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POLICING THE

POLICE

ENLARGED SECOND EDITION

PRAVEEN KUMAR



Published Works of Praveen Kumar

Policing for the New Age

Policing the Police

Indian Police

Inside India

Policing the Police 2 Edn

Unknown HorizonsPortraits of Passion

Love & Pride

Simply Yours

Shobha Priya

Golden Wonder

Celestial Glow

Divya Belaku

BhavanaPriya Chaitra Tapasvini Ananya Priya Lavanya

Priya GeethegaluTapasvini



Lovingly Dedicated To

SHOBHA



FOREWORD

Police police the people. Who police the police? How? The answer lies in 'Policing

the Police'. As the author says in an article in thi work, "Policing the police involves self-

policing".This work delves deeply on this core aspect of policing and lays bare the extant

Indian Police setup, sheath by sheath, with the precision of a master surgeon, only to

rebuild it from the scratches with the right essence of professionalism, commitment and

zeal. It is an abundantly readable magnum opus of the author and a valuable reference for

understanding the pathology and the epinosic dynamics with which the present Indian

Police suffer and identifies likely solutions for its redemption. I am sure that this scholarly

work serves as a ready-reckoner for both police professionals and common readers.

This book stands out for the highest regard it holds for policing as a profession and the

paracute critique it makes of its practices in India. The UPSC also comes under its critical

gaze for its dull – witted performance.

This book has another dimension. It, in certain aspects, interprets police and policing

through the prism of a poet's sensibilities with idealistic interpretations.The author's close

association with events in police and his close observations in the police world for nearly

a quarter of a century brings authenticity to whatever he says or analyses. The sensibilities

of the author as a poet with nearly half a dozen books of poems from him in Kannada and

English render his observations and analyses of police and policing highly refreshing and

interesting.

Bangalore, Pratheek Praveen Kumar



PREFACE

"Policing the Police" is a sequel to my earlier book ‘Policing for the new age'. Most of the

articles of the present book were already published in various newspapers including The

Hindu, The Indian Express, TheTimes of India and Deccan Herald and various periodicals

and journals like Alive and The Indian Journal of Criminology and Criminalistics. All those

articles are reproduced in this book as in the original publications with the names of the

respective newspapers, periodicals and journals indicated. Some of the responses from the

readers to the original publications are also reproduced at the end of the respective articles. I

gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the editors of each of these newspapers,

periodicals and journals, especially The Hindu, The Indian Express and Alive, in producing

this work. And also those readers who responded to the articles through the columns of the

newspapers and periodicals.

Care is taken to emphasise certain core aspects of the discussion and analyses, by figuring

them in more than one article, depending on the importance, to convey across ideas with

right emphasis. It is hoped that this exercise adds to the value and usefulness of the book. I

would be failing in my duty if I fail to express my gratitude to Shree A.R.Sridharan, IPS,

former Director General of Police and former Hon'ble member of the Karnataka

Administrative Tribunal for his unstinted support and encouragement to my intellectual

exercises. He is a rare oasis of pristine values and dignified restraint in the desert of policeand bureaucracy, inhabited by immoral hawks.

For the gargantuam size of the police organisation in India and the key-role of policing in

governing thecountry, the number of books written on this subject is absolutely exiguous.

Most of the available books are commonplaces, hardly laying claim on originality, creativity,

imagination or insight the problems in the field. They are mostly repetitions of the obvious,

rendering reading a boredom. In this sense, "Policing The Police" marks a departure from the

lot and can be called as a rare work.

Very few people are privileged to have a keek to the complexities of the police as an

organisation and the policing as a process. Lack of transparency insulates police and policingfrom the public. Left to its own fate, complacency is eating up the vitals of the police. Police

will die a slow death unless somebody comes out ab intra and identifies the cancerous growth

for surgery.

The core problem areas include defective selection and recruitment, unsound training

and unhealthy job culture. Other maladies like corruption, misplaced loyalties and lack

of professionalism flow out of these core problems. On the final analysis, the problem areas

boil down to one specific morbidity, that is, utterly incompetent selection and recruitment

process at higher levels by the UPSC. Other problems flow from this single mishandling.

Blaming the system or the values is an exercise in futility for the simple reason thatsystem and values are the creation of the people at the top. Equally hollow is the claim that

no right persons of unimpeachable character are available for selection to key slots in the

one billion population of the country after independence. Why this atrophy after



independence? What is the panpharmacon for the malady? The book addresses such

problems with clarity and vision.

Police police the people. Who police the police? How? The answer lies in Policing The

Police. Policing the police involves self policing. This work delves deeply on this core aspect

of policing and lays bare the extant Indian Police setup, sheath by sheath, with the precision

of a master surgeon, only to rebuild it from the scratches with the right essence of

professionalism, commitment and zeal.

A valuable reference for understanding the pathology and the epinosic dynamics

with which the present Indian Police suffer, and identifies likely solutions for its redemption.

The book stands out for the highest regard it holds for policing as a profession, and the

paracute critique it makes of its practices in India. The UPSC also comes under its critical

gaze for its dull-writted peformance.

The author's close association with events in police and his close observations in the

police world for nearly three decades bring authenticity to whatever he says or analyses.

Bangalore - PK



CONTENTS

1. Indian police at a crossroads: which way to take?, 3

2. Internal security – challenges and approach, 7

3. Indian police: time to take tough decisions, 11

4. What ails professional policing in India, 15

5.

Need to liberate law enforcers from unholy alliance, 18 6. Role of police in the reconstruction of India, 22

7. Where their loyalties lie….., 26

8. Caught in the vicious circle of corruption, 29

9. Police structure needs the management touch, 32

10. Police & human rights – does end justify means?, 37

11. Restoring credibility to crime investigation, 41

12.

What ails the Indian secret police, 45

13. Police unprofessional, 49

14. Law and justice, 51

15. Police morale eroded by poor administration, 53

16. Time to improve the quality of civil service, 57

17. Indian police needs healthy job culture, 61

18.

Corruption – “Indian Police Scenario”, 67 19. Policing under political patronage, 73

20. Quota system can weaken civil service, 79

21. Empowering the CBI, 81

22. The gun still speaks, 84

23. Crime, Politics and the Police, 87

24. Criminalisation of police, 96

25.

The Indian police: maladies and remedies, 99

26. The crumbling steelframe of India, 104



27. Indian internal security buildup, 110

28.

Investigation of dowry death cases, 115

29. Towards sane service, 119

30. Lacking vigour, 123

31. Professional pride of the police, 127

32. Need to revitalise the police, 130

33. How crime affects national life, 134

34.

Need of attitudinal change in police, 137 35. Precepts of police administration, 142

36. Humanising the police, 150

37. Indian police and sixty years of independence, 156

38. Challenges of the police setup, 162

39. Challenges of coordination in Indian police, 167

40. Policing the police, 172

41.

Man management in police, 177

42. Where Indian police is heading?, 182

43. Law and order policing in India, 186

44. Investigation of economic crimes, 192

45. Social justice, 198

46. Enforcement of social justice, 202

47.

Role of police in the cause of social justice, 207 48. Status of women in emerging India, 211

49. Police and the underworld, 215

50. Kidnapping for ransom, 219

51. Indian police: what course to pursue in the 21st century, 223

52. Police in the administration of justice, 227

53. Where proactive judiciary leads India?, 233

54.

In defence of judiciary, 236

55. The role of police in a democracy, 239



56. Police as social surgeons, 245

57.

Political crimes and security, 249

58. Police and administration, 257

59. Rat-race at the top affects policing, 261

60. Need of competent brass in police, 265

61. Right orientation in government service, 268

62. Value system in Indian bureaucracy, 272

63. Requisites of good governance, 27664. India and All India Services, 281

65. Need of lean and mean civil services, 284

66. Home guards training, 288

67. Core issue and the core of India’s nationhood, 290

68. Religion in politics, 294

69. Crisis of right leadership in India, 297

70. Reconstruction of India, 300

71. Democracy for whom?, 304

72. Infrastructure development, 309

73. In pursuit of excellence, 312

74. Recent trends in economic crimes, 315

75. Corruption in India, 321

76. Innovative techniques in policing, 32577. Revamping the investigation machinery, 327

78. Coordinated approach to criminal justice system, 330

79. The core of police problems, 336

80. Training strategy to affect behavioral and attitudinal change in……, 340

81. Evolution of norms for manpower and logistics requirements……., 348

82. Vision for ‘Police 2010’ and ‘Police 2020’, 355





POLICING THE POLICE 2 ED

1

INTRODUCTION

The Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) in a 12-page reporton a business survey of 12 economies of Asia released on June 3, 2009 where 1,274expatriates working in these countries were interviewed showed Indian bureaucracy at the

bottom at the 12 position as the least efficient bureaucracy after Philippines and Indonesia in

10 and 11 positions respectively. The report says that working with the country’s civil

servants in India is a “slow and painful” process and it continues to report that “They are a

power centre in their own right at both the national and state levels, and are extremelyresistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties”.

The cause of the malady in reference to Indian Police is analyzed and remedies are

recommended in the article, ‘The Crumbling Steel Frame of India’ of this volume. Thedeterioration is a post-independence phenomenon. The once steel frame of Indian

bureaucracy of the British vintage gradually crumbled to its extant putridity under the sadauspice of its corrupt and incompetent UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) and the

deterioration trickled fast downwards in the last six decades to bring India to this sad state of

affairs.

This volume is a first hand account of the observations, impressions and experiences ofthe author as an insider. Naturally, most illustrations in this volume are from Karnataka police

where the author served at senior levels for nearly three decades. However, this makes nodifference to the over all picture of India as situation is not much different elsewhere.

As far as Karnataka police is concerned, in spite of misdeeds of notorious scoundrels like

R.S.Chopra, A.R.Nizamuddin and degenerates of the similar ilk, situation is better there thansome of the more notorious state police organizations of India. The core weakness in

Karnataka police lies in sweepingly conforming to the putrid system and bad culture against

conscience to cover own tracks. It is mere cowardice of mediocrity and gross selfish interests

of ignobility and nothing more. Yet, no way can Karnataka police be called as an efficient,

healthy and responsible bureaucratic setup yet.

Faithful assessment must precede reconstruction. This volume is an effort in thisdirection. Complacency leads to stagnation and is a dangerous indulgence in a rotten situationlike India’s. This volume is intended to breach the vicious indulgence involved and inspire

India to its rich potentialities on the way to much dreamed of world leadership.

India is a civilization of diversities and a culture of contradictions. India’s is an inclusiveway of life. Along its long history, it saw umpteen falls and rises without losing its innate

vitality and always rose from worst quagmires unscathed. This resilience of India underscores

its unique heritage spawned by its thoughts and philosophies that perhaps are nearest to the

true nature of the universe that the scientific world of today is engaged in to probe, discoverand formulate as the Grand Unification Theory (GUT). This is the secret of the eternalstrength of India.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

2

This resilience of India gives hope. The present fall is not forever. Time of revival shallcome. India shall see a better system replace the present corrupt and incompetent UPSC and a

healthy administrative system replace the extant inefficient and rogue bureaucracy.

The nature of the police accurately reflects the quality of democracy entertained by a

country. This is true of India and Indian police also. Further, the menace of the current world

namely terrorism is increasingly moving the police centre-stage in governance as the sine qua

non mechanism for founding peace and safety of the citizens. These factors together renderthe police and policing the deciding parameter in determining the character of a national life.

That is why India must act to bring its police and bureaucracy on right track to fulfill its

dream of a regional power and act pronto.




3

INDIAN POLICE AT A CROSSROADS:

WHICH WAY TO TAKE?

Policing, being a specialised job, remains an enigma to outsiders, including administrators

and the general public. Its status, somewhere between the armed forces and the civiladministration, renders its structure, scope and style of functioning undefined in the monolith

of governance. This coupled with the prolate powers to cover all aspects of living, has made

the police an awful force to live with.The situation is like one-way traffic wherein the police have a say on every aspect of the

life of the people while the latter hardly know anything about the department. This has given

the police the unique advantage of dictating what should be what, where and how inpolicing and the police organisation. This could be a boon if the right man sits at the top.

But, sycophants climb the ladder and reach the top to hold the reins and guide the destiny of

the police. The result is the Indian police has got what it deserves-a spiritless culture createdby incompetent leaders.

It has been nearly five decades since independence. The standard expected and observed

in the police at the dawn of independence is no more. Belatedly though, it has been realisedthat self-rule does not mean fraud and tyranny and that the cabals of compatriots are no less

pernicious than that of the aliens. Forty eight years is a long enough period to realise the

need to break away from the webs of corruption in independent India. India and the Indianpolice thus stand at a crossroads.

Policemen are social doctors and policing is a surgical operation to systematically removecancerous growths from the body of society. What if the band of doctors itself is infested

with serious malignant growths? This is the position of the present day Indian police. The

police, as the enforcers of law and protectors of public interests, wield tremendous powers.

Such powers must be invested only in people of high probity and conscience. Otherwise, thepowers will ruin the social fabric of the country and usher in anarchy. Powers to search,

seize, remove, detain, direct, arrest, hit and even kill may prove pernicious, if trusted to

wrong hands.How these powers are exercised depends on the work ethics of the organisation. It is

those in an organisation who build up its job- culture and vice versa. Even a degenerate

character turns honest and efficient in an honest and efficient environment. The work-culture builds and moulds the vitality to meet the general atmosphere around. Also, an

honest and efficient person in a degenerate culture is bound to change sooner or later, unless

his individual strength conquers the vitiating work-culture of the organisation. Building up aproper job-culture is, therefore, the bedrock of a proficient police organisation.

The problem of the Indian police lies in a lack of understanding of the scope and ground

rules of its work. This results in the absence of a proper set of standards to approach the call

of duty. Consequently, each call of duty is approached subjectively, depending upon themood and understanding of the police in charge of the situation. This, unfortunately, isaccepted by all strata of people. The Indian police never recognises the equality of all and



PRAVEEN KUMAR

4

the need to provide security to all citizens of India. Whether it is in matters of protection,maintenance of order, crime control or investigation, the standards of policing applied to anameless poor farmer in a remote village and say, a former Prime Minister, both of whom

have equal rights before the law and the Constitution, do vary.

The point is not that the principle of equality should defy ground realities, but policingmust have a reasonable set of standards within which the more important and the less

important aspects must operate. It will not be so in India until people who place their

personal interests beyond everything, including law, justice, fairness, objectivity,righteousness, career pride and professional interests, hold the reins at the highest levels of

the department.

There are two types of approach to policing:

a. The playful approach wherein the police, as players in a football game, play the game

within the scope of the ground rules to have the ball inside the goalpost withoutcommitting a foul. Here, the game is played dispassionately and played because themembers are paid to do so.

b. The passionate approach wherein the police break all rules and laws that come in the

way to make their task a success. They may even commit crimes in the process.

The Indian police oscillate between these two disparate approaches, depending on forwhom they work and what would be their personal gain ultimately. Only a few people with

money and power to back policing of the passionate genre deserve the passionate approach.

Others must remain contented with the ‘ playful approach’. A dignified police organisationshould shun both attitudes. The former is against the tenets of professionalism and

commitment to work. The latter, in spite of its commitment to its goals, is devoid ofobjectivity, fairness and justice. For, policing by criminal methods cannot be called

professional policing.

The right approach to professional policing is a synthesis of both the approaches in which

the commitment to achieve goals respects the rules and laws of which the police areguardians. Professional commitment implies achieving goals within the parameters of the

permitted methods. The professional end of the police is upholding the interests of law and justice. Policing is not an end in itself. It is a tool to serve law and justice. Policing by

committing crimes against law and justice is committing crimes against policing. The Indian

police is yet to show maturity of professional commitment extending equal attention to allthe needy, irrespective of their stature, wealth and position in society.

The state of human relations in Indian police does not bring credit to the organisation.The relations are brittle and mechanical without a human touch. The relation between

different ranks are soft or hard depending upon the nature of their jobs and mutual advantage.

It is rather a donor and recipient relationship while soft, and master and servant relationship

while hard. There is no genuine human concern and no sense fo recognition of the other manas another human being. The other’s human qualities and talents are dismissed as

inconsequential trash. This is equally true among officers of the same rank and has led to an

atmosphere of mutual suspicion in spite of an outward show of belonging to the single

family that the police is.




5

The police chiefs must think hard to decide whether the current model of human relationsin the police is conducive to healthy policing or not. A sound police organisation thrives onsound human relations between and within ranks, sustained by genuine concern, mutual

respect, recognition, sympathy and understanding. Such relations do not perforce go

against police discipline and the official command-obedience functions. Instead a sense ofbelonging and unity of purpose are cultivated. The hierarchical order only defines the

relations created in the minds of the people. Good relations strengthen the hierarchical order

by making the order willingly acceptable to all and thus facilitating its working. A subtlemental bond that links all men in an organisation is its greatest asset. A sense of recognitionfrom others coupled with the pride of belonging creates a happy atmosphere in the

organisation and improves efficiency and output.

Sadly this is just the reverse in the Indian police. Here, human relations are vitiated.Mutual suspicion and antagonism are the rule. Men in higher ranks revel in hurting the prideof the subordinates while the latter wait for the right time to settle scores. In this atmosphere

of hostility and under-cuttings, the organisation and its objects suffer, all its people sufferand the country suffers. This is where India stands at present.

The success of a police organisation depends on its ability to create a sense of pride anddignity in its members including the constabulary, so that they consider themselves as useful

and responsible members of the police outfit and endeavour to live up to the image. The goalcan be achieved by proper modulation of perks, rewards, praise, good treatment, respect,

censure or punishment has been earned by him. This is a far cry from what is actually

happening in India. Good work is seldom recognised. Every job is done as a personal favour.Medals and citations are divested of their distinction by being linked to seniority and not

merit That is why medals carry no meaning within the organisation.

What the Indian police inspires in the public is fear and hatred, not trust, respect and love.This is the greatest single failing of the Indian police. A police force feared and hated is

irrelevant in a democracy. The argument that fear is a necessary constituent in policing is

not based on the right understanding of human psychology. The police does stand on adifferent footing from the general public but that status is based on trust, respect, love and a

healthy awe, not, fear and hatred. It is healthy awe that inspires in citizens genuine

cooperation and willing subjection to police authority.

Police is not synonymous with fear. A smiling and helpful police force is a salient featureof democracy. The police is not the enemy of the people, especially in democracy. Policing

involves enforcement of order for the good of many which may sometimes meaninconvenience to a few. The job, if performed right, must win the trust, love and respect ofthe masses. The misuse of power and a supercilious approach will alienate the common man

and earn his hatred. The exercise of police powers with absolute humility is quite possible.An approach of service to the general public renders the exercise a sensible and delicate task

and avoids harshness. It is up to the police to show its good intentions and convince the

public about its trustworthiness. Nothing the Indian police does now will help to createthis image. It is time serious efforts were made in this direction.

The situation can be salvaged by clearing the cobwebs. There is a bunch of self-

motivated officers in key positions in the police who have contributed to the downslide of theIndian police in the post-democratic era. They have corrupted the police atmosphere, set



PRAVEEN KUMAR

6

wrong precedents, encouraged self-indulgence eroded its tough image and reduced it to itspresent cadaverous existence. These elements should be sidelined to make way for men ofprobity to refurbish and rebuild the setup.

The future of India depends upon the strengths and weaknesses of its police. Defence

forces are relevant to the existence of India in so much as defending its borders and protectingits system of government. But the relevance of the police is more meaningful, for, here, the

very existence of India as a nation is at stake. The significance of the police is often forgotten

somewhere between the width of civil administration and the depth of the defence forces.

The police must be powerful. It must be a disciplined and committed force. It saves thecountry from all disasters; it supports the administration in civil rule and works as its watch

dog. It works as a subsidiary force in support of the military during war. If need be, it canrun the administration when civil rule breaks down and can function as an armed force if the

military fails. The importance of this great tool of governance is yet to be recognised. It is

time Indian police is given a fresh lease of life of vitality and strength. Yes, somethingshould be done to save the police. The question is, who should begin the process, and where,

when and how? Who will bell the cat to bring it to its senses?




7

INTERNAL SECURITY -

CHALLENGES AND APPROACH

In an age of sabotage and terrorism, no man, no place and no structure is really safe; no

time of the day or night can be construed as safe. With the increasing complexity of humansociety with increasing claims on the limited resources of the world, the kettle of human life

Is spilling over with organised hatred and violence. Terrorism has become an international

phenomenon. Accrescent unemployment makes terrorism popular by giving the unemployedyouth a raison d’etre for life and an ideology to pursue. The lopsided material growth of 20th

century life at the cost of contentment and inner peace have endeared to man the thrills andadventures of the life that fills up his inner void. New scientific inventions give man such

sophisticated mechanisms and machinery that he can do anything he wants without beingpersonally present at a place. Each man has potentially become a power-centre and he can

build or destroy the world he lives in. The rise in hatred and violence, compounded with

man’s dangerous power to wreak vengeance, has made internal security an unsure field. It

has become the primary challenge for the police force, replacing its hitherto main functionsof crime control and maintenance of law and order.

