are to be prosecuted; and, if need be, bring the prosecution or see that it is brought, but in all these things he is not the servant of anyone, save of the law itself. No Minister of the Crown can tell him that he must, or must not, keep observation on this place or that; or that he must, or must not, prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and to the law alone ...�. I would exhort all the various Commissioners of Police to read this passage aloud every day and feel their self-worth; the police should serve none but the supreme Rule of Law.

Court of India has issued a direction in Prakash Singh v UoI: [2006] 8 SCC 1 that the investigating police should be separated from the law and order police to ensure speedier investigation, better expertise and improved rapport with the people. It must, however, be ensured that there is full coordination between the two wings. The separation, to start with, may be effected in towns or urban areas which have a population of ten lakh or more and gradually extended to smaller towns and urban areas also. We wait to see the implementation of the direction.

Police Atrocities

There are other flaws too in the system. The reports of police atrocities are too numerous to quote. The custody deaths, custodial rapes, illegal detention and interference in civil rights of people are some of the most glaring instances. In Prakash Singh v UoI, the Apex Court directed the formation of Police Complaints Authority. It offered valuable inputs for the executive to follow up.

The Ministry of Home Affairs should take up the onerous task of bringing about the much needed police reforms. Society cannot be left to suffer more because of the lack of initiative on the part of the government to bring about the reforms. No society can exist unless it effectively prevents crime and punishes the wrong-doer when crime is committed. To do that, we need to have a police force cutting edge superiority over the perpetrators of crime.

It is, perhaps, true that the ideal policeman is a non-existent persona. The public are disappointed at Seperation Of Duties the wide chasm that divides their concept of what a In order that the political interference in police policeman should be and what he really is. Needless investigation may be eliminated, it is sought to be to say that public expectation of a policeman as a made an independent institution. It is no doubt friend, saviour, counseller and avenger of wrong does true that since the police not mesh with the reality. We department is not independent, have to acknowledge the fact Policeman as a friend, there is considerable political that police are flesh and blood interference in the matters of like us; and are as human and saviour, counseller and criminal investigation. Besides, as ordinary as many of us. avenger of wrong does not They are repositories of the the investigators waste a lot of time in the performance same human emotions as mesh with reality of escort and bandobust others; and their failings are duties, which detract from those of the rest of us. The fact their concentration on criminal investigation. It remains that some of the police personnel yield to the is not an exaggeration to say that about three- temptation of abusing authority and official power fourth of their time is wasted in being engaged causing damage to the clean image of the police. The in escort and bandobust duties. The increased question is debatable whether there is some perception of threat to the VIPs in turn increases justification in the police being the favourite punching the engagement of larger number of police officers bag for human rights activists, political opposition, in protective role. The time spent away from the disappointed public and the victims of offence. Failure Police Station, takes the toll on investigation duties. to conduct successful investigation is not unique to When the investigator returns after the escort or Indian Police. Not only in India but throughout the bandobust duty to his post, he is fatigued both in world police have not been able to arrest crime mind and in limbs. In order that the investigation altogether; and if they could do it, it would be heaven work of the police is not affected, it has been on earth. Nor have they succeeded in getting the recommended that the investigation wing should suspect convicted in all the cases they be separated from the law and order wing. investigated and put up for trial. The success rate is They too have recommended the separation of the poor not only for the Indian Police but for the Scotland criminal investigation wing from the law and order Yard as well. No matter what the result is, the police wing. Yet precious little has been done. The Supreme will have to do their best.

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police management RULER’S POLICE TO PEOPLE’S police

Smart Policing

India’s Growth imperative

We can have a SMART police only if certain pre-conditions are met and foremost among those is insulation of police from extraneous pressures, as recommended by the Supreme Court.

T

he police force is far from efficient; it is defective in training and organisation; it is inadequately supervised; it is generally regarded as corrupt and oppressive; and it has utterly failed to secure the confidence and cordial cooperation of the people’. This was recorded by Fraser Commission in 1902. It would appear that, for the police, time has stood still. There has been no forward movement to transform the character and ethos of police in spite of numerous commissions and their recommendations. The Fraser Commission categorically stated that ‘radical reforms are urgently necessary’. It is indeed tragic that 113 years later, we are still talking of police reforms.

There were several landmark developments in the recent past to bring about changes in the police. The National Police Commission gave its comprehensive report during the years 1979 to 1981. A Model Police Act was drafted by a Committee headed by Soli Sorabjee. The Supreme Court gave a historic judgment on Police Reforms in 2006.

Supreme Court’s Directions

Prakash Singh IPS The writer, a recipient of Padma Shri, was formerly Director General of BSF and also DGP Uttar Pradesh and DGP Assam. He was also Member, National Security Advisory Board.

The Apex Court directed the setting up of three institutions, namely: ● State Security Commission which would lay down the broad policies and give directions for the performance of the preventive tasks and service oriented functions of the police; ● Police Establishment Board comprising the Director General of Police and four other senior officers of the Department which shall decide transfers, postings, promotions and other service related matters of departmental officers and men; and ● Police Complaints Authority at the district and State levels with a view to inquiring into allegations of serious misconduct by the police personnel.

Besides this the Court ordered that the Director General of Police shall be selected by the State government from amongst the three seniormost officers of the Department who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC and that he shall have a

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police management RULER’S POLICE TO PEOPLE’S police prescribed minimum tenure of two years. Police officers on operational duties in the field like the IG Zone, DIG Range, SP i/c District and SHO i/c Police Station would also have a minimum tenure of two years.

The Court also ordered the separation of investigating police from the law and order police to ensure speedier investigation, better expertise and improved rapport with the people.

The Union Government was asked to set up a National Security Commission for the selection and placement of heads of Central Police Organisations, upgrading the effectiveness of these forces and improving the service conditions of its personnel.

systemic problems in policing which exist today’. It went on to say that: ‘We believe that if the Supreme Court’s directions in Prakash Singh Case are implemented, there will be a crucial modernisation of the police to be service oriented for the citizenry in a manner which is efficient, scientific and consistent with human dignity’.

Present Compliance

The present position may be summarised as below: ● The Supreme Court issued seven directions on Police Reforms in 2006. Out of these six were meant for the State governments and one for the Central government.

States Drag Their Feet ● Seventeen States have passed Police Acts which The aforesaid orders were to be implemented by the do not conform to the letter and spirit of the end of 2006. The time limit was subsequently extended Supreme Court’s directions. till March 31, 2007. Seventeen States have since ● The remaining State governments have submitted passed Bills/Acts, but unfortunately these are not affidavits of partial compliance. However, even in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Court’s these are not reflected at the ground level. directions. Actually, these were passed to circumvent ● Central government has yet to pass the the implementation of Supreme Court’s directions.

Delhi Police Bill.

The other States have been dragging their feet in the The Government of India should, without any matter. The Thomas Committee which was appointed further delay, pass a central legislation on the by the Supreme Court to monitor the implementation subject on the lines of the Model Police Act drafted of its directions expressed ‘dismay over the total by Soli Sorabjee Committee incorporating therein indifference to the issue of reforms in the functioning of the directions of the Supreme Court and persuade Police being exhibited by the States’ in its report dated the State governments to either implement the August 23, 2010. mandatory directions of the Supreme Court or pass Justice Verma Committee, which was constituted to laws under Article 252 of the Constitution on the examine Amendments to Criminal Law in the context lines of the central legislation on the subject. of a gang rape incident which happened in Delhi on The Supreme Court’s directions, it needs to be December 16, 2012, deplored emphasised, are not for the that ‘The Supreme Court’s glory of the police; they are Media and NGOs should judgment of 2006 in Prakash to give better security and Singh’s case giving certain mobilise public opinion in protection to the people of directions for the autonomy the country, uphold their favour of police reforms and improving the quality of human rights and generally the police force remain to be improve governance. If implemented by all the governments. Action in this sincerely implemented, they would have far behalf does not brook any further delay’. reaching implications and change the working The Committee urged ‘all States to fully comply with philosophy of the police. The Ruler’s Police would be all six Supreme Court directives in order to tackle transformed into People’s Police.

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Fragile Internal Security

Action Plan

For the Police ● Enforcing the Rule of Law should be the paramount duty of the police. ● Registration of cases should be done faithfully. ● Police behaviour towards the common man should be marked by empathy and respect for human rights. ● Police must extend legal protection to weaker sections of society, specially scheduled castes/tribes, women and minorities.

For the Government ● Systemic Reform: Transform the present Ruler’s Police into People’s Police. ● Executive stranglehold over the police must go. ● Police infrastructure manpower, transport, communications, forensic support and housing – must improve. ● Every police officer should be able to earn at least three promotions in his service career. ● A policeman should not be on duty for more than twelve hours. ● Supreme Court’s orders on Police Reforms must be implemented in letter and spirit.

For the People/Media/NGOs ● They must raise their voice for police reforms. ● People should look upon themselves as policemen in plain clothes and contribute to community policing. ● Media should play a positive role to bring about the change. ● NGOs should mobilise public opinion in favour of police reforms.

Meanwhile, there are remarkable changes happening around us. India has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The IMF and the World Bank have both recognised India’s economic potential. In external affairs, India has thrown its weight around and gained a high level of prestige in the comity of nations. In information technology, there is virtually a revolution. ISRO scientists have done the country proud. Road and rail network across the country is developing at a fast pace.

Ironically, the internal security structure continues to be fragile and the police are in shambles. A number of steps were taken in the wake of 26/11 attack in Mumbai, but after that some kind of complacency has crept in. It must be understood that a sound criminal justice system is absolutely necessary for a stable democracy and to ensure sustained economic progress. Without that, we would be raising a super-structure on foundations of sand.

Barack Obama, in the US National Security Strategy document clearly said that ‘our strength and influence abroad begins with the steps we take at home’.

The country is facing multifarious challenges on the internal security front. These broadly fall under the following heads: ● Threat of terrorism, domestic and transnational ● Maoist challenge ● Separatist movement in J&K ● Multiple insurgencies in northeast ● Communal problem ● Illegal migration from Bangladesh ● Organised crime like drug trafficking, counterfeit currency etc The security forces of the country have, by and large, given a good account of themselves in meeting these challenges. Police has unfortunately been the weakest link in the chain of forces dealing with the various threats.

SMART Police – The Way Forward

A smart, professional police force is the best answer to the internal security challenges of the country. The Prime Minister gave an excellent exposition of SMART police at the Guwahati Conference of police officers. The police should be strict and sensitive, modern and mobile, alert and accountable, reliable and responsible and trained and techno-savvy. However, we can have such a police only if certain pre-conditions are met and foremost among those is insulation of police from extraneous pressures, as recommended by the Supreme Court. It is unfortunate that the political class and the bureaucracy, which together constitute the most formidable combination in the country, are both opposed to police reforms and so the stalemate continues.

The structure of a modern, progressive India, it must be emphasised, can only be built on the foundations of a robust criminal justice system of which police constitutes the central pillar.

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W

ith many years of experience in various management positions, and across different industries, from commercial to defense, it was felt that what was missing was a “connection” for the clients that would take care of them rather than just push a manufacturer’s product lines. Most organizations look mainly at their bottom line rather than looking after what was their main bread and butter – so to speak. Thus the birth of Rantronics International Ltd.!

The company’s mission is: “To supply the highest quality product at the most competitive price, with the best service and support to the client”.

Who and what is Rantronics?

Rantronics is an International Export Trading Company, established in California in 1984, to cater to global clients in need of a partner who cared about them rather than the manufacturers! It procures products from all over the world, for its clients, thus minimizing their communications to just one contact point – Rantronics!

Rantronics prides itself with an exceptionally excellent service and support capability, and a knowledgeable staff with decades of experience in the global arena.

We are an Authorized/Licensed Exporter/Broker of Defense Products.

Why should it benefit “you – our partners”? ‘‘One Contact Point’’ for all your purchases from multisuppliers around the world.

This would also eliminate: ▀ Cumbersome negotiations with each and every supplier ▀ Numerous contacts and too many back-and-forth communications ▀ Employee frustrations and the waste of time spent with so many suppliers, time differences, orders, shipments, clearances, payments, communications etc.

When one adds up the costs that are (both visible as well as invisible) associated with the purchasing of products, ie Personnel, Communications, paperwork (End-user Certificates for example) Outbound Freight Forwarding, Shipping, Banking, Inbound Freight Forwarding, Customs Clearances, Deliveries and so on, one quickly starts to see the overall benefits of buying through RANTRONICS. Our current concentration is on supplying products and their spare parts for the following categories: ▀ Defense Products ▀ Telecommunication - Including Antennas, Coaxial Cables and Connectors, Towers, Shelters, Routers, Repeaters (Cell Enhancers) ▀ Electronics - Including Instrumentation eg Meters, Oscilloscopes, Amplifiers

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▀ Machinery - Including Aviation, Broadcasting, Construction, Medical & Dental For Police & Border Control & Diplomatic Services: We just finished some Design Concepts, SINA-H (Secure Network Architecture) that is an encryption unit with a Government encryption board and Mobile Secure Office, developed for the French Diplomatic Services, and recently, a Mobile Verification & Identification System. Of course, we can supply almost all the equipment that a modern Police Force would need including Weapons, Riot Gear, Bulletproof Vests, Helmets, Cameras, Night-vision to Training Equipment, Tactical Gear and any other Defense items they may need for their respective departments.

For the Defense Industry, we work with all branches of the Armed Forces (Air Force, Military, Navy as well as the Police Forces) all around the world. Due to the nature of the Defense Business and confidentiality issues, not much information can be divulged here regarding clients and/or products that we are currently working on.

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Our partial list of defense product lines: ▀ RUGGEDIZED and TEMPEST Product lines

company, it would be a monumental task for Rantronics to carry or list and supply all those catalogs/literature or pictures of the products that it exports. We will provide all the necessary documentations etc at the time of the quotations In India, we already have dealt with: Anco Telecom DLRL - Defense Dept Hindustan Aeronautics Karnataka Telecom NRSA ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) And various other Governmental Entities

• • • • • • •

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Acoustic (sonar) Amplifiers Analog Mixed-signal ICs Analyzers Attenuators Avionics Sensors as well as Bird Avoidance Systems for Airports Cable/Cabling/Connectors Cables & Connectors Command/Control Systems Communications/Network Controllers Converters (A-D and D-A) Couplers Data-busses and Networking Digital signal processors Drones and UAVs Electro-optics/Optoelectronics Fiber-optics Fire-control Systems Flight Line Test Equipment Generators (word, signal, function, etc.)

High-speed Switched Fabric Homeland Security Jamming, Intercepting and Surveillance Equipment Material Alloys, Fasteners, Seals, per MIL-STD. Microprocessor/Microcontrollers Microwave/RF ICs Navigation/Guidance Night-Vision Equipment Optical (infrared, visible-light, radar) Optical Test Equipment Oscilloscopes Power Combiners Radios RF and Microwave Equipment including Radar Ruggedized/High-Reliability Satellites/Telemetry Shipboard Electronics/Computers Simulation/Training Systems Solid State Memory Switches Unmanned Vehicles Vehicular Electronics Waveguides Wireless Networking

The Cover

The cover highlights the core functions and responsibilities of CAPFs and State Police Forces interpolated in the concentric circles signifying their inherent linkage and interconnectedness in the overall policing and security environment. The police cap and the baton proclaim the honour, the resolve and the authority of the Police Force.

The Theme

police management

role of capfs and state police forces

Apart from undertaking counter terrorist operations, the Police also play a crucial role in maintaining law and order and securing the citizens. The quality and efficiency of the security forces depends upon their internal and external management, service conditions, cooperation, training, level of interaction with people and strictly merit based appointments and promotions.

For positive and maximum impact, the police must attempt to expand its scope and bring about strategic mechanism with the help of general public, intelligence agencies and international security apparatus.

For effective police management a complete overhaul of the existing policing culture and ethos is the crying need of the hour. Extensive and exhaustive Police Reforms as directed by the Supreme Court and recommended by various Police Commissions and Committees can be kept in abeyance only at the cost of worsening law and order and ineffective criminal justice system.

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know the chief Commissioner of Police, Delhi

Bhim Sain Bassi IPS Commissioner of Police, Delhi

B

him Sain Bassi joined Indian Police Service in the year 1977. After training at National Police Academy, Hyderabad, his first posting was as an ASP in Pondicherry in the year 1980.

Thereafter he served for 3½ years as SP in various assignments including three districts in Arunachal Pradesh. In October 1984, he was posted to Delhi where he served till 1993.

His postings included DCP /North District, DCP/North-East District and DCP/Security. He served on deputation with Govt of India from 1993-1998. He was IGP/Chandigarh from 2000-2002.

After his return to Delhi Police in 2003, he served till February 2009 and his assignments included Joint Commissioner of Police /Southern Range and Special Commissioner of Police /Intelligence. He was the Director General of Police /Goa from February 2009 to May 2011. Thereafter he has been in Delhi Police and took over as Commissioner of Police, Delhi on 31-07-2013.

He is the recipient of President’s Police medals for Meritorious Service (1996) and Distinguished Service (2002).

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police management PARADIGM SHIFT

Community Policing

Challenges And Recommendations The police mission statement needs to be redefined with community policing as one of its core objectives. The new Police Act, to be legislated or under the process of legislation by the State governments on the basis of directives from the Supreme Court, should incorporate community policing practices within the Act for it to acquire legitimacy as a legislative policy.

C

ommunity policing as an alternative policing strategy revolves around the principle of proactive policing through people friendly policing practices, community participation and problem solving leading to crime prevention, maintenance of order and improvement in the overall quality of life in their neighbourhood. Community policing allows the law enforcement agency to get back to the principles upon which it was founded, to integrate itself into the fabric of the community so that the people and the police collaborate even before a serious problem arises. To put it succinctly, community policing is a useful, holistic and proactive concept and a tool to transform the police’s image, strengthen the force and create attitudinal changes both within the force and amongst the public.

In its strategic dimension, it contributes to the individual, the State and national health and as such, reduces social pathology.

Community policing provides decentralised, personalised police service to the community. It recognises that the police cannot impose order on the community from the outside, but that people must be encouraged to think of the police as a resource that they can use to help solve contemporary community concerns. It is not a tactic to be applied and then abandoned, but a new philosophy and organisational strategy that provides the flexibility to meet local needs and priorities as they change over time. To implement true community policing, police departments create and develop a new breed of line officer who acts as a direct link between the police and the people of the community.

The community policing officer’s broad role demands continuous, sustained contact with the law-abiding people in the community so that together, they can explore creative new solutions to local concerns, with private citizens serving as supporters and volunteers. As the community’s ombudsman, the community policing officer also acts as a link to other public and private agencies that can help in a given situation.

Institutional Framework

India inherited a colonial police force at the time of independence, whose mission and vision statement

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were drafted by its colonial rulers in the nineteenth century. The provisions of the old Police Act of 1861 are rendered redundant and archaic in a constitutional democracy where the authority of the people is supreme. However, despite the absence of any provision in the Act, the State and in many instances, the police leadership have embarked upon proactive community-oriented policing initiatives, making the police sensitive to the needs of the community. In the absence of any institutional or legal framework however, many brilliant initiatives have failed to stand the test of time and suffer from what is known as ‘successor-predecessor’ syndrome. The community policing initiatives put in place by most of the State and Union Territory governments were ‘informal policy processes’ that should have been backed by ‘due process’ policy.

By ‘due process’, what is meant is that community policing practices should have been a part of the police mission statement duly recognised by the Act and laws governing police organisations. Commitment of the government, budget, training, monitoring and supervision, Acts and government resolutions are some of the institutional arrangements that ensure continuity of the scheme irrespective of the incumbent. Of course, the roles of police leadership and frontline police officers are no less critical in adopting community policing as an organisational strategy. But the legal and institutional frameworks are prerequisites of a long-term and sustainable policy. Of late, States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have encoded the vision of community

oriented policing in their newly legislated Police Acts.

Kerala is one State that has launched its community policing scheme, ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’, with the requisite legal and institutional framework so that the initiatives survive the executive and political leadership as a public policy.

Janamaithri Suraksha Project

The Janamaithri Suraksha Project (JSP) is a threetier structure with the Beat/Community Police Officer at the bottom, Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi (JSS) in the middle and District Advisory Samithi at the top (See Figure-1).

The objectives of the Janamaithri Suraksha Project (JSP) include the prevention of crimes, furthering co-operation between the police and the community and security-related mutual cooperation amongst the citizenry.

T3:

DISTRICT

ADVISORY SAMITHI

T-2:

JSS

T-1: beat officer

P S

T-2:

JSS

T-1: beat officer

P S

T-2:

JSS

T-1: beat officer

JSS: Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi, PS: Police Station, T-1, T-2, T3: Tier 1,2,3

P S

‘In every Police Station where the Janamaithri Suraksha Project is being implemented a ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi’ should be formed. The Samithi should endeavour to undertake implementation of ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’ within the limit of the respective Home Station. With the help of the Station House Officer, the Circle Satyajit Mohanty IPS Inspector suggests the names The writer is currently posted of members to be included in as ADGP, Headquarters, PHQ, Odisha. He is a member of the Samithi. The Sub Divisional Micro-Mission-II of National Police Officer may examine such Police Mission, dealing with names and submit such list community policing and acts as the State Level Nodal of names to the District Police Superintendent and the District Officer for implementation of community policing in Odisha.

Police Superintendent will constitute the Samithi’.

At the top of the structure lies the District Advisory Samithi to oversee, monitor and review the JSP. The Advisory Committee is headed by the District Superintendent of Police. The objective is to ensure proper supervision regarding the functioning of the ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’. Members of Parliament, Members of the Legislative Assembly, Municipal Chairmen/Mayors as well as other important personalities nominated by the Superintendent of Police are included in the Committee.

Stages Of Policy Processes

The ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’, the flagship According to the Police Circular 34: “Within three community policing scheme of the Kerala Police, months of taking charge, every Beat Officer should was conceptualised in the year 2005, when the UDF personally know at least one member of every government was in power and launched in the year household in his beat. Every road, lane and bylane 2008 by the rival LDF government, subsequently being in the beat should be well known to the Beat Officer. consolidated under the patronage of the incumbent The Beat Officer should know not only the houses UDF government. It has weathered the various but also all other establishments in the beat area. ‘political streams’, survived the ‘Predecessor-successor The Beat Officer should also syndrome’ and has gained public acceptance. This article keep a rough map marking the Community policing is examines the benefits accrued major junctions, buildings etc of the area. He should also keep to the police organisation, to a useful, holistic and a diary containing the phone the community and the shared proactive concept benefits after studying the numbers and address of all important establishments and ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’, persons. A copy of the map and the diary should be the overarching community policing programme kept in the Police Station. The name and identity of the Kerala Police and the policy processes it of the Beat Officer may be exhibited at important encountered during the pre-implementation, places in the beat area. This will help the public to implementation and consolidation phases. know their Beat Officer”.

The journey of JSP as a policy process could be House visits by the Beat Officer in the model divided into three stages and the categories or the of the ‘Koban’ of Japan constitute the mainstay parameters were accordingly consolidated under of the scheme. The Beat Officer gets himself three major heads: Pre-implementation dynamics, acquainted with the local residents by the mandated implementation phase and the impact phase. The ‘house visit’. He acts as the link between the Police policy parameters or categories under the different Station and the community, facilitating the access phases of CP intervention, after the deductive of police related services to the public. and inductive elements of analysis, have been Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi, a council of conceptualised. Pre-implementation Dynamics and local representatives, constitutes the middle Implementation Phase have seven parameters each tier of the JSP. According to Police Circular 34: and the Impact Phase consists of six parameters.

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police management PARADIGM SHIFT Pre-implementation Dynamics

● ● ● ● ● ●

●

Political will Misconceptions in public mind Predecessor-successor syndrome Developing trust – community empowerment Engaging stakeholders Resource Planning, Capacity Building and Training Needs Publicity and propaganda

Implementation Phase ●

●

● ● ● ● ●

Formulation of Standard Operating Procedures – POs and GOs From pilot project to State-wide implementation Handholding Standardisation of service delivery strategy Resource augmentation Monitoring, control and feedback Political acceptance

Impact Phase ● ● ● ● ● ●

Decentralisation-partnership Overall heightened sense of security Security for the vulnerable sections Police mediation in availing basic services Empowerment of constabulary Institutionalisation

Challenges

In practice, Community Policing does not develop according to any single one dimensional process.

Several factors such as a lack of political and management support, management priorities, low trust coefficient between the police and the public, internal communication problems, shortage of police capacity and resources and agency problems may hamper or set back the development of Community Policing. The variables enlisted under the context column in the pre-implementation phase in the context-process-outcome matrix – political will, negative mindset of the public, predecessor-successor syndrome, enlisting trust of the community, engagement of stakeholders, resource planning and publicity are broadly the issues posing challenges

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to the Kerala police during the implementation of the Janamaithri project. They may be further sub-categorised under two major heads – internal (from within the organisation) and external challenges (from outside the organisation).

Internal

Internal challenges are those that arise from within the organisation. Many of the internal challenges to community policing are inbuilt in the policing system in India. Policing in India is an inheritance from the colonial rulers characterised by a rigid bureaucratic-militaristic structure, a reactive as opposed to a proactive work culture, state-owned as against community-owned organisation. The management style of the organisation is authoritarian; the decision-making is centralised with a top-down approach. More than ninety per cent of the personnel constitute the constabulary who are underpaid, undertrained and overworked with low motivational levels. The organisation suffers from a resource crunch. Acute shortage of manpower in the face of multifarious duties poses a serious challenge to the police leaders seeking to introduce something new like community policing which is a manpower intensive initiative. Coupled with these problems are the trust deficit of the public towards the police and a lack of transparency in its functioning. Some of the specific internal challenges faced by the Kerala police during policy making and implementation phases are listed out as follows: Resistance to change: The bulk of the police leadership including the middle management were sceptical of the Janamaithri initiatives on two counts – firstly, the tendency among police officers to ‘resist the intrusions of civilians into their business’ and secondly, to ‘look down upon community policing measures as going soft and as a futile exercise’. Many of them promptly attributed Janamaithri to any rise in crime statistics, citing diversion of manpower to ‘non-core’ police activities. It required a good deal of effort by the police policy entrepreneurs on internal marketing to overcome such mindsets, although it still persists to some extent. Political support for the scheme helped to overcome this resistance to a large extent within the police organisation.

Organisational behaviour: Community policing is not an independent entity within the department.

Ultimately, the community policing philosophy must inundate the entire department. Community policing requires departments make substantive changes in how the department interacts with the public. The police officer must be many things, law enforcer and peace officer, armed symbol of authority and part-time social worker (Kappeler and Gaines <https://www.google. co.in/search?hl=en-IN&gbv=2&tbm=bks&q=inauthor :%22Larry+K.+Gaines%22&sa=X&ei=PvRDU6LNHs6H rgeg64CoCw&ved=0CCwQ9AgwAA>, 2012). In Kerala, the Janamaithri scheme was introduced incrementally as pilots; the community police officers were selected on the basis of integrity, good service records, voluntarism and non-addictive habits from amongst the lower rung

of the organisation. In the first and second phases of the introduction, only fortyeight out of four hundred fifty odd police stations were earmarked for the scheme.

The number of police personnel experiencing and adjusting to the new philosophy was less than ten per cent of the strength of the organisation. They enjoyed the initial spotlight and exclusivity. This was one of reasons for the police personnel of the selected police stations being extremely motivated. The police leaders could handhold, train and guide the small number of ‘change agents’ at the first and second phases of introduction of Janamaithri. But in the long run, the scheme has to be introduced in all the police stations of the State and the philosophy of community policing has to permeate to the entire organisation.

Predecessor-successor syndrome: The tendency of not aligning with the style of the predecessor as the incumbent feels ill at ease to ally with the established line of action is what may be termed as the predecessor-successor syndrome. It was a major obstacle at the pre take-off stage of the community policing initiatives. A lot of good initiatives of the predecessor were lost in the process. A brilliant initiative of the predecessor was given a premature obituary.

However, with institutional arrangements in place, a programme or initiative continues uninterrupted irrespective of the incumbents. Here, the system takes care of personal aberrations. The police circulars were issued by the State police chief to ensure coordinated and regular action and uniformity in application. This served as the guiding principles for the incumbents to achieve minimum levels of performance and more importantly not to abuse the policy. Government orders were issued encapsulating the do’s and don’ts of the Janamaithri scheme while budgetary provisions were made to meet the expenses. Apart from showing the commitment and intent of the government, such a step ensured that the project does not suffer from the whims and fancies of the incumbent officer.

Agency problems: ‘Implementation is beset with agency problems’. The agent (field functionary) may not always act according to the interest and instructions of the principal (the police department or the government). The routine, the field functionary

adopts, may vary from the SOPs laid down by the organisational and the programme guidelines. For the beneficiaries of the scheme, the public, the community police officer is the symbol of government and the variance of the operating routine from the policy guidelines means that the outcomes may not correspond to those intended. The variance may not be intended but could be due to the operating constraints. The supervisory police officers are required to take feedback, allow the flexibility and make a course correction. Guidance, mentoring, aid and support to the field functionaries addressed the agency problem in Kerala. Exercising good old superintendence and control and periodically reviewing and issuing clarifications are meant to ensure that the implementation of the policy conforms to its ‘intent’ and ‘design’. The government of Kerala appointed a senior police officer as the State Level Nodal Officer who supervises the process from the pre-implementation phase with a mandate to review, control and monitor the scheme.

External

Political will and acceptance: A shorthand definition of political will is: The commitment of actors to undertake actions to achieve a set of objectives and to sustain the costs of those actions over time. In case of Kerala, ‘Police Performance and Accountability Commission’ was appointed by UDF government in the year 2003. The Commission submitted its recommendations in March 2005. The role of policy entrepreneur – here police leadership – becomes crucial to push through and navigate the policy processes through the policy window. Two successive police chiefs of the State played this role with dexterity till Janamaithri was launched in 2008 as a full-fledged public policy during the LDF rule.

Trust deficit: The essence of Community Policing is to minimise the gap between policemen and citizens to such an extent that the policemen become an integral part of the community they serve. In other words, the individual policeman should know each member of the community and he should, in turn, be known by them. That is to say that there is no anonymity

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police management PARADIGM SHIFT

or aloofness which is instead replaced with harmony and trust. The community has to reciprocate the new goodwill gestures initiated from the side of the police.

However, the suspicion and lack of trust prevented the public from accepting the initiatives of the police at the policy making stage of Janamaithri. The police leadership had to work overtime to plan new strategies to reach out to the public, engage all the stakeholders and launch a well-coordinated campaign to make their intentions clear.

Resource scarcity: The police organisation functions at an optimal level within finite resources to perform infinite tasks. There is a significant gap between the department’s aspirations and the availability of resources. Any new mandate poses an additional burden on the scarce resources, be it logistics, manpower, transport or budget. Janamaithri is a manpower intensive initiative, as in the case of any other community policing scheme. Each Janamaithri Police Station needed an additional eight to ten police personnel to act as community police officers in the designated beats within police station. However, the decision of launching the scheme only in twenty police stations as pilots helped overcome the huge requirement of manpower. The State police chief, who himself was spearheading the initiative, had two options. Firstly, to ask the government to increase the manpower before the implementation and secondly, to manage the initial phase by mobilising resources from within the organisation and ‘selling’ the spread-effect to the political leadership which in turn would initiate the much needed augmentation of manpower. The latter option was preferred and it paid-off four years after the launching of the scheme when the government increased the strength of each Janamaithri police station by five police personnel.

Budgetary provisions were made by the government to meet expenses relating to Janamaithri programmes.

Recommendations

The challenges to community policing scheme in Kerala discussed in the preceding section filter out a set of recommendations that may serve as guiding principles to the policy makers and policy implementers in introducing community policing schemes as a public policy. The knowledge on policy processes, the policy environment, dynamics of policy making and policy evolution during implementation makes the policy makers and the implementers prudent in

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appreciating the nuances of public policy. Some of the key recommendations may be listed out as follows: Political support: Political will and support signal the commitment of the government to the policy and a willingness to sustain the costs of implementation over time. It also conveys a strong message to other agencies in the government for their full scale participation and involvement for the success of the scheme. In a democracy, the opposition of the day has an even chance to come to power and form the government. Therefore, the opposition political leaders must be taken into confidence during the policy making phase. The policy should, in essence, be apolitical and meant for public good.

Engaging stakeholders: As a public policy, the community policing scheme intends to inform all citizens in its broad sweep. Without the wholehearted support of all stakeholders, the policy may not have widespread acceptance. Engaging the stakeholders like the civil society, the media, resident committees, opinion makers, the intelligentsia and academics during the proposal stage clears the misconceptions and makes the policy objectives community centric with their feedback all of which helps developing the ownership of the community towards the scheme.

Trust-building measures: The essence of community policing is to minimise the trust deficit between policemen and citizens to such an extent that the policemen become an integral part of the community they serve. But the suspicion and lack of trust that exists between the police and the public may be an antithesis to such basic premises. The police leadership should plan out new strategies to reach out to the public and launch well-coordinated campaigns to make their intentions clear. Public reception facilities at the police stations may go a long way in such direction with very little or no expenses.

Pilots to start with: Piloting is an activity planned as a test or a trial for the implementation of a concept and its actionable dimensions on a small controlled scale. This is done to allow for its full impact, benefits and weaknesses to be evaluated before the implementation of the concept on a widespread basis.

Pilots ensure a closer fit between policy design and implementation. The ‘incremental’ approach takes care of the resource crunch. Scaling up should follow from the success of the pilots.

Selection and training of field functionaries: The field level officers who are to function as ‘Beat Officers’

process of legislation by the State governments on the basis of directives from the Supreme Court, should incorporate community policing practices within the Act for it to acquire legitimacy as a legislative policy. A State level training and resource centre may be established to institutionalise the planning, coordination, research and training activities.

Resource planning: Government must provide budgetary support for undertaking various activities under the community policing schemes.

The additional manpower and other logistics support should be committed by the government.

The police organisation must be prepared to successfully run the pilots out of its own resources till the spread effects are felt by the communities which, in turn, act as pressure groups demanding or ‘Community Police Officers’ should be selected resource augmentation from the government. on the strict criteria of service record, integrity Fish-bone structure policy model: An overarching and voluntarism. They should undergo suitable community policing scheme with ‘Beat Police Officer’, pre-induction soft skills training. ‘community liaison group’, ‘citizen volunteers’ and Formulation of Standard Operating Procedures ‘district advisory committee’ may be adopted for its (SOPs): The standard operating procedures (SOPs) wide sweep and scope like the main spine of the are designed to ensure that the tasks attended to fish-bone as the mainstay. Other target specific with a certain level of efficiency and that at the same schemes for students, senior citizens, women, slum time, serious failures are avoided. Detailed guidelines dwellers and juveniles in conflict with the law should should be prepared, spelling out the do’s and don’ts supplement the overarching model like the secondary for the field functionaries, supervisory officers and the bones attached to the spine as scaffoldings. stakeholders. Government orders may be published JSP vis-a-vis National Overarching Model: ‘Police containing the SOPs to make it binding on all actors. Community Partnership’, the national overarching The SOPs may be periodically reviewed and amended model drafted by the members of Micro-mission-II with feedback from the stakeholders to make it more of the National Police Mission, MHA, Government of flexible and user-friendly.

India, of which one of the authors Appointment of Nodal Officer: is a member and the Janamaithri Beat Officer should Implementation is beset with Suraksha Project (JSP), the personally know at least flagship community policing agency problems. The agent (field functionary) may not always act scheme of Kerala police are one member of every according to the interest and both three-tier structures with household in his beat instructions of the principal the beat police as the mainstay. (the police department or the However, policy makers of the government). Exercising good old superintendence JSP have gone a step ahead with the introduction and control and periodically reviewing and of ‘house visits’ by the beat or community police issuing clarifications are meant to ensure that the officer to get him acquainted with the members of implementation of the policy conforms to its ‘intent’ the community. It had made all the differences to the and ‘design’. A senior police officer may be appointed outcome of the policy processes: trust level between as the State Level Nodal Officer for such purpose and the police and the public has increased, overall sense continue for a sufficiently long tenure. of security of the public has gone up and both the Internal marketing: ‘‘As has been stated earlier members of the community and frontline police bulk of the resistance to community policing comes officers feel empowered. from within the organisation. It’s dubbed as ‘soft The field research of the Janamaithri Suraksha on crime’, ‘cosmetic’, ‘non-core activity’ etc by the Project, the flagship community policing scheme of many in the organisation. It’s because of their lack the Kerala police, was conducted in the fourth year of understanding and appreciation of the concepts of of its launching, a relatively smaller span of time to community policing. That community policing is the assess the outcomes which are mostly tangible in core strategy of overall policing should be realised by long-term. Further study on police and community the each member of the police organisation through empowerment, changes in organisational behaviour, training and other sensitisation programmes.’’ the impact of JSP on police accountability and ‘Community Policing’, as a subject, may be included transparency will throw interesting insights into the in the police training syllabus. impact of the policy. However, the core components Legal and institutional framework: The police of JSP as a public policy could be replicated in other mission statement needs to be redefined with states – one example being Odisha’s ‘Ama Police’ – as community policing as one of its core objectives. they are system driven with the inherent strength of The new Police Act, to be legislated or under the overcoming individual aberrations.

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police management CRUCIAL IMPERATIVES

Effective Internal Security Need For Police Reforms

The internal security challenges faced by India are numerous as well as serious. It has to be realised that in fighting these challenges, the police role is crucial. Shortcomings and deficiencies need to be urgently redressed. The apathy of powers-that-be to police reform could prove costly to the nation.

I

nternal security, in the past, used to constitute only an infinitesimal component of national security concerns. However, in the recent decades, it has come to occupy the centre stage, what with threats like terrorism, extremist violence, militancy of various hues, violent manifestations of religious fundamentalism etc spreading their tentacles far and wide. Such serious challenges to national security demand handling by an efficacious internal security mechanism. Police being the primary internal security organ has naturally to be in the forefront in the fight against these menaces.

How well prepared is the Indian police system to measure up to this onerous task, what are its major deficiencies and how to cope with them? This article seeks to examine these issues.