The threat to internal security is posed by highly trained and motivated volunteersbelonging to highly organised and resourceful terrorist outfits. The unenviable task of

providing protection to men, places and structures from these committed zealots with the

choice of time, place and target in their favour and any number of sophisticated methods andtechniques of strike to choose from, continually sap the manpower, machinery and otherresources of the police. Even in the advanced countries the police find it difficult to cope

with the problem. The police should have led in modernisation techniques with the antipode

marching to keep pace. Unfortunately, it is not so in the Indian situation.

The reaction of the police to terrorist threats is desperate mobbing and covering the target

at best and diffident immobilisation at the worst. Their inability to penetrate terrorist

organisations has put it at a costly disadvantage. Their failure to draw up detailed long-termplans to meet terrorist challenges handicaps them in their operations. Internal security cannot

be guaranteed sans a sound knowledge of the terrorists’ way of functioning.

SPASMODIC APPROACH

An internal security machinery working in a void often gives rise to ludicrous security

reactions. Anonymous calls or letters in most unlikely situations are attended to with a

desperate mobilisation of men and machinery without scrutinising the call or the letter, andeverything ends up as a hoax. An anonymous Kannada letter claimed to have been written

by the LTTE was received in Mysore with the threat of blowing up the KRS dam on theintervening right of August 14 and 15, in 1991 and was later followed with similar threats ofblowing up the Vidhana Soudha on the same night. Somebody well versed with the LTTE

objectives, expertise and method of operation would have dismissed the calls and the letters

as a non-event. But the Karnataka police had to be prepared for an emergency because it asnot equipped to handle internal security problems with courage and confidence. It is not



PRAVEEN KUMAR

8

wrong to be ready to meet threats but, the action should be subtle without fanfare andunnecessary show of strength. Desperate reaction may prompt mischievous elements to shootsimilar missives almost daily. Can the police react to all those letters similarly? It is subtle

planning and low-key operation that make security possible. All security arrangements

must be preceded by through research and detailed plans. This is completely forgotten in theIndian situation.

Not many are involved in an expertly drawn-up operational plan of sabotage. It is qualitythat counts and not quantity in both sabotage and security operations. Those who reallyexecute the sabotage are highly motivated trained and competent individuals. The larger the

number, the smaller the chances of success because of human nature, coordination problems

and higher chances of leakage. Also it involves the problem of providing security and escaperoutes for more men in the post-operational period. No number of policemen can stop ahighly motivated and trained man from sneaking up to his target and destroying it. What is

required is not companies of policemen, but a handful of highly qualified and motivated men

of experience with an intelligent, thoroughly drawn up security plan, based on reliable

intelligence inputs about the objects and operational plans of the adversary. Everythingexcept these salient features is present in the responses of the Indian police to securitychallenges.

Indian security plans ignore the cardinal principle of a good reticulation, namely

providing security without coming in the way of the normal life of the target except where

unavoidable. The essence of security buildup is protection with minimum inconvenience tothe concerned. But Indian security sleuths feel otherwise. They believe in taking charge ofthe target, be it a place, an installation, or a person and dictating terms as though the security

is given in exchange for freedom of movement and action. And all this for inadequate

security. But even national leaders have traded their image and popularity for this supposedsafety.

It is argued that the Indian security system is effective in discouraging the less resourceful

terrorist outfits from attempting strikes and preventing half-hearted attacks. The argument is

not convincing for the simple reason all terrorist outfits worth the name are extremelyresourceful with objectives, plans and strategies and a complete commitment to carry out

their operational plans. No target is out of their reach. If a target is not struck for a long time,the reasons can be only three, a) the outfit has not really intended to strike, b) the outfit is yetto equip itself c) that security sleuths could be exclusively covering the target making a strike

impossible.

India should reach a stage where the third reason which is an exception now becomes the

rule. The failure to capture Sivarasan and Subha, suspects in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination

case, is a recent event. The chance intelligence, as early as in August, 1991, that bothextremists were holed up with others in a ramshackle house at Konanakunte in Karnataka

did not enable the Indian security forces to catch them alive with all the time, resources andthe element of surprise at their disposal.

This reflects on the serious loopholes in the field of security planning in India. Instead of

inventing an undercover strategy to draw the extremists out or entering their den as friends





PRAVEEN KUMAR

10

Standing guards, personal security officer, inner cordon, outer cordon and striking force aredeployed for a human target while for a mobile target a security officer, escort, piloting andstriking force will form the skeleton of the system. However, it should be borne in mind that

this strategy in no way replaces specific security strategies; it only complements them.

Security, its challenges and counter strategies are ever-growing phenomena. An

effective strategy must foresee challenges and arm itself in advance. The country faces

challenges from the Kashmiri separatist movement in the North, the Akali separatistmovement in the West, the ULFA in the East, the LTTE in the South and the naxalites in the

Centre. The number of new security outfits coming up is an indication of India’s concern

but then the accent is misplaced on quantity in the form of a new security outfit every time aserious security breach shakes the country, rather than on improving the quality. Until thecountry learns the basic lessons of modern security, tragic deaths and destruction are bound to

continue.




11

INDIAN POLICE :

TIME TO TAKE TOUGH DECISIONS

It is India’s good fortune that its fabric of law and order has withstood the effects of

growing complexity of the Indian society for so fragile is its policing. The fact that thepolice systems in a few neighbouring countries of Asia and Africa are worse cannot be a

solace as the political, social and economical structures of those countries have different

backgrounds and value systems from ours. India is a crucible wherein the dynamics andrelevance of democracy in the third world are being experimented with. The Indian police

system must necessarily meet the aspirations of democracy in fulfilling its objective ofmaintaining internal order and security. This dimension has added to the problems of

policing in India. The Indian polity confronts its police with ever greater challenges whilegiving it an increasingly limited wherewithal to face them.

A minor shift in the style of policing in the country can make a life-and-death difference

to myriad people. A wrong turn and the police could inadvertently tear the fabric of thenational life to shreds and ruin the country. A right step and an era of perfect security, order

and peace may be created. Only an objective analysis of the needs of the time and

assessment of the situation would give the insight necessary to make the right choice forpolice about the course to be pursued. Such an analysis must be carried out by highly

competent persons at the highest level who can see things dispassionately and take decisions.

They must be people who have an overall view of things and are capable of seeing themagainst the wider background of national interest. It is a responsible job, requiring throughknowledge of the nuances of police and policing. The people who do it must be capable of

taking hard decisions which may often go against their own interests and may have far-

reaching consequences. The Indian police must give serious thought to what it wants to be in

the future and may have to take some tough decisions.

There is an impression that the Indian police is not what it was before Independence.

The pride, toughness and commitment to duty are no more visible. On the contrary, the

Indian police has become soft humble and easy going. Pressure from all directions hasdeprived it of its vitality. The police has become a widely abused organisation by the virtue

of its submission on the wishes of its masters under false notions of discipline. It is thepopular scapegoat for anything and everything that goes wrong in the public life. In thecircumstances, a sense of insecurity has developed among the police men.

A natural outcome of this development is taking things easy, with the eyes and ears shut,

unless career interests warrant otherwise Commitment to policing is sacrificed in the process.These developments have reduced the police to the level of a toy that moves only when the

spring inside unwinds. New entrants who begin eagerly soon after the training period, begin

to realise the realities.

A serious malady affecting the tough and nonsense image of the police is the interference

of people of some standing in society at all levels. An organisation, looking for a seriousimage, cannot afford this intrusion. Policing must be insulated from public pressures exceptat the top to which all policing affairs must be accountable. People handling policing should

be responsible only to law and their superiors in the department and to none else. The



PRAVEEN KUMAR

12

regulation of policies in all details must be controlled and guided by the top. On the otherhand, the line authority of the organisation must be all powerful to guide and regulatepolicing and police administration.

A police organisation, open to public pressures can do no policing worth the name. The

very idea of being receptive to pressures and interference indicates a lack of will forobjectivity and justice. It is criminal elements which cultivate sources that have put the

policing on the wrong rails. Pressure often forces of the police to commit crimes under the

veil of authority, either by protecting criminals or more dangerously, by replacing them withinnocent people as criminals. The possibility of the police being open to the influence of the

rich and powerful, deprives it of its credibility. A police force that works at the behest of the

rich and powerful can guard their interests only. Does democratic India need such a police

force that allows tyranny of the poor and the helpless by the rich and powerful? The countryhas tolerated such a police in the last four decades. The people, however, must now act thedemand a police that lives up to the trust placed in it.

The lack of professional objectivity is the bane of the police in independent India. The

problem was simple in British India where the ruler and the ruled were distinctly identified

and the loyalty of the police was defined. Now, the police should do their duty by thepublic and law. Misplaced loyalty with an individual, a family, a party or an ideology

amounts to violation of professional ethics. The police, in a democracy is the guardian ofpublic interests and public safety unlike in the raj where the police protected the interests of

the raj. This distinction is forgotten in independent India where mental fetters are yet to be

broken and legacies of the British rule continue inveterated.How can a police that stays loyal to personal, familial or party interests ever discharge its

functions objectively to law and general public? What can its locus standi be when a different

person or party comes to power? A pliable police force is an asset to any individual or partyand no sensible individual or party distances it in the name of professional ethics. It is the

duty of the police not to breach the edifice of the organisation and its spirit.

A byproduct of this degenerate trend is the rise of opportunists and sycophants to key

posts and the fall of honest persons of great calibre. The trend creates a catena of reactionsthat slowly eats up the vitality of the police organisation and reduces it to a foul bunch of

bloodhounds of the rich and powerful few. The shoddy creatures sitting court above men of

probity is a dangerous situations. This reverse order of merit is sure to bring frustration andthe collapse of the organisation someday.

The British were the forefathers of the unified Indian Police. It was a force that met the

needs of the time. In an age of rapid changes, the opening up of new vistas and dimensions tolife through inventions and discoveries in science and technology, nothing remains constant.

The scope, design and objects of the Indian police underwent a metamorphosis with the

transfer of government to native hands. The process spawned a phenomenon in whichundemanding aspects of both the worlds survived to create a new police culture. The

distinguishing traits of the Indian police of the British period such as objectivity, apoliticism,commitment, discipline, quality and high standards were discarded. Traditional Indian values

such as a simplicity, charity, wisdom, mutual, respect, and human qualities were given up too.

The convenient factors of the old and new worlds were chosen to create a new police culturewhile demands on policing were at the crucial stage in the recent years of independence.




13

The Indian police officers overnight rose to high positions made vacant by theresignations of their senior British officers. The need for creating a new work –relationshipwith native political leaders was an opportunity to usher in a new police culture in free India.

Soon the police became a tool in the hands of the power-brokers of free India. How can the

police be objective, honest, apolitical, committed and disciplined in such circumstances andhow can it uphold the rule of law and justice in line with its professional ethics in such a

situation?

A job culture involves basic beliefs and principles of the organisation, professional ethicsand degree of commitment to the aspirations of the organisation. To what extent precedence

and practice mould the job culture decides the success or otherwise of the organisation. It is

important that only the right people reach the top. A headless organisation is better than one

headed by a degenerate weakling. This is why the policy of selection and promotion at highlevels plays a vital role in the growth of the organisation. In a democratic age of self-seekingshort-term political leadership, where sycophancy is the sole criterion for ascending the

career ladder, the policy of recruitment and promotion is far from direct. All thosecommitted to the cause of police and effective policing must break the trend and endeavour to

provide a fresh lease of life for effective policing.

A serious subculture of the Indian police in Indian hands is committing crimes to prevent

and detect crimes and breaking laws to catch law-breakers indeed in the name of showingresults. The misplaced stress on results without a concern for organisational and national

goals of law and justice only reflects a shallow intellectual commitment to duty on the part

of the top brass and the lack of desire to probe the root of the problem.Now, on to third-degree methods in crime detection. Even senior officers tacitly

supporting the third-degree methods applied on suspects who may turn out to be innocent at

the end, is not uncommon.

Crimes are crimes whether they are committed by the police or by the public. What right

has the police to inflict suffering on others, merely on suspicion? After all, it is not the agencyto pass judgement on crimes. None placed the police beyond the scope of the Indian Penal

code. What justification can the police have to commit crimes to collect evidences of othercrimes? The sadistic and criminal tendencies of the police are not more justifiable than those

of the general public.

Discipline is inseparable from police. It governs all parameters of the foce and makes itshierarchical order meaningful and purposeful, the command-obedience relationship, sharp-edged and functional conduct, meticulous. But these days, it is used as a cover by the people

in higher ranks to indulge in wrongdoing and to silence the conscientious few in the lowerranks. It is also a cover to promote the interests of juniors who support their evil deeds by

sycophancy and personal loyalty; and to suppress those juniors who are strong, proud,

independent and ask questions.

A subtle hatred for superior qualities of the subordinates in inherent in the Indian police

force of today. Another act carried out behind the façade of discipline is an officer forcing a

subordinate to achieve personal ends. Here, the police ranks display exceptional unity in

helping a colleague to suppress the subordinate who shows the tendency to go against hissenior’s orders. Youngsters in the organisation who drop out weaken the organisation.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

14

There are any number of examples of fearless officers who have acted upon their conscienceat the cost of promotions and elevations.

The Indian police finds itself in a blind-spot today, at a crossroads from where it shouldbuild bridges to the future. It must shed its mental fetters, rise to its feet and learn to be

natural. A slip at this stage would be a tragedy while a right move would be a major turningpoint.

It is indeed a crucial juncture for the Indian police.




15

WHAT AILS PROFESSIONAL POLICING IN INDIA

Discipline, in the case of the police force, is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It is

an advantage because, if discreetly employed, it can prevent undue interaction of the police

with unwanted elements. It is a disadvantage because the police, with its trained response,may find it difficult to isolate itself from the behests of its political masters.

The first and foremost job in this background is to free the police from the unhealthyinfluence of politicians of all hues by making it accountable to an independent authority with

absolute power to take decisions. The authority should be a professional body with men ofproven calibre and quality who have reached a stage where they need not sacrifice their

convictions to appease those in power. It shall be directly responsible to the legislature andfunction as an independent authority like the judiciary, the Comptroller and Auditor General

or the Election Commission.

The recruitment procedure should be overhauled to ensure that really the best from the job-seekers are roped in. Any interference in matters of recruitment should be promptly and

decisively resisted. Only highly qualified officers of proven probity should be entrusted

with the task, the ugly head of bribery ruthlessly crushed and the unhealthy trend of makingrecruitment a business checked. The infusion of good blood even at this late hour is certain

to repair the damage.

The jobs should be made attractive with good salaries and satisfactory working conditionsthat will give the resolve to resist the bait thrown by the criminals. Social scientists say that

bribery is inversely proportional to the financial strength of a social group. Therefore, better

salaries and congenial working conditions will definitely make the police less sensitive to

these lures. It has to be ensured that the right man comes to the right job and that honesty isrewarded. An unbiased assessment of the work and character of the personnel will take the

organisation in the right direction.

Those who are empowered to assess subordinates and their work must be made

answerable to prevent misuse of this responsibility. The creation of a high-power core

group of people adept at assessing men and character may help to create a feeling ofconfidence and security and inspire the police personnel to discharge their duties fearlessly.

This group should be made ultimately responsible for all career decisions, for thedevelopment of the police, work assessment, job analysis, recruitment and management of

human resources.

It is unfortunate that there is no relation between an officer’s efficiency and performance

and his standing in the organisation. The officers are so indifferent to the performance oftheir subordinates that they are absolutely in the dark about the standard of work turned outunder their supervision. Another reason for this sad affair may be that they are not qualified

to assess. This situation leads to random assessment and, in the process, talents wither and

opportunities overtake high-calibre workers on the hierarchical ladder. This can be rectifiedby arranging motivation courses for police officers who must be taught about the work they



PRAVEEN KUMAR

16

are required to perform, its importance and how to discharge their duties. Policemengenerally distance themselves from all mental activities. Training must endeavour to breakthis trait and coax candidates to open up their minds and reflect on all matters before making

decisions. In this context, it must be mentioned that often the habit of reading becomes a

casualty once a person enters the service.

This negative approach to reading and thinking has resulted in poor professional

knowledge, particularly at the higher ranks. Work knowledge is generally limited to what isremembered from experience and bits of what has been learnt from books during trainingdecades earlier. The style of supervision in the police should be seen to be believed. All

order to subordinates emanate from a perfect void. The best that is done is to hold a meeting

of subordinates wherein the latter are allowed to arrive at a course of action to meet asituation and the decision is returned to them as an order to perform. The style of ineffectivesupervision must stop if the aim is to achieve quality. The system of overlapping supervision

because of multiple ranks, where none really discharges his role must be scrapped. A

thorough overhauling of training and the application of modern techniques would go a long

way in mending the situation.

The organisation has become top-heavy. In States where there were only two officers

of the rank of Inspector General for say 40,000 men and officers about ten years ago, thereare now nearly 20 officers of and above that rank for say, a force of 50,000. What are these

people at the top policing apart from being a drain on the state revenue and a nuisance to

officers down the ladder by issuing conflicting instructions?

Promotion to a higher rank serves no purpose unless it means a more challenging job and

a suitable man is, therefore, selected to meet the challenges. But this is not the case. Posts

are created to satisfy vested interests. Most of these jobs often serve as places to forget thepressures of family life. However, the same luxury does not extend to the more unfortunate

ranks at the lower levels, including the constabulary. While vacancies at the topmost levelare filled up by promotions effected overnight, promotions at the intermediary levels take

weeks and even months, depending on the rank. It is years in the case of the constabulary.

There are cases where vacancies of head constables and assistant sub-inspectors or sub-inspectors are not filled up for several years. Many have retired without a promotion.

Policing is a job performed mostly at the lower levels with involvement stopping at the levelof the Superintendent. Beyond that, it is a supervisory task and in a police force with nosupervision to speak of, higher ranks are simply redundant. Any move to expand these ranks

cannot be called an honest effort to serve the public. But that is what is happening.

The process of recruitment is even worse. Selection has become a misnomer. It is

random at best and high business at its worst. This approach may leave governance and

public life in jeopardy. Policing is a highly sensitive profession and requires only speciallyequipped people to handle it. It demands certain specific traits in officers which cannot be

learnt by any amount of training. The most evident symbol of authority and power peopletrust is the policemen. In the circumstances, the wrong selection can be fatal for the nation.

India is deeply caught in a mire. There is a price fixed for each rank of the police. How can arecruit who enters service by paying a bribe be expected not to reap returns? What can be his




17

picture of the service that the enters? It is absurd to expect professional policing from such arecruit.

The common aim in recruitment now is to complete the job without inviting legal

hurdles. Sometimes even rules are overstepped to cut short procedures and do away withcumbersome work. Posts at the lowest level but nevertheless sensitive, like drivers, are filled

up arbitrarily. Quality suffers as a result. This is equally so in transfers.

Honesty, integrity and hard work have yielded place to personal loyalty and usefulnessfor personal work. Those who do not come up to the expectations of personal loyalty fall out

of favour and are eliminated from the line of command. This is one of the main factors for

the slow degeneration of the police.

The police is a sacred confluence of those who choose policing as their profession and

work together transcending their caste, creed, social standing and rank in order to control

crime and maintain law and order. But this objective cannot be achieved when there is no

common cause and everybody works for personal progress.

The general reluctance of the Indian police force to adopt new ideas and the ungainly

handling of modernisation projects have resulted in its losing the race with organised crimeand syndicates. Modern equipment are bought, but the personnel are not trained to use them.

Thus the gadgets gather dust and break down.

No government with weak police system can survive, whatever its other assets. Thepolice should be extricated from the clutches of criminals and politicians to make it a

professional outfit with objectivity and commitment to its task. There is no point in

beginning the cleansing operation from the side of the criminals or politicians. It has tobegin from the side of the police by insulating it from the vile influences of criminal wealth

and political power. Once this is done everything else will fall into place.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

18

NEED TO LIBERATE LAW ENFORCERS

FROM UNHOLY ALLIANCES

Crime, politics and the police are the three sides of the vicious triangle within which thefuture of democratic Indian and its free people are trapped. Although wealthy industrial and

commercial houses form a fourth dimension, their techniques are as yet limited to

manipulative strategies to gain a strangle hold over political power by remote control. It istheir wealth that fills the coffers of the troika and helps reduce the normal life of free citizens

to a welter of uncertainties and endless misery.