Major Internal Security Threats

India has been facing a wide array of internal security threats. Apart from terrorism that has emerged as the most dreadful threat to humankind the world over, we have been facing the onslaught of militancy and insurgencies in various parts of the Northeast,

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Jammu and Kashmir and isolated pockets of some other States. Left extremist violence, indulged in by Naxalites in large swathes of the country’s hinterland; religious fundamentalism and the attendant violence; organised crime with all its nexus with terrorism; circulation of high denomination currency notes, aimed at hitting the country’s economy; communal violence; caste strife; and many other similar crimes not just impinge on national security but also pose a threat to the integrity, stability, societal peace and sense of security of the people.

Internal Security – External Dimension

The complexity of internal security threats is compounded by a clearly discernible trend of shift in modern warfare strategies. The world over, belligerent nations now show a greater preference to waging ‘proxy wars’ against their target countries, using terrorism, subversion, sabotage and disruption as tools of warfare. As compared to conventional wars, proxy wars involve little cost to the aggressor country in terms of loss of its own manpower, war equipment etc. The task becomes even easier if the target country

is an open society with a liberal polity, with lots of democratic rights available to the citizens that come in handy to foment subversion and anti-establishment sentiments. India has been facing the brunt of proxy wars, through the past several decades, waged by one of its immediate neighbours in pursuit of the latter’s warfare policy of ‘bleeding through a thousand cuts’.

The ultimate manifestation of these ‘wars’ is in the acts of crime or public disorder, all of which fall in the realm of internal security challenges. This variety of warfare, thus, by its very nature, has to be fought by law enforcement agencies, mainly using the normal tools of policing and criminal justice system.

Primacy Of Police Role

Police, being the primary law enforcement agency, has the main responsibility in fighting the internal security challenges, be they of indigenous origin or foisted by inimical foreign powers from across the borders. Whether their manifestation is in the nature of crimes – ordinary, grave or organised crime – or public disorders of various kinds, or acts of terrorism. The importance of the police role lies, to begin with, in their preventive action of collecting and acting upon critical tactical intelligence, followed by mounting surveillance over suspects, their arrest, interrogation, searches, seizures and other investigative processes and finally bringing them to book through the judicial process. In serious crimes like terrorist attacks, the police role also applies to the tactical response to armed attackers, as so amply exemplified in the successful arrest of a terrorist alive – Ajmal Kasab – in 26/11 episode by a Head Constable of Mumbai Police.

Further, it is the efficacy of the day-to-day policing and routine crime prevention work of the State police forces that has a huge bearing on success in the effort of prevention and control of not just ordinary crimes but all varieties of threats to internal security.

VIP security, bandobust for all-too-frequent processions, rallies, dharnas etc further compounds the shortages. All this results in too much of work overload on the available manpower, who then have to work for inordinately long hours, day-in-and-day-out, too frequently without even a weekly off. Much-too-common political and other extraneous influences in the day-to-day police functioning also take a heavy toll on efficient policing.

The Ideal Police Force

Kamal Kumar IPS The writer did his MA in Police Administration and joined Indian Police Service in 1971 and retired as DGP Andhra Pradesh in October 2006. He has been Director, National Institute of Criminology & Forensic Science, New Delhi and Director, National Police Academy, Hyderabad. He has represented India in several international conferences of the United Nations and other organisations, on policing and allied subjects. He has been decorated with Pashchimi Star Medal, Sangram Medal, Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service and Presidentls Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

Effective handling of complex internal security challenges, as faced by the country today, demands a police force having adequate strength of dedicated, well trained staff, highly professional in its approach and endowed with sufficient infrastructural support, besides due operational freedom.

The Indian Police are found short on all these.

The roots of most of the deficiencies of the present -day Indian Police system originally lie in their having inherited their structure, methodologies and practices from their imperial past, which are clearly not suited to the complex policing needs of contemporary times.

The intention of the British regime was to create a police force with the sole objective of facilitating smooth and orderly conduct of administration in a static, largely rural and placid society, through ensuring control over the native population. They also wanted policing to be done at the minimum cost to Need For Police Reforms the exchequer, be it in terms of fixing the manpower Now, the question is how well geared up are the Indian strength for the force, salaries of its personnel, provision Police to effectively tackle the enormous challenges to of equipment or other wherewithal needed for efficient internal security faced by the country? The unfortunate policing. For instance, to minimise the requirement ground reality is that our police of manpower strength, they forces are too poorly equipped, inserted a provision in India has been facing a merely organised and funded to effectively the Police Act, 1861[2], mandating address the serious internal that ‘every police officer shall be wide array of internal security threats they are required considered to be always on duty’. security threats to counter. Their manpower In effect, it meant an intermittent is overworked, over-stretched, 24 hour duty schedule, which ill-recruited, ill-equipped, ill-trained, ill-paid and might not have been too taxing in most of the police ill-motivated. Numbers-wise, India has a highly stations of those times, since the policing tasks were adverse police:population ratio. As against the not too demanding, the expected standards of policing United Nations prescribed norm of 222 personnel per not too exacting and accountability to the people 100,000 of population, India has just 145[1]. Diversion almost non-existent. The advent of Independence, a of even the available manpower on VIP bandobust, liberal democratic polity and the flux of social change 1.

Data on Police organisations in India, as on January 1, 2013. Bureau of Police Research & Development, Govt of India, Table 1.1

2.

The edifice of the present police system in India was laid on the foundation of the Police Act, 1861. Unfortunately, police functioning in the country

still continues to be governed by this antiquated legislation (or its mirror-image adaptations by most of the states), even after more than six decades of our Independence.

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police management CRUCIAL IMPERATIVES

has metamorphosed the picture dramatically. There has been enormous escalation in the volume and complexity of crime and threats to public order and internal security. The net result is that in the present policing scenario, a substantial majority of the cutting edge level police personnel now end up working for 11 to 16 hours a day, much too often without being able to avail a weekly off [3].

Why blame the British, the sad part is that nothing much has been done in the last well over six decades of our independence to reform the police system, to rid it of the ills plaguing it, to enable it to transform itself into an efficient and efficacious instrument of internal security, besides a professional public service to cater to the needs of safety, security and well-being of the community. Not that the deficiencies of the system were never noticed and the need for reform not realised. But, the story of police reforms in India has proved to be a Sisyphean saga.

Saga Of Abortive Reform Initiatives

Police being a subject under List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, it was natural that the infirmities and inadequacies of the police system were felt first by the States themselves. Starting with Kerala in 1959, several States, therefore, independently constituted their Police Commissions from time to time, to examine the issue in depth and come up with recommendations for improvement.

Thus, State Police Commissions engaged themselves with the subject in West Bengal (1960-61), Bihar (1961), Punjab (1961), Maharashtra (1964), Madhya Pradesh (1966), Delhi (1966), Uttar Pradesh 3.

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(1970-71), Assam (1971), Tamil Nadu (one in 1971 and another in 2010) and Andhra Pradesh (1984).

Central Government Initiative

The Government of India too, concerned about the need for improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the police in the performance of its crucial role, appointed several commissions and committees from time to time to go into the issues relating to reforms of the Indian police system, either exclusively or as part of the national security or administrative apparatus, or the criminal justice administration of the country. In-depth studies for police reform were, thus, undertaken by several bodies, appointed at the national level, from time to time. These included (i) Gore Committee on Police Training (1971-73), (ii) National Police Commission (1977-81), (iii) Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms (1998), (iv) Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms (2000), (v) Group of Ministers on National Security (2000-01), (vi) Malimath Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System (2001-03), (vii) MHA Review Committee on Police Reforms (2005), (viii) Soli Sorabjee Committee on Model Police Act (2006), (ix) Prof Madhava Menon Committee on Draft National Policy on Criminal Justice (2007), (x) Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2007-08) and (xi) Second Centre-State Relations Commission (2008-09).

All these Commissions and Committees thoroughly examined the various ills dogging the police functioning, identified its weaknesses and elaborated hundreds of recommendations on the needed reform measures. The eight-volume report of the National Police Commission

As brought out in a recent BPR&D-sponsored research study on â&#x20AC;&#x153;National Requirement of Manpower for 8-Hour Shifts in Police Stationsâ&#x20AC;?.

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(NPC), in particular, represents a comprehensive to have a vested interest in neglecting this important and seminal study of not just the existing structure, task, having gotten used to using, misusing and methodologies and weaknesses of our police system abusing the police for their own short-term benefits. but also the policing needs of In their short-sightedness, they the modern-day India. Many tend to give short shrift to the other Committees, which were Police shortcomings and significance of police reforms appointed in the subsequent for effective internal security of deficiencies need to be period, picked up most of the the country. Unless pressured threads from the NPC Reports by a strong public opinion, the urgently redressed while working on the subject. powers-that-be are not going In spite of the painstaking effort to be stirred into any action. In of these esteemed bodies, police in India continue to building-up the necessary climate for this, the role remain plagued by the ills and shortcomings of their of opinion leaders and opinion makers – bloggers, colonial past, further multiplied manifold by the frailties journalists, et al – becomes important. Think tanks that have piled up since then, since the recommended have a role in bringing out appropriate material to reform measures have yet to witness any earnest inform the citizenry about the significance and urgent attempt at their implementation. Indeed, some nominal, need of police reforms. What all reform measures piecemeal refurbishments have been effected here and are needed has already been well documented there, from time to time, but those have clearly failed in the reports of the various commissions and to make any overall impact. Holistic implementation committees. The recommendations are just awaiting of recommendations has been conspicuously missing the will for their implementation. and most of those relating to crucial structural reforms As for the efficacy of reform measures in enhancing have remained untouched so far. the professional capabilities of the police, the Even certain specific directions of the Supreme same has clearly been established time and again, Court of India – six of them to the State Governments whenever concerted efforts were made towards their and one to the Central Government – issued in capacity upgradation. Shining examples are provided September 2006, in a public interest litigation by the police successes against grave security petition filed by Prakash Singh, a retired Director challenges, such as practically rooting out major General of Police, have so far fallen on deaf ears. insurgencies in Punjab and Tripura, as also in the Such has been the obduracy of the powers-that-be spectacular triumph over Naxal violence in Andhra in their resistance to police reform! The Justice KT Pradesh. In other situations elsewhere too, the police Thomas Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court have risen to the occasion despite many handicaps, to monitor the implementation of its directions, also often at heavy cost to life and limb of their personnel. ruefully expressed in its report, its ‘dismay over the total indifference to the issue of reforms in the Conclusion functioning of police being exhibited by the States’.

The internal security challenges faced by India are numerous as well as serious. It has to be realised that What Next? in fighting these challenges, the police role is crucial.

The issue now is what needs to be done in the face of this Their shortcomings and deficiencies need to be urgently situation. Given the ever growing serious challenges to redressed. The apathy of powers-that-be to police internal security, the need for police reform is much too reform could prove costly to the nation. Only strong important to be neglected and much too urgent to be public opinion in favour of reforms can stir them into delayed. Political leadership and the bureaucracy seem action. This is a pressing and imperative need.

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police management SMALL ARMS CONTROL

Is That A Way To Stop International Terrorism?

It was hypocritical for India, which shouts from rooftops of being a victim of foreign-inspired terrorism and inflow of foreign arms to have abstained when finally an effective measure to stop this grave menace was reached by the international community.

International control of small arms transfer is the ONLY and Effective solution to the menace of terrorism.

A

fter every terrorist raid like the 2nd January 2016 Pathankot Air Force station attack, the only thing we do is to lament, indulge in politicking or blame game, without going into the root of the problem. Some of us believe that terrorist hideouts should be raided like how Israel does. However even according to Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foreign Ministry, this did not stop terrorist attacks on their citizens. Official figures reveal that Israel suffered 271 different types of terrorist attacks during the last 3 months, resulting in 21 deaths and 272 injuries.

Unofficial figures compiled on terrorism related deaths all over the world reveal that 7,535 lives were lost in 2015 during 81 major incidents. Majority of killings were in Africa by Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab followed by killings in Yemen, Iraq and

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Syria by Al Qaeda, ISIL (IS) and foreign supported Syrian insurgents. One of the worst massacres in recent history was between January 3 and 7, 2015 at Baga town in Nigeria by Boko Haram.

Terrorists overran a multinational joint Task Force consisting of troops from Chad, Niger and Nigeria to kill the villagers.

Mindboggling Figures

However terrorist deaths form only a minor part of the killing by the use of small arms in the world. In 1999 Tara Kartha, then a researcher with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), shocked us with her research paper on the havoc caused by small arms. She said that 500 million small arms were floating around the world fuelling 30 inter-State

conflicts. Fifty seven million Chinese modified AK-47s were available in the market. The world paid no attention to the infantry weapons released in the market in thousands of tons. The Dutch arms sales included around 25,000 Uzi submachine guns, 17,000 carbines and 21,800 Browning 9 mm pistols.

About 2,95,000 tons of weapons, a million pistols and 26,346 rocket propelled grenades were released from the stocks of former East German Army. She said: “Thus, AK-47 in a desperately poor Cambodia was sold for as little as US$ 8, while in Mozambique it could be exchanged for a basket of rice”.

One of the best investigative reports on this problem was filed by The Guardian (UK) on 10 October 2003. It alleged that the US led war on terror had ‘weakened national arms controls and fuelled the proliferation of conventional weapons’. Thus the ‘War on Terror’ indirectly fuelled terrorism. Earlier the Afghan Mujahideen who received 65,000 tons of arms per year during 1979-1989 flooded the market with weapons after the Afghan war termination.

The Guardian report quoted human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Oxfam or International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) that small arms had killed on an average 500,000 people each year by armed violence – roughly one victim a minute. It quoted Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General saying that deaths from small arms ‘dwarfs that of all other weapons systems and in most years greatly exceeds the toll of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs. In terms of the carnage they cause, small arms could well be described as weapons of mass destruction – yet there is still no global non-proliferation regime to limit their spread’.

Surfeit Of Small Arms

However official compilations of terrorist incidents do not include such killings. The US State Department’s annual reports follow only a narrow definition on what constitutes terrorism. Yet what is common between all these incidents is the easy availability of small V Balachandran arms or explosives, whether we The writer is a former Special call such killings as terrorism, Secretary of the Cabinet civil war, regular war or crime.

Secretariat. He was also a part The trade in small arms is a of the high level committee big business worth billions of appointed by the Maharashtra dollars. A report in 2010 in government to enquire into international media said: “Small Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks.

He is a prolific writer on arms are a trafficker’s dream”. intelligence, terrorism and They are small, lightweight, insurgency issues and has portable, easily concealable, also given lectures on these easily air dropped or attached to subjects at several institutions in India and abroad. the bottom of the boats. Unlike drugs, small arms by themselves are not illegal since most of them are produced legally.

But it is the selling or transporting which is illegal.

End user certificates have no internationally accepted standard and are easily forged. The traffickers use financiers, brokers and corrupt officials to deliver the weapons to the destination.

The Guardian report quoted these NGOs saying that the small arms trade had widespread repercussions, especially in poor countries as poverty fuelled conflict and vice versa and the problem was compounded by corrupt and often scarce, official security forces. Weapons have permeated daily life

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police management SMALL ARMS CONTROL ‘somewhere along the line, India’s position shifted towards State-centric factors and, consequently, neglected its ‘public safety for citizens’ focus.

Consequently, the approach of the Indian State on the safety of Indian citizens from individuals and non-State actors using illicit weapons smuggled over the country’s borders has remained unaddressed’.

He was commenting on the Indian approach paper of May 10, 2012 conveying a false sense of national sovereignty that UN should not prescribe controls on a State’s arms trade and most importantly UN should not set up an international office to monitor such violations. He concludes: ‘It seems that India has decided to neglect public safety concerns of illicit to such an extent that in northern Uganda AK-47s weapons that are being smuggled across its borders’. are replacing spears; in Somalia some children are Despite this, the UN could finally pass the 2013 Arms now named ‘AK’. The statistics produced in 2003 Trade Treaty, a landmark legislation, which came were frightening: into force in December 2014 with 50 ratifications. ● 639 million small arms were circulating in A total of 154 countries including US and Pakistan world produced by more than 1,135 companies in voted in favour, three against while 23 abstained 98 countries; including China, Russia and India. Our representative ● In 2003 there were 24 million guns in Iraq, each as said, according to UN record: ‘the draft resolution cheap as US$ 10, one for almost each man, woman fell short of expectations of a clear, balanced and or child for their 26 million population; implementable text which would attract universal ● Nearly 8 million small arms were made each year; adherence and would make an impact, especially on ● Nearly 100 million AK-47s or its variants were terrorists and other unlawful actors. Unfortunately, produced till 2003; the text was weak on terrorism and non-State actors. ● Over 59 per cent of small arms are privately owned, She said India could not accept that the Treaty would 38 per cent are in hands of government forces, less be used in the hands of exporting States as a political than 3 per cent held by police; tool’. Hypocrisy? ● 300,000 children are fighting in conflicts around world. It was hypocritical for India, which shouts from rooftops of being a victim of foreign-inspired terrorism It Is Axiomatic: No Weapons, No Terror and inflow of foreign arms to have abstained when Thus it is commonsense that terrorism can be finally an effective measure to stop this grave menace eradicated only if we control the free availability of was reached by the international community. Didn’t weapons. All other measures have only cosmetic value. our diplomats know that the UN cannot include Have we taken any steps towards eliminating or at these expressions in a treaty as they have not been least restricting these small able to define terrorism arms? Thousands of manvarious reasons Terrorism can be eradicated through hours have been spent in documented by the UN controlling if not eliminating Ad Hoc Committee’s only if we control the free nuclear weapons although meetings on ‘Comprehensive availability of weapons none was used after 1945.

Convention on International Yet very little has been done Terrorism’ including a on the small arms menace which kills half a million common definition? If this is our national stand, why every year. Here let me quote Tara Kartha who wrote are we going in big delegations during every September in 1999 on India’s negligence: ‘It is incredible that UN session to condemn Pakistan for sponsoring this country though one of the worst victims of terrorism and arms inflow into India? terrorism and sponsored militancy has yet to evolve This episode indicates the disconnect between our a coherent policy in trying to tackle the root causes of Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry. violence – the weapons themselves’. She was referring While our internal security organs are constantly to India’s policy confusion while UN was already demanding some sort of controls over the inflow of moving into the second phase of implementing the small arms, our Foreign Office mandarins are more recommendations of the Panel of Governmental worried about some esoteric concepts on sovereignty.

Experts on Small Arms, set up in 1995 to probe the Thus international control of small arms transfer cause and effects of the spread of small arms. is the ONLY and Effective solution to the menace of terrorism. It cannot be stopped by empty sloganeering India Backtracks as we witnessed recently at world leaders’ summits Ravinder Pal Singh, another scholar from IDSA said at Antalya (Turkey) and Kuala Lumpur where slogans in 2012 that initially India took a correct stand in like “stiffening our resolve”, “choking funds for 2010 at the UN that ‘priority must be combating terrorism” or “joint operations in a common and eliminating the illicit trade in such arms’ but battlefield” were freely used.

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police management NEW CHALLENGES

CRPF’s Role

In Internal Security

In the near future, J&K may be used as a gateway

by IS to enter the country being a conflict zone and also a strategic buffer against such fanatic ideologies propagated from Central Asia. In the coming days the challenges before the CRPF as the Lead Internal Security Force may be even more serious, especially in the wake of brutality of IS terrorists.

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aised by the British Crown as the Crown Representative’s Police in 1939 and rechristened as Central Reserve Police Force by an Act of Parliament on December 28, 1949, CRPF is the biggest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) of the world, with strength of over three lakh. At present, CRPF is 235 Battalions strong along with 43 Group Centres deployed across 26 States of India. Almost 81 per cent of the Force is deployed to fight against the anti-national elements in Left Wing Extremism affected States, Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern States of India.

Prakash Mishra IPS The writer is DG Central Reserve Police Force. He is a postgraduate in Applied Economics and also a Law graduate. He is recipient of Police Medal for Meritorious Service (1994), President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service (2001) and Odisha Governor’s Medal (2006).

Gallant History

CRPF has seen the world’s largest democracy evolve firmly over the years braving challenges which threatened the security of the nation. Besides the valiant fight against the Chinese at Hot Spring during 1959, the Force repulsed the attack of a full-fledged Pakistani Brigade in 1965. The Force also played a stellar role in dousing the flames of militancy in Punjab, terrorism in J&K and insurgency in the Northeast. Bravehearts of the Force made the supreme sacrifice while defending the Indian Parliament from a deadly suicidal attack

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police management NEW CHALLENGES in 2001 and foiled another attack at the disputed shrine at Ayodhya, UP in 2005. So far 2,025 CRPF personnel have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty (952 officers and men martyred in last 15 years) and the brave personnel have been honoured with 1,434 gallantry awards (726 gallantry medals awarded in the last 15 years).

Present Role

Designed as a force to aid civil administration in restoration and maintenance of law and order, CRPF today is deployed across the country performing multifarious duties like anti-Maoist operations, antiterrorist operations, counter-insurgency operations, law and order duties, security of vital installations, VVIP security duties, rescue and relief work and election duties. The force also contributes to UN Peacekeeping Missions.

Lead Internal Security Force

With the merger of the two major Left Wing Extremist groups namely People’s War Group (PWG) and Maoists Communist Centre of India (MCCI) as CPI (Maoist) during the year 2004, a formidable challenge for Indian democracy emerged in the hinterland of India. Nowhere in the history of Indian independence had an insurgent or extremist group had such a pan-India presence with capability to strike violence in more than ten States.

The CRPF is the lead force today fighting against Left Wing Extremism with 87 Battalions deployed across the ten LWE affected States. The CRPF has eliminated 786 Maoists during the last 15 years including Kishenji who was the topmost visible face of the CPI (Maoist). CRPF along with civil police have succeeded in liberating many areas from the influence of CPI (Maoist).

Though, the Central as well as the State governments have been fighting LWE menace since the emergence of the group and coordinated actions have been worked out very well, the increased coordination between different departments of the Central government with Ministry of Home Affairs taking the lead has given a focused direction to development. Ministry of Home Affairs has focused on the delivery of the developmental initiatives as well as upgradation of the counter-offensive capabilities of the Forces.

In terms of the developmental initiatives a visible focus can be seen on building of critical roads and

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bridges in LWE affected States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, enhancing the mobile connectivity in the entire LWE region to the extent that even some of the remotest corners are now connected.

In terms of security offensives, there were vast areas with no presence of Security Forces. The Centre has been constantly inducting the CAPFs particularly Central Reserve Police Force with 87 of its Battalions currently deployed in the LWE theatre. However, during last two to three years there has been dramatic turnaround and as on date there is no area which can be claimed to be liberated areas by Left Wing Extremists. All such areas which were referred as base areas in Maoist’s parlance have been identified and security cover established resulting in frequent exchange of fire and substantial loss to the adversaries. It is in this perspective that recent neutralisation of five CPI (Maoist) cadres by CRPF on 8th January 2016 along the Bihar-Jharkhand border could be treated as a significant achievement.

Four factory made weapons were recovered from the site including one AK-47 rifle alongwith critical loss to CPI (Maoist) in the area. In May 2015, Sarita Ganjhu, a State Committee Member of CPI (Maoist) was neutralised in the same area.

The continuous offensives launched by CRPF in coordination with the civil police has resulted in the decimation of the armed capability of CPI (Maoist) in West Bengal, south west Bihar, as well as critical losses in northwest and southern Jharkhand and Odisha.

In Chhattisgarh also, the CPI (Maoist) suffered major reverses at the hands of Security Forces during the year 2015 and the efforts to further curb their domination will continue this year as well.

Winning Hearts And Minds

The turnaround as far as CRPF is concerned is largely due to the creation of strong training and operational connect which implies that the operations provide inputs for training and training adapts and prepares men so as to be operationally adept and fight the enemy like the enemy. In order to achieve this objective, CRPF has established pre-induction training centres in the operational theatres to orient the troops to the terrain, tactics and the threat perceptions.

With the strengthening and increased participation of the State police forces, the enemy is now face to face with an invigorated and well-trained Force that is equally at home in the adversaries’ habitat and therefore a very potent threat to their comfortable existence. As part of innovative initiatives, the CRPF has established four Field Hospitals in the remotest part of Chhattisgarh which cater to the security forces as well as the civilians and this has opened up a new bonding with the otherwise hostile populace. The goodwill generated has been such that villagers from as far away as 15 kilometres frequent CRPF hospitals seeking medical attention. There have been instances of civilians refusing to comply with the Maoist’s diktat of cutting roads in Bastar region which is considered a Maoist stronghold even now.

The striking capability of the Security Forces has led to large scale attrition in the ranks and capability of Maoists and they do not feel safe even in their base areas. Though targeted operations by the CRPF have yielded good results, CPI (Maoist) still continues to be one of the biggest internal security threats. The Forces need to keep up the momentum against the Maoists as they have the uncanny ability to regroup after periods of lull by moving into areas which are hitherto unoccupied by the Forces and securing a safe haven.

such devices. These are by and large pilfered from the mining network which is difficult to trace back.

Therefore all the stakeholders need to focus on how to reduce the supply of explosives to the Maoists and here a lot is expected from the States.

Terrorism In J&K

The northern part of country, continues to be plagued by terrorism, especially the State of Jammu and Kashmir where it has had a devastating impact. Though the war between humanity and terror is ongoing, new faces of terror emerge each Improvised Explosive Devices day. Jammu and Kashmir has been a laboratory However, the Security Forces do need to realise that of terror, now with the black flags of IS flying in they are up against an adversary constantly devising the hands of local youth it surely does not augur ways and means to surprise well for those who aspire for them through innovative peace and development in tactics. The increasing use of this part of the country. Since CRPF is the biggest Improvised Explosive Devices early 1990s, CRPF has been Central Armed Police

by CPI (Maoist) is a step in this leading the anti-militancy direction wherein during the Force (CAPF) of the world operations despite many year 2015 alone the CRPF have reverses. Fidayeen attacks in faced 1,728 attacks out of which the Valley have emerged as a 35 attacks proved to be fatal leading to the loss of three new challenge for the Security Forces. However, CRPF CRPF personnel with fortysix men sustaining grievous has not only successfully secured vital installations injuries. Successful use of IEDs ensure maximum and institutions but has also led many surgical loss to the Forces with zero loss to CPI (Maoist) as operations resulting in neutralisation of militants. there is no confrontation or encounter involved. And The emerging trend in terrorism, is the attempt therefore the larger question is how do the Maoists being made by the anti-national elements to manage to gather explosive materials to construct brainwash the youth so as to lure them to militancy

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police management NEW CHALLENGES especially Islamic State (IS). Social media has become a potent tool for spreading the abhorrence through fake or propagated ideas to attract the local youth towards fanatic mindset in the name of jihad.

Not surprisingly, Asiya Andrabi from the infamous group Dukhtaran-e-millat was allegedly recruiting youths in Hyderabad for IS. Amidst this alarming scenario, CRPF is toiling tirelessly to control and contain the violence and law and order issues with minimum force in order to create a balance between human rights and local public order. Jammu and Kashmir is a unique theatre where armed combats with terrorists having AK rifles, grenades, IEDs, RPG and under-barrel grenade launchers (UBGL) goes hand-in-hand with violent protests and agitations by masses hurling stones and abusive slogans at uniformed men and women. In this blazing situation, one wrong step by the Security Forces in the form of excessive use of force could vitiate the atmosphere and create a breeding ground for such propagators which would further lead to a more critical and undesirable situation. The world’s largest paramilitary force CRPF is the only force having professional efficiency and exposure to counter both types of disturbance, be it exchange of fire or a law and order situation such as pelting of stones.

ISIS Threat

In the near future, J&K may be used as a gateway

by IS to enter the country being a conflict zone and also a strategic buffer against such fanatic ideologies propagated from Central Asia. Long experience in this region and a clean human rights record suggest that CRPF is countering militancy effectively. However, in the coming days the challenges before the CRPF as the Lead Internal Security Force may be even more serious, especially in the wake of brutality of IS terrorists.

Northeast Insurgencies

Along with militancy the CRPF is also facing insurgency and ethnic clashes for many decades.

These disturbances have been fuelled by vested parties in the seven States of northeast. Not only has an impression gone that they are disliked and discriminated by the mainstream Indians but they are also convinced that the Union government is exploiting them and using them as a buffer against foreign invasion. The CRPF has been deployed since the flaring up of such issues and have been able to associate them with the nation. Through various operations against violent militancy and without hurting sentiments of people, CRPF has been able to eliminate the rogue elements from these States and have subdued any demands for cessation.

Insurgency has now been reduced to extortion and other crimes which are well within the reach of the State to tackle. The people of seven States have taken the path of peace. Their faith in Forces like CRPF is a telling tale to this effect.

The ten Rapid Action Force (RAF) Battalions, an elite wing of the CRPF, have been strategically located in the country with the objective to deal with riots, riot like

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situations, crowd control, public unrest and rescue /relief operations. The Force has been specially trained to meet the challenges in the field of its duties. It is equipped with latest paraphernelia and non-lethal weapons to deal with situations with minimum harm or losses. Each team of the RAF is independently operational and mobile with its impressive distinct uniform and zero response time approach. The RAF also undertakes Civic Action Plan including various educational programmes, adult literacy, tree plantation, medical camps, creating awareness on hygiene and sanitation etc. It also adopts villages for all-round focused development.

The RAF is the nodal agency of CRPF to provide logistics support and training to the contingents detailed for deployment with various United Nations Peacekeeping Missions. Training provided

by RAF to the male and female contingents for UN Peacekeeping Missions in different countries ie Haiti, Kosovo and Liberia etc, has earned accolades at international level for their highest order of professionalism and performance. Two CRPF contingents – one each of men and women, with support of the RAF are presently deployed with UNMIL (United Nations Mission in Liberia). The RAF is ever prepared for its deployment at very short notice. The Force has successfully tackled the various challenges right from its inception. It has accomplished the designated tasks to such perfection that it has earned a name for itself not only in their own country but overseas as well.

Technological Upgradation

The CRPF has been raising the counter-IED capability of the Force by raising new Bomb Disposal Units as well as enhancing the first response capability by regular lecture-demonstrations by IED professionals. It has also been using state-of-the-art technologies in the field in locating the Maoist’s formations by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles as well as satellite imageries in planning operations with the help of Geographic Information Softwares. The Force is also in the process of acquiring advanced equipment in the near future which would further enhance its operational capabilities.

Portentious 2016

The year 2016 has started on a very promising note with successful encounters in Chhattisgarh and Bihar wherein six Maoists were eliminated as per available reports. It is a learning curve and CRPF intends to further sharpen its operational skills to fight and succeed against the anti-national elements in the country. The problems in the northeast and J&K too are being handled with sensitivity. And a cautious approach is being adopted to tackle terror outfits like IS and others. The CRPF has been training its personnel to attain professional excellence and the men and women are motivated to make the supreme sacrifice in order to restore peace and prosperity in the country. We have approached the New Year with renewed vigour and a firm resolve to defend the nation against every internal security threat.

Valour

police management Supreme Sacrifice

Under Fire

Meemansa The writer is a 16 years old student of Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School, Jammu.

In Pathankot Militants infiltrated and quietly walked, to bring about mess and suffering, With the ammunitions they had stalked.

Within no time our soldiers rushed to the border For them it was about the country, Which was much more than an order.

Our brave men fought with firm resolve Their ideas were bold and marched towards the mission to solve.

On their chest they took the bullets and shells our brave men martyred themselves.

Thinking about their sacrifices our body shivers but its their family who endures and suffers.

I salute the brave men with pride who paid for our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security at the cost of their life Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

That is how our soldiers with their sacrifices, Hoisted our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flag even higher into the sky.

Jai Hind!

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police management BREAKING THE COLONIAL MOULD

Synergy

Between People And The Police In a democracy the citizen has a right to know and question.

Police has to understand this. Being abrasive is not the solution but cooperation is. The citizen at the same time has to realise that maintaining peace, tranquillity, order in society is only possible with their contribution.

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ir Robert Peel way back in 1829, when he established the London Metropolitan Police force, as Home Secretary said that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the police are the people and the people are the policeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. There was considerable dismay about this new measure though Louis X1V had appointed a Lt General of Police in Paris as early as 1667 and the system had been extended to the whole of France in 1699. There were many discordant voices within Peelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own party as many felt it would adversely affect the rights of the citizens and the new force could be coercive and used for political purposes by the Government of the time. Peel therefore took care to give the police a different identity from the Army.

Whereas the Army at the time had a red uniform, blue was chosen for the London police. They were given a truncheon and a rattle to summon aid in case they were attacked but no firearms. Peel sought to allay

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the fears and apprehensions with his statement, by stressing that members of the force would be from among them and a part of them. This proved to be largely true as far as London and later the whole of the United Kingdom was concerned. In other countries including ours, this has still to be realised. Neither the public nor the police feel that they are a part of each other and for each other.

Post-Independence Continuum

To a large measure this is due the fact that the police in India since its inception in 1861 till our independence in 1947 performed a coercive role to maintain British control over the country. No doubt people found it difficult to reconcile themselves to the fact that the police was their own after Independence as for more than eight decades they had been an instrument to subjugate the populace. Whatever the

reasons whether it was the turmoil, the communal situation post 1947, the dislocation of millions, the police in India did not make a drastic change of course from its old methods and system of working.

Was foresight and understanding lacking? Were old habits so deeply ingrained that change was not possible? No change in the Police Act was considered nor a change in training manuals and curriculum till much, much later. The new politicians and leaders who took over the reins of the government found the system convenient and bent it further in many ways to help themselves, their political parties and cronies. The initial setback made the task of being a part of the public more difficult.

Snail-paced Transformation

called for. The visibility of the police is a deterrent to crime.

Here the beat constables play a crucial role. This is an area which due to shortages and various other factors we have failed to implement properly.

Our large population is another reason. A properly functioning beat patrolling system will Arun Bhagat IPS directly impact crime, check The writer is a distinguished juvenile delinquency, drug police officer and former dealing and bootlegging. The Commissioner Delhi Police, yardstick of police posts needs Joint Secretary Cabinet be changed to provide for 24 or Secretariat, Director General 12 hours beat patrols in cities.

BSF, Director Intelligence The beat officers are a rich Bureau and Member of National Security Council. source of intelligence of their neighbourhoods particularly in the context of terrorism. The first response of the police to a complaint or a distress call leaves a lasting impression. Mobiles and telephones are now commonplace. A courteous, sympathetic and prompt response is what the public expects. Fair and equal treatment will gain support for the police. Minorities, backward classes, scheduled tribes and all ethnic groups need sympathetic and sensitive treatment.

The police role continues to be basically the same but has added many new dimensions and has become far more complex. Urbanisation, constant movement of populations, new mobility, changed nature of crime, terrorism to name a few are added challenges which the police have to deal with while trying to forge new equations with the citizenry. At the same time and rightly too, the expectations of the citizens from the police have increased. It is not that efforts have not been made by the police themselves within the different States to change and be more people friendly in the past thirty years or so. Many studies have been conducted and experiments tried out. To Media As Catalyst maintain good relations and reduce the gap between The media, electronic or printed, plays a big part the public and the police liaison groups, mohalla in shaping public opinion in the present day. Local committees, slum panchayats have been formed radio stations have now come up in many parts of with varying degrees of success. the country and are expanding their Professional training and constant audiences. They voice and reflect The visibility of follow up is an essential ingredient the feelings and perceptions of the of this endeavour. In most States the public of the area. A good equation the police is a quality of training leaves much room with them can help police reach deterrent to crime out to the public for assistance for improvement. Police trainers are suitable for teaching the laws, as well as guide them in crisis procedure and police rules. But courteous behaviour situations. A good police officer always bears this even when provoked, how to deal with juveniles, in mind and builds up his/her relations with the response to victims of domestic violence, handling Press. In industrial areas and port towns issues of drug addicts, mentally imbalanced and challenged friction and conflict between management and labour all require special skills which have to be developed. are a regular feature. Maintaining contacts with To a few it may come naturally but most members labour leaders is therefore important as many of the police would have to be taught these skills. A situations can be diffused through discussion police trainer who can do so would be rare. Therefore before flash points are reached. specialist psychologists, social scientists and even In a democracy the citizen has a right to know and public relations experts need to play a prominent role question. Police has to understand this. Being abrasive among the police training faculties. is not the solution but cooperation is. The citizen at the same time has to realise that maintaining peace, Visibility A Deterrent tranquillity, order in society is only possible with their Catch them young it is said. Exposure of children contribution. This may take the form of participating in schools to the police is a certain way to develop in neighbourhood watch, a night patrol and being a lifelong friendships. Many police stations have truthful witness. The best cooperation would be by regular programmes of visits of children to police abiding by the law and never infringing it. Policing to stations. Policemen also visit schools. Many sports be effective cannot be the exclusive turf or hegemony clubs have been formed in police stations which of the police. The police need to understand and has proved useful. These activities are found to imbibe this. The public has to realise at the same time be dependent on individual Superintendents of that their help and active participation and working Police and SHOs and are not a regular feature. The with the police can alone ensure peace and tranquillity dividends would take time in accruing. Patience is in this turbulent world of today.

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police management INCULCATING CORE VALUES

Creating Ethics and Integrity Framework for Police By addressing the challenges of ethical conduct and decision-making in a proactive manner, culture of integrity can be developed and sustained in the police departments in India.

And the police service can present itself to the outside world as a professional institution with credible practices, values and beliefs.

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ublic trust and legitimacy is vital for police functioning. Public demands a more exemplary conduct from police officers because from the very nature of their job of law enforcement they are bound by a more exacting code. Police deviance not only hits the people who are already in distress and very often belong to disadvantaged section, but is also very visible. Still every other day there are incidents reported that draw flak and derision from society, undoing all the hard work done by large number of officers.

Systemic Issues In Police Functioning

The solution to the problem of unethical practices in police has a much deeper undercurrent than just being a matter of enforcing discipline and strict supervision. Firstly, a serious role conflict always exists in policing – between the ideals of crime control versus ideals of policing. While the society tends to judge police performance based on the achievement of goals and outcomes, there are many limitations in our criminal justice system which hamper the efficient and effective functioning of the police. This gives rise to the ‘noble cause corruption’ or unethical conduct not for personal gain but for the good of the society.

Examples of noble cause corruption are, planting or fabricating evidence, lying on reports or in court and

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generally abusing police authority to make a charge stick. This can often be how the officers cross the line towards abandoning their integrity. To add to the complexity of the situation are the core subculture beliefs of the police that: They are the only real crime fighters, no one else understands them; Loyalties to each other because everyone is out to get them; Can’t win war against crime without bending rules and public is unsupportive and too demanding.