Politicians protect criminals from the law while criminals reciprocate by acting as theirhenchmen. Policemen go to politicians for job protection and strike an understanding with

the criminals to make money. Thus works this nexus of vile power-brokers, preying on

innocent people, bloating itself on the blood of the hapless masses. The trio of manipulators

is a dangerous force in the Indian democratic situation. Combined as a tight-knit power-block, they have touched all the facets of public life with the sole intention of garnering all

the benefits. The tragedy here is that the vice is perpetrated by those whom the public trust as

their benefactors and protectors. The amoral side of this operation does not seem to haveaffected either the police or the politicians in any way and the abuse against the Indian

public goes on unabated. It seems that all actors in this tragic drama think that Indian

democracy is a free-for-all field to grab to the maximum in a world where all look forthemselves and only those who grab the most survive. This approach is certain to underminenot only the democratic setup of the nation, but its very social fabric.

When the maintenance of law and order is in the hands of unscrupulous police, queer

things may take place. Long ago, a dacoity was reported in the house of a person of dubiousreputation in a particular district . People who knew the background said the act was

committed by his illegitimate son after a serious quarrel. Court cases were pending against

the son. A case was registered with the local police. The complainant however thought itwas best to patch up with the suspect in order to protect his family honour. This was done

and the case was pursued with an ex-convict being picked up and shown as the accused.

Arrest,” recovery” and chargesheet followed a decade after the dacoity. Such developmentsmake criminal administration a mockery. What a serious breach of public trust it was and

what a serious crime was committed by the police who involved a person whom they knewdid not commit the offence!

In another incident that dates back to 1981, a police official in charge of a subdivision inKarnataka picked up a poor goldsmith from a small town for interrogation about receiving

stolen properties. He subjected him to torture in a tourist bungalow of the same town fortwo nights to make the innocent goldsmith confess to something he had not done.

The goldsmith died on the second night of torture. The official who has worked as

Circle Inspector in the town until a few months before, had indulged in this activity without




19

the knowledge of the senior police officers of the town. The news of the lockup death, assuch deaths are popularly known, was published in local and other newspapers.

The wife of the goldsmith filed a complaint before the local court. The District

Superintendent of Police and the Range Deputy Inspector General of Police, who hadbenefited from the flexible ways of the official when he was the Circle Inspector, rose to the

occasion to save their protégé. They visited the town and entrusted the investigation to a

Deputy Superintendent of Police of neighbouring subdivision with oral orders to certify thecase as not proved. The Deputy Superintendent complied and sent his repot to the court andthat was the end of the case. A police official who with the support of his community, got

posted as the police chief of a State in 1986, wanted to favour a fingerprint sub-Inspector,

who has been under suspension for long after being arrested in a criminal case ofcommunity interests. He summoned the Superintendent of Police in charge of the case andexamined the file about the suspension. The Superintendent of Police failed to understand

that the action was an indication that he was to end the Sub-Inspector’s punishment. Even

of he had understood, he could not have acted for, the Sub-Inspector had been suspended by

an officer of the rank of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Moreover the case waspending trial in a court. After a fortnight, the police chief secured the Sub-Inspector’srelease, but nurtured a grudge against the young Superintendent. He manipulated the records

and made sure that the latter was not selected for the Indian Police Service. The career of abright officer suffered a severe setback. Such cases of avenging non-cooperation are common

these days. The trend is adversely affecting the organisation by weakening its cause for

fairness, law and justice.

How subordinates are brought around is another story. A young sub divisional police

officer in a small town known for its speculative business activities conducted a raid on a

library, run by a powerful local community. It was actually a gambling house patronised byprominent people of the town. The officer rounded up more than 50 prominent people

including rich businessmen, senior government officials and local politicians, with hugestake monies. Though the library had been a gambling den for years, none had dared to raid

it in spite of repeated public petitions.

As the law requires that the place must first be proved to be a common gambling house,

the officer recorded in the station house diary the names of all those who were gambling atthe place and let them of with a written warning that cases would be booked if they continuedto gamble there. The officer learnt too late that the gambling den was patronised by the

Superintendent of Police of the district and the Deputy Inspector General of the range and the

men were their friends. He was transferred to a remote place, with the annual confidentialreport stating that the public might revolt against the officer if he continued . The library

continues to be a gambling den. The DIG at the place of the new posting of the officer wanted

him to marry a girl from his circle. His parents however, got him married to a girl of theirchoice. This antagonised the DIG who, in his next annual confidential report, showed his

junior as a liability to the police department. Also he prevailed upon other officers whowrote confidential reports to give adverse remarks. Most of them obliged and the appeals of

the junior officer were never allowed to reach the government.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

20

It is to his credit that the officer did not break down and continues in service while his farless competent colleagues have overtaken him on the career ladder. Denied selection to theall-India service, he later appealed to the Chief Secretary not to consider him any more for the

service. He took this drastic step in utter contempt for the corrupt department heads who

sat above him and decided his career advances.

Is it by design or accident that independent India has raised a criminal outfit to catch

criminals? It is in the interest of the police to accept the reality so that remedy could bethought of.

Unhealthy practices of myriad variety are found at the highest levels. A recent instance

is that of a police chief who, along with his wife, was taken to court on the eve of hisretirement to face trial for defrauding the public and a spastic society in whose name hesold(charity) entertainment tickets. It is a different story that the officer managed to silence

the social worker who brought up the charges and made sure the case fell through for lack of

evidence. To what sad levels could men in high ranks stoop to make a few dirty bucks!

The Indian Police Service continues to be an intellectually poor unattractive realm withonly the mediocre opting for it. The constabulary which forms the bulk of the service is

largely constituted by people from the lower strata of society who are diffident and hence donot exercise their powers against the more enlightened people. The tendency to foul-up

superior intellect and excellence is another factor that has adversely affected the police setup.

The general reluctance to adopt modern techniques of policing and management, thedogmatic approach to man-to-man and public relations and the lack of understanding ofhuman nature are other factors responsible for the unfortunate state of affairs. These

problems can be overcome only by efficient police leadership at all levels and only if a

semblance of objectivity reasonableness and good judgement touches the core of the policeadministration.

At present, growth is not much more than a spasmodic reaction to stimuli and lacks the

benefit of an integrated approach. A permanent cell of organisation experts under the direct

control of the police chief to redefine the police organisation is required to make it moremeaningful and need-based. This could help in streamlining the hierarchy by eliminating

redundant posts, rationalising workloads, preventing duplication and redefining duties andprocedures and thus the rights and responsibilities at each level. Result: police functioningwould be made more cost-effective and efficient.

The annual assessment of men and officers in the police has become a travesty of what itused to be or meant to be. In no way, under the present circumstances, does an ACR reflect

an officer’s qualities or capabilities. It is believed that the department would be far better off

without this pernicious evaluation process that breeds corruption and bias. What characterisesthe ACR today is a distinct lack of objectivity; it has become a means to personal ends, a

medium for the advancement of individual interests and even settlement of personal scores.Servility is its inevitable consequence and it would not be immoderate to say that eliminating

the ACR altogether would be certainly a step forward. If policing is to be effective in theyears ahead, specialisation is crucial. I suggest three distinct police services with separate

recruitment and training: (1) Regulatory police or uniformed police in charge of law and




21

order and other regulatory duties; (2) Mainstay police in charge of crime investigation andprevention and security and intelligence operation; (3) Social police in charge of preventionand investigation of all social offences and implementation of social legislation. All three

wings should have their own individual organisations up to the district level with

independent Superintendents and staff as required, functioning in tandem in much the sameway as the Army, Navy and Air Force. At the apex could be a specially constituted body

called the State Police Authority with the chiefs of all three wings as members and the Chief

Secretary as chairman.

All the present maladies emanate from the politicians who are only concerned with

winning the next elections. Until the organisation is extricated from the grip of politicians,

it cannot hope to rise above the mediocre level, either in proficiency or in character. Suchmediocrity is wont to percolate downwards in a democratic setup.

An All India Police Authority accountable only to th President of India at the national

level with the regional Police Boards in States as independent bodies should be created. The

Authority must be headed by a Supreme Court judge with the Union Home Secretary andthe Cabinet Secretary as members and the senior most police officer of the country as themember-secretary. The regional Police Boards must have a High Court Judge at the helm

with the Home secretary and the Chief Secretary as members and the State Police chief asmember-secretary. The arrangement will bring to an end interference of any kind in police

affairs, thus enabling the personnel to function in an independent atmosphere.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

22

ROLE OF POLICE

IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIA

The police is the watchdog in a democracy. It forms the axle that keeps the vital engineof the administration running. It is modelled on the British system except for a few changes

made in response to the situation regarding crime, security and law and order. That is not to

say that the Indian police is alien to the Indian situation. The utility of the Indian police toIndia depends on the direction and degree to which they have taken to this process of

adaptation and also how successfully and efficiently.

The responsibility of the police as an organisation is three fold in enforcing the rule oflaw; assisting the judiciary in the dispensation of justice and keeping an eye on the internal

security of the country. The three responsibilities do widely vary in their scope and

functional requirements. The police may sometimes be called upon to break laws, though

surreptitiously, in order to protect the security of the country. Or, while they function only asa fact finding machine to help the judiciary enforce the rule of law, they may be asked to

enforce laws as enforcers of law and order.In spite of these variations, what gives the

police a holistic dimension is their importance as the spine of the rule of law. They are thewatchdog of the administration. The police are one of the most important levers required in

running the machinery of statecraft. That explains the impatient race among rulers to control

this vital lever.

ASPECTS FORGOTTON

The very nature of the functions of the police demands that it be insulated from the

vagaries of the short-time rules of a democratic setup. Their responsibilities as enforcers oflaw warrant their allegiance exclusively to the rules and laws of the country; they are

beholden to the judiciary as the investigating authority while their part as watchdogs of the

country’s internal security raises them above political and leadership bickerings. Often, theseaspects of the police are happily forgotten in India.

The reasons lie in the rulers as well as in the police. In the rulers because it is natural foranyone to take advantage of the tools that make themselves available for use and it is rather

naïve to expect the rulers to ignore it while the police willingly offer themselves to be at theirdisposal. The rulers of democratic India do use the police for their personal and party ends to

the extent that the nearly half a century after Independence has obfuscated the distinction

between national interests and personal interests of the rulers in the use of policemen.

RESPONSIBILITIES IGNORED

The reasons lie in police because the police of democratic India chose to brush aside their

professional and national responsibilities and instead preferred to be the handmaid of those

in power . Two factors helped the process. One was the wrong type of people at the helm ofthe organisation as models. Another was the lack of understanding of the concepts of





PRAVEEN KUMAR

24

of them is corruption. Also, the passage of time has set in motion a process of continuousreconstruction.

The police of the British rule has as its prime objective the interests and upkeep of the

British Raj in India. In democratic India, in the absence of capable leadership, the system hasfailed to reset its priorities and formulate its objective. It seems to have failed to

comprehend where its loyalty should lie. The fall of the British Raj, may be, left a void and

they found refuge in the political leadership. On the one hand, the policemen were unable tothink clearly, and on the other, some officers in higher ranks wanted to be close to and in thegood books of key political figures to promote their interests. As a result, the system

gradually lost touch with its professional objective of being loyal to the Indian Constitution,

an objective of establishing the rule of the law in the country Power went into the hands ofdishonest and criminal elements.

EMERGENCY TREND

The police acted as the handmaid of the political leadership during the Emergency in1976, save for a few dignified people. Both the Central Bureau of Investigation and theIntelligence Bureau were extensively used for political ends. Then emerged the custom of

providing protection mostly to political leaders and other well-connected personages as theexpense of the public. The trend of the police being committed to political leadership has

continued.

It is an irony that the political leadership which is supposed to take the lead in thereconstruction of India is colluding with the police, which is supposed to be the tool of the

reconstruction, and is striking at the foundation of the strength of the country. Every year

sees a new phase and a new trend in this nasty collusion among the important players ofnational reconstruction taking the country nearer to the brink of lawlessness

During the bandh in Bangalore (1991) in connection with the Cauvery water dispute, the

police were mute spectators as the agitators indulged in vandalism and violence. In some

places, the officers were forced to open fire in self-defense and all hell broke loose. Dealtwith in a professional way, the situation could have been brought under control and the

death of several people and destruction of property could have been avoided, Indeed, acommission of Inquiry under Justice N.D.Venkatesh indicted the Police Commissioner forhis lapses. However, the officer’s political masters rose to the occasion and soon he

superseded a more efficient and down-to-earth senior. It is a different story that the State

administration changed hands within a few months and the new Chief Minister restoredorder by putting people in their places. But the fact remains that the findings of the Justice.

N.D.Venkatesh Commission of Inquiry never saw the light of day.

SERVING POLITICAL MASTERS

The political leaders are wary about the law and the judicial system; and they have to be

cautious on their dependence on illegal political funds. They need the help of the police andit is not the other way round. There are many police officers who understand this dynamics

and play their cards shrewdly. A police officer in a southern State played it so well that in




25

spite of his publicly proclaimed moderate efficiency, he not an occupied the covetedposition of the Police Commissioner of an important city as Inspector General of Police (byremoving the holder of the position within six months of the latter coming there), but also

managed to be there for many years by getting the post upgraded as and when he was

promoted as Additional Director General of Police and later as Director General of Police atthe cost of all other aspirants. On his retirement from service, the political masters obliged

him by constituting a one-man committee for him, supposedly to examine and advice on the

reorganisation of the police setup fo the State, but actually to provide him creature comfortsat Governmetn expense.

A case of cheating, forgery, falsification of records and misappropriation of over Rs.35

lakhs by the officials of the Karnataka Home Guards department was unearthed in 1994 anda criminal case was registered in the jurisdictional police station in December the same year.As the amount involved was huge, a process was set in motion to refer the case to the

Corps of Detectives for investigation. The then State police chief came to know that one of

the accused was his confidant when he was the Commandant-General of the Home Guards

the previous year. Suddenly, all activities regarding the criminal case were frozen for thenext six months till the police chief retired. Only in July 1995, the case was taken up andhanded over to the Corps of Detectives.

In the absence of concern on the part of the political and executive wings of the

administration in straightening out things, the judiciary is doing exemplary work by taking

action to counter the criminal elements. The attitude of the Supreme Court to the Jain hawalacase is a case in point. The awarding of jail sentence to senior bureaucrats and policeofficers of Haryna, Karnataka Andhra Pradesh and other states in 1995 for contempt of court

and creation of false evidences, and issue of nonbailable warrants and refusal of bail to a

couple of former Union Ministers this year for allegedly sheltering mafia dons andengineering anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi are other instances.

The scene is not as bleak as it seems to be. The wheel of change is slowly turning. The

interest taken by the Supreme Court in the nexus between the politicians, the bureaucrats and

the criminals and the Vohra Committee report on the criminalisation of politics are found tohave their effects.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

26

WHERE THEIR LOYALTIES LIE...

THE primary duty of the police is to maintain order which would include enforcing

the law and the prevention and detection ofcrime. The police ought to be concerned about

the interests ofthe general public, the standard of the law, the administration of justice and

the security parameters that ensure it. Loyalty is the foundation on which the policeorganisation is built up. Loyalty, would mean steadfast adherence to what is legal and the

law as the word `loyalty' originates from the Latin lex and legalis.Policing, as aprofession in a democracy, denotes fidelity to the sovereignty of the people and

necessitates upholding the law of the country, keeping up the orderly life of the commonman and safeguarding peace and security.

This is where the police differ from private armies. Disaster strikes when the policefunction as the private armies of the ruling political party or any influential member of

society. The police in India have fallen into this quagmire, its vitality and profesionalism

pushed to the background.

Loyalty is of two kinds. One is pure and simple fidelity to the master. The other owes

its allegiance to certain ideals and principles. This implies allegiance to one's duties,responsibilities, objectives, profession and the chosen path of life. This commitment raises

their loyalty to the status of a mission. The loyalty needed in a profession like that of thepolice is of elevated nature and it bestows the qualities of nobility and dignity on the

organisation. It lifts the police above factional interests and gives them a cosmopolitan

vitality. The strength and the trust born out of this superior form of loyalty stand the police

force in good stead in its hour of risk and crisis.

It is tragic that the Indian police prefer to trade this characteristic for trivial and

ephemeral benefits. The trend has spread like wildfire to ravage the institution. The genesislies in the promotion of career prospects and other perks dumb loyalty brings to individuals.Personal loyalty to political masters takes some people to the top, tempting others to follow

suit.

The models created a pattern and the pattern became a part of the system in a setup

where individuality and orginality are not sacred. The real threat lies in the possibility of

this tendency coming to be accepted as the true character of the police. This may not take

long to happen if the present goings on are any indication.

The malady is not limited to a particular state or unit. There can be hope of remedy if

there is at least one example of the right model. But none seems to be available. Isolatedattempts to tread the right path are seen as deviations from the mainstream. This is the

beginning of the atrophy of the Indian police. How far the degeneration has spread is

evident from the way some important criminal cases of political significance have beenhandled. A criminal case warrants professional loyalty in its investigation to bring theculprits to book. The political status of the accused and the fall-out are irrelevant to the

process of investigation.




27

The misconceptions about loyalty with a slant in favour of the political masters andother powerful influence-pedlars have clouded this vital aspect of policing. With the result,the rule of law has suffered and the administration of justice is crippled. The damage

already done to the country's public life cannot be repaired until the police are brought back

on the rails of loyalty to their profession.

The police, whether it is the Special Protection Group, the Intelligence Bureau, the

Research and Analysis Wing or the Central Bureau of Investigation, survive the transientpolitical masters and their political groups in power. Their relevance to the country is moreabiding than that of the politicians in power. In the circumstances, the police ought not

to be subservient to the political masters whose future is unpredictable. The police

going loyal to transient political interests certainly will damage and debase the systemitself.

It is a common practice in some States to change key officers when a new

dispensation takes over the rule. A recent example is from Tamil Nadu. And this is not an

isolated case. It reflects the attitude of the political leadership towards the professionalloyalties of the police. Public opinion about the professional loyalty of the police is ratherlow.

Politicians believe that all those in the police are commodities that can be bought and

``loyal'' policemen to make a substantial difference to their political fortunes. Hence the

mad rush to place favourite police officers in key positions. Thus politicians exploitthe weakness of the organisation. The culprit here is the perverted loyalties of the police.What is termed as political interference is patently the making of the police by their

personal loyalties.

The intelligence unit is the most abused section and its chief is the most willing tool.

Intelligence officers have a responsibility to their organisational objectives and theyought to work towards meeting their objectives. But misplaced loyalties restrict the scope of

the intelligence units which are seen as the lackeys of the ruling parties and their

leaders. The usefulness of the intelligence units as political tools is so pronounced inIndia that they are brought under the direct control of the Chief Executive of the

Government from the traditional Home Department and the chiefs are the main advisers ofthe Chief Executive, head and shoulders above even the Chief Secretaries in States and theCabinet Secretary at the Centre.

This importance is a reward for the lengths to which these officers would gorisking their personal and career safety and indulge in illegal acts to oblige the political

masters. Telephone tapping and shadowing political rivals of the ruling party leaders are

only minor prevarications these loyal police officers indulge in to keep themselves in thegood books of their political masters.

Assessing the political trends and suitability of candidates in different constituencies

during elections and reporting the activities of politicians within and outside the rulingparty are now wrongly seen as legitimate functions of the intelligence units.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

28

Mr. Chandra Sekhar, former Prime Minister, in response to a question on the Jainhawala case during the 11th Lok Sabha election campaign, said the investigation ofcorruption cases was the job of a Police Inspector and not that of a Minister. That answer

would be right in an ideal situation where the police function professionally, with their

loyalty fixed to their duties. It has no relevance in a situation where policemen are loyalto individuals or groups in power. The police being the executive edge of the

administration, their loyalties make all the difference to the quality of administration.

Factional loyalties have the singular potentiallity of eroding fairness and impartiality.They make professional loyalty seem meaningless. A mature and sober political leadership

can set right the fractured loyalties of the police organisation. In this context, judicial

activism, in a periodical review of the progress of investigation of some cases of nationalimportance, is a welcome step although in normal circumstances such a judicial reviewwould have amounted to interference in the independent functioning of the investigating

authority.

The duty of providing the right guidance and direction to the police lies with thepolitical leadership. Ironically, the police force has become an object of ridicule by beingasked to investigate certain affairs of the politicians with whom its absolute loyalty lies

and who twist policemen around their little fingers.




29

CAUGHT IN THE

VICIOUS CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr.M.Karunanidhi, in a scathing attack on the TamilNadu police after he assumed charge of the State Government in 1996, said “ Three fourths

of the police force, which, to the State, is like liver to human body, has become rotten.” The

remark coming from an experienced chief executive of a State distinguished for its efficientpolice force until a few decades ago indicates the atrophy that has set in, in the Indian police.