Confronted by the ethical issues, the response of the department has been strongly reactive rather than adopting a proactive strategy, as a result the police service today is seen as a beleaguered institution which has lost a clear sense of direction.

Integrity Framework

For Indian police today there is an urgent need to regain public trust and the strategies towards achieving this need to be given serious consideration.

Therefore, a holistic approach for developing an integrity framework that considers all the three dimensions – the environment; the organisation; and the personal characteristics, values and behaviour of the individuals involved in the process can address the problem. Second Report of the National Police Commission 1977-1981 sums up: ‘The sustained capacity of the police system to function as an

efficient and impartial instrument of law will largely depend on the attitudes developed by the personnel at different levels in the system and the manner in which they respond to different situations in their career.

This in turn depends on the training which they get at the time of their entry into the system and even more on the climate and culture they have to work in, specially the examples and values they imbibe from the leadership at various levels within the system’.

Police service is all about values. The department needs to own up a set of core values that are inspirational, after developing them through a collective exercise within the police organisation.

Having done so, monitoring and control mechanisms should be put in place, to oversee the conduct of the individuals and the Department as a whole, in relation to these core values, cherishing them above competencies.

Within the organisation, there is a need to address both the structural issues and the culture issues.

This would include the recruitment of only those individuals who are aligned to the core values, training that inculcates desired values and rewards and recognition programme that provides the incentives to live out the core values. The standardisation of key services and procedures can ensure adherence to policies, practices and behaviours that reflect the core values. The role of authentic leadership, that is centre of gravity in sustaining and developing culture of integrity and reaction to critical incidents are crucial to the integrity framework. Finally, constitution of an ‘ethics committee’ in police departments in States would help in implementing measures, identifying areas to reduce corruption and coordination and partnership with outside agencies. An expert ethics policy body for police at the national level would be useful for advice and guidance on complex ethical dilemmas and to disseminate best practice in this area to the States.

Intrinsic Motivation

The Policing Paradox suggests that the discretionary power tends to be maximum at the bottom of hierarchy in the police department. This is where patrol officers apply laws, policies and regulations and make discretionary choices away from the scrutiny of the supervisors and mostly away from the reach of accountability measures. Therefore, to promote culture of integrity, there is also a need to consider methodologies that use the power of employee commitment, organisational culture, peer norms and values to shape behaviour and build motivation in the police force. Emerging field of Positive Organisational Behaviour suggests that the police force needs to build a culture of trust, respect and principle based working, to create an environment where the officers and men can be inspired. The process of change from the culture of mistrust and manipulation to one of trust, friendship and respect can transform police department from micro-managed high-control, autocratic environment to place of high involvement, empowerment and rapid response to citizens. As a

matter of straightforward and simple principle, the policemen would deliver to the public what they ‘receive from the department’. If there is openness and fairness within the department, there is transparency and justice in the postings, transfers and promotions, Rohit Choudhary IPS the policemen will carry high The writer is Additional sense of justice. In turn this Director General of Police, is what they will deliver to Punjab. He is IPS officer of the citizens. Therefore, it is 1988 batch and has served in utmost important that the Punjab state as police chief of selection of Station House three districts and played a key role in combating militancy in Officers, Senior Superintends Punjab and has held various of Police and other field headquarters and field positions officers is done on merit in as Deputy Inspector General a transparent manner. The and Inspector General of actions taken by leaders to Police. He was awarded with two gallantry medals for action influence an organisation’s in anti-insurgency operations culture include the following: and the President’s Police Attention, measurement Medal for Meritorious Service. and control: Those things A postgraduate in Public a leader consistently Policy and Management from Syracuse University, New notices, pays attention to York, he is credited with and systematically deals path-breaking book on with will communicate Policing: Reinvention to subordinates what Strategies in a is valued and what Marketing Framework. norms the leader deems appropriate.

Reactions to critical incidents: How leaders react to organisational crises will uncover and communicate underlying assumptions to subordinates.

Deliberate role modelling: The leader sets the example.

Criteria for reward allocation: An organisation’s leaders can emphasise their own priorities, values and assumptions by linking rewards and punishments to the behaviours.

Criteria for recruitment, selection and retention: An existing culture can be reinforced or a new culture introduced by the careful selection and retention of members who fit the culture.

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police management INCULCATING CORE VALUES

Practices In Other Countries

Police and Independent Commission Against In South Africa Police important selection for the in- Corruption partnership and co-operation; and charge of police stations and the districts is done on Discipline. Series of specific measures in 1996, the basis of open process in the assessment centres included â&#x20AC;&#x201C; anti-smoking campaign, station fitness to determine the competency levels of officers under rooms, stress management publications and training consideration. The South African Police Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and anti-gambling publicity. The strategyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success Assessment Centre can be described as a multi- could be judged from the figures, in 1974 some 47 method, multi-trait technique. Essentially, it is a per cent of corruption complaints in Hong Kong were series of individual and group exercises in which a against the police compared with 13 per cent by 2002. number of candidates participate while being observed Considering the ethical conduct as an essential by several observers. The exercises are simulations of requirement several police departments like the managerial tasks designed to test various managerial Canadian and Dutch have officers as Ethics skills. Selection process for senior officers is spread Commissioners. Hong Kong police has an over two consecutive days.

Anti-Corruption Steering At the time of recruitment Committee chaired by a Senior in Royal Canadian Mounted Assistant Commissioner.

Public trust and Police core values are well The committee is not just legitimacy is vital for advertised and people apply concerned with corruption but for employment there because also with the related issues of police functioning they subscribe to these values. integrity and ethics. Australia To verify their authenticity has integrity framework in they can be subjected to polygraph testing and place to promote and foster such culture in the conscientious testing, at the time of being confronted organisation and have the Office of Professional with these tests 30 per cent of candidates opt out.

Responsibility and Professional Integrity.

In Singapore Police Force the core values are first instilled in the officers during their induction Ingrained Integrity programme and translated into desired behaviour When the overall effectiveness of police in terms of through policies and programmes and practices. The crime control is under consideration it needs to be rewards and recognition programme then provides stressed that being at the first line of contact, police the incentives to live out the core values. Finally, may determine who enters the criminal justice system the standardisation of key services and procedures but they do not influence the eventual outcomes. ensures adherence to policies, practices and By addressing the challenges of ethical conduct behaviours that reflect the core values. and decision-making in a proactive manner, Given the complexity of the problem of police culture of integrity can be developed and sustained integrity the Hong Kong Police adopted a holistic in the police departments in India. And the police four-pronged approach to address the issue of police service can present itself to the outside world as a integrity in 1996. The prongs are: Education and p ro fe s sio n a l in stitu tio n with c red ib le training; minimising opportunities for malfeasance; practices, values and beliefs. w

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police management SYSTEMIC CONUNDRUM

Police Impunity And Police Reforms

Indian Experience

The Human Rights Watch has noted that even if the Supreme Court directives are eventually implemented, States may fail to reduce arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other mistreatment and deaths in police custody.

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he guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India (SCI) in 2006 were meant to improve police structure and police policies. In 2009, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a study, which made recommendations on police reforms in a major report published in 2009. While the Supreme Court guidelines were of a ‘superstructural’ nature, the HRW recommendations dealt with ‘infrastructural’ issues as well.

SCI And HRW Recommendations

The Supreme Court of India directed Central and State governments to: ● constitute State Security Commissions to ensure that the State governments do not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police; to lay down broad policy guidelines and to evaluate the performance of the State police; ● ensure that the Director General of Police is appointed through a merit based, transparent process

KS Subramanian The writer is a former IPS officer and an author of repute on policing in India.

and enjoys a minimum tenure of two years; ● ensure that other police officers on operational duties have a minimum tenure of two years; ● set up a Police Establishment Board to decide all transfers, postings, promotions and other service related matters of police officers; and to make recommendations on postings and transfers of officers; ● set up a National Security Commission at the Union level to prepare a panel for selection and placement of Chiefs of the Central Police Organisations (CPOs); ● set up independent Police Complaints Authorities at the State and district levels to look into public complaints against police officers in cases of serious misconduct, including custodial death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody; and ● separate the investigation and law and order functions of the police.

In October 2005, the Central government set up a Police Act Drafting Committee (PADC) led by Soli Sorabjee to draft a new Model Police Act for

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police management SYSTEMIC CONUNDRUM

the guidance of State governments. The PADC submitted its Model Police Act to the Home Ministry in October 2006. In 2009, the Supreme Court of India established a monitoring committee to review the States’ compliance.

No Accountability

investigation and law enforcement. The institutional culture tended to discourage officers from acting otherwise, failing to give them the resources, training, ethical environment and encouragement to develop professional policing tactics. Many officers are ordered or expected to commit abuses.

However, HRW noted that even if the Supreme Court Abusive Culture directives are eventually implemented, States may fail HRW looked into: i) abuses by the police against to reduce arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and individuals, usually criminal suspects; and other mistreatment and deaths in police custody. It ii) the conditions that facilitated and encouraged pointed to the danger of a reform agenda that sought the police to commit those abuses. It found the to free the police from political misbehaviour is deeply rooted control without making them more in institutional practice. accountable to the public.

Government failure to Government failure to enforce HRW more perceptively, described accountability and to overhaul enforce accountability the structure encouraged abusive the Indian police as a ‘broken system’ and ‘dangerous anachronism’ and practices to continue. encouraged abusive stated that a police officer told HRW examined four issues: practices to continue a) police failure to investigate them: ‘This week I was told to do an encounter. I am looking for my crimes; b) arrest on false target. I will eliminate him’. He was charges and illegal detention; referring to the practice of taking into custody and c) torture and ill-treatment; d) extrajudicial killings. extra-judicially executing an individual and then Traditionally marginalised groups were especially claiming that the victim had died after initiating a vulnerable to the first three abuses. Though arising shoot-out with the police. The revelation brought from the discriminatory biases of the police, the alive the saga of the targeted police murder of many vulnerability is a product of an abusive police culture innocent victims in India. related to an ability to pay a bribe, trade social The SCI guidelines though carried out partially by status or call on political connections. many States in India, left undisturbed the police’s general immunity from prosecution for serious Systemic Problems misconduct, as provided under section 197 of the HRW found the working conditions of individual Criminal Procedure Code. Moreover the Supreme officers to be bad. The civil police, especially Court, while requiring States to establish Police constables, live and work in abysmal conditions.

Complaints Authorities to investigate complaints They are often exhausted, demoralised, always on of police misconduct, did not require them to make call, working long hours without shifts and necessary equipment only to return to government provided preventive measures against human rights abuses.

HRW stated that while changing laws to prevent tents or filthy barracks for a few hours of sleep, junior undesirable political influence on police functioning, it ranking officers often facing unrealistic demands is equally necessary to ensure that ‘political control is from their superiors to solve cases quickly. Even if replaced with police accountability to the community’. officially encouraged, their use of professional crime investigation techniques is effectively discouraged Colonial Hangover by the dearth of time, training and equipment. Local It found the Indian police to have failed to evolve political figures frequently intervene in investigations from ruler supportive, repressive forces they were and sometimes act to protect known criminals. designed to be under colonial rule. While much of To get round these systemic problems, many officers India is in the process of rapid modernisation, the take ‘short cuts’: refusal to register complaints; police use abuse and threats as the primary tools of illegal detention, torture and ill-treatment of alleged

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criminals; eliciting of confessions known to be false.

Such abuses contribute to a climate of fear in which many Indians avoid contact with the police who do not get public cooperation so essential to solving and preventing crimes. A vicious cycle is created in which the crimes go unreported and unpunished and the pressure of the police mounts to deal with rising criminality.

Overstretched And Ill-equipped

vulnerable to prolonged detention and repeated ill-treatment because they are unable to pay a bribe or have no connections with local political figures who can intervene. Arrested children are often not provided the protections required in India’s Juvenile Justice Act. Also frequent are sexual and physical harassment of deprived women in custody. Some police officers admit that ‘using force’ is their primary investigative tool. False confessions lead police to gather faulty evidence, which often lead to cases being thrown out of court or wrongful convictions.

Indian police are tasked to tackle armed militancy, terrorism and organised crime but lack of political will to invest in improvement has overstretched and Fake Encounters ill-equipped the police. India has just one civil police While the practice is not the norm in most of India, officer to every 1037 Indian residents, far below the fake encounter killings do occur frequently. The Asian average of one officer per 558 people and a NHRC reported 201 complaints of such killings global average of 333 people. Manpower deployment in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, more than any other for ‘VIP’ security and misuse of police ‘orderlies’ as State. Police are usually the only witnesses to these family servants continue. Colonial police laws do not alleged encounters, which are typically carried out allow lower rank police to have operational authority by junior officials. There is evidence of unofficial or advanced professional training. Constables make sanction for such practices. Criminal suspects, up 85 per cent of the Indian police though for the members of minority communities are often the most part they are not trained to investigate cases. victims of fake encounter killings.

Junior officers have little chances of promotion and are subject to the unrealistic demands of the senior Institutionalised Impunity officers who are for the most part directly recruited to HRW reported that efforts at police accountability management positions at the top with no first-hand are hampered by systematic police deniability knowledge of the difficulties of the constabulary. arising from the absence of records, post-mortem Partisan policing, including politically motivated examination, record of arrest and detention. refusal to register complaints, arbitrary detention and Independent investigations are rare in much of torture and killings, sometimes India despite the existence of National and State perpetrated at the behest Political figures intervene Human of national and State level Rights Commissions.

Investigations undertaken by politicians, have produced in investigations to unprecedented levels of public the police or at the behest of protect known criminals distrust and fear of the police. other agencies are hampered by a ‘code of silence’ that Class vulnerabilities makes police unlikely to disclose incriminating Police officers are often under pressure not to register evidence. Criminal prosecutions by victims often do cases on account of political pressure from ruling not take place because of fear of police retaliation. parties keen to show that the law and order situation Further, section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code in their states is not bad. Many of the victims of such provides immunity from prosecution to all public non-registration of cases belong to the deprived officials without government sanction. communities such as the Dalits and Adivasis. Crime Efforts by the National Human Rights Commission victims, who are poor, are often unable to obtain (NHRC) often resulted in police investigating police assistance. They cannot afford to pay the bribes themselves. In most cases, the NHRC recommended that the police demand for registration of cases or for only provision of interim compensation to victims the cost of investigation that the victims are expected without proper prosecution of officers. The country’s to pay on behalf of the police. They may also find eighteen state human rights commissions vary in it more difficult to elicit political support than the resources and willingness to act with local lawyers socially more powerful perpetrators of crime. describing the staff as inadequate in number, Arrests are often made in retaliation for complaints lacking human rights training and biased against of police abuse, in return for bribes or due to political complainants. In exceptional cases, the punishment considerations or influence of powerful local political is often temporary suspension or transfer of the figures. Police also often use coercion and torture accused. Until officers know that they will be to elicit confessions to fabricated charges. The prosecuted, fired, or their careers seriously damaged, procedure indicated in Supreme Court in DK Basu the problem will not go away.

Vs West Bengal including production of a suspect While the SCI guidelines were useful and were before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. Severe implemented partially by State governments, the more ill-treatment is sometimes intensified over a period of fundamental reforms suggested by HRW in its 118 page an individual’s detention. Individuals who are poor report have met with indifference from the government and socially or politically marginal are especially and the media. This is indeed regrettable. w

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police management NEW CONCEPTS

Smart Policing And Public Safety

We need to ask our police and prosecutors to develop alternatives to arrest and prosecution. Smart Policing can be used intelligently to avoid first time abusers from becoming hardened criminals. Smart Policing can also be used to devise a strategy to track such type of first time offenders.

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ith the commencement of community policing, strategies have changed the way police operate and form partnerships with communities to sustain and extend crime prevention. New concepts such as problem-oriented policing and local intelligence-led policing have enabled law enforcement officials to more strategically focused police operations, increase police accountability, engage more frequently with the community and improve police effectiveness along with better connect with the public.

Now a critical need exists for a new trend in policing, one that imbibes aspects of existing policing concepts in a manner that are in line with the latest technology concepts and keep the police abreast of the current criminal environment, the economic and social realities facing police and the availability of potentially powerful technology driven, crime fighting tools along with latest gear. This paradigm, called Smart Policing, continues to stress the importance of the relationship between police and the people where a joint effort to collaborate the two which can be applied to the traditional law enforcement entities in India with the support of local groups and the concept of community policing.

Software For Policing

Smart Policing emphasises the need to expand and to reach and enhance the capabilities of police in identifying emerging crime threats, measure effectiveness of crime prevention, adaptation of strategic partnerships with local community, which in turn help the police officials to control and prevent crime.

It brings the community to participate and become eyes and ears of police, which though a traditional form of intelligence gathering, will always remain a key feature for police to operate effectively. Using techniques such as predicting crime can also be a great factor under Smart Policing as world over, softwares are being used to predict crime, so as it can be calculated and stopped even before it happens. The law enforcement community must better leverage the new information, enabling evidence-based practices and use advanced technology crime fighting tools that are available to change their tactics and adjust themselves, to prepare themselves for current crime prevention while being prepared for potential increase in crime.

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Safer Communities

Access to various research findings on crime by leading research institutions and by collaborating technology, police officials are better placed to understand the tactics and strategies which help police departments to develop and implement strategies and practices that are tried and tested and are scientific and are evidence-based. Likewise, leading research institutions/think tanks have suggested that effective policing increases â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; between the police and the communities they serve. Therefore, bridging the gap between public and police will lead to safer communities where public is also involved.

Enabling technology has also provided police and the law enforcement agencies with data and information which was previously hard to access. For example, technology such as DNA mapping, has led to radical changes in police identification of unknown suspects and also plays a key role in solving many crimes.

Technology by installing sensor-based cameras and face recognition softwares has significantly broadened the capability of police to monitor large areas and nab criminals at border points and at airports. Such technology immediately alerts a central server if any known suspect matches with those stored in databases. This way it is ensured that a criminal is not able to get past such surveillance systems.

Information technology also assists police in data analysis that helps in improved deployment of police personnel across an area or a city/use of technology also helps in proper rostering of police personnel, which are based on inputs such as special deployment during festivals or for VIP movements.

These inputs help police in incorporating technology into operations to achieve better performance and manage its personnel more efficiently.

Cities across the world have always faced challenges in their functioning and operations.

With the increasing complexity of IT infrastructure, applications and networks, the challenges have risen far and beyond. Securing these cities is an increasingly formidable task.

that use more advanced analysis in anticipating crime locations, surveillance technology and latest investigating tools. ● Identifying performance metrics, monitor progress in implementing the mitigation strategy and execute procedures for ongoing assessment of the impact. Plans are not always on Shelly Bhasin Measurable Measures target in achieving intervention The writer is a seasoned Several findings reveal that effective policing requires goals. Therefore, the problem professional and a Young a tightly focused, collaborative approach that is solving approach should Female Entrepreneur with over measurable based on sound, detailed analysis and include the capability to make 17 years of experience ranging includes policies and procedures that promote adjustments based on ongoing from Internal Security issues and support accountability. assessments, which is more like to Project Management and People Management skills.

Cities need to address the challenges using SMART a self-analytical model, where (acronym for science, mathematics and research for one gets to learn from previous She is CEO of Crux Creative Solutions Private Limited. technology) police force, which can prevent accidents, episodes and implements emergencies as well as control crime. Smart police collective wisdom which is gained are a modern police that can relate to the citizens from other police forces. of a smart city and can also act efficiently using IT Smart Policing represents a promising next step in the enabled technologies. Smart police should be capable evolution of policing in India. However, it is necessary of protecting the city’s physical and IT infrastructure. to address emerging crime threats. Smart Policing is Minimum response time is expected from Smart proactive, measuring its success in part by the absence police in case of an emergency. The police also need of crime. It recognises that effective policing relies in to make efforts to recover the city from any major large part on community acceptance and cooperation. incident. In order to help citizens in all aspects, Smart Policing also believes in bringing science into the police need to be Smart and agile. policing by institutionalising relationships between criminal justice researchers and policing agencies. It is Mitigating Strategies through this relationship that police departments gain The following steps outline the activities that police knowledge, understanding and confidence about how officials should engage in as they develop strategies evidence-based practices can be applied to improve operations, how to apply to fight crime related issues. data-driven analytic tools Identify internal and external Smart Policing believes in partners who can play a role to enhance deployment of in addressing the problem. and how best to bringing science into policing personnel Internal partners include use emerging technology those within the policing as force multipliers and as agency, as well as those within the justice community. part of evolving strategies. The Smart Policing problem Treat these partnerships as strategies, identify goals, solving approach provides a road map for police to expectations, well-defined roles, decision-making and use in devising strategies and tactics to address their accountability parameters and assessment of such public safety issues and concerns. initiatives. External partners include other agencies, businesses, think tanks, research institutions and Prison Not The Panacea community based organisations. Central to the Smart We need to ask our police and prosecutors to develop Policing approach is the involvement of two partner alternatives to arrest and prosecution. Often, the old groups, namely research partners and community mechanism of arrest and prison is not the most /resident stakeholders (those most impacted by the effective means of crime control. We especially need problem). Regardless of the targeted crime prevention to ensure that people suffering from drug addiction problem, partnerships greatly enhance any mitigation /petty crimes are diverted to treatment instead of strategy, the partners involved and their roles may arrested and jailed. Moreover, Smart Policing can be vary based on the nature of problem being addressed. used intelligently to avoid first time abusers from ● Review to find a similar problem in other becoming hardened criminals, as it is often seen that States/police forces and to determine how it was small time offenders are sent to jail and there instead addressed by them. In crafting solutions, also paying of transformation, they turn out to be hardened attention to evidence based approaches that may be criminals. Smart Policing can also be used to devise adapted to address the problem at hand. a strategy to track such type of first time offenders, ● Determine how data analysis, analytical tools and through a censor or chip based tracking technology new technology (DNA analysis, surveillance cameras, and keeping a track in real time of such first time drones, GPS etc) may be applied in cost-effective ways offenders and counselling them often, so as they do to address the problem. To include analytic tools not become repeat offenders. w

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police management CRIME PREVENTION

Community Policing

Experiment Acclimatisation to security solutions in form of patrolling needed community support. An effort was made to engage many persons of the community in the beat as possible for generating support and developing interest for sharing timely information on any suspicious activity.

A police force that operates as an isolated unit in a community cannot expect to achieve its objective of preventing and detecting crime effectively. To develop a completely successful police force, it is essential to have public involvement, public confidence and public co-operation.

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artnership of police with the members of the community and captains of industry for prevention of crime and inculcation of a sense of security among them has been a very successful experiment in developed countries.

Originating as ‘area patrolling’ and later coined as ‘beat patrolling’ around 1830 by the London Metropolitan Police Department, this concept was implemented by several police departments across the

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world to contain crime and to assure the community of swift and effective response by the police in the event of any security breach.

The Genesis

‘According to a survey conducted by the (US) National Institute of Justice (NIJ), of more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies which had been using community policing for at least one year,

62 per cent stated that lesser number of crimes were committed against civilians, 80 per cent stated that they had reduced the fear of crime, and 99 per cent stated that they had received increased co-operation from civilians. The overall assessment of community-oriented policing is positive, as officers and community members both attest to its effectiveness in reducing crime and raising the sense of security in a community’ Community Policing, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The US Department of Justice, in its brochure, defines community policing as ‘a philosophy that promotes organisational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime’.

Jamshedpur City witnessed sensational and mindless murders of two innocent employees and shooting of another employee of Tata Group of companies in the year 2014. Police later successfully busted the gang and solved the murder committed by a local gang to establish their notoriety and commence extortion. The City witnessed a few incidents of chain snatching and eve teasing too on the roads and incidence of theft in houses by petty criminals.

Tata Steel, as part of its philosophy of partnering with the community and the government for creation of a safer workplace and community, decided to partner with the Jamshedpur Police for community policing with focus on prevention of crime in the designated area.

of Jamshedpur Police. Young and dynamic SSP and City SP of Jamshedpur played a crucial role in implementation of this partnership concept.

DK Pandey, DGP Jharkhand and Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President Corporate Services of Tata Steel, jointly launched this initiative. During his address Gopal P Choudhary at the launch function, DGP The writer is former Chief Jharkhand spelt out his vision of Security as well as for better city policing supported Project Director, Integrated by technology for timely Security Solution Project, intimation of crime to the police Tata Steel Ltd, VP and and mobility for swift response Global Security Head, Wipro Ltd, Secretary, Electronics to either prevent the same or City Industries Association mitigate its impact. This initiative (ELCIA), Bangalore, known of mobile partner patrol for beat as the Silicon Valley of policing is aimed at curbing India, Superintendent of crime, resolving problems Police, Special Task Force, related to law and order, Jharkhand Police, Special Staff Officer to DGP Jharkhand deterring criminals and providing and Security consultant and assurance of security and swift various leadership positions in response by the police to the CISF. He has the distinction of community. The DGP announced serving in four active theatres of insurgency and terrorism. the role of partner (corporation /community) in deciding the beat/area vulnerable to crime jointly with the district police to be covered by the mobile partner patrol.

Impact Of Patrolling

Initiating a collaborated effort, the patrolling had an impact in prevention of criminal activities. The This concept, initially piloted by Tata Steel in its effort has helped in discouraging miscreants. Being leasehold area with outsourced security personnel, conspicuous and having created high visibility garnered positive results. was finally launched as motorcycle ‘Partner Patrol’ on The patrolling teams have Young and dynamic SSP 12th September 2015 with all been helping in collecting and the motorcycles fitted with GPS and City SP of Jamshedpur disseminating information being tracked on mobile devices pertaining to suspicious activities played a crucial role and computer and driven by or crime and also reporting the well-built and trained outsourced same to the police control room security personnel provided by Tata Steel and placed or police station. The interventions by patrolling under the command of an armed police personnel teams help swift actions during road accidents or

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police management CRIME PREVENTION

in the event of any suspicious activity. They also help in engaging with members of the community in curbing crime and resolving neighbourhood problems. The patrolling has further expanded its scope by forging partnerships with private security personnel of Tata Steel deployed at various places in proximity to their particular beat in the city for ensuring timely collection and dissemination of specific information.

In support of the public-private partnership for securing Jamshedpur City, Jamshedpur Police has provided armed policemen as beat police personnel who ride the bike as pillion rider. Both the personnel have been trained for structured approach to various contingencies. They remain continually connected with the Police Control Room/concerned police station as well as Tata Steel Security Control Room. All motorcycles are also monitored in the Police Control Room through GPS.

Role Of Tata Steel

In an innovative effort, 46 security personnel were trained to team up with the Jamshedpur Police to patrol the city. The personnel are trained with special driving skills, manoeuvring motorcycles, well equipped, sharp and physically fit men, with basic security skill sets, skills on unarmed combat and first-aid support. The men, accompanied by Jamshedpur Police, operate an eight-hour shift from 0600 hrs to 1400 hrs and 1500 hrs to 2300 hrs with 20 motorcycles fitted with GPS. To ensure identity, the security personnel provided by Tata Steel wear black T-shirt/jacket with their identity numbers printed on T-shirt/jacket for easy identification.

To ensure easy connect and swift response, mobile apps as well as GPS tracker have been optimised for locating a crime scene, reporting of criminal and suspicious activities to the Police Control room and generation of MIS. The teams are trained for six hours every quarter (four times a year) to ensure adaptability and upgraded responses.

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The Process

The teams chalk out the route maps based on the designated area of responsibility (beat) with defined approach yet random movement to avoid predictability in their movement. The motorcycles offer reach in interiors and alleys. Impactful interventions have been made in preventing criminal activities such as theft, burglary, chain/purse snatching, eve teasing or nuisance that got reported in the beat. Patrolling teams defined the crime prone areas to be given special attention as a preventive measure.

Engaging Communities

Acclimatisation to security solutions in form of patrolling needed community support. An effort was made to engage many persons of the community in the beat as possible for generating support and developing interest for sharing timely information on any suspicious activity. Teams have been trained to avoid any preset pattern of patrolling in a predictable manner to maintain surprise and to drive in a manner to ensure effective observation. They have been trained to use mobile cameras to capture details of suspicious activities and crime incidents and share the same with the Police Control Room.

Result

The approach has helped in deterring known criminals living in and frequenting a particular neighbourhood.

Collaborating with specific local and private security guards deployed at the hospitals, healthcare centres, petrol pumps, residential areas, banks, office buildings etc has brought in support and timely information on any suspicious activity and dissemination of the same to the Police Control Room. Incidents of eve teasing, chain/purse snatching and crime on the roads are rare in the areas dominated by the beat patrolling.

The team has helped many accident victims on the road by providing them first aid and evacuating them to the hospital swiftly.

police management STRIviNG for EXCELLENCE

Role Of ITBP

In National Security

The ITBP performs its border guarding role through its Border Outposts which are located at heights from 9,000 ft to 18,700 ft. Vital links are being established so that remote BOPs become easier to service.

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he Indo-Tibetan Border Police is a Central Armed Police Force, mandated with the primary task of guarding India’s border with Tibet. Often and famously referred to as the ‘most peaceful disputed border in the world, it stretches 3,488 km from the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh (J&K) to the tri-junction of India-China -Myanmar at Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, across the most inhospitable and rugged terrain in the world.

Rapid Expansion

Established on 24 October, 1962 during the Indo-China conflict with a mere four battalions deployed primarily in North Western Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) and Himachal Pradesh. Since then, the force has grown considerably both in size and Area of Responsibility. It took over the Indo-Tibetan border in Ladakh area of J&K and then in the eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim (in 2004).

The force has displayed its professional competence and earned laurels for itself on numerous occasions such as Asiad 1982, CHOGM 1983 and Commonwealth Games 2010. It also played a vital role in ensuring the security of banks in strife-torn Punjab during 1988-97 and in counter-insurgency operations in J&K in 1998-2004.

With a present strength of nearly 90,000, the force operates through five Frontiers (North Western in Chandigarh, Northern in Dehradun, Eastern in Lucknow, Central in Bhopal and North Eastern in Shillong), 14 Sectors, 56 Service Battalions, 4 Specialist Battalions and 13 Training Centres.

The Frontiers are headed by officers of the rank of Inspector General, the Sectors by Dy Inspector

General and the Battalions by Commandants. Most of the Training Centres are headed

by Dy Inspector Generals.

Krishna Chaudhary IPS The writer is DG, Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

He is a former DG National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence. He has been decorated with Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1997 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2006.

Unique Roles

Some of the ITBP Training Centres are unique in their roles and capabilities eg the National Institute for Training in Search, Rescue and Disaster Response, Chandigarh; the National Training Centre for Dogs and Animals, Bhanu, Chandigarh; the Mountaineering and Skiing Institute, (M&SI) Auli, Uttarakhand; the High Altitude Medical School, Leh, J&K and the National UN CIVPOL Centre, New Delhi.

The task of border policing involves the multifarious roles of guarding the borders in time of peace, defending the borders in time of war, ensuring that there is no unauthorised cross-border movement, taking steps against smuggling of arms, explosives, narcotics, fake currency and other contraband, using modern technological devices to supplement human effort, coordinating intelligence inputs from various agencies and promoting the welfare of the border population. The ITBP also reaches out to the civilian population on the border through the Civic Action Programme and the Border Area Development Programme.

The ITBP performs its border guarding role through its Border Outposts which are located at heights from 9,000 ft to 18,700 ft. Several of these BOPs are not road connected and quite a few are located in such inaccessible and difficult terrain that it takes 10-12 days to reach them.

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police management STRIviNG for EXCELLENCE

Occupational Hazards

cloudburst (2013) when it rescued nearly 35,000 The greatest difficulty that ITBP faces is the harsh persons. Two battalions of the ITBP at Bathinda weather. While all BOPs are at high altitudes and and Ghaziabad are part of the National Disaster therefore become snowbound in winter, the problem Response Force. The ITBP operates eight Regional is accentuated by the lack of oxygen particularly in Rescue Centres in the Himalayas. the Ladakh region and by the dense vegetation and Several initiatives have been taken to make the task heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of Arunachal of ITBP personnel less arduous. Vital road links are Pradesh. The ITBP personnel live and work 24x7 at being established so that remote BOPs become easier heights where normal humans find it difficult even to to service. Better barrack accommodation and freeze survive. Ironically, it is possible to get sunburn and proof toilets have been designed for construction at frostbite at the same time, due to the extreme cold all new outposts and selected old ones. coupled with the harsh sunlight.

A humungous problem through the six long months International Commitments from late October to early May is the lack of liquid The Indo-Tibetan Border Police has a presence water, which is not available for daily ablutions outside India where it is deployed on a United and cooking, even for drinking.

Nations Peacekeeping Mission in All the water needed has to be the Democratic Republic of the ITBP is mandated melted on fire and then used Congo and provides security to quickly, before it freezes again. with the primary task the five Indian Consulates located This is a particular nuisance at Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, of guarding India’s because the toilets freeze over.

Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad Another important role in Afghanistan. The UN CIVPOL border with Tibet assigned to ITBP is the security, training centre of ITBP trains all communications and medical Police Officers and personnel cover to the annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. In for deployment on UN missions. addition to the old route via Lipulekh in Uttarakhand, The ITBP Dog Training Centre, Bhanu provides a new route has been started through Nathu La in training to Police dogs of various State police. The Sikkim. The new route is longer but most of the K9 units are regularly deployed for mega events like journey is undertaken by vehicle. The ITBP also Independence Day, Republic Day, International Yoga provides security for and facilitates border trade at Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh and Nathu La in Sikkim.

The ITBP is deployed for the security of several vital installations and important public figures, in addition to its routine engagement in elections and other internal security deployments, as well as in anti-Naxal operations in the State of Chhattisgarh.

A major function that ITBP has traditionally performed in the Himalayan region is of ‘rescue and relief’. It played a pivotal role in rescue and relief in Uttarkashi earthquake (1991), Leh flash floods (2010), Sikkim earthquake (2011) and Uttarakhand

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Day, Indo-African Summit etc. They were also deployed along with US dogs during American President’s visit to India for Republic Day Parade in 2015.

to officer the force. Gender sensitivity goes hand-in-hand with other welfare measures in the force. Apart from effective arrangements for grievance redressal, the force operates Women’s Committees Societal Causes in its units where more than three ladies are posted.

The ITBP is a very environment conscious and These Committees are supported by lady doctor and eco-friendly force. To eliminate dependence on fossil staff nurse for health check of women employees fuel generators 5-10 KW solar panels have been and family members, under the aegis of Himveer installed in 69 BOPs (total Wives Welfare Association, a capacity 445 KW) and several registered NGO mandated to Several initiatives have more are being put in place. ensure physical and emotional Some BOPs have greenhouses welfare of families. Central been taken to make the and more are proposed at new HWWA provides to local units task of ITBP personnel BOPs so that Jawans get green an annual calendar of activities vegetables even when they are and supervises and assists in less arduous snowbound. The force planted all activities. Local chapters almost 5 lakh trees in 2015. have monthly meetings to carry Plastic collection and disposal is an essential element out a slew of activities such as yoga camps, training of all ITBP mountaineering and rafting expeditions. in self-defence, counselling on cleanliness, hygiene Arrangements are also being made for water harvesting as well as environmental issues, health check-ups, and sewage treatment at all field units. cultural activity, skill development (knitting, stitching, Inspired by PMs ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’, the cooking, baking etc) vocational training etc.

ITBP conducted a ‘Ganga River Rafting expedition’ which was flagged off by Hon’ble Minister Water Sports Arena Resources Uma Bharati from Dev Prayag on 02 Sports, particularly adventure sports are a special October. At all 52 stops en route the expedition was forte of the ITBP. In 2015, its sportspersons won blessed by local dignitaries. The expedition which nearly 150 medals in National, International and All concluded its 2,350 km long journey at Ganga Sagar India Police Competitions, including the World Police on 12 December was able to fulfill its ambitious and Fire Games (Virginia, US). World-class champions missions of cleaning the Ganga of 50 kg plastic every in Karate and Judo have earned laurels for the nation day; collecting water samples before, at and after and ITBP at national and international competitions. polluting points; collecting soil samples wherever Mountaineering and skiing are a part of the routine erosion is noticed; GPS mapping of endangered activity of ITBP. With the ascent of four peaks in species like river dolphin, turtle etc and conducting Kakstet range in 2015, ITBP has climbed more awareness programmes at all places etc. than 200 peaks in India and abroad including several conquests of Mt Everest. Six climbers of the Women In High Places force have been awarded Padma Shri and 11 the The ITBP is inducting women personnel in large prestigious Tenzing Norgay Award. numbers. Recently 500 women constables passed out ITBP is one of the most dedicated forces in the of its Training Centre at Chandigarh and are slated service of our nation, continuously striving for for deployment at high altitude posts. The UPSC has excellence in accord with its motto of ‘Shaurya, been requested to recruit women Asst Commandants Dridhata, Karm Nishtha’. w

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police management FETTERED WATCHDOG

State of the CBI

Problems And Prospects The CBI suffers from many handicaps. Governments have done a little to alleviate the situation. A lot more has to be done if morale of the CBI personnel has to be restored.

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e have come a long way from the simple elitist Indian Police Service (IPS) after 1947, most of and direct system of public governance the senior officers of the SPE came from this group. that marked ancient societies. One can The lower formations were organised with the help glean essentials from the works of Plato of non-IPS officers from the State police. In course of and Aristotle. When populations were small, unified, time, in addition to corruption matters, there was a well integrated, they could be persuaded to conform demand that the SPE should be entrusted with cases to accepted canons of behaviour with the help of of conventional crime as well. These were complicated an informal and small band of dedicated public cases which the State police could not solve. Such a servants. As the populations grew, demanding a well- demand could not be resisted because of the mounting organised bureaucracy, the situation changed. This number of unsolved sensational cases involving huge brought in the concept of a professionally recruited public interest. This was how the CBI came into civil service that was given enough authority to being in 1964 on the basis of a Government of India render essential assistance to the community. It has (GoI) Resolution. No separate statute was enacted to been the experience the world over that when you give legal clothing to the new outfit, although there confer authority on public servants for the good of was a definite need for this. To this day, successive the community, a few of the latter tend to misuse governments have fought shy of a move to bring in a their position to their own advantage. Unchecked, CBI Act. Consequently, the CBI derives its authority such misconduct gives a bad name to the entire from an antiquated 1946 Act that does not protect the civil service. In order to prevent such a situation organisation from executive interference. from demoralising the honest civil servant and to The CBI has three broad divisions: antipunish the delinquent, there is a need to monitor and corruption, economic offences and Special Crime. investigate any instance of deviance brought to the There is also a Division that deals with Interpolnotice of the government. This is the backdrop to the related work. Incidentally, the CBI Director is the genesis of organisations such as the FBI, CBI et al Head of the Interpol in India. which apart from many other chores, look into specific instances of alleged graft involving public servants. Undeservedly Maligned These outfits perform a difficult job, because of the In my view, the CBI is undeservedly a much complexity of the processes involved in arraigning a maligned organisation. Its shortcomings receive public servant before a court enormous publicity in of law. Non-cooperation of the media, but not its CBI derives its authority strengths and instances witnesses and the standard of proof demanded by courts good work. Ironically, from an antiquated 1946 Act of in spite of this, there is a are obstacles to bringing an nationwide demand for a offender to book. While this is so in the case of conventional crime, it is much more CBI investigation into many controversial cases. This so in respect of public servants who are in a position of vantage to obstruct the process.