The department cannot stay untouched while there is marked fall in the standards of diligenceand integrity in other walks of life. Indian police adopted and adapted itself to corrupt

surroundings.

The basic ingredients of corruption in India are money and power. As Government

service, even at the higher rungs, has lost its charm in terms of remuneration and status, it has

been attracting only the second best among youth who otherwise would be left in the lurch.Professional dignity and integrity have been brushed aside leading to corruption. Priorities

in service have been shuffled, the sole objective being money and power. Organisational

objectives have been completely lost sight of. Shift in diligence helped to build money-power while shift in loyalties facilitated proximity to power-brokers. The degeneration

spread rapidly with the passage of time as organisational commitments became outdated

demode and pragmatism taught that immediate personal interests are for leading a good life.This was the beginning of corruption of Indian police.

A major contributing factor has been the gross fall in professional pride among the

personnel. Grass and insensitive handing of the policemen and police matters by political

leaders has eroded the morale and the sense of belonging to the police force. Attempts tosuppress and gain complete hold over the bureaucracy and the police in democratic India

have affected the police adversely causing a sense of inadequacy.

The lack of motivation to achieve organisational goals and show results is a clear

manifestation of the fall in professional pride. The police, which once was proud to enforce

law, to maintain order and to ensure peace and security, have lost all the enthusiasm as thesefactors became political and lost their importance otherwise. Crimes, criminals and law and

order problems were all subject to political convenience. The development shattered theprofessional pride of the police and struck a blow to their motivation towards organisational

ends. No organisation can exist without a driving force to sustain it. When there is a

vacuum of a drive to carry it onward, it is filled by corruption.

Policing is more a profession than a job. While job involves performing a task entrusted,profession entails dedication and commitment to a cause; in the case of the police upholdingthe rule of law and safeguarding the security of the country. How dedicated are the police to

this cause in India? Simple observation of criminal activities around and police responses to

them give clues to the situation.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

30

Let us take an obvious example- open sale of smuggled articles in exclusive marketsmaintained for the purpose in major cities of India. The common justification of the policefor allowing such markets to do business is that no hard evidences to prove offence are

available. This is unbelievable. If the police, with the resources at its disposals cannot

collect evidence against the illegal activities conducted openly on such a large scale, it isnot worth being in existence. There is not even a single case anywhere in India of such

exclusive markets dealing with smuggled articles being shut down and the illegal activities

being brought to a halt by prosecuting the sharks of the smuggling world.

The same is true of stolen articles. The footpath vendors in specified market areas trade

in consumer goods, running to crores of rupees each day, without paying legal dues to the

Government in the form of sales and income taxes and in violation of various rules and laws.The illegal business contributes to the growth of parallel economy of black money in thecountry. These markets thrive before the eyes of the local police force.

Either the police do not have the professional resolve to bring the illegal activities to halt

or the offenders who indulge in them have the police backing in running the business. Inother words, the police are hand in glove with them.

The leeway involved in the exercise of power, coupled with the sensitivity of the job,renders the force vulnerable to corruption. Letting gambling dens flourish, backing the

manufacture and sale of illicit liquor, overlooking prostitution, black-marketing and drug

trafficking, changing the course of investigation to save certain criminals or deciding theprocess of arrests and seizures to favour certain individuals or parties, make life different forthe people involved. On the one hand, illicit business carried out with police patronage or

tacit support make huge grists in which the police naturally have a huge share. On the other

hand, the culprits are prepared to pay any price in order to divert the attention of the police.Huge sums of money change hands either to avoid arrest, search and seizure or to change the

very course of investigation. The police can be part of such dirty deals without leaving aclue.

A fall-out of corruption is, the dishonest thrive at the cost of honest professional. Flexibleelements are useful assets to people in key positions to save their kith and kin as the when

they get involved in criminal proceedings. Such characters in police are always cultivatedand posted to key positions so that compromises can be easily mached Honest policeofficers are sidelined.

The need for police is limited to the need to have an obedient force at the disposal of therulers for use wherever they feel like. The existence of such a force gives the common man a

feeling of security. The force also helps to absorb the blames heaped on the rulers while

things go wrong. While these cardinal goals are met by the mere existence of the police,anything in addition, say professionalism, integrity and honesty become achronisms. The

general perception is that an upright police force is always an inconvenience to the peopleand therefore is not always tolerated and encouraged.

Corrupt police is the product of a corrupt society and corrupt police in turn perpetuate

corruption in society. This forms a vicious circle. As corruption takes control and spreads to




31

all strata of the force, upright elements in the force become a minority and also forfeit thecoveted position in the organisation as inconvenient candidates. They are scorned, detestedand avoided as moles in the mainstream. Taking recourse to unfair and illegal means to crush

upright officers in also not uncommon. Though courts of law can theoretically protect

officers against such harassment, expenses, time and uncertainties involved and the historyof court judgements render the protection meaningless and force the upright officer to silently

bear all humiliations and losses or yield to the pressures. It is to the credit of Indian police

that it has great officers who have withstood all slights without yielding to pressure.

In the olden days, corruption was confined to the lower strata of officials. The situation

has changed now; it originates from the above and percolates downwards. An intelligence

chief may drive his unwilling subordinates to adopt all sorts of illegal methods includingtelephone tapping, political espionage and other dirty tricks in his attempts to win over hispolitical masters and may even succeed at the cost of more senior aspirants. Now, what

about the subordinates once his business is done. His worry is how to use his new position to

further his prospects before he retires in a few months. As the date of retirement approaches,

his perception of right and wrong blurs in the lust to make the most of the position. This isthe crux of the problem of corruption.

Freeing the police from the grip of corruption is a priority for rebuilding India. A non-corrupt police is the beacon of a healthy society. The police can usher in a healthy social life

in the country only by first getting itself rid of the cobwebs of corruption and then infusing

professionalism in its work. It must elevate itself to the heights expected of it as the guardianof the rule of law, justice and fairness in the social structure of the country.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

32

POLICE STRUCTURE NEEDS

THE MANAGEMETN TOUCH

A major handicap in police administration is the absence of a tool to assess performance.The problem is, in fact, peculiar to the fields of crime control and security operations. The

object of the organisation is preventing crimes and success can be measured only in relation

to the extent the efforts pay. As the factors of such an effort are unknown after the crimes areprevented, the effectiveness of policing can never be measured. The results that are tangible,

namely the successful protection of a sensitive target or the creation of a crime-freeatmosphere during a particular period, can be the outcome for two different reasons; either

no crime was attempted, in which case even the least effective police could have producedthe same results or an all-out major attempt to commit crime has been prevented, which could

not have been achieved by anything less than first class policing.

The measurement of the quality of crime investigation and maintenance of order are alsoequally complex for different reasons. Policing in these fields largely depends upon

intangible factors such as luck, surroundings and the willing cooperation of the public. In

order to tackle these problems in gauging policing qualities, the organisation comparesdevelopments in the same period in the preceding years. But this is an unscientific method

and gives unsatisfactory results for various reasons. The crime rate or other policing

problems do not remain static over a period of time. These depend upon population,complexity of society, economic conditions, moral values, quality of leadership, politicalconditions, prices and climate, none of which follow any formula.

SUBJECTIVE FANCIES

The police needs, as a control device, a tool to measure policing quality. Until such a

device is invented, the administrators have to rely upon their subjective fancies to measure

and control policing and assess the work of their subordinates. Until a scientific device isformulated, the heartburns and frustrations caused by erratic measurement of work and

policing qualities, wherein a few mealy-mouthed smart guys always corner accolades at the

cost of efficient silent workers, will continue to prevail. A sufficiently active tool to measurepolicing qualities is therefore the first priority in the task of creating a new shape for the

Indian police. The success achieved in this field will decide the degree to which the Indianpolice can shed its shoddy image.

The police organisation is being run without requisite management principles. The majorlapse lies in the failure to define organisation objectives and formulate a specific set of

actions thereon. For example extraneous objectives such as creating employmentopportunities often inspire the creation of additional posts irrespective of the organisationalneeds, which results in the corrosion of job contents and thereby erode the morale of the

force. Work, often, is not allocated on the basis of scientific assessment of character and

aptitude.




33

Sophisticated equipment purchased under modernisation schemes without creating theinfrastructure for their operation or analysing their relevance and their relative merits to theorganisation, have resulted in their being dumped a few days after commissioning while even

some of the basic needs are yet to be met.

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

The police organisation of India would do well to formulate actions and operations in linewith the latest management principles and practices followed elsewhere. It may eitherconstitute an efficient cell of management experts to advice or hire a management

consultation firm for guidance. At any rate, the police organisation of the third millennium

should be a far smaller unit than now, manned by highly committed and capable officers whoare paid and looked after well by the Government.

The last three decades have seen a tremendous expansion in the Indian police. For the

lack of an organisational plan and the foresight to assess future demands, haphazard growth

has resulted. Organisational sensibilities such as workload, unit of control, accountabilityfunctional conveniences, span of control and information flow are never given the attentionthey need building an organisation. As a result, while a few posts in the police are

overburdened with work, there are many which have no work or accountability. Thelopsided growth of the organisation has spawned acute likes and dislikes for various

positions. Naturally, probity and objectivity are sacrificed in favour of survival and protection

of career interests. Corruption is rampant. This may not be the sole reason for the fallingstandards of policing. Yet, it is a major cause.

Rationalisation of the police structure to bring about a balance among the various posts

in the same rank would certainly help to ameliorate the situation. It would also help toeliminate the wastage of Government funds on unnecessary posts. The creation of such posts,

in order to accommodate unwanted elements, cannot be tolerated in a serious department likethe police. A systematic growth plan for balanced expansion is essential if the department is

to meet the tasks ahead.

INSTINCT

For the administrators, the knowledge of modern management principles makes policingand related operations cheaper, effective and less demanding in terms of time, place,

manpower, equipment and other resources. The instinct to study and plan operations in terms

of layout charts, time flow, span of control, methods of programming of operations,motivational aspects, human relationships, information flow, control methods, work analysis

and contingencies for emergencies must be inherent in police culture whether it pertains to

raids, maintenance of order, crime control, investigation, intelligence collection, securityexercises or simply administration.

Only the meticulous exercise of management techniques will make police administration

meaningful, purposeful and useful in giving the personnel direction and content.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

34

The present policing system in India has too much of paper work with hundreds ofregisters maintained in each station or office with tens of forms filled up at each stage. Adetailed study of the need for paper work should be taken up to eliminate its need so that time

is saved. Computerisation is also a possibility not far away. Professional knowledge is vital

in the field of policing too. What is at issue is not only the knowledge of law and proceduresbut a deeper insight into their applications, necessary in diverse circumstances. A mind, alert

to its surroundings with an inexhaustible curiosity to know what is afoot and triggers each

development and its likely impact on policing in general and the worker at hand inparticular, is essential for efficient policing. This entails special efforts to update professionaland general knowledge at all levels. There are training programmes, including inservice

training, but they lack in substance and quality. They fail to impart the right knowledge to

the trainees and induce attitudinal changes in them. The lack of commitment to work, eitherin actual performance or in supervision, is the primary cause of this failing . A healthy policesetup, from the constabulary to the ranks of the Director-General must possess sound

professional and general knowledge at all levels.

The modernisation of the police force with the latest communication, transport, weaponsand office equipment system and the simultaneous creation of the necessary infrastructure fortheir operation in advance alone will make the police force rise to the challenge of elite

criminals who are armed with sophisticated equipment. India of the third millennium willrequire its police force to be equipped with helicopters as an aide in emergencies. A

genuine and effective effort to achieve modernisation would be indispensable in the future.

A face-lift to police stations and offices with the latest office equipment and generalfacilities will go a long way in boosting the morale of the policemen.

INTELLECTUAL ANALYSIS

The passion for modernisation is not met with an intellectual analysis of the needs for

modernisation. The result is spasmodic efforts without the logistic support to sustainmodernistion. This has resulted in enormous wasteful expenditure towards the acquisition

of gadgets. Indian is yet to develop a system to assess the needs of modernisation in the

police and to devise techniques to speed up the process. India is yet to make full use ofadvanced computer facilities for policing, computerisation of fingerprints is yet to reach a

satisfactory phase. The use of helicopters for policing remains a dream. Distant hearing andnight-watch devices are also unknown.

The response time of the Indian police to a crisis call is unduly long when compared to

international standards. Efforts to shorten it, in Delhi and few other places where terroriststrikes made shocking impacts did bring about some improvements. These are only

exceptions. Otherwise, no serious though is given to the need for quick response. The

modernisation programmes which should pave the path for improving the response time,seldom attend to this salient need.

The Bangalore city police spent liberally in 1991 on modern communication gadgets;

but this did not improve its speed of response. Instances of such wasteful expenditure onmodernisation are available in other parts of the country also.




35

Though efforts have been made to redeem the image of the Indian police nothingsubstantial has been achieved thanks to amateurish handling of the affair. The managers havetheir image development tools limited to issuing occasional press statements when actually

image development has become a highly advanced. Field of specialisation.

CONSTABULARY

The constabulary which forms the backbone and cutting-edge of Indian policing andwields real authority over the populace, is a lowly-paid, modestly educated, non-elite mass ofworkes in uniform. The authority they wield makes them fearsome while their low status in

society stands in the way of their getting empathy and respect. The fearsome authority sans

empathy, respect and legitimacy decidedly proves a deadly substructure for an organisationand people certainly resent an organisation with this unhealthy attribute. This foible in theextant setup makes policing more complex.

The Indian police of the 21st century will require sub-inspectors with their present scale of

education and status in society as the primary unit of policing at the cutting-edge level.Constables up to the level of Assistant Sub-Inspectors of Police should be limited to theduties of assistants without police powers and responsibilities. This will require a huge

army of subinspectors while the contabulary stands to be severely spruced in strength.

With the removal of the constabulary from the hierarchy, the sub-inspectors will occupy

the lowest rank in the setup. Each police station works under a police inspector assisted by ahost of sub-inspectors, performing all subordinate functions including beat patrolling andinvestigation of minor cases.

Diligent efforts at the highest level in the organisation to create a force characterised byintegrity, commitment and intelligence may be the foremost need of a police organisation of

the future. The prevalence of police administration over general administration in thesurvival of a nation as a democratic and disciplined country may necessitate changes in the

recruitment and service condition rules to attract the best talent.

WORK ASSESSMENT

The system of assessment of work for promotion has fallen into utter misuse. Subjectiveassessments of corrupt influences must be replaced with periodical promotions in a time scale

of say, 25 years. So every police constable retires at least as an Assistant Sub-Inspector of

Police, a Sub-Inspector as a Deputy Superintendent of Police and an Indian Police ServiceOfficer as an Inspector General of Police. The officers of the Indian Police Service may be

posted, on first appointment, as Superintendents to make the career more attractive, though

not to districts directly. And dual recruitments as in vogue now, has to be stopped to makeselection meaningful.

Officers, in exceptional cases, may have avenues for special promotions in addition to the

two provided in a time scale of say 25 years, on the basis of a written examination and on anoverall assessment of their career of 25 years by high-power committees formed for the

purpose. The promotion of constabulary in exceptional cases to the ranks of PSIs and above



PRAVEEN KUMAR

36

should be screened by the All –India Police Authority and the promotion of an IPS officer asthe Director General of Police and above should be approved by a Central CabinetCommittee headed by the Prime Minister.




37

POLICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

– DOES END JUSTIFY MEANS?

A basic tool man devised to preserve his common rights is the police. It is an irony that

most incidents of human rights violations have their roots in the police. This is an example of

the fence grazing the crop.

The reasons are many. The most important lies in the police culture itself-its inability tolook beyond certain barriers it raises around itself; its failure to see a human being as he; its

incapacity to see its relevance to the common man outside the power structure; its inveterateindulgence with powerplay; its deviant interpretations of its role in the rule of law and, above

all, its scant respect for means (in achieving the end) The result is the police siding with thewrong-doers in the clashes between individual and national or other social interests, leading

to popular condemnation of the police.

Right thinking people are aware of the predicament and sufferings of their fellow-men.Thanks to the revolution in the communication sphere, human rights violations have become

a highly sensitive issue, with the human rights commissions at the regional, national and

international levels on their toes to detect, investigate, report and protest. The factual reportshave embarrassed Governments and their police outfits. It is distressing to note thatdeveloping countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America prominently figure in these reports;

and the record of the countries in the Indian sub-continent, including India, Pakistan and Sri

Lanka, is not inspiring either. India, in particular, must reread its recent human rights record.

The basic question is whether human rights violation is sine qua non with safeguarding

national and the larger social interests. The second is whether such violations are justified in

the cause of such interests. The third is what are the limits within which violations areconfined, and who imposes these limits and by what mechanism. What would be the

situation if the police who indulge in human rights violations to protect national, and socialinterests are thoroughly corrupt, immoral and unworthy of any trust? Answers are desperately

needed.

India’s human rights record is particularly bad in Punjab and Kashmir. Its record has

never been satisfactory in the North –East or with the naxalites.

Where does one draw the line between the larger interests of the country and the violation

of human rights? Blame is shifted from one level to another whenever the police is pulled up

for human rights violation during action. The top brass blames the field officers for excesswhile the latter blame the bosses for exerting pressures to show results without any

guidelines to protect human rights.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

38

The truth is that the police, at all levels, and its administrators are to be blamed, that noneamong the police and their administrators really bother about human rights and theirviolations, least of all during actions which expose them to tremendous risks. It is a do-or-die

situation. Once on a dangerous course of action, the sole aim of the police is to succeed in

the operation by whatever means. Moral questions such as human rights violations and thepublic agitation likely to follow do not matter, considering the dangers they face in carrying

out the task. It is a crisis and the tendency is to somehow overcome the situation

irrespective of what the future might hold. The administrators know that excessive checksand moral fears blunt the killer instinct in the policeman and affect the chance of his successin the field. The authorities up the hierarchy also believe in succeeding somehow rather

than play by the rules. This is the crux of the matter regarding human rights.

Human rights take precedence over national and social interests and transcend religiousand moral issues. Human rights become a sensitive issue only when they clash inter se and

invite a decision on basic issues. The question is who is to judge such basic issues.

Certainly the decisions cannot be left to the whims and convenience of the police.

The human rights is the spine of policing must be made an integral part of the policeculture. This is absolutely necessary. Only such emphasis restrain the police from indulging

in violations.

NATURAL AND BASIC

Human rights are the natural rights of the human race as well as the laws that help makesocial life possible. This gives a legal slant to the issue. The legislature, in a democracy,

decides how much of such rights could be surrendered in common interest. The legislature

by promulgating laws and the courts by interpreting them delineate what natural rightsconstitute inviolable human rights violations are an issue between the legislature and the

judiciary on the one hand and the executive, which is the police, on the other. For the fear-struck citizens, it is an issue between the helpless them and the arm-twisting Government. In

simple terms, human rights violations involve violating the basic rights of life, liberty and

human dignity beyond the limits of the law. The violations may be committed in the acts ofexecution, confinement or torture. It is basically the use of power beyond the scope of law

for certain ends and is not committed for any noble end. Such violations are common insecret service operations; in emergent situations, say, when separatists or terrorists areactive or dangerous operations of foreign agents are suspected.

The police indulge in human rights violations on suspected elements to bring the situationunder control either by eliminating them or by forcing them to reveal their plans. Fake

encounters were first contrived and staged by the Indian Police. Crime investigations account

for a large share of human rights violations in the developing countries where third degreemethods are employed in the interrogation of the people detained. Death, rape and torture in

custody are common in many developing countries.

Are acts of human rights violation effective in crime investigation or in controlling atroubled situation? The answer is no. A temporary lull may be created, but in the world of

organised crime, the illegalities of human rights violations have either no impact or have just




39

the opposite impact. The criminals are mentally and physically prepared to face any threat totheir basic rights. Devising alternative plans to counter police action is only a minordiversion in their massive operations. In fact, they enjoy fighting the Government on equal

terms with no legal or moral inhibitions. Their resolve to fight the Government with all the

resource at their disposal is only strengthened. It becomes a no-hold barred fight thenonwards, the law-enforcers losing their initial advantages and the edge of civility and

decency.

Inhuman and outrageous acts perpetrated by established Government agencies have anelectrifying impact on the common man whose sympathies are in favour of the victims. The

legal and moral relevances become immaterial to the citizen. A well organised outfit

actually contrives to create a situation to earn the sympathy of the public.

HARDENED CRIMINALS

Another reason why acts of human rights violation will not put an end to crimes is the

criminals get hard and wish to take revenge and embarrass the establishment. This is howresistance grows. This is what happened in Punjab, in Kashmir and in Vietnam in the Sixtiesand the Seventies.

Another impact of the violation of human rights by the state is the loss of fear and respect

for the authority of the state. Once subjected to third-degree methods during interrogation,

a petty criminal comes out as a hardened criminal. A government devoid of moral authoritycannot rule at all.

Secret services indulge in dirty tricks involving human rights violation in national

interests, though law and morality demand that such violations in any form and for reason arebad. Criminals have their own code of conduct. Secret service is a world apart and its

dramatis personae are inveterate in criminal games, with the official sanction to play them.The danger lies in committing excesses that endanger the safety and the well-being of

innocent people not involved in the game in any way. It is left to each state to draw the line

depending on the sensitivity of each problem though it cannot openly declare that it ispromoting and guiding the secret acts even remotely. Yet it is a cardinal duty it must

perform.

Another dimension of human rights violations is its commission for personal ends in the

garb of fighting a social cause. In the atmosphere of violence, individuals from enforcement

agencies as well as terrorist outfits may take advantage of the situation and indulge inkillings, extortions and rape. India saw it happen in Punjab and Kashmir and even in the

North –East where personal scores wee settled.

The tragedy about Indian law –enforcers is that they are keen on the immediate show of

results to earn the appreciation of the higherups, in the process relegating to the oblivion theneed to find lasting solutions. That is why the violation of human rights is on the rise as

efficient and ingenious policing is less preferred. This is true about managing law and orderissues as well as investigation of crimes.



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40

Laws are formulated and promulgated by the government keeping in sight the needs ofthe country and the responsibilities of its enforcing machinery. The need to go lawless inorder to enforce laws arises only when the law-enforcers perceive that the laws are inadequate

or their abilities are inadequate to meet the challenges in the field. The laws being what they

are, framed from time to time, to suit the needs of the field, the only conclusion one can drawfrom rampant human rights violations is that the enforcers are utterly devoid of professional

skill and the instinct to do effective policing and hence resort to lawlessness as a short-cut-

method.

The heart of police responsibilities is protection of rights, be it individual, corporate ,

organisational or social, or the rights of the nation for survival. Protection, prevention and

investigation are the tools available for achieving these ends. Human rights make up theessence of the privileges man enjoys in the social setup. The police, entrusted with theresponsibility of protecting rights, are doing a disservice to the profession and humanity in

violating human rights in the discharge of peripheral duties.

But this is not unique to Indian police. The police and the governments of almost all thedeveloping countries suffer from the syndrome, the problem being acute in non-democraticcountries.

The problem is laying the emphasis on results irrespective of the means. Committing an

injustice in the name of justice cannot be called a service in the cause of justice. In policing,

each means is an end by itself. Policing by its very nature, involves extreme measures suchas detention, arrest, search, seizure, impounding, forced entry, taking possession, controllingmovements and the use of weapons. These methods when not employed discreetly and

moderately, do great harm to individuals and society. Perhaps in no other organisation is

means as vital as in the police.




41

RESTORING CREDIBILITY TO

CRIME INVESTIGATION

The last decade of this century sees the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) becomingthe Indian version of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Intelligence(FBI) headed by J.Edgar Hoover

in the middle of the century With one difference.

The FBI became a key component and much feared public institution, thanks to the open

aggressive moves of its energetic Director, while the CBI gained notoriety as a pawn in thepolitical game of chess used to bring rivals down on their knees. The trend altered the

judiciary which became active.

The CBI, closely watched by the judiciary, had to discharge its professional

responsibilities and this saw many skeletons in the cupboard tumbling. The organisation, in

the process, shed its meekness against powerful politicians and proved it was a force toreckon with.

Being the highest authority of the country in crime investigation, the CBI must containthe best investigation brains vested with the power to execute the work.

Personal attributes such as probity and professionalism are essential. But does the CBImeet all these needs?

The seventh Schedule of the Constitution has the police and public order, except for the

deployment and use of forces of the Union, under the State List, and criminal law, criminal

procedure, administration of justice and judicial proceedings under the Concurrent List.

The Central Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation figures in the Union List. The

arrangement provides for a separate bureau of investigation. The legal authority of the CBI isdefined by a short six-section Act of 1946 titled “Delhi Special Police Establishment Act,

1946” which provides for the constitution of a special police force by the Central

Government for the investigation of notified offences in any Union Territory and in any areain a State where the jurisdiction of the police force is extended by the order of the Central

Government on the consent of the State Government.

The last section of the Act states the special police force cannot exercise its powers in an

area without the consent of the Government of that State. The special police force enjoysall the powers, duties privileges and the liabilities of the police officers of an area in the

investigation of the offences committed there.

The superintendence of the special police force lies with the Central Government and the

administration with an officer whose grade is on par with State police chief.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

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The preamble of the Act speaks about the need for the constitution of “ a special policeforce in Delhi for the investigation of certain offences in the Union Territories and to makeprovision for the superintendence and administration of the said force and for the extension to

other areas of the powers and jurisdiction of the members of the said force in regard to the

investigation of the said offences”.

It is the national character of the CBI that makes it stand head and shoulders above the

myriad crime investigation department. Its prime position as the investigator of allimportant and sensitive crimes has brought it to the centre-stage in the public life of India.

Otherwise, the CBI, as an investigating agency, is on par with any other crime

investigation department regarding the law, judicial proceedings, investigation methods andthe powers and privileges given to the investigators.

Does the CBI, in its present form, fully qualify to be a premier investigating authority?

The answer is no. The restraint on the CBI from exercising its powers and jurisdiction in any

area in a State without the consent of the government of that State is a great handicap.

India, in 50 years, has come across several States giving and withdrawing consent

depending on their political and parochial conveniences. This attitude renders the CBI part ofa political game plan tarnishing its image and degrading the merit of the investigations.

The CBI should be empowered to extend its tentacles to all areas of the country andinvestigate all types of offences classified crime. The Act has to be amended to that effect.

The Act provides for the appointment of the head of the CBI by the Central Government,

which involves politicians. Now, why should the head of the premier investigating agency benamed according to the whims and fancies of the politicians in power? The power of

appointing the head of the CBI should be taken away from the Centre. The agency will thenhave its credibility restored. Again, the Act has to be amended.

Once a case is referred to the CBI, the people assume that the law will take its course.Only insiders know the turns and twists it undergoes depending upon who is what in the case

and in the Government

Right from taking up a case for investigation to the stage of filing a chargesheet and

later, anything may happen at any stage depending upon the political dictates. A case may be

investigated and chargesheet filed within a few weeks or months or just shelved for decades.Arrests, decisions on bails, searches, seizures and chargesheets are all subject to political

convenience. The political head gains this leverage by becoming instrumental in the

appointment of a particular police officer who would never have dreamt of making it to thetop.

The grateful chief knows to whom he owes his coveted position, and his power and

conscience are at the convenience of his political boss. This is an arrangement of mutualbenefit.




43

When the new chief dares to challenge the will of his political patron, the sword of abruptremoval from the post is held over his head. Now he has no option but to go against hisconscience and professional will unless he is prepared to sacrifice his job. By quitting, he

does service to nobody: after all, there are others waiting to distort professional decisions at

the command of the politicians. So he would rather join the race. This is how the agencychief is brought down on his knees.

The malaise lies in the legal framework inherited from the Act the provided forconstituting the special police force. When a series of sensitive cases against prominentpolitical leaders was referred to the CIB in the Nineties, the agency stood exposed by its

meddling.

The case of the Bofors gun deal drags on; the handling of the St.Kitts forgery case, theJain hawala case, the urea scam, the JNN bribery case, the Lakhubhai pathak cheating case,

the Indian Bank scam, the telecommunications scandal, the anti-Sikh riots case of 1984 and

the case of harbouring terrorists and mafia associates has dealt a blow to the credibility of

the CBI. The public no more trusts the CBI.

What exactly has brought about the situation? Delay, sometimes running into years, in

taking up or completing investigation of politically inconvenient cases, prompt executionwhen the political climate is congenial, decision to oppose or allow bails on political

considerations, building up cases around flimsy evidence such as entries in diaries and

inconsequential photographs sans corroboration have all eroded the status of the CBI.

Going to the press about chargesheeting key political personalities even before statutory

permission is obtained for the purpose (the Supreme Court observed, in this context: “ talking

too much outside and also carrying documents” in the pockets) and leaks about politicallysensitive cases make the agency suspect.

The charge that the CBI is more interested in trying the cases in the media than in courts

cannot be answered squarely.

If the appointment of the CBI chief is one side of the coin, the enormous powers he and

his political masters enjoy is the other. Professional investigation by an upright officer canalways be scuttled and the officer abruptly removed if he is found too inconvenient.Reverting officials to the base is always a possibility.

Mr.K.N.Singh, former Joint Director of the CBI, in his book, “My CBI Days” refers tothe harassment he underwent for pursuing investigation according to his conscience.

Mr.K.Madhavan, another Joint Director, preferred voluntary retirement.

The solution lies in liberating the CBI from the grip of the politicians and bringing its

top brass to their senses about professional responsibilities. Making the CBI autonomous isnot going to achieve anything.

There is no guarantee that the CBI chiefs who make merry in the company of their

political benefactors will behave better when left free. Chances are that they may run parallel



PRAVEEN KUMAR

44

political manoeuvres to build a base for theselves.The Supreme Court pronounced on May 5,1997, that it was not in favour of making the prime investigating agency totally autonomous,but would like to evolve a method based on checks and balances so that it could function

independently in accordance with the law.

The crux of the matter is “ a method based on checks and balances”. The key is the

appointment of the chief of the agency.

A statutory panel constituted of men from the judicial profession as advisor to theagency may fulfil the need for “checks and balances”. The panel may be invested with the

power to appoint and remove CBI chiefs on the basis of their performances.

The panel may advise the agency on taking up cases, arrests, searches, seizures bail andchargesheets. The advice has to be statutorily binding on the process of the investigation.

The panel has to be free to monitor the process and the pace of the investigation.

The panel may consist of a dozen senior most retired judges of the Supreme Court aspermanent members, one of them as chairman and the CBI chief as member-secretary. Themembership of the panel must be awarded to the senior retied judges including chief justices.

Only a full panel with a minimum of 80 percent quorum must be empowered to decide,

on a simple majority, about the appointment and removal of the CBI chiefs, promotions and

transfers of officers of an above the rank of Assistant Director.

The function, privileges, rights, liabilities and responsibilities of the panel have to be

clearly defined in order to avoid clashes with the CBI.

A suitable amendment to the ”Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946” is the first

step. The constitution of the panel as part of the body of the CBI shall be the second step.And the third and most crucial step will be suitable administrative measures to ensure that

the panel discharges its responsibilities in a fair manner. Appreciation and an atmosphere

free of bureaucratic hassles and pulls and pressures will help the elder members of the judiciary discharge their responsibilities in guiding the CBI in the right course.




45

WHAT AILS

THE INDIAN SECRET POLICE

It is significant that the history of the police of sovereign India begins soon after theturbulent years of the second World War. The shift saw an expansion in the vista of policing

worldwide, the most important being clandestine operations for national security. Covert

operation blossomed as a full-fledged institution and was recognised as a tool of statecraftonly during and after the second World War (Germany, the Soviet Union and Britain before

and during the war and the U.S. and Israel after it perfected the techniques.

The establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the early Fifties from theremnants of the office of Special Services( OSS), with an exclusive division to handle

clandestine operations abroad (sometimes domestic operations also) marked a milestone in

the history of intelligence.

Free India , in spite of its moral values and abiding faith in the Gandhian philosophy of

truth and honesty, found covert operations indispensable for survival. Though attempts

were scratchy in the beginning India made significant breakthroughs in penetrating,moulding and controlling the affairs of neighbours after setting up the Research and

Analysis Wing (RAW) to handle covert operations in foreign countries. Its operations and

performance in Bangladesh, Sri. Lanka and Pakistan and to a somewhat lesser extent inAfghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and some of the Gulf countries are equal to the best inthe world.

Its role in the creation of Bangladesh, containing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,

checkmating Pakistan in Kashmir and controlling the terrorist misadventures of internationalSikh communities against Indian targets have earned it worldwide accolades. This in spite of

the fact that the Indian secret police is a lightweight performer in the arena of international

clandestine wars and its overall performance is unimpressive for the size and resources of thecountry. The reasons are many.

The first is the lack of commitment to the national cause and ideologies such asintegration, democracy, secularism, nonaligned movement and mixed economy. Another

reason is the moral atrophy experienced by the police after independence leading to a setbackin the professional approach. Postings to the RAW with opportunities for foreign

assignments have become an obsession depriving the job of all its substance and spirit.

The other reason is political interference in postings and transfers of the RAW officials.

It is in fact political connections rather than security screening and clearance and aptitude forclandestine operations which decide the issue. Huge unbudgeted and unaccounted funds atthe RAWs disposal make the appointments highly lucrative. This is an extremely

dangerous trend in a security apparatus where commitment, trust and absolute secrecy are

vital and draw the line between life and death.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

46

LACK OF PERSPECTIVE

Clandestine operations require highly specialised skills, Ignoring this need means

compromising and betraying the organisation’s operational efficiency and exposing the

country to dangerous security threats. Another important reason for the retarded growth ofthe Indian secret police is the general lack of security consciousness in the country and the

inability to see and place the imperatives of a national security policy in the right perspective.

These glitches end up in security breaches. India’s approach to national security is alwayspiecemeal, incoherent and casual.

It does not have a sound and well-conceived national policy. Security threats are always

treated with short-term face-saving responses which never contribute to the real long-termsecurity needs of the country. The people who fought a mighty power to liberate thiscountry from the yoke of foreign rule just half a century ago have not bothered to start a

public debate on the subject. Indian security now is left at the mercy of time and it is sheer

luck that democracy has escaped the hungry wolves waiting to prey on it.

Security policy is the essence and unifying factor behind all the policies of mostdeveloped as well as developing countries. Whether in foreign, defence or economic policy,

industry, trade and commerce, science and technology or human resource development, thepolicies are all oriented to national security. Most developed countries have exclusive super

agencies reporting directly to the head of government to advise it on, oversee and mastermind

national security policies and its operations.

The U.S. has the National Security Agency (NSA) doing yeoman service as the national

security advisor to the President and enjoys more powers than the CIA. Israel and Russia

have efficient outfits at the political level to formulate their national security interests. Mostdeveloped countries have created their own systems to mastermind matters touching national

security with the power to override the decision of other departments. India is yet to learnits lessons from these developments.

The excessive concern for national security has led to the creation of parallelgovernments and power centres in some countries. There are instances of black acts being

committed against the legitimate policies of countries in the garb of national security.Pakistan is an example of a constitutionally-elected government living in the shadow of fearof its secret police. The Inter-Services Intelligence )ISI) has indeed taken upon itself the

responsibilities of national security.

LOYALTY, A POSITIVE ASPECT

In the context, a positive aspect of India’s poor concern for secret interests is its clean

slate regarding the existence of secret parallel governments and clandestine power centres. Itis creditworthy that the Indian secret police has remained subordinate and loyal to its

legitimate authorities.




47

The field of operation for the security agencies continues to be confined to traditionalmethods which ignore the needs of a modern integrated approach in consonance with thenational policies and programmes. India cannot afford to treat its security concerns

according to the whims and fancies of the people who come to head the Ministries and their

political and personal ideologies.

India lacks a regimen of long range security programmes to make its security operations

meaningful and purposeful. It is lagging far behind the world standards in hi-tech ultra-secretespionage operations. Its secret police are yet to make proficient use of the country’simpressive strides in satellite launches and other space innovations. Except perhaps in the

case of Pakistan, India is yet to fully utilise the service of world-class mercenaries. In short,

security is not high on the priority list.

The state of affairs is even worse in the special branches or intelligence units of the

States and Union Territories. The former have become tools of the ruling parties which spy

over their political opponents and the field situations. Law and order is pushed to the

background.

As far as internal security is concerned, they are rather ill-equipped for the task in,

manpower resources, hi-tech equipment, expertise, organisational efficiency and motivationfactors, save some routine VIP security exercises which do not call for expertise. These

exercises are meant just to oblige and gratify political masters.

Their contacts with the news media, a vital link in intelligence operations, are few and aremostly confined to local newspapers for the purpose of disinformation and to keep track of

news dissemination. Occasionally, these contacts are misused to promote favourite

subordinates. The role of these special branches in providing skilled recruits to securityagencies at the national level has remained a dream.

The institution of an apolitical agency with a permanent core group of experts whose

integrity is proven alone can change the situation. This nucleus will act as the guide,

advising the head of government in national security matters. Efforts made in this directionare rather sketchy, ill- conceived and half-hearted. It is high time work was done in earnest

to form this comprehensive agency.

VIP PROTECTION

In India, national security, for all practical purposes, is synonymous with VIP securityand the police refuse to look beyond protecting individuals. This is because of the lopsided

loyalties and aberrations in understanding professional objectives and responsibilities and a

tendency to trade off professional responsibilities and services for promotions. Thisexplains the existence of the Black Cats, National Security Guards, Special Protection Group

and so on. While the safety of national leaders is important, it is not the plank on whichnational security stands.



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The VIP security has become a public farce with all kinds of people demanding andobtaining security classifications depending on the money and power they have. They getthe cover of highly trained police personnel as a mark of their prestige and social standing.

All matters concerned with national security are highly sensitive and should be treatedas such. It should not be degraded into a mean exercise for the benefit of a few persons,

however influential and important they may be.

Each VIP visit to a region ends up with the entire law and order wing of the police forcedrawn out for protection duties, throwing normal work out of gear. With the VIPs busy

trotting around the country, it has become a serious threat to routine police work.




49

POLICE UNPROFESSIONAL

Policemen are executives of law and executors of the rule of law. As professionals, their

only interests are the laws of the country and its enforcement at all costs including personal

safety and self-interests. This, however, is only an ideal situation. The job culture and peer

pressure play a major role in setting the standards in an organisation. This situation is not

quite happy regarding the Indian police now. The reason is the general collapse of theprofessional instinct, caused by the degeneration of values. Society gets the police it

deserves. A country of self-seekers naturally has a self-seeking police force and theconsequence is lawlessness. This is the malady India suffers from. The symptoms are

crime, disorder and insecurity that have kept the country and its people in a stranglehold.

An incident that took place 16 years ago in Chitradurga district of Karnataka willillustrate the kind of professional commitment Indian police pursue. A gambling den was

raided by the police and the owner spoke lowly of the DIGP whom he said was taking “

mamools” from him every month. The matter was reported by a local newspaper. Thisinfuriated the DIG and the police turned its ire on the newspaper. The Deputy

Superintendent of Police of the sub-division in which the range headquarters was situated

joined the fight and a gang ransacked the office and the press of the news paper a week later.Though a case was registered with the local police station and the owner of the newspaper

moved heaven and earth to bring the culprits to book, nothing came out of it and the casewent undetected. But the people knew who were behind it all.

Such episodes shatter the trust of the public who cannot look upon the police as the

guardian of their rights and interests. Basically, lapses lie more in the concepts than in

individuals. The police as a collective force operated to wreak vengeance on the newspaperfor factual reporting, though somewhat indiscreet. But going on a rampage, however highlyplaced the officer in question could be, in nothing but, making a mockery of professional

objectives. The most disturbing aspect of the present Indian police is the slow and steadyprocess of replacement of the passion for law, justice and fairness by a single-pointed

indulgence of self-seeking tendencies as the drive of the police system. Much more

disquieting is the attitude of the public about the development and their complete

dependence on the police as the protector of their legal rights, provider of security addispenser of justice. What is actually happening is a great betrayal. Indeed, the tool, namely

the police, is there to enforce law and provide security. But it has become the handmaid of

the rich and influential and serves the interests of the people in that stratum of the population.

Self-seeking tendencies express themselves at all levels of policing and management of

organisational matters. As far as policing is concerned, be it crime-prevention or

investigation, collection of intelligence or management of internal security or maintaining law

and order, self-interest has role to play. It’s expression in crime management is too obvious amatter.



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50

While intelligence collection is becoming a politically oriented function, internalsecurity operations are no more than providing cover to political bigwigs and other influentialpeople at the cost of more pressing problems of national magnitude.

Law and order has become a tool in the hands of the politicians and the policemen make

themselves available for such games. In the process, honest policemen suffer and the moraleof the system receives a serious setback. The result is lawlessness spawned by the absence

of effective policing and wrong models as the protectors of law.

The parochial instinct of the police expresses itself in the management and organisational

matters. Under the cover of discipline and the need of tacit obedience, the game offavouritism is wilfully played on the one hand and any resistance is ruthlessly crushed on

the other. Organisational processes such as promotions and transfers are widely used toachieve personal ends. Posts with no job content are created in various ranks primarily to

accommodate officers who refuse to fall in line with the higherups for reasons of

conscience and professional integrity. It an upright officer takes a sinecure posting in hisstride and refuses to part with his principles, he is harassed through other means. Recently

the commandant of a training college pressed his higherups and the state Home Secretary for

the removal of a functionary of the college from his important postion. The latter wasaccused of involvement in a fraudulent act involving several lakhs of rupees. The Home

Secretary and the chief of the unit ( in the rank of DGP) made sure that the commandant ofthe college faced the consequences for recommending action on their favourite official. His

vehicle was withdrawn, telephones were disconnected, his personal staff was harassed and

his subordinates were encouraged to disobey. This continued until the officer who foundfunctioning impossible went on leave. He reported back to duty only after he was transferred

out. More surprising is that such incidents take place in the open without any attempt to

keep it secret or discreet.

Professional pride is the panacea for the malady of self-interest in professionals.

Greating an ambience of professional pride is a sure way of nurturing and promoting high

professional standards and efficiency. It is immaterial whether high professional pridecreates high standards. The fact is both are important to create a conducive environment of

professionalism.

India definitely needs such a professional environment in its police force to strengthen its

democratic traditions and the roots of the rule of law. An organised effort is on in the Indianpolice to force its members to fall in line at the cost of individual brilliance and creative

abilities. The policemen are starved of innovative steps. The organisation follows theprinciple of nipping talent in the bud insisting on unquestioning servitude. The talk of thetop brass on public platforms about the need to nurture excellence and the outstanding

qualities is a farce. Most leaders prefer status quo at the peril of the growth of theorganisation so that their interests remain undisturbed.

For administering the medication, first, topmost police leaders of the country need to be

convinced that the police of present India are really ailing with serious problems and thesystem really needs treatment.




51

LAW AND JUSTICE

Justice begotten at a cost is justice lost. The fact is lost sight of by present administration

of justice. Justice necessitates an integral vision. It cannot be isolated from its environment,

past, present, future, diverse issues, people involved and related events. It means delving intothe heart of an issue and delivering justice taking into account all related issues and matters to

the rightful entitlement of all. This presupposes a passion for objectivity and justness and

above all, selflessness in the arbitrators of justice as well as in those who are in the service ofthe administration of justice. The role of the police in the administration of justice comes

under scrutiny in the context of their part in the investigation of crimes and maintenance oflaw and order.

The police play umpteen roles as executors at the grassroots level. They are basically

performers, actual doers in the field. Passion is the normal trait of action. Objectivity and

justness seldom give company to those who act to show results. Expecting selfless traits in

policemen is akin to waiting for rain drops to fall from bright white clouds. The policemenperform their duties with normal flair and loyalty while put in service of justice. Only they

lean towards the rich and the powerful.

Loyalty to justice is a noble cause. It signifies a heightened mind bound to a heightened

cause. Loyalty to a value or a just cause is always a great virtue. The same cannot be said

about loyalty to individuals of whatever importance. Individual loyalty in the service of theadministration of justice is self-defeating. The achilles’ heel lies in loyalty, basically faith, ablind faith, sans stirrings in the conscience. The only loyalty desirable for those in the service

of the administration of justice in addition to the loyalty to the cause of justice and other

virtues is loyalty to conscience, freedom of thought and independent judgement. A

policeman with his loyalty can do an exemplary job in the administration of justice.

The police, as the cutting-edge of governance, enjoys enormous powers. They can

prevent, check, prohibit, restrain, regulate, confine or arrest erring people. They can forciblybreak-open, enter, search and seize when the need arises. They may use weapons to hurt and

kill. These extraordinary powers are tools of the police in serving the interests of justice. The

police, as the means of justice, is exempted from the process of justice by the law itself. Therelevance of the police in the administration of justice is two-fold: one, fair exercise of their

powers to ensure that no harm is done to the process of justice. There is virtually no way toforce them to comply with the needs of objectivity and fairplay in work save their own

interpretations of laws and actions. Interference of the court often is to little, too late to be

meaningful. The lack of a sound mechanism of supervision and the poor position of thepoliceman in society, mediocre education and a deviant job culture inhibit the police from

performing at levels commensurate with their responsibilities. They have no organisationalpride. Field orientations distract them from high human values. A weak economic positionand opportunities to make easy money render them prone to corrupt practices. There is

nothing tangible in their service to inspire a commitment to the noble cause.



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Shallow policing is responsible for all the mishaps and turbulence of the first half centuryof independent India. Another factor is the exercise of their special powers without goingagainst justice. The police is a fence which, with its extra-ordinary powers, however, can ruin

the crop it is asked to protect. The enormous powers confer special responsibilities on it to

protect innocent people from a rash exercise of powers.

Every person thinks he is right and every criminal is just in his own assessment. Every

act of a human being has its own logic, reasons and justifications. This is true of the policetoo. Every encounter, every lockup death, every third-degree method, every wrongfulconfinement, every illegal arrest and every excess committed by the police has its own

justification. It is irrelevant how the justifications appear to outsiders. You seldom find a

policeman confessing to a wrong or an excess committed. Commissioners have explainedaway the gunning down of innocent citizens by subordinates in broad daylight as a case ofmistaken identity. We have any number of cases of senior police officers colluding with

subordinates in destroying evidence of lock-up death cases.

The cause of failure of the police lies more in the system’s failure, the character of itsmain players, deviant job culture and wrong leadership than in the concept of policing.Police in an inappropriate milieu may turn into a monster.

These days the executive heads of government opt for their own men in the police force

to head premier investigation agencies; political rivals are investigated and charge-sheeted on

flimsy grounds while cases of national significance drag on. The police is reduced to the stateof a tool of political revenge in this power game. In the process, the police loses itscredibility as a nonpartisan player and an infallible tool of establishing justice.

Making justice a costly affair gives another dimension to the issue. Effectiveness of thepolice lies in its ability to make justice an easily and cheaply dispensable commodity. The

police is the first line of defence. Courts come on the scene only in a far later stage. Mostcases of dispute never go beyond the police stations. Good police certainly symbolises

effective administration of justice more than courts and prosecution department together do.




53

POLICE MORALE

ERODED BY POOR ADMINISTRATION

The basic ingredients of good policing are professional pride and good image. A goodimage boosts professional pride. Good image brings in its wake public cooperation and

enhances the social recognition of the police personnel.

True policing is impossible in the absence of the strength of pride, responsibilities to

society can be discharged only from a position of strength. A weak police cannot do a good job. Pride is linked to morale. Police personnel humiliated in career can never face the

people from a position of strength and do good policing. The tragedy lies in policeadministration. Its vanity belittles the police, breaches its pride and shatters its image.

The police administrators in this country refuse to realise the basic psychological

imperative of good policing; they crush professional pride whenever and wherever it is seenraising its head. Sadly to meet personal ends. Perhaps staff in no other government

department suffer humiliations as in police. This is true at all levels including the highest

ranks.

Suspensions and disciplinary actions are common; when disciplinary action would

include such indecent measures as withdrawal of vehicles, telephone and other facilities,denial of promotions, transfer to humiliating jobs created just for the purpose and keeping theperson waiting without a job. This attitude produces a weak and confused police force with a

low self-esteem.

The police force is a tactical tool that can be of immense help to check the interference ofthe law. The police are aware of this aspect. They know that nothing works as fear does.

They now that the advantages of a policeman out-weigh the risks of breaking the spine by

whatever means and that policemen so reined-in can be made to perform any job even at risksto his own life and honour. This is why the administrators spare no effort and lose no

opportunities to beat, terrify and bully policeman of whatever rank, status, and

enlightenment, even at the cost of professional pride.

SCAPE GOAT

An upright officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police of a State and a

scholar in diverse fields was known to refuse to bend against his conscience and this factmade him unpopular among his superiors. While he was the Chief of State prisons in 1995,

he addressed his government about the tragic security lapses in a major prison in the Stateheadquarters and sent proposals to improve the situation. No action was initiated on the reportby the government.

In the closing months of 1995, a mafia gangwar that ensued in the State capital led to themurder of a gang leader by a prison inmate. The Government ordered an enquiry by the



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Home Secretary. The latter who found the ADGP a thorn in his flesh found a goldenopportunity in the enquiry. The officer was removed from his position and was not given analternative posting for atleast three months. If anybody was to be held responsible for the

lapses in the prison, it was the government for not acting on the report of the ADGP.

In this case, not only did the ADGP become a scapegoat for the lapses of the

government, but also an easy target for police officers who found his integrity inconvenient.

Police administrators wield power over the state authorities. Power breeds arrogance.The sweep of arrogance is so strong that it has not patience for rules, laws, codes of conduct,

moral values, natural courtesies and human diginity.

An illustration of how low the police administrators of independent India can stoop isprovided by this instance, the likes of which can be found anywhere in India.

A police chief of a State between 1986 and 1990, who had obtained several sites from the

government through false claims in the names of his wife and himself and a spacious housein a posh area of the State capital refused to occupy the police house allotted to him andcontinued to stay in his own bungalow for the first three years of his tenure till the end of

1989. He shifted to the police house and took up the renovation of his own bungalow just afew months prior to his retirement.

Rules required that the full guard provided to his at his own bungalow be shifted to thePolice House.

SELECTION DENIED

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the armed police force committed the

serious error of shifting one head constable and four constables from the bungalow to thePolice House instead of assigning a new team to the Police House and keeping the old guard

in the chief’s house under renovation to keep vigil over the construction material. This

infuriated the police chief so much so that the Deputy Commissioner was not selected forthe vital All-India Service, not only that hear, but also in the next ten years while his juniors

superseded him. The indifference, incompetence and corruption within the Union PublicService Commission (UPSC) helped the process.

The UPSC in its perverted competence has created a new breed of administrators in the

police and other administrative classes. This new breed is interested in nothing beyondmeretricious schemes for promoting its career interests. They only think of more perks,

creating new posts to improve avenues of promotion and fighting for parity with other

services. Thoughts about how the schemes would affect the police structure in the long runnever bother these people.

Newspapers carry report of how promptly and actively regional and central IPS

associations respond to all the decisions touching their career. We never hear theseassociations taking up any cause in matters purely professional- law and order, security or

crime investigation. The matters are left to the care of those down the line.




55

Administration is a highly specialised field requiring extra-ordinary skills but the state ofaffairs in the police field is archaic. Actually, there is no administration worth the name.

There are no long-term plans. No organisational initiatives. No growth and coordination

studies. The organisation takes care of itself depending upon the need factors. As far asmorale, motivation and mental well-being of the manpower are concerned, the contribution

of the Indian police administration is absolutely nil.

Threats and suppression form the essence of manpower management . Waste of humanresources and mandays is the general rule. Quality, efficiency and character are

inconsequential. Assessments are unheard of. Accommodating the desires of the higher-ups

in official and political circles and powerful people on a quid pro quo basis is the acceptednorm.

There is leadership crisis at the administrative level. Reasons for this deterioration are

many. The agency in charge of selection, namely the UPSC is now manned by people

unequal to the task. Restructuring the UPSC with professionals of competence and integritycan tone up public administration.

Administration as a service in spirit and governance deals with men, money, materialsand machinery through laws, rules, decisions and directions. Administration, for the most

part, is human resources management.

The distinct culture and service conditions of the police, the stress and strain of policingand the psychological factors throw up problems unique to the organisation. This renders

police administration a specialised field to be handled by experts having insight into the

working conditions and the psychological pressures of policemen.

The responsibilities of any administration are two –fold providing the body and shaperequired to fulfil the objectives of the organisation within the limits of the extant laws and

providing the right ambience to boost the morale, motivation and above all the mental well-

being of the personnel.

The extra-ordinary nature of the police setup and its working conditions render the latterresponsibility a sensitive field warranting specialised study and application.

The complex psychological factors involving policing in diverse social conditions and

social imperatives of a policeman’s life require dexterous handling of affairs to promotemorale and right motivation in place of the rule-of-thumb approach adopted now.

Unfortunately, the present chiefs of the civil service are unequal to the task.

What is required is highly intricate organisational policy imbued with specialised skills

and insight of the highest order to inspire, motivate and get the most out of the manpower atdisposal. The involves balancing many contradictions inherent in the human psyche. On the

one hand, the police force has to preserve its professional pride; on the other, it has to betaught to accommodate in its character the instinct to obey. It has to be tuned to be faithful



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to authority while its ultimate loyalty must rest with its professional objectives and the ruleof law.

The police have to be tough and fearsome to criminals and law-breakers, and gentle and

friendly with the public. They have to be the model law-abiding citizens even while dealingwith hardened criminals.

While they are accustomed to the interplay of ranks and status in the rigid hierarchicalorder of the force, they should learn to treat all as equals and exercise authority over peopleat the top level in society. In short, the task of balancing these contradictions is the real

challenge for the police administration.




57

TIME TO IMPROVE

THE QUALITY OF CIVIL SERVICE

India wanted its All India Services of the post-independent era to break away from the

British legacy and as a first step altered the names of the services. It is an irony that theprocess led to and marked a dilution of quality. The present Indian Administrative Services

is not even a poor shadow of the old Indian Civil Service; nor does the Indian Foreign

Service bears a resemblance to the Indian Political Service; and the present Indian policeservice lacks the vigour of the good old Indian Police.

The old All India Services was built on the tripod of faultless selection and recruitment,

perfect training and exposures to the highest standards of professionalism and character tosustain it throughout. But, new India just failed to give these factors the importance they

deserved.

Reasons for this deterioration are many. The first is inherent lack of passion for qualityand excellence. The agency incharge of selections, the Union Public Service Commission, is

manned by people unequal for the task either in their professionalism, efficiency, passion for

brilliance or basic character, How can the process be reversed?

Merciless pruning of the extant services to create a compact and highly responsible core

of administrative potentialities to handle a few sensitive key positions in the colossus of theadministration is needed now. Nothing short or brilliance and highest potentiality to handlethe affairs of the country should find a place in the wing that is responsible for constituting

the nerve-centre. The administration must be kept beyond the purview of extraneous

constraints such as reservation of any kind and even age restrictions by way of multiple point

entries for different age groups. The guiding principle here is drawing the best talents fromwhatever sources without restraints of any kind for the best results. The services should not

be treated as an employment opportunity to the elite, but as the foundation and pillars of the

government.

HUMAN RESOURCE

The basic source of manpower for these services has to be boys and girls below the age of

16 years who have completed secondary education. The selection must be made part of thefinal secondary examination. The UPSC must be made responsible for grooming those

recruited. The commission must handle their further academic studies at the government’s

expense for the next seven years to meet the demand of the services.

Identifying the best talents of the country at higher age groups has to be the goal of theEstablishment Cell created within the UPSC on the lines of the Establishment Officer of theHome Department of the British Raj. The cell must get busy scouting for best talents from

whatever source for direct absorption to the All India Services at the appropriate levels after

initial training. Outstanding professionals, technocrats and creative minds of proven calibrecan be the candidates.



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Every recruit has to be put in independent charge of a subordinate job for two years underthe supervision of a competent senior officer. His performance in this sphere must from avital ingredient in the annual assessment. The trainee must be judged at every stage at

different levels to decide his or her suitability for various jobs.

Five years of regular service after the field training must pave the way for the first

promotion. This must function as a natural filtering process as those fit should be promoted

in the mainstream while others get elevated to higher ranks in the related subordinatedepartments to man posts covered under the Central Services.

Mr.B.K.Nehru, in his memoirs “ Nice Guys Finish Second” refers to an incident in

1950s wherein the then Finance Minister T.T.Krishnamachari, asked the chairman of theCentral Board of Revenue to show him a particular income-tax file. The latter refused pointblank on the ground that the law did not allow it. While he agreed that T.T.K. was his

superior, he contended that he himself could see the file as the chief of the Income-Tax

Department while TTK could not as he was not directly involved with the department. India

needs such spirit.

While the Ministers must lay down objectives and policies, their secretaries must

formulate programmes including drafting appropriate laws and rules to channel thegovernment objectives and policies. The onus of implementation of the programmes must be

left to the departments concerned.

India, in the pre-independent years needed brilliant people to handle its administration.British India, with all its brilliant ideas and administrative wisdom, created the All India

Services. It recruited brilliant people for the services, imparted the best possible training to

them, exposed them to the highest standards of the profession and presented them the best oftrust, powers and opportunities to carry out their responsibilities. The Government took care

of all their personal needs, provided them with many opportunities for growth and bestowedon them a halo of invincibility.

The training programmes for the services should be relevant to the time and highlyadvanced in content. Subjects taught have to be updated every year by experts and made

challenging even to the brightest among the members of the services unlike present trainingprogrammes which are intellectually impoverished, irrelevant to the time and do not helptune attitudes to higher levels. Another need is making the promotional tests mandatory and

of a high standard. Overhauling the present mediocre Union Police Service Commission to

create an efficient and responsible set-up capable of handling the enormous responsibilitiesunder Article 320 that compels attention to arrest the degeneration set in, in the set-up that

led to blunders in identifying talents and managing the services.

CREDIBILITY OF THE UPSC

A recent case is from Karnataka where three promising officers from the state cadre were

denied selection by the UPSC to an All India Service for no obvious reason for ten years from1990 while their juniors scored the elevation. The acute frustration and demoralisation

caused led to the break-up of family life of one of the promising trio and subsequent divorce,




59

repeated violent behaviour by him in public leading to public humiliation and ultimatelyinvolvement in a murder case ending in his arrest and conviction.

The answer to unprofessional transgressions by the UPSC lies in transforming it to a

highly professional outfit managed by people of unimpeachable character, efficiencyresponsibility. The objective can be achieved by suitable amendment to Articles 316 and 317

to ensure that only right and sensible people become members and chairman of the

organisation and remain in the saddle only till they retain their moral and professional calibre.

This can be made possible by the constitution of a committee comprising the Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Commissioner of Central Vigilance Commission and

Speaker of Parliament as members and the Vice-President of India as the Chairman to clearthe names for appointments as members and chairmen of the UPSC for a fixed tenure andinitiate actions for their removal by an appropriate procedure in fit cases. Changes to this

effect in Articles 316 and 317 plug the loopholes in the existing provisions that provide too

much scope for political interferences in the selection of members and chairman of the UPSC.

All India Services as the nerve-centre of the administration has to be made responsible toan apex body called All India Services apex board. The board should oversee, supervise,

study, control and manage every affair pertaining to the Services at its own collectivewisdom and discretion with powers of rewards, punishment and placements invested with

it. Sensitive posts in the governments and public undertakings have to be identified in

advance for the All India Services and once it is done, placements have to be left to thewisdom and discretion of the apex board. The governments concerned and publicundertakings as employers must keep the apex body constantly and periodically informed

about the performances of each official placed under it and request changes wherever

necessary with reasons therefore. The final decision on such requests has to be left to the judgement of the apex board based on its constant research, study, enquiry and assessment.

The best bet for professional resolve and high commitment in such an apex body is

having senior most officers of the All-India Service in fine fettle as members of the apex

board under the seniormost member as the chairman, appointed strictly on seniority. It isthese members with tow-thirds majority who must be empowered to bar a competent senior

officer from becoming a member or remove an existing member of chairman from the boardby recording sufficient reasons for the act.

Under the new scheme one should be committed to service for life unless one offers to

retire on health or personal grounds or forced out by the apex board for valid reasons. Exceptin cases of retirement on request before the age of 60 years for nonmedical reasons or

removal by the apex board as a punishment, every officer should be entitled to all the benefits

as in service for life even after retirement. However, once confirmed in the service, oneshould be prohibited from taking up any private or other government jobs while in service or

after retirement or even after resignation from the service. These safeguards should berelaxed only by the apex board.

The country should take cognisance of all the legitimate needs of these officers and

provide them with the best possible living standards. Instead of salaries, these exceptionally



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brilliant officers must be allowed to decide and draw emoluments against performancesevery month on their own assessment which include liberal perks such as free education forchildren in any kind of educational institution, free educational supports, free medial aid of

whatever kind, free club membership and other entertainments, free foreigh tours, free

housing and transportation of whatever kind, help to earn permanent assets, free supplies ofdaily needs and other movable properties. Each officer must submit to the apex board a

periodical report of his performances. The board must study each report to judge the officer.

It may warn or take whatever action found necessary.

The Government is doing nothing to arrest the decline of the All India Services on all

fronts. India is preoccupied with myriad issues of economic and social developments and

perhaps the rapid deterioration of its All India Services does not seem important. But, theGovernment should realise that a strong civil service is mandatory for the survival of Indiaand act fast.




61

INDIAN POLICE

NEEDS HEALTHY JOB CULTURE

Policemen are social doctors and policing is a surgical operation of the society tosystematically remove cancerous growths from its body. What if the band of doctors itself is

infested with serious cancerous growths? This is the position of the present- day Indian

police. The police, as the enforcers of law and protectors of the public interests, wieldtremendous powers for the public good. Such powers to interfere with the life of the citizens

must be invested only in people of high probity and conscience. Otherwise, the powers bythemselves ruin the social fabric of the country and bring anarchy. Powers to search, seize,

remove, detain, direct, arrest, hit and even kill may prove pernicious in the wrong hands.Powers to decide who has done wrong and how to prosecute them, when invested in

dishonest hands, certainly ruin society and the country. How these powers are exercised

depends imprimis on the work-ethic of the organisation. Though it is the people of an

organisation au fond who build the job-culture of the organisation, it is this job–culture of theorganisation that creates a person in the organisation at a given point of time. Even a

degenerate caractere turns honest and efficient in an honest and efficient environment. The

work culture builds and moulds vitality to meet the general atmosphere around. Similarly, anhonest and efficient person in a degenerate culture is bound to atrophy sooner or later, unless

his individual strength superates the vitiating work-culture of the organisation, Ergo, building

up a proper job-culture is the bedrock of a perficient police organisation.

India, as one of the foremost and largest democracies of the world, have a great burden on

its flabby shoulders to prove to the world that democracy as a form of government can stand

up to any dissipating influence and hold disparate geographical, racial, ethnical, linguistic,

religious, cultural and economic factors syndetic in its pandemic prise of liberal benevolenceand serve the cause of the unity of the sovereign country at all odds. The gauntlet India faces

in this regard is made kenspeckle by the locus standi or the country in terms of its position

as a ranking leader of the developing countries. Human nature being as it is, the emergingatmosphere of commercialisation and material comforts vis a vis accrescent concours for

limited resources of the Earth , makes man increasingly self-centered and more and more

adventurous and violent in his appropinquation to reach his self-appointed narrow goals. It istrue of all social divisions including religions, language groups, ethnic divides, cultural

interests and national aspirations. Communal hatred, linguistic barriers, ethnic clashes,cultural bickerings and threats to the national security are orders of the day rather than

exceptions with the trends betraying the indicia of dangerous chorisis. Democracy,

unfortunately, is a fertile ground of such degenerate tendencies because of the trustdemocracy lays wrongly on the basic nature and general abilities of common man. The trust

is wrongly laid for the reason that democracy fails to take into account the reality of thelimosis in man which creates all which creates all havocs and assesses man as just a need-oriented simple animal. Liberalisation that forms part of democracy, in cahoots with material

interpretations of life, in spite of myriad benefit and comforts it brings with it, certainly

poison the atmosphere to the extent of comminating the very foundation of the democracy



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62

and the unity of the country. This is where the police comes to the picture to control thesituation and save the democracy from its own vices.

The police in a democracy is the watchdog of the democracy. Democracy basically being

the rule of the hoi polloi, clash of interests therein is an expected feature. In an atmosphere ofself-rule by the self-centred people of the present commercial world, a machinery to show

people their limits and punish devious elements in sine qua non. The police forms the

master-axle that runs this vital engine of the administration. It being the ultimate executors ofthe laws, rules and regulations that form the chemistry of a rule of law, whatever be the otherattributes of an administration, its efficiency, quality and success tout a fait depend upon the

merits of the police, the democracy evolves for itself. In the atmosphere of 20th and 21st

centuries’ unified world, like all other social and administrative apparatus, Indian police toohave most of its external patterns modelled after the police organisations in other countriesrather than evolved ab intra. This is true in pre-independent era as well as in post-

independent age. In pre-independent era because, the then rulers namely the British modelled

Indian police on the patterns of their own police back in England. In post–independent age

because, independent India’s new rulers continue with the system left by the British exceptfor spasmodic retouches here and there in response to time to time compulsions of therealities in the fields of crime, security and law and order of the country. Though the

retouches made their appearances from the field realities, the ideas and models are algatemodelled on parallel machinery in other countries. It is true about the gestalts and protocols

of India’s own Research and Analysis Wing or Intelligence Bureau or Central Bureau of

Investigation or Paramilitary forces or crack-forces or anti terrorist-squads or organisations tofight narcotics and other economic offences or normal police station, district and state policeadministration. It is not to say that Indian police is tout ensemble alien to Indian situation just

because of its tramontane jacket. Far from it. Indian police in its foreign jacket goes

perforce Indian in its soul with concomitant advantage and disadvantages of Indian spirit,because Indian police works in Indian situation and ispo facto adapts to Indian needs and

spirit. The utility of Indian police to India depends upon the direction and degree to whichIndian police have taken to this process of adaptation and also how successfully and

efficiently. It is in this perspective, the role of the police in reconstruction of India,

expectations from it, actual chevisance and its import on national life are discussed.

India’s experiments in democracy are sui generis and stand apart from similarexperiments otherwhere by the non a such characteristics of the country, its people, theiraspirations and historical background. Though the process of adaptation to democracy was

not guided by any deliberate plan to be different, India’s very own situations dictated terms to

the shapes to be moulded specific to its values, needs and aspirations. The growth of India’spolice remained faithful to these shapes more suo.

It is a fact that an organised effort is on in Indian police to force its members to fall inwith its line of profile at the cost of individual brilliance and creative height. Indian police

are continuously starved of freshness and creative innovations as the result of shutting itselfto the creative sparks and other precious attributes of its human resources. Such a wastage of

available human resources can occur only in a government setup of a developing country likeIndia. What surprises is the extent to which the organisation goes to nip in bud excellences to

perpetuate the interests of its old, secure world of unquestioning servilitude down the line.




63

All loud talks of Indian police leaders on public platforms about the need of infusingexcellence and outstanding qualities to the police organisation are shenanigans meant for theconsumption of the ignorant public. Most leaders of the Indian police at heart desire

continuation of the status quo at the peril of the growth of the organisation so that they and

their interests remain undisturbed with unquestioning and dull-witted subordinates down theladder at their personal beck and call. Any indicia of threat to the perceived security? Any

brilliance of new concepts or interpretations about the functioning of the police? Lo, most

heads come together and join hands in scrupleless cabals to undermine the source ofbrilliance. The reason is self-interests. Nothing attract and bind them together so fiercely asthe possibility of new thoughts surfacing in the organisation and somebody down the ladder

leaving a trail of blaze of brilliance that may cloud their organisational superiority.

What ensues is a fight jusqu au bout ; it would be a fight sans moral or legal scruples, afight without a tinge of mercy or sympathy where all fall as one against the lonely prey till it

is neutralised.

Though courts of law can theoretically protect against such harassments, expenses, timeand uncertainties involved and the history of court judgements being dodged or renderedineffective by administrative sleight, render the protection meaningless and force the upright

officer to face all humiliations and losses in silence or yield to the pressures. It is to the creditof Indian police that it has great officers who withstood all slights without yielding to

pressures.

A distinct case is of a senior police officer and poet of outstanding calibre and excellencefrom a southern state of India whose uprightness cost him his career prospects. His

disinclination towards flexible ways made him unpopular among those higher in the

hierarchical ladder. He was though greatly feared and highly respected for his superior andfour-square qualities, most of those senior to him were uneasy at his presence. Repeated

attempts were made to discredit him and sully his reputation by any means. Most seniorpolice officers took him as a thorn in their flesh and joined hands to tarnish his image. His

creditable works as a poet and reputation as a no-nonsense intellectual sperred their

manoeuvrability to achieve this end. They did what they could. Unfounded abuses and lieswere heaped upon him and recorded in his annual confidential reports year after year. His

appeals against the reports were prevented from reaching government. He was year after yeardenied decent postings. Mendacity was spread in words of mouth that he could not manageresponsible posts while actually he was never given a change and tested in holding such a

position. To top it all, he was consistently denied promotion from 1990 for the next ten years

and scores of his mediocre juniors were brought over him in the career ladder sinsyne. Toadd salt to the injury, his colleague thus given promotion in 1990 was brought over him as his

senior in 1995 just to humiliate the upright officer. The officer withstood all these insults in

good stead because of his natural superior qualities, proven reputation and the strength ofpersonality. He refused the advice of sympathetic superiors to approach the court of law

against the repression as there was no guarantee of redressal from the courts even after atime-consuming legal battle. On the other hand, the accurst police officer addressed the Chief

Secretary of the state government in 1995 and explained the situation with a request toinstitute an enquiry against him which if found him culpable of committing any major or

minor wrong at any time in his career or life or if anywhere found inefficient in discharging



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his official duties, he could be removed from police service. Even this extreme step failed todraw any response from the government. When his superiors in unholy alliance found thatnone of their customary methods work with him, they almost declared a war of nerves on him

in 1996. He was refused all normal benefits entitled to his rank: his car was withdrawn,

telephones were disconnected, his personal staff was harassed subordinates were encouragedto disobey and even access to office stationeries was denied. While even these measures

were not proved feracious in bringing the upright officer to heels and instead the honest

officer grew from strength to strength by his distinguished and impregnable strength ofpersonality, desperate as they were, the senior officers, against all legal and administrativeproprieties, divested him of all his official powers he naturally exercised virtuti officii in an

effort to isolate the upright officer tout ensemble. Such harassments are common when a few

officers with awakened conscience, honesty, professionalism and probity in public life disturbthe immoral indulgence of the corrupt lot in police and related departments. Most consciencesdo breach, most professional competencies crack and most concerns for probity in public life

just disappear under unrelenting pressures from above. Surviving such repressions as above is

only a rarest of the rare exceptions.

It is a tragedy in Indian police that there is no relation between the efficiency andperformance of an official and his standing in the organisation. The police officials are so

indifferent to the performance of their subordinates and their work turnout that they areabsolutely in the dark about the standard of work turned out under their supervision. Another

reason for this sad affair may be that they are unqualified to assess. This situation leads to

random assessment when a senior is statutorily bound to assess and in the process, talentwithers and opportunists overtake high-calibre workers on the hierarchical ladder.

A yardstick to measure an orgnaistion is the degree of success of the organisation in

meeting its raison d’etre. The responsibilities of the police as an organisation basically isthree fold, in that enforcing the rule of law, assisting the judiciary in dispensation of justice

and functioning as the watchdog of the internal security of the country. The threeresponsibilities do widely vary in their scope, functional requirements and appropinquation

that while the police function as law enforcers while discharging law and order

responsibilities, they may sometimes be called to break laws though surreptitiously as thewatchdogs of the internal security of the country. Or while they function only as a fact-

finding machine to the judiciary, in enforcing the rule of law in their capacity as theinvestigating authority, they may be called to enforce laws as enforcers of law and order. Inspite of these wide variations in the nature of the works and responsibilities on their bold

shoulders, one thing that holds all works and responsibilities of the police together is its

importance as the spine of the rule of law. The police is the cutting edge of theadministration. It is the watchdog of the administration. This scope of the police often

renders it to appear like the odd-job boy of the statecraft. They, as ultima ratio, are the real

dispenser of the rule of law as well as the guardian angels of the country. This vital place inthe administration of the country, makes the police not only the arms, legs, eyes, ears and

noses of the administration, but the very tool of the country’s well being and survival. Thepolice is one of the most important levers required in running the machinery of the statecraft.

It is why the blind rush and impatient race among rulers to control this vital lever.




65

The reasons lie in the rulers as well as in the police. In the rulers because it is natural foranyone to take advantage of the tools that make itself available for use and ratherpreposterous to expect rulers to shut their eyes while the police willingly offers itself for their

personal behoofs. And rulers of democratic India douse the police for their personal and

party ends to the extent that the first half century after independence has obfuscated thedistinction between the national interests and the personal interests of the rulers as far as the

use of the police of democratic India elected to subordinate its professional and national

responsibilities to the gloria and being the handmaid of the politicians in power. Two factorshelped the process. One was the wrong type of people at the helm of the organisation asmodels. Another was the lack of proper understanding of the concepts like obedience and

discipline. These two factors together and seperately brought about slowly but steadily the

degringolade of professionalism in the police of democratic India. The nonprofessionalapproach of the self seeking police leadership at the helm to subserve the personal and partyinterests of the rulers percolated downwards in the organisation as a model and sadly

accepted as the general rules of conduct by the maffled police down below at all ranks per

procurationem obedience and discipline. The wrong model led Indian police to forget that

their primary obedience is to the laws of the country and rulers surface to the front only as therepresentatives of the laws of the land and ergo secondary to the sacred policeresponsibilities. The police in new dispensation forgot the cardinal principle that they are

subordinate to the rulers faute de mieux and their profession dictates them to exercise policingduties even against those rulers if the laws of the country find them doing wrong. These

serious professional lapses not only weakend Indian police, also damaged political system,

social values and the credibility of Indian democratic process. Ignorance and lack of interestis part of the Indian public in general and intellectual class in particular in the police systemand its time to time devious shifts added to the malady in the form of giving free hand to the

police to evolve itself sans restraint and sound guidance.

Adaptations to political masters as a bargain to secure key posts prove fatal to the dignity

as well as professional values of the police setup. A police officer of a state in southern Indiasucceeded in cornering the coveted post of Police Commissioner of the State Headquarters a

few years back by the support of politician known in the then political parlance as the “

Father, Mother ‘ of the Chief Minister of the state. A few days' afer, the politician ininebriated state was arrested with his associates while fleeing in a car late night after

involving in a sex scandal involving a budding film star. The police official who affected thearrest recognised the identity of the person he arrested only after the arrested persons werebrought to a nearby Police Station in the city. The police Commissioner was intimated about

the developments. The Police Commissioner promptly made his appearance in the Police

Station in the night and ensured immediate release of his political godfather. But, thepolitical heavy weight in temulent state was impacable. He caught the uniform collar of the

Police Commissioner in front of the shocked lowly officials of the Police Station and shouted

at the Police Commissioner in his inebriated voice whether he made him PoliceCommissioner to arrest and bring him to the Police Station through his juniors. The Police

Commissioners was seen meekly begging the politician to pardon him. The incident madeheadlines in newspapers. The Police Commissioner later rose to become the Police Chief of

the state and retired now. Such incidents abound in circumstances of Police Officers vying forcoveted posts a tout prix and as a consequence, the dignity of the posts lowers and the

professional qualities of the organisation suffer.



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Present India do have an adequately large and sturdy framework for the police apparatusin terms of organisational strength and budgetary provisions to sustain it. Only the canvas

held by the framework is flabby and limicolous. This predicament per se speaks aplenty about

the very cause of it. For one, the fact that an adequately large and sturdy framework ororganisational strength and liberal budgetary provisions available for the police setup is clear

caract of the willing political patronage to the apparatus; it sine dubio proves that the rulers

recognised the import of the police in running the administration. However, the flabby andlimicolous canvas ab intra speaks of the nonprofessionalism under the sound politicalpatronage. This adds up to the close links between politics and the police for nonprofessional

purposes, possibly with criminal intent as nonprofessional police approach mostly suggests

criminal angle in view of the professional police concerns mostly being focussed on crimecontrol and crime prevention. Unfortunately, India has passed a long way in this undesirablelinks to the lengths of being cannot easily retract its path to cleanse the augean stables of the

police organisation now.




67

CORRUPTION :

INDIAN POLICE SCENARIO

Mr.Justice B.P.Jeevan Reddy, the law Commission Chairman while talking on the

provision of forfeiture of property illegally acquired by public servants under the proposed

bill titled the " Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1999" said, "Corruptionhas been severely affecting the country's economy, security and administration. To weed out

this dreaded disease from public life, we need a bitter medicine". All previous measures to

rein- in corruption in public life failed because nothing mattered as far as the ill-gotten

property is safe a huis clos. Situation may change tout ensemble after the proposedlegislation becomes law and gallows the corrupt of wiping out the very corpus of the corrupt

deeds and striking at the very roots of corruption.

Corruption unfortunately has become an accepted phenomenon in extant Indian society.No more it attracts societal disapproval or contempt. Wealth is seen as wealth whether it is

begotten by fair or illegitimate means. Nowadays, jobs having means of easy money are

sought and bought at all costs. It is why such jobs command high premium in the job market.It is no secret why jobs in select departments in government service are in high demand. And

within these departments there are specific posts that command high premium on account of

their potentiality to generate enormous wealth by unfair and illegitimate means. Such jobs

command money in multiple suitcases in advance to the posting in addition to periodicalprofferings for keeping the job terms because those payments are proved sagaciousinvestments. Politicians, journalists to the victims of the system while condemning the

vicious practice from the public platform accept it as the sine qua non reality of the life. The

sterling question is whether corruption in any form with the concomitant atrophy inadministration and public life should be tolerated to disgorge the vitals of the Indian

democratic fabric.

It is tragic that the police which is morally and professionally bound to protect the publicfrom the vice of corruption is among the avant coureur in the pernicious race. Sadly, the

addiction is uniform at all ranks from Police Constables to Police Commissioners save rare

exceptions. The corrupt practices take disparate forms in diverse circumstances, but allleading to the same unfortunate end: derailing the rule of law and the loss of credibility of thepolice.

A south Indian state saw in 1998 several wars of attrition between a PoliceCommissioner and his political boss about posting of their own favourites to key positions,

leading to messy and dangerous situations like more than one police officer being posted to

the same key post of profit and all of them holding to it fast for months together. Often

fightings broke out among the contenders in the same post for the loaves of power and otherbehoofs and such matters made headlines in newspapers. It is wrong to heap all blames tout

a fait on any one side as corrupt. Certainly no side is a paradigm of virtues in the extent rat-

race for pelf and booty. Corruption in India has become just a rider of the availability ofopportunities to share the res gestae of the power.



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68

Police is an institution in the service of law and order. Every case of corruption involvingthe police represents a case of the rule of law and justice harrowed. Imaging the extent of thedistortion of the rule of law and justice and the betrayal of the hoi polloi by the police

machinery that apportions in some cases a crore of rupees a year to middle-ranking official

as the illgotten money. The mise en scene is complete with the swarms of police officials ofall ranks au reste warring inter se with wads of high denomination notes to corner posts

potential of generating unlimited illegitimate wealth. Added to this is those apparatchik at

the top making transfers and postings a thriving business. What can be expected from a lawand order machinery run with such a symbion, but gross abuse and distortion of the rule oflaw? That is why police is often called the legalised mafia.

Karnataka had a Superintendent of Police in northern district in 1980 who openlyencouraged those down the line to take bribes and shared the booty. He used to insist thatthey were free to allow illegal activities like gambling dens, prostitution, illicit distillation etc.

in their respective areas, provided the criminals remain under their control and run the

activities pro rata to what they proffer to the police. A maffled logic indeed. Naturally, he

was very popular among the corrupt , subordinates. He left the district in 1981 and thereafterluckily went on central deputation, never to return to the state sinsyne.

Corruption has disparate facets. And each has its distorted justification. There is a caseof a Police Commissioner whose misuse of the police machinery in the marriage of his

daughter in 1998 became a stormy issue in the public eyes after press made it big. The press

claimed that the subordinate police officers were forced to man the doors of the marriage halland escort VIPs visiting the place. And police wireless and departmental transport facilitieswere recklessly made use of in the marriage and its preparations. Soon the issue was hijacked

by the subordinate police officers of the city who gave press statements that police officials

were allotted duties in the marriage a la police duties in a security operation and expressedfears that those who failed to budge would be victimised and likely to be removed from their

coveted posts in the city police. The Police Commissioner openly defended his action in theinterview to a private TV channel saying that every father puts his heart to celebrate his

daughter's marriage a grands frais as his parting gift and he was not an exception.

CONSCIENTIOUS POLICING

Conscientious policing is raised on the bedrock of committed and non-corruptiblepolicing. Serious and committed policing is conditio sine qua non for professional policing

and professional policing presupposes duties and responsibilities taking precedence over

personal comforts and safety. Being conscientious brings depth and width to the professionand raises policing to nobler heights. Corruption in whatever form is the antithesis of this. It

pulls down the police from its elevated position as the national asset and insurance against the

atrophy of national values, security and well-eing of the hoi polloi.

A case of dowry death reported against a retired high court judge and his family inFebruary 1992 was referred to the state investigation agency for investigation. The

investigation made out a case for chargesheet against the retired judge and five other personsincluding his wife, son, two daughters and another person The chief of the investigating

agency in the rank of IGP being egregiously corrupt and close to the retired judge, dragged




69

his feet from further proceedings in the case. The Superintendent of Police who wassupervising the investigation of the case wanted to take the investagation to its logical end.But, arrests in the case were prevented and chargesheet was unduly delayed from above. The

insistence of the Superintendent of Police, to chargesheet the case as the logical step of the

investigation process cost him his post and he was transferred in July 1992 to the State HomeGuards as the head of its training wing. The case remained frozen sans chargesheet for more

than 1 ½ years sinsyne till the IGP was transferred out of the organisation in 1993. The case

was later chargesheeted in March 1994 with the retired judge and his two daughters droppedfrom the chargesheet on the basis of the evidences tampered at later stages. The droppednames were later included in the chargesheet on the orders of the judge trying the case. The

IGP who tried to stall the wheel of the legal process subsequently succeeded in gaining entry

to a sensitive police organisation like the CBI and held the job till 1997.

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVITY

A police organisation open to public pressures can do no policing worth the name. They

very idea of being receptive to pressures and interferences is sysptomatic of lack of will forobjectivity and justice. Criminal elements take advantage of such opportunities to drive thepolice and the policing on the wrong rails. Pressures often render the police to commit

crimes under the veil of authority either by protecting criminals or more dangerously, byreplacing them with innocent people as criminals. The possibility of being open to the

pressures of the rich and powerful deprives the police of its credibility. A police force that

works at the behest of the rich and powerful safeguards the interests of the rich and powerfulonly. It would thus be factious and a villain to the hoi polloi. Does democratic India needsuch a police force to perpetuate the tyranny of the poor and helpless by the rich and

powerful? Democratic India tolerated such a police in the last five decades. India and its

people must now abraid to the situation and spawn a police that behooves to the trust laid onit.

The aberration of professional objectivity is the Achille's heel of the police of independent

India. The problem was simple in British India where ruler and ruled were distinctly

bifurcated and ipso facto the loyalty of the police was perspicaciously defined unlike that ofthe Indian republic of the democratic genre where people rule themselves through elected

representatives. Here the loyalty of police to the public and public law is the professionalethic: misplaced loyalty to an individual, a family, a party or an ideology at the cost of thegeneral public is an apostasy from the inviolable professionalism of the police. The police in

a democracy is the guardian of public interests and public safety unlike in the raj where the

police protected the interests of the raj. This distinction is forgotten in independent Indiawhere mental fetters are yet to be broken and legacies of the British rule continue inveterated.

How can a police that stays loyal to personal, familial or party interests ever discharge its

functions objectively to law and general public? What can its locus standi be when a differentperson or party comes to power? A sequacious police is an asset to any individual or party

and no sensible individual or party distances it in the name of the professional ethics. It is theparavant duty of the police not to breach the edifice of the police organisation and its spirit by

misprising its professional standards. This infrangible obligation is thrown to the winds inthe maelstrom of career advancements by the self-seeking gendarmerie of the Indian republic.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

70

In the perverted situation of India where the loyalty of the police to those in power ratherthan to professional ideals is a reality, none can vouch that police responsibilities would becarried out strictly on merit of each case. Factional loyalties have the singular potentiality of

blasting fairness and impartiality. It renders professional loyalty meaningless. A mature and

sober political leadership can make up for the Achilles' heel of the fractured loyalties of thepolice organisation. Indian police needs a sober organisation above to bring it on rails of

carrying out its responsibilities. The neoteric judical activism, as far as periodical review of

the progress of investigation of some cases of national importance is concerned, is a welcomestep, though in normal circumstances, such a judicial review would have amounted togratuitous interference with the independent functioning of the investigating authority.

CHANGING VALUES

Corruption of Indian police quite possibly is consectaneous of the degringolade of values

in Indian life of the post-independent era. Indian police cannot stay sequestered from

developments around while there are marked falls in standards of diligence and integrity in

other walks of life. It adopted and adapted to the corrupt surroundings and the result is extantcorrupt police, India finds itself with.

The basic lures of corruption in Indian context are money and power. As governmentservice even at higher rungs lost charm in terms of monetary comforts and prestige and

power, it attracted only the second bests or the lesser from the crème de la crème of the

country's youth, who in turn were left in lurches in the service to mend themselves. Thisstarted a mad rush to the res gestae of pelf and power at the cost of professional dignity andintegrity. The situation led to corruption and brought shifts in the concepts of diligence and

professional loyalty and rearranged the service objectives with priority to filling the coffers of

money and power. Organisational objectives were completely lost sight of. Shifts indiligence helped to build money-power while shifts in loyalties moulded proximity to power-

brokers in efforts to maximise individual behoofs after throwing professional ideals to dogs.The degeneration spread in leaps and buonds with the passage of time as the organisational

commitments became demode and pragmatism taught that immediate personal interests are

the center of leading a good life. This was the beginning of corruption of Indian police in abig way.

A major factor responsible for the corruption of Indian police is the gross fall of itsprofessional pride since independence. Crass and insensitive handling of the police and

police matters by political leaders frustrated the high morale and sense of belonging of the

police force. Attempts to suppress and gain complete hold over the police in democraticIndia affected the force adversely and injected a sense of inadequacy in the force. Once the

centripetal force that bound the force together was squandered, centrifugal forces took over

and dissipating attitudes behaviors and influences ruled the roost to bring the Indian police tothe present triste state.

Motivation to achieve organisational goals and show results being weakened is the

inevitable manifestation of the fall of professional pride. The police which once prided inenforcing law, maintaining order and ensuring peace and security of the hoi polloi, lost all its

enthusiasm for these ends as they became factors of politicking and lost importance




71

independent of political relevance as crimes, criminals and law and order and their handlingby the police became accrescently tools of political convenience. The development shatteredthe professional pride of the police and struck a blow to their motivation towards the

organisational ends. No organisation can exist sans a driving force to sustain it. The result is

a vacuum of a drive to carry the police onward. The vacuum is filled by corruption. Indianpolice find in corruption a way to sustain itself in absence of any organisational objectives to

drive it onward.

Myopic and maffled approaches of the police often lead to untold miseries and blatantviolation of basic rights of simple individuals. A daughter of an influential man in 1986

eloped with a man against the wishes of her parents and was hiding in the neighbouring state

of Karnataka. The couple were in their twenties and decently employed. The chief ofintelligence of Karnataka was sought assistance to trace the couple and ensure that thedaughter rejoins her parents. The intelligence machinery started to work in festinated zeal

and the couple were traced in Bangalore and were separated. The man was held in illegal

confinement and exposed to umpteen threats while arrangements were made to call the

influential man to rejoin his daughter. The man in confinement was set free only after theinfluential man reached back his home with his daughter. The action of the police in this caseperspicaciously is against the law of the land and violated the basic rights of a young couple.

STRUCTUAL CHANGES:

The first and foremost job to do to bring back the police on rails is to extricate the policefrom the unhealthy influence of all hues by making it responsible to an independent

Authority with absolute powers to take decisions on matters of policing and police

organisation. The Authority should be a professional body of men and women of provenprobity and competence, who reached a stage from where they need not sacrifice their

convictions to appease those in power as members. A working arrangement is to be devisedby which the Authority becomes responsible directly to the legislature and functions

independently a la the judiciary, the Central Vigilance Commission, the Comptroller and

Auditor General or the Chief Election Commissioner.

Creation of a Core Group of people adept in assessing men and character within theaforesaid Police Authority helps to create a feeling of confidence and job security in policeand prod to discharge duties fearlessly. This Group that oversees the work of police

personnel from a distance should be ultimately responsible for all career decisions in the

police force. The responsibility of senior officers in assessing the work of the subordinatesthat forms the major embarrassment of the present Indian police dispensation must be limited

to giving opinion about the performance of their subordinates to the Core Group; the expert

Core Group must process the opinion by its own research, expertise and discretion and takeresponsible decision on its own research, expertise and discretion and take responsible

decision on its own. The Group must be made responsible for all development plans of thepolice, work assessment, job analyses, recruitment and management of human resources etc.

Institution of such a Core Group to oversee the career development of police personnelwithout personal bias may bring revolutionary changes in police by committing it to its work-

ethics and professional ends with single mindedness.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

72

Police is not an odd -job boy of the government. It is not the hand-maid of politicians inor out of power. Police is an organisaion of professionals committed to the safety, security

and well-being of the country. Justice and rule of law are the litmus tests available to

achieve the ends. Once police miss the bus of justice and the rule of law, their goals ofsafety, security and well-being of the public remain a distant dream. They lose the credibility

and respect of the public, so essential for effective and proficient policing. The fear that the

police inspire can not take it far in the absence of credibility, respect and sympathy of thepublic. Once the police lose their usefulness in political and power gameplans consequent tolosing public credibility, their political patrons will discard them like used condoms. The best

bet for the police is to be professional and committed to their responsibilities towards the

administration of justice. Police would forget this need only at their own peril. Doinganything violative of its raison d'etre like sabotaging the course of justice and the rule oflaw in the cauldron of corruption will prove fatal to the relevance of the police to the society.




73

POLICING

UNDER POLITICAL PATRONAGE

In a blinkered system like ours, where power and wealth are the ultimate virtues, where

power and wealth in themselves stimulate mutual growth to the exclusion of all other

dimensions of life, it is no wonder, the people of this poor country succumb to the trappingsof power and wealth at the cost of all virtues, values, pride, dignity and human decency. In

an increasingly competitive and complex world where every day more mouths are added to

share limited resources, where the principle of the survival of the fittest operates to its

immane logical end and where the basic needs of survival and decency can be assured onlywith power and wealth, people naturally go all out to ramp the ladder of power and wealth by

whatever means and cost. In the process, justice and morality become casualties andcriminality raises its ugly head as an instrument to achieve otherwise impossible objects.

This is how politics and crime knit together in the fabric of Indian public life.

POLICE AND POLITICS

The story of the police is somewhat different. As the catchpole of the nation’s

administration, the police enjoy tremendous power over vast fields of human activities with

responsibilities to life and death of the hoi polloi as well as dignitaries. In this sense, the

police is the cutting edge of the state power and its ultimate bearer. No power can be its ownsans the police on its side as an executioner and loyal watch-dog. This is why politicians feltthe need for wooing police to their side in their activities. The police of independent India

has become an easy prey to the power-baits of smarter politicians by the reason of their

failing strength of character and talent. Their greed, unsound social background, lack ofcommitment to good values and failure to partners in whatever politicians do or intend to do.

They refuse to look beyond their political masters with their dispensations of job favours;

and so law, justice, righteousness, professional ethics, morality, decency, human dignity,

common good of people, national interests and even conscience, otherwise common to anyhuman being, have become invalid nonsense to them. The police, sans sound character and

personal integrity, is no more than a country dog which is what the Indian police has

become in free India. The politicians, inebriated with new power, smartly brought theseweaklings to absolute submission and hold them on a tight leash to be their personalwatchdogs and personal gendarmes in requital for favourable job placements, undue

promotions and other largition from time to time. Nothing is valued higher than this largess

and its dispensers by the new police of India. It is how the police was involuted in theconspiracy against decent public life of India.

POLICE AND CRIME

It was a hop and skip for the police from the plangent world of politics to the mysterious

world of crime and the underworld. The police became a weapon of politicians to bring about

the subjugation of the crime world to prise their resources for the political ends. They thusmade good use of the decreasing strength of character of the police in forging a nexus



PRAVEEN KUMAR

74

between the police and criminals in furtherance of their own telos. With a week spine to holditself and hapless in the face of odds, the police is only too pleased to follow the footsteps ofits political masters as the cardinal principle of policing. In changed circumstances, discipline

and subordination which form the basic connecting link of the police hierarchy, lost all their

shades of meaning and are interpreted as dunny and blind subservience to those who havepower, seeking personal interests. And politicians easily led the police to the despicable cul

de sac of the nexus with criminals, the very people whom both are supposed to control and

bring to book for antisocial activities. With politicians as the custodians of power en arrier tothe hilt to support, the police plunged lock, stock and barrel into the lucrative crime world;the consectaneous wealth and comforts were in no way less sweet than the hard earned money

of law–abiding society. This is how the nexus between the police and crime world was

established.

CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS

Whom should we blame for this hapless position? Certainly not the politicians or their

auxiliaries like criminals and police who are unfortunate by-products of the grind. They arecreated by the situation arising from a system which is misfit to the people to whom it wasdevised. The blame lies either on the Indian people who are impair to the democratic system

evolved for them, because of their unenlightened and venal consciences which is so dim-witted that virtues like honesty, service, patriotism, quality and excellence can make no dent

on is at all, or it lies with the political system devised for them which failed to take their

psychological makeup into account and ipso facto led to the problem of maladjustment innational life. Otherwise, how can we explain criminals and goondas winning elections withimpunity even while rioting and murders were committed at their behest on the eve of

elections itself. The fact is that the chance of winning an election often is pro rata to the aura

of a tough image built around the candidate. It is these people whom the Indian electorateprefer to invest with powers to safeguard their interests. Obviously, the Indian electorate

lacks of foresight and vision to understand the consequences of its irresponsible decision. Itis yet too immature to take decisions about the interests of the nation and see how national

interests are closely linked to its personal interests. It is yet to broaden its perspective to

include the life of the nation as an integral part of its own. Long term and rational decisionsare alien to its nature. Immediate selfish interests and a parochial outlook continue to be the

driving force of all its actions and decisions, whether it be on the matters of nationalimportance or personal concern. In most parts of India, it is money, arrack, sari, threat, fearof landlords or the blazoning propaganda of a candidate that influence it to decide as to whom

to vote for. How can the avenir of this country be safe in the hands of such an electorate and

its elected leaders? How can an indifferent and irresponsible electorate provide honest andefficient leadership to the nation? This weakness of the electorate has ultimately left Indian

politics in the heath of violence and manipulative extortions, with the instruments meant to

protect them mowing the field. Saner elements in politics, who found survival difficile, haveleft the field, giving way to the elements which are more suited to what is required in the

field. It is how politics has become a pit of junk from a class of dedicated and virtuousleaders. The credibility which is the pith of any political life is the biggest casualty political

institutions and the percentage of the electorate that takes the trouble of going to pollingbooths to cast votes is steadily decreasing from election to election, It is an open secret that an

election is an opening for a candidate to invest money to reap wealth, comfort and power for




75

the next five years. And how he reaps the wealth, comfort and power again is not a mysteryat all. It is corruption and misuse of public money. If he is ambitious and intends to promotehis career interests, there is no way out in the existing system but to resort to pulling strings

and pursuing other more deadly methods, often with the active collusion of the officious

criminals and police.

POLITICAL PATRONAGE

The unhealthy nexus often leads to and facilitates other forms of crime. Cases of riotingassault, kidnap, rap and blackmail, involving the supporters or relatives of politicians,

criminals and police in furtherance of a political cabal are other usual forms of crime that

result from the vicious nexus. Often, criminals and police are employed to createdisturbances or inspire sensational crimes in furtherance of political goals. The losses of lifeand property involved in the wily schemes seld touch the conscience of either the politicians,

the criminals or the police who are responsible for these dastardly acts. The political

patronage and the nexus with police desensitize criminals to the process of law and justice;

they are thus emboldened to commit more daring and ruthless crimes that endanger the lifeand property of the plebeians. The police, in its links with politicians on one hand and withcriminals on the other, is in its new avatar as the protector of vested interests with no more

commitment and passion for law and justice. It has become a discredited force, a willinginstrument of power-brokers in a ruthless and violent cabal of power-games with no heart for

the common man and the common cause. This is the requital, the Indian electorate gets for

letting its political system putrefy by its nonchalance and irresponsibility.

CHANGED ROLE

With the increscent involution of the police with glidder politicians, the conception of thepolice about its own role has undergone a large-scale change. No more does it look at crime

control and maintenance of order as its first duty. With this, the concern for crime controlreceived a setback and crime control and investigation have receded to the last priority

except when politicians are interested in them for a specific purpose. Only crimes that disturb

politicians foment police to galvanic and meaningful action. Other crimes receive no priority. The very definition of the gravity of crime is adapted to suit the new concept. Those crimes

which are tolerated by politicians are no more crimes. The self-image of the police as ‘ afearless arbiter of crime’ is changed to a solicious servant in attendance at the pleasure of apolitician-master. This blunting of the crime card of the police has made it less awe-inspiring

and less deserving of respect from the criminals. The police has more and more realised that

criminals, particularly those from organised syndicates are personal friends of its politicalmasters and it is no match for the criminals in terms of wealth, influence and social standing.

The men of the police see those criminals on equal footing with their political masters and

learn to treat them with awe. They find it absurd to act with authority against theimmarcescible criminals who are too high for the small stature of the police. It is unfortunate

that the police of the present days has never realised its infinit stature as a law-enforcingagent vis a vis all others including criminals and politicians whom it is empowered to search,

arrest and take to court if they deviate from their rightful path. Sadly, the trifling wealth andthe concomitant “big-man” image of others appear to the present police as more appealing

than its own awful police authority.



PRAVEEN KUMAR

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POLITICISATION OF POLICE

The extant system of selecting the police chief is erratic at best and motivatedly amoral

that meets the political ends of the rulers at worst.

A police chief in a state was taken to court with his wife after retirement in 1990

February for defrauding the public and a spastic society by sale of charity tickets in name ofthe spastic society and pocketing huge amount of money. This is the standard of people whoare chosen by politicians to lead post independent Indian police.

A POLITICAL INSTRUMENT

In an atmosphere where placements and transfers are decided by the needs and wishes

of self-seeking politicians, no police can efficiently function nor can it be free from the vice

prise of the politicians. It is not surprising that power-esurient politicians more and more

grab powers that are legally and traditionally invested with the police department when thetop brass lack the strength of character and conviction. This leads to a position wherein thepolice department becomes a chessboard on which politicians move their pieces to checkmate

their adversaries and win the political game in their favour. In other words, the police sans effective leadership is becoming more a handmaid of politicians by moving away from its

sacred role as the guardian of law and justice and protector of the society and the common

man. The credit of bringing the police from its height of power to the present level ofabsolute submission should go to the superior strength of personality of wily politicians whobent the police on their own terms with selective use of stick and carrot. This police is not the

police and what it does is not policing in the proud sense of the term.

CRIMINAL TENDENCIES

A Deputy Inspector General of Police infamous for his epinosic and corrupt activities in

1982 while holding charge of Eastern Range in Davangere in Karnataka desired a young

Deputy Superintendent of Police, under him marry a girl from the family of a rich arrackcontractor of his range. The parents of the young officer fearing undue pressure got their son

married in desperation to a girl of their choice. This antagonised the Deputy InspectorGeneral. His next annual confidential report of young officer showed the junior as a liabilityto the police department and misfit as a subdivisional police officer. He also prevailed year

after year upon other officers who wrote confidential reports of the young officer to incorpse

similar or more deadly remarks. Most of them obliged and this bright junior officer ended upwith a series of unsubstantiated adverse remarks repeated time and again in his annual

confidential reports. All his appeals were never allowed to reach the government. It is to the

credit of the young officer that he remained unbroken and continues in police service whilehis far less competent colleagues have superated him on the career ladder and the young

officer was successively denied important postings though there was not a single thing in hiscareer to justify such a treatment. Undeterred by the unjust scorn heaped of him by refusing

promotion in preference to his less qualified and less competent juniors, he later addressed thechief secretary of the state government not to consider him any more for the promotion. He




77

took this unprecedented autophagous decision in utter contempt of the corrupt and immoraldepartmental heads and government functionaries who crushed his career prospects.

There is a case of a Director General of Police in charge of Crimes and Special Units in

1987 in a Southern State in India who as head of the Food and Civil Supplies Enforcementcell of the state under a Director was accustomed to getting free supply of quality rice, sugar,

pulses and other commodities from traders to his house through the latter organisation. The

new Director of the organisation in 1987 in the rank of Superintendent of Police failed theDirector General of Police by his principled stand in this regard. This enraged the latter to the

extent of hounding the young Superintendent of Police and seeking opportunity to publicly

humiliate him. He followed the young officer wherever the latter went for raid hoping that he

would get some opportunity to fix the latter. When all the efforts failed, the DirectorGeneral of Police decided as the dernier ressort to play a drama of searching theSuperintendent of Police in public before invited press and public in an induced case of

trapping on suspicion while the latter was returning from raids in northern parts of the state,depending his calculations entirely on the humiliation engendered by the publicity of such

suspicions and searches by a very senior officer coram populo. However, the cabal of the

senior officer came to nought and the Superintendent of Police, was saved from the gratuitous

humiliation in public while inscience of the welcome set for him on the way by his senior.The Superintendent of Police reached back state headquarters through another route that

night. It is of interest to note that the Director General of Police who stopped so law in his

police career was posted as an advisor to the Governor of North-East state during President’srule after a few years, postliminary to his retirement from police service. This is the calibre

and integrity of extant Indian Police Service. This is the reason why Indian society prefertolerating social maladies to approaching police manned by such people, devoid of any

decency, objectivity and fairplay, both in private and public life.

As corruption takes control and spreads to all strata of the force, upright elements in the

force become a minority and also forfeit coveted positions in the organisation as inconvenient

candidates. They are scorned as removed from ground realities and detested and avoided asmoles in the mainstream. Their honest and professional approach becomes a disaster and

unpopular everywhere. Their courage in face of odds loses character amidst popular sound ad

fury of the misinformed. Vested interests inside and outside the police let loose falsepropaganda and spread distorted versions of events against such officers and suborn

character assassination