Prone To Executive Interference

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India owes its genesis to the Special Police Establishment (SPE) that came into being in 1946, ie, a year before India attained Independence from the British. The SPE was set up by the British government to look into charges of irregularities in defence purchases during the Second World War. A special enactment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the SPE Act â&#x20AC;&#x201C; was resorted to give the body the much needed legal teeth. Following the constitution of the

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is because of the growing erosion of public confidence in the ability and neutrality of the State police. Both the Supreme Court and High Courts constantly order CBI probes in cases where there are open allegations of impropriety on the part of the State police. This is a paradox. While, on the one hand, the CBI is assailed for its lack of professionalism, on the other, there is a clamour for it to take over certain investigations which had not satisfied the public or the victims of crime. The truth possibly lies somewhere in between.

While the CBI is not free from faults – including corruption by some officers – it probably gives a better account of itself than the State police because of its insularity from local politics and pressures.

The Bane

As one who headed the CBI for more than two years, I can vouch for the fact that the organisation is not bereft of competent and honest officers. It has of course a few bad hats which have brought odium to it. This cannot be avoided in the present times when the media has enormous power to make or undo public opinion. Added to that is the politicisation of all matters of public importance. Ultimately, a lot depends on the ability and integrity of the CBI leadership. It is unfortunate that in the recent past, rightly or wrongly, question marks had been raised about the integrity of some leaders. This is distressing because the choice of senior officers is on the basis of a fairly well laid down procedure. Associated with the Hawala Case judgement is the directive issued by the Supreme Court of India that decreed that only the criteria of seniority, length of experience in investigating corruption and integrity should dictate the choice of a chief for the CBI. If some leaders still strayed from the paths of virtue, you cannot either blame the system or the government. It is the lack of character of individual officers that has been the bane.

Autonomy Vs Constitutional Governance

The main criticism against CBI is that it is the servant of the executive and it allows itself to be dictated by political consideration and not the evidence marshalled against a prominent and influential accused. There is a strident clamour for conferring independence to the CBI so that it can discharge its functions without fear or favour. It is sad that no government is willing to concede this demand. The fear is that an independent CBI will run amok and destroy the essentials of Constitutional governance. The specious argument is that an autonomous CBI will lack accountability to a democratically elected government. In my view the position taken by successive governments on this crucial issue is not valid. An autonomous CBI is not necessarily unaccountable. It has to act within the contours of the law of the land, especially the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr PC), which lays down how a case can be registered and a criminal investigation

should proceed thereafter. We call it the ‘due process of law’ which is sacrosanct and inviolable. Here I recall what Lord Denning, the iconic English jurist once said about police autonomy and of the London Metropolitan Police Commissioner in particular: … in all these things he is not the servant of anyone, save of the law Dr RK Raghavan IPS itself. No Minister of the Crown can The writer is a former tell him that he must, or must not, Director, Central Bureau of keep observation on this place Investigation. He is a recipient or that; or that he must, or must of the Indian Police Medal not, prosecute this man or that and the President’s Medal for one. Nor can any police authority Distinguished Services. tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and to the law alone.

It is this relationship that should govern the relationship between the Director CBI and the government in an ideal world. But we are not living in an ideal world. This accounts for the problems that CBI faces now. When it is not legally vested independence, how can it be faulted for sailing as per the dictates of a government in position?

Anything short of extreme enlightenment on the part of the political parties the CBI will continue to be subjugated by the executive.

Extraneous Influence

Having said this, it is equally true that the charge of political control over CBI investigation is somewhat exaggerated. A rough estimate is that only less than five per cent of cases registered each year by the CBI have political overtones and where there is a suspicion of political interference. When this is the case how is it fair to indict the CBI for succumbing to extraneous influence?

The CBI suffers from many handicaps. These include paucity of manpower. It has only about three to four thousand investigators at any point of time. As against this the CBI registers as many as one thousand cases every year. It is this problem that has to be addressed in all seriousness. A demoralised workforce is another factor that considerably affects CBI performance.

Demoralisation arises from an excessive workload and poor promotion prospects.

Governments have done a little to alleviate the situation. It has helped to an extent. A lot more has to be done if morale has to be restored.

In sum, the CBI is an organisation with a huge potential. It is useful to combat a galloping graph of corruption. Miracles cannot be expected.

More resources and better service conditions for its staff can improve the situation greatly. I would however look upon good leadership as the answer to its current problems. If this is not in place, no amount of resources placed at its disposal could help. w

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police management THE UNLEARNED LESSONS

Permeable Borders

Scourge Of Perimeter Security

If the periphery is secure the hinterland will be secure and it is fast becoming a truism that because of the inadequate security on the borders the threats are being posited to targets deeper inland.

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an it get any worse than this? Our premier Air Force base was under terrorist attack for the better part of four days but we still remain clueless about how and at which point the Pakistani terrorists entered India.

The general suspicion is that they entered through known gaps in the riverine stretch between Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab that officials have hinted are usually used by drug smugglers and gun-runners from Pakistan. But we are not sure. Any critical appraisal of the breach of security has been met by strident reminders of the deleterious effect on the morale of the security forces – the Border Security Force, the Rashtriya Rifles, Punjab Police and the Indian Army. It is time to ask what about the morale of a nation incessantly battered by terrorist attacks and forced to come to the negotiating table to sit across those who have masterminded, engineered and launched these attacks with impunity?

Unarmed DSC Personnel

Of course we have to be grateful that the vital assets – aircraft and helicopters – that are critical to India’s conventional defence strategy were not hit. But this gratifying result may well have happened because the terrorists did not immediately press home their attack

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after scaling the perimeter wall, cutting the concertina wire fence and finding refuge in an abandoned shed which they seem to have known about in advance. The authorities have to explain how, after a district-wide alert had been sounded, the Defence Security Corps personnel at the Pathankot airbase were unarmed and had to tackle the terrorists with their bare hands? The real alarm that the terrorists were already inside the base perimeter was sounded with gunshots when the braveheart DSC man grabbed the weapon of the intruder and shot him dead and was killed in retaliatory fire by the terrorist’s companions.

If distribution of arms had occurred the moment the district-wide alert was imposed, the attack would have been stopped, or largely neutralised or confined to disused and derelict sheds and spaces within the airfield.

It needs to be remembered that the Defence Security Corps is made up of experience-hardened professionals who are fully conversant with weapons of war and can use them to good effect.

Underwater Traps

With regard to the unfenced riverine segments clearly no proper patrolling has been conducted in these stretches. The Indian security forces are very well

aware that while it is difficult to ‘erect’ and maintain vertical fences in the riverine territory, a mix of barbed wire and concertina wire can be ‘laid’ on the river bed and overseen by mobile patrols and dog squads. The oversight is an essential and indispensible component of this standard operation procedure and cannot be left to fallible cameras because if an intruder can approach the barrier without being challenged it is not very difficult to cut both the barbed wire fence and the concertina wire as was demonstrated by the Pakistani terrorists who entered the Pathankot airbase by climbing a eucalyptus tree that was planted in close proximity to the ten-foot high masonry wall and barbedwire/concertina wire hurdle.

Pakistani Strategic Intent

However, at this point in time the more urgent national requirement is to expose the morbid nexus between the Pakistan Army Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) governed drug smugglers and facilitators of terrorist infiltration within the security forces and the local residents along the Indo-Pak border. Many decades ago the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS) had warned that Pakistan had launched a process of drug addiction among the youth of Punjab. This was about the time the Sikh Khalistani separatist movement was in its nascence. It has been reconfirmed by a more recent study by an AIIMS team. Today there is enough evidence to show that a large percentage of Punjab youth are drug addicts and that villagers living close to the border and personnel in security forces are benefiting from the trade in hard drugs from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is a great slide from the great victory that the Punjab Police was able to accomplish against Pakistan-sponsored Sikh terrorism of the 80s. Drug money is keeping conduits of terrorist infiltration, harbourers, facilitators and safe houses greased and functional.

Khalistan Syndrome

Hitherto, Pakistan has been trying desperately to pump life into the Khalistani movement which former Punjab Police Inspector General KPS Gill had crushed in Operation Black Thunder in the second attack on the Golden Temple. The Pakistan government had appointed a former head of Cecil Victor the Inter-Services Intelligence The writer has covered all Lt General (retd) Javed Nasir to the wars with Pakistan as War Pakistan Shiromani Gurudwara Correspondent and reported Prabandhak Committee to from the conflict zones in reindoctrinate and train Sikhs Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in South East Asia as drawn from the Indian diaspora well as from Afghanistan. in US, Germany, Canada, Britain, He is author of India: France and Australia who come The Security Dilemma. to pay homage in Sikh shrines in Pakistan. So far the attempts have failed because the people of Punjab of this generation do not want to be revisited by the mindless violence the Khalistani movement had unleashed. The failure of this gambit is obvious in that the Pakistan Army-terrorist networks have had to use Islamist jihadis as cannon fodder in fidayeen (suicide) attacks against India. The fidayeen network is sustained by drug money and the sale of goatskins from animal sacrifices and largesse from Pakistan’s Intelligence agencies pumped through so-called charitable organisations like the Jamaatud-Dawa run by Hafiz Saeed the founder of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba.

Prime Move

The government has announced a review of security of defence assets. Well and good and very necessary too. But the prime requirement at the moment is to credibly plug the loopholes through which Pakistan is pumping in terrorists with impunity at Aborted NCTC frequent intervals. If the periphery is secure the Part of the problem, as Jammu and Kashmir Governor hinterland will be secure and it is fast becoming and former Union Home and Defence Secretary a truism that because of the inadequate security NN Vohra has pointed out, was that the government of on the borders the threats are being posited to Punjab led by the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya targets deeper inland.

Janata Party alliance had refused Even as this is written the to allow the terrorist strike in governments of States adjoining Why is it impossible Punjab are on tenterhooks over Gurdaspur and the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir the hijacking of a white Alto taxi for the NCTC to did not allow the Kathua attack in Pathankot. The driver has been become functional? killed and the whereabouts of the to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency that the vehicle are unknown. This and Pathankot disaster happened. With the BJP in power at the case of the theft of a blue-beaconed SUV used the Centre and in J&K and Punjab why is it impossible by a senior functionary of the Indo-Tibetan Border for the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to Police in New Delhi, beg the question as to why all become functional in these most terror-afflicted States taxis and government vehicles are not mandatorily of the Indian Union? Given the suspicious nature of required to install GPS systems on their vehicles. In Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh’s involvement in the fact it should apply to all vehicles. There would be Pathankot attack the suggestion that Punjab Police greater surety of the direction in which the vehicle be allowed to raise a second line of defence could very has been driven and the aberrations en route. well institutionalise the current nexus between the This is as necessary as the requirement to install drug/arms syndicate and terrorists and facilitate the automatic identification systems on fishing resurgence of the Khalistan movement in Punjab. boats after the Mumbai carnage.

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police management THE UNLEARNED LESSONS

Bangladesh/Nepal Borders

off from there (Indian Air Force operations had shifted While the land border agreement with Bangladesh to nearby Hindon). The threat was the shoulder-fired is a marvellous deal India must complete the setting surface-to-air missile as used by the Liberation Tigers up of the barbed wire fence and supportive road of Tamil Eelam and the rocket-propelled granades and infrastructure to ensure that jihadis do not gain Stinger missiles used by the Afghan Mujahideen in entry from Bangladesh and set off for pre-determined Afghanistan. These weapons have ranges of between targets. The same applies to Nepal border where the four and six kilometers and can be used effectively open nature of the border must be plugged with against aircraft during the most vulnerable stages of checkposts that allow free passage after due frisking. flight – landing and taking off.

However, the risk will remain of the possibility that the I found that multistoried buildings of the village terrorist can receive arms and explosives after entering opposite the landing strip had impinged on the India from pre-dumped caches or bomb factories as in mandatory ‘funnel’ along which the aircraft aligns prior Burdwan where an explosion revealed 56 improvised to landing. Anyone with a shoulder-fired missile (which explosive devices in 2014. can easily be carried unnoticed in a cricketing kitbag The government of the day has to be clear that the and even the new trolley bags) can shoot at an aircraft first line of defence cannot be allowed to be breached coming to land. A direct hit may not be necessary with impunity. The Border if the pilot becomes disoriented by something whizzing past his Security Force’s recent finding Indian Army is not that there had been no ‘breach’ aircraft when he is flying so in the barbed wire fence within trained for counter-terror close to the ground. He could its jurisdiction appears to refer lose control and crash it. There operations to a situation when the fence is was a railway line and a five feet physically cut. There are ways wall between the village and the other than leaving this kind of tell-tale sign which the airport but there was a clear line of sight for several terrorists and their handlers are exploiting. kilometers into the aerodrome.

Defending airbases that had been created with Many years later I did a second reconnaissance the specific intention of serving as stage refuelling and discovered that the Central Industrial Security facilities along the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat, Force (which has been made responsible for all Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir for airports in the country) had taken cognizance of aircraft based deep inland, the security of the my report and posted sentries outside the airport airstrip and parking bays will have to be protected periphery albeit unsatisfactorily. My report on the with obstructions to direct line of sight. Many of threat to Delhi airport became relevant when Kargil these facilities have become redundant with the happened and the Pakistan Army knocked down one acquisition of long-range refuelling aircraft but they aircraft and one helicopter that came within range of remain assets that must be protected. their missiles while delivering their weapons on the entrenched intruders. The Indian Air Force had not Delhi Reconnaissance learned any lessons from how the Russians lost the Many decades before Pathankot happened I had done war in Afghanistan and did not equip its aircraft and a vulnerability reconnaissance of Delhi airport to helicopters with chaff and flare dispensers to decoy assess the latent danger to VVIPs landing or taking the weapons used by the Pakistani intruders.

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Other Threats

out, in what looks suspiciously like perception While conducting its review of security assets management by vested interests, that the Army the Government of India should also look at the should be in charge of counter-terror operations. overbridges that cross railway lines. Anyone standing It needs to be categorically stated that the Indian on these bridges can throw a two-kg improvised Army is not trained for counter-terror operations explosive device on the tracks below disrupting the even though it has vast experience in counterlogistics flow from munitions production centres deep insurgency operations. Basically it is not equipped within the country. It will negate the advantages that for the job. Time and again it has failed to deal forward basing and the ‘Cold Start’ doctrines are swiftly with attacks on its own barracks and cantonments in Jammu and intended to produce in the event of a full-blown war. Currently the Kashmir, Kaluchak being the Media is part of the Indian Railways have set up fiveworst case. When the terrorists foot high fences that are totally solution, not the problem struck the Indian Parliament inadequate in preventing anyone building the sight of a military from throwing anything or even team disembarking from a aiming a rocket propelled grenade at the tracks below. truck with the Carl Gustav anti-tank weapon sent The fact that street furniture, especially steel and shivers down the spine. That one weapon would galvanized iron (GI) sheets are being regularly denuded have accomplished what the terrorists could not. It from these bridges indicates the presence of drug would have reduced large portions of the Parliament addicts and collusion between them and the police. building to rubble. Fortunately, the police and Given the paucity of policemen managing security on Parliament guards managed to stop the terrorists these bridges can be a challenge and hence a loophole. from entering the building and taking hostages The reference to Kargil and the command and control or igniting the explosives laden car in which mess exhibited during the Pathankot siege draws they drove into the complex. attention to critical lack of cohesion between different Since the National Security Guard is specifically security establishments in the country. Kargil saw a no- trained to deal with terrorism and hostage situations holds-barred conflict between the Indian Air Force and (though it is woefully short of the right weapons the Indian Army over air interdiction in an environment and equipment) more such units need to be raised where surface-to-air missiles posed a danger to aircraft. and posted at or near vital areas and vital points for Since neither the Indian Army nor the IAF had learned quicker reaction. The local commanders be they of anything from the Afghan war, neither of them could General Officer Commanding-in-chief rank of the Army appreciate the other’s dilemma. The Government of and equivalent in the IAF and Indian Navy should India must take a deep look at how conflict is conducted step aside and take up the role of facilitator rather in ISIS strongholds and what kinds of weapons are than controller. This kind of ego trip at the cost of being used. It should be prepared to deal with terrorist the nation’s morale must not be tolerated by Defence attacks with greater cohesion and economy of effort.

Minister Manohar Parrikar who says he knows about the problem but has not done anything to ensure Detrimental Turf War synergy within the Indian security establishment.

Time and again in the middle of terrorist strikes as Finally, remember that the media is part of the in Mumbai and now in Pathankot a case is made solution. Not the problem.

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police management SLEW OF BRIGHT IDEAS

Time To Implement

New Procurement Procedures

The Defence Ministry is modifying the practice of choice of the cheapest system for our mighty Armed Forces, by introduction of providing weightage to extra performance upto 10 per cent. This will encourage vendors, domestic and foreign alike, to go that extra mile and do better, which will only benefit our Armed Forces.

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rom a leading defence manufacturer globally in the early part of the twentieth century, India was reduced to become the largest importer of defence systems in the world, in less than three decades thereafter, a dubious distinction the nation has pledged to reverse.

Reversal! Really!! How soon? Suddenly, we as citizens have realised the importance of undertaking such a reversal and one is impatient for this to happen.

Volatile Borders

We are positioned in an unenviable geopolitical situation. We as a nation have to learn to fight an invisible enemy all the time, an enemy who has pledged to remain hidden, who threatens nuclear escalation, who cannot and will not show himself since the enemy does not have the courage or the wherewithal to come face to face and confront. The borders on the East are no less volatile, given the various contextual conditions, harbouring potential for conflict. The maritime boundary is as vast and encompassing with threats and quest for dominance, all the time. Then there are the most irritating pinpricks.

The Indian Armed Forces therefore are faced with a challenge that is pretty unique. In peace, there is no peace, what then about conflict and war?

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Over the last two decades and more, the nation has been importing arms and ammunition along with various systems for the land, maritime and air effort.

How long can the Indian Armed Forces sustain themselves on an arsenal that is not their own, with a continued dependency for its upkeep and maintenance?

Challenges In The Acquisition Process

The objective of the government is to provide our Armed Forces with a contemporary set of capabilities in a planned manner through a transparent and robust procedural framework.

There are a few challenges facing the government, that it will have to address. How do we reduce the time cycles in procurement? How to ensure quality at the minimum cost? Should defence procurement be placed on the same pedestal as the civil procurement to find the lowest bidder? The government does not find a lowest bidder for employment of a force in an environment that may not be conducive. Does the government consider the lowest cost of employment of a force to contain external aggression? If that be so, they may have chosen the police or a paramilitary force or even the bureaucracy to deal with it. So the best force is required for combating external aggression, how can that force be equipped with arsenal from the lowest bidder?

New Era Dawns

Need for indigenous development and production is not a recent discovery, this need was felt more than two decades ago when our former President, Dr Abdul Kalam envisioned a dream for the reversal of ratio of the 70 per cent import and 30 per cent indigenous content. DPP 2013 does give a focus on indigenous development, DPP 2006 introduced a Make procedure. What was lacking then was implementation.

There was a need for synergy amongst departments, amongst ministries, especially of Commerce and Industry, External Affairs and Defence.

In this era of ‘Make in India’, ‘Made in India’, ‘Start up India’ and ‘Stand up India’, the present dispensation has demonstrated its desire to take the nation forwards on a path of rapid progress never seen before.

Holistic Approach

The government has adopted a holistic approach.

Within three months of assuming responsibility the Ministry of Commerce notified a liberalised licensing regime. With a single notification [1] <https://inmg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn1> about 60 per cent of the products were de-licensed, thus contributing to ease of doing business. This came along with the notification [2] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo. com/neo/launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn2> of defence products. This enabled a greater clarity on products that are to be classified as defence products. It was now time for the FDI policy [3] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn3> to be synchronised with the policy adopted in the defence sector, therefore came the FDI circular of 2015 and the notification to amend the erstwhile Press Notes [4] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn4> on the subject.

The framework for increased defence industrialisation has been laid out. The focus was now on exports and the MoD was actively working on a draft Exports Policy. While there was a push for easing the norms for obtaining the NoC/exports license, a committee [5] <https://in-mg61.mail. yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ ftn5> was constituted for laying down the philosophy and suggest changes to the Defence Procurement Procedures. In a very synchronised and coordinated movement, the Prime Minister provided the required momentum by personally pushing the ‘Make in India’ in Defence in Aero India 2015. A number of other measures were in place in complete harmony with the efforts of ‘Make in India’ in Defence.

The Procedures

It was probably for the first time that the Defence Minister [6] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/ launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn6> personally led the charge of modernisation and reforms to enable ease of doing business in defence. Seen at many defence events, interacting with industry and think tanks, he

took the initiative to personally brief the Dhirendra Singh Committee on the vision of the MoD, with the Vice Chiefs of the Armed Forces, Defence Secretary, other senior service officers and bureaucrats in attendance.

The committee came out with its report in a record time, thanks to the vision and efforts of the Col KV Kuber chairman, Dhirendra Singh. Some (Retd) path-breaking recommendations The writer is alumnus of the were made, such as according primacy in decision-making to the prestigious National Defence Academy and the Technical Armed Forces, role of the political Staff College. He specialised leadership, role of the Armed in Electronic Warfare.

Commanded an Electronic Forces, the executive and reforms Warfare Regiment in in the establishment (such as operations and has conducted reorganisation of the Acquisition EW operations. He founded Wing) and more. and established the DOFA A framework for ‘Make in and was the chief architect of the offset policy since its India’ was the highlight of the report [7] <https://in-mg61. inception in 2005. He has been mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. an Adviser with the National Small Industries Corporation rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn7>, and played a key role in which hitherto captured the bringing MSMEs into the essentials of the DPP in vogue mainstream defence business, and incorporated the same in through NSIC. Presently, he is a tabular form. Suggestions for an Adviser with the DRDO for Technology Acquisitions. reducing the time at various levels of the processing of cases, delegation of authority at distinct levels and encouraging the MoD to interact with the industry as partners rather than as vendors, were some of the highlights. Concept of strategic and development partners, simplification of the MAKE procedure, encouragement to the MSME sector and demystifying the offsets were other highlights.

While the MoD constituted a Task Force [8] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn8> to lay down the criteria for selection of Strategic Partners from the private sector as also to lay down a long-term covenant, the Defence Minister has been closely overseeing the progress made in formulating the DPP. The committee is understood to be deliberating on various aspects of such Strategic Partnership and is expected to submit its report soon. It has been reported in the media [9] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/ launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn9> extensively with a comprehensive financial, technical evaluation process with a composite entry gate. Two segments [10] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn10> each with related areas.

They have also accorded priority for five sectors such as aircraft, helicopters, submarines, armoured fighting vehicles and ammunition.

Here Comes DPP 2016

In a smart move the Minister has addressed all aspects associated with the procurement process in a deliberate and holistic manner. Thus the recent

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police management SLEW OF BRIGHT IDEAS reports of the DPP 2016 being approved by the DAC [11] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn11> in its meeting on 11 January 2016 provide for a new direction to the acquisition executive. The Indian Armed Forces are awaiting the new DPP that is likely to restore the pride of place to the Armed Forces in decision-making as envisaged by the Dhirendra Singh Committee [12] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn12> Also it is widely believed that many of the recommendations of the committee will find favour for inclusion in the DPP 2016.

This time the DPP has been rewritten, with great emphasis on its alignment with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’ and other initiatives. From its first version the DPP in 2002, it has been amended eight times, each time retaining its original form and causing only a tinkering with a provision here and there. This time the Minister has followed a methodical approach by easing norms in the DIPP [13] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn13> for licensing and associated FDI inclusions. With two expert panels [14] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn14> to analyse and provide for the required ammunition to the decision-makers in the MoD to adopt and a robust mechanism inside the MoD to review and suggest inclusions; the DPP formulation has been attempted keeping all the stakeholders involved in decision-making.

are we leading ourselves to?

Whilst Indigenous Content requirement for Buy (Indian) cases has been raised to 40 per cent from the existing 30 per cent, Buy and Make (Indian) and Buy and Make categories will require 50 per cent Indigenous Content. Is this realistic? Going by the logic of the DPP, Buy Indian enjoys a higher priority and hence would have greater chances of providing for higher IC; whilst B&M and others have lesser chances to meet the requirement; by default, it could end up in a Buy Global category, which clearly was not intended. It may be prudent to be a bit more pragmatic and inclusive to achieve higher goals.

Vendor Base Parameter

New DPP will also address the users’ (read Finance /bureaucracy’s) requirement of having a wide vendor base. The user has only one requirement, to have a weapon system that can enable the soldier to execute his operational task. While a wide vendor base is a good idea for a choice and allow competition, this concept and emphasis on a wide vendor base should not override the user’s prerogative to get operationally superior equipment. There have been examples in the recent past, when for the sake of a wide vendor base, the Forces have put up a vintage QR (qualitative requirement).

MoD, however, has taken care, to initially have a wide vendor base (by insisting on a wide vendor base for propriety reasons maybe) and then the selected companies dealing with specific projects can further New Category work on the improvement of the product based on According to a press release [15] <https://in-mg61. the mutually agreed parameters. Also, the MoD will mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ lay down certain Enhanced Performance Parameters ftn15>, in a significant move, Buy Indian Indigenous (in addition to Essential Parameters A and B).

Design Development and Manufacturing (IDDM) has Companies meeting the requirements of Enhanced been introduced as a new procurement category Performance Parameters will get additional credit in addition to the existing scores while if they are able to ones. Under this category meet the Essential Parameters For the first time it would be mandatory to B, ab initio, while conformance have 40 per cent indigenous Essential Parameters A is industry feels that their to content (IC) for indigenously of primary concern of their designed equipment, or concerns have been met product cost. Thus MoD for 60 per cent IC for other the first time has come up equipment. Moving a step ahead with the concept of recognising over DPP 2013, Buy Indian (IDDM) procurement T-1(technically superior system) besides the established category will be given the first preference. DPP 2013 L-1(cost superiority) concept. had Buy Indian as the most preferred acquisition New provisions for private sector’s involvement category. This needs to be viewed from a ‘Make in as Production Agencies (PAs) and ToT (Transfer of India’ perspective and would lay the foundation for an Technology) partners have also been introduced. increased indigenous content. What is more interesting The fine print however will indicate how well this here is the emphasis placed on indigenous design. can be implemented.

The moot question however is, are we realistic with The rules for the retraction of Request for our figures of 60 per cent IC for a design that is not Proposals will be made more stringent. Even single indigenous. This could be a real challenge for Indian vendor cases will see light of day, however, with companies to meet. While a homegrown design has due justification. Although this provision in a more a greater chance of achieving higher IC (since the elementary form, was existing in the DPP in vogue as design would be favourably disposed towards domestic well, it has never been implemented. It is important availability of its subsystems, the foreign design would for the MoD to believe in itself. If the acquisition invariably by the same logic, have provided a focus on executive is confident of the planning and execution the availability of subsystems on their soil), a foreign process being followed, then there is no case for design may fall grossly short of it. If this is true, where a retraction. This forward looking DPP combined

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with the thrust provided by leadership, may help the bureaucracy (both in the Services and in the civil bureaucracy) to overcome the existing mindset.

Encouraging Provisions

What is most encouraging for the small industries are the provisions made in the Make procedure.

DPP 2016, under Make procedure, will incorporate three sub-categories, Make-I (Government funded), Make-II (Industry funded) and Make-III (MSME funded). Under the Make-I (Government funded), sub-category, MoD will fund 90 per cent of development costs of Make projects instead of the provision for an 80 per cent funding. In case of delay/non-issuance of RFP after the successful development of prototype, MoD will also cover remaining 10 per cent cost of the prototype development. New DPP is expected to address the concerns of MSMEs as projects under Make-I sub-category, with estimated development costs of less than INR 10 crore will be reserved for MSMEs. Only when this has been explored and found ‘not feasible’ will the MoD open this up for the other players in the spectrum. Procurements linked with MSME funded Make projects (Make-III, sub-category) not exceeding INR 3 crore would be exclusively reserved from MSMEs. MSMEs will also get 100 per cent refund of the prototype development cost if RFP is not issued within 24 months of successful development of prototype. Government funded Make projects will be eligible for a mobilisation advance of 20 per cent of the estimated development cost. These are indeed bold steps taken by the MoD in reforming the procurement process, proof of the pudding however is in the eating of it. Let us watch the implementation to see if the bureaucracy will implement such dynamic policy initiatives having far reaching effect on development of the Indian industrial base in defence sector.

Make projects will be steered and monitored by a dedicated Project Management Unit, chaired by a Major General or equivalent officer from each Service HQs – Army, Navy, Air Force. Once again the Services have been put in the forefront entrusted with ownership of the programmes they initiate.

In so far as the eligibility of participation is concerned,

it has been indicated that, companies having a majority stake by Indian nationals and controlled by resident Indians will be eligible for projects under Make category. Companies need to be registered for a period of five years; and once again recognising the nature of MSMEs and need for impetus, it is only three years in case of MSMEs. Companies need to have a minimum credit rating of B++, issued by recognised credit rating agencies.

The New Benchmark

The Defence Ministry is modifying the practice of choice of the cheapest system [16] <https://in-mg61.mail. yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ ftn16> for our mighty Armed Forces, by introduction of providing weightage to extra performance upto 10 per cent. If a particular system performance is better than the desired qualities (enhanced system parameters), but it is not the cheapest, it will be given extra weightage. This is logical, since no system is designed to meet a requirement of a particular Force.

So, when in the near future, our industry leaders go out to sell Indian designed and manufactured weapon systems abroad, they besides abiding conformance to the requirements stated by the procuring country, will also expect a better deal for the additional features they incorporate. This will also encourage vendors, domestic and foreign alike, to go that extra mile and do better, which will only benefit our Armed Forces.

The only announcement with regard to offsets has been to raise the threshold from the existing INR 300 crore to INR 2000 crore. This may have been done to ease the burden of monitoring by the MoD, that is already understaffed for this purpose.

Is The Industry Happy?

My interactions with many representatives from the defence industry have indicated very positive vibrations. For the first time it seems the industry feels that their concerns have been met. MSMEs have got a good treatment this time. For long one has heard many a speaker from the government come on various platforms to laud the role of MSMEs and speak at length of the Defence Industrial Base. However, it is for

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police management SLEW OF BRIGHT IDEAS

the first time the government has walked the talk. What procurement executive faces a challenge or a doubt, a hitherto was considered as lip sympathy by the MSMEs, reference to the preamble could provide clarity on the some concrete action has been proposed. Even the course of action. It is therefore prudent to deliberate Dhirendra Singh Committee fell short of making bold on the preamble to give the necessary guiding impetus recommendations in favour for enabling clarity. This of MSMEs. The entire credit is an extremely welcome Empowering the executive for step by this leadership, must go singularly to the Defence Minister [17] to provide a clarity to the expeditious decision-making <https://in-mg61.mail. executive, that get away will be the key yahoo.com/neo/launch?. from being ‘prisoners of rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ procedure’ and exercise ftn17>, who has understood jurisprudence and if need and appreciated the requirement of strengthening the be take recourse to intelligent interpretations to Defence Industrial Base with MSMEs residing at the benefit our nation, the Armed Forces as well as the base. Stronger the base, higher and taller can be the industry, for mutual benefit. industrial pyramid. Leadership counts, to drill some Can The MoD Do More? wisdom into the learned.

It is not possible for any government to meet all We as a nation are in a Now or Never type of a the requirements of the industry in any sector and situation. ‘Make in India’ is no more a slogan, with this may be an ongoing process (work in progress), adaptations across ministries, departments and however, bold steps have been taken as never before. disciplines. Two of the most important sectors that There are many who have reservations on the can actually contribute to ‘Make in India’, the Defence effectiveness of the concept of Strategic Partnership and Power sector, have taken aggressive steps to abide and would oppose the idea of having more than one through conformance.

SP for a discipline and not more than one discipline For example, in offsets, despite the MoD, allowing for any nominated SP. There are merits to some of some incremental changes to the existing guidelines these concerns and more analysis can be made only [18] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/ when one is able to see the fine print of the Aatre launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn18> there is a Committee recommendations. Speculations are rife lot more to be done. The recommendations of the Dhirendra Singh Committee may be addressed in and are based on hearsay, as of now. full with the aim of making offsets implementable.

Shining Examples Simplification of the offsets administered process, There are many examples of MSMEs that have minimal interference by the MoD, handholding and organically developed to become giants, like VEM facilitation, encouraging more banking of offsets, technologies, which today boasts of making missiles. address raw materials production, technology VEM, Dynamatic, Alpha Design Technologies and transfer to industry, creating express clearance others are like role models for many others to channels (green channel offsets) and others. emulate. While VEM and Dynamatics have chosen One more idea reflected in the Dhirendra the organic route, Alpha has very effectively combined Singh Committee report, is that of the Innovative the organic and inorganic route, investing as much Funding Mechanism, to allow investments by VC in R&D as in forging alliances with global leaders. [19] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/ There are many more out there and we need to find launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn19> funds into these gems and harness them. the MSME sector. This will add up for twin benefits, As stated by the Defence Minister (at a recent defence one to allow the MSMEs access to low cost funds ‘Make in India’ conference), preamble is important. and two, encourage OEMs to use this avenue for an While the procedures will be a guideline, if the effective and hassle free discharge of offsets in India.

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The VC Fund will take care of the modalities of downstream investment and consequent offsets benefits, besides providing the MSMEs with the much needed management, access to foreign OEMs for handholding support and make them globally competitive.

Clean Energy For Armed Forces

Is energy important to the Armed Forces? Provision of clean energy, regulated power supply and smart distribution through a Grid Agent, the Distributed Energy Agent and an interactive energy platform [20] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn20> for the Armed Forces need urgent consideration. Our military stations and cantonments need clean power and this can be realised through offsets, by bringing in contemporary technology solution, presently enjoyed only by the Armed Forces of few advanced countries. Such an application can be considered as Direct Offsets, since it is for our Armed Forces alone. Such a provision in offsets guidelines, will help in mobilising the much needed FDI infusion blended with contemporary technology, to achieve energy targets in a time bound manner. This will eventually pave the way for smart cantonments to be realised for the Smart Cities programme to also learn a few things.

If MSMEs require any support it is fundamentally all about cash flow and money influx. They can upscale quickly, are resilient and make good business cases.

Like reservations have been provided in Make category of procurement, the government may also consider extending the benefit to the Buy category also, by according top priority to procurement from MSMEs for all procurement cases less than INR 50 crore. Should they not find an MSME in this category, then they can always go upstream and consider the traditional categories, such as the IDDM [21] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn21>, the Buy Indian and other categories. This will be welcomed by the entire industry.

It is a globally accepted practice to mandate the big boys with goals towards small business [22] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn22>, as it happens in the contracts awarded by the US DoD, to Lockheed Martin or Boeing mandating them to source at least 30 per cent from the MSMEs. Similarly, in keeping with the spirit of the MSMED Act of 2006, MoD may like to in its DPP 2016, also mandate a general outsourcing norm of at least 50 per cent with a special provision that 30 per cent may be outsourced from the MSMEs. This besides providing a boost to MSMEs also would inherently cater for the segment that falls in between the MSMEs and the large primes, a slightly broader perspective of entire industry. What this will eventually lead to, is a tierisation of the Indian defence industry, which is presently in a state of undefined logic. While the leading primes will automatically outsource, this mandate will nevertheless help them do what they would have otherwise done, in a more methodical manner, as well as help increase the interaction in the industry.

Energised DIB

A new era dawns, a new DPP is in the works. A new attitude sets in the government, an attitude of outreach, of developing capabilities and capacity, of enabling exports, of handholding. With a dynamic leadership all this is set to change the landscape of the Indian defence industry. Private sector is gearing up and making investments like never before, foreign OEMs are aggressively looking at India as a destination for investment, public sector [23] <https://in-mg61.mail.yahoo. com/neo/launch?.rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn23> is actively pursuing outsourcing norms, all music to the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ears.

Indian industry has a newfound energy like never before. All defence conferences and seminars are overflowing, many companies from across the geography of the country are evincing interest in this initiative of the government. They want to diversify and make a foray into the defence sector, despite knowing the difficulties of quality consciousness, timelines and heavy investment required. Promise is evident. Delivery is important.

Defence industry is no more restricted to the known DRDO townships like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Other cities and towns like Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and others are showing promise. Utilisation of diversified skill sets is a great takeaway from this exercise. State governments are also formulating and announcing aerospace and defence policy thus attracting investments.

In the near future we are likely to witness a great number of startups in the defence sector and we must be geared to meet this challenge thrown to the establishment by the industry. The Armed Forces must necessarily go forward and interact with the Indian industry. The industry looks forward to user-interaction as this is the ultimate test of the intellectual business acumen blending with the demand stringency, to evolve strong supply side dynamics.

There is more to come and we can, with an intelligent guess, expect the DPP to be announced in consonance with the DEFEXPO [24] <https:// in-mg61.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?. rand=75kkvvp216hc6#_ftn24> scheduled to be held in Goa end of March 2016.

Procedures must not make prisoners of the acquisition executive; rather be seen as an enabling mechanism and a broad guidance, with delegated powers to the procurement executive to make informed decisions for timely delivery of military systems to the Indian Armed Forces. Concept of preamble introduced by the Dhirendra Singh Committee in its report (once again a great choice of identifying the chairman who drove the deliberations with much reasoning and leadership), needs incorporation for the much needed and effective guidance to the procurement executive. Empowering the executive for expeditious decision-making will be the key.

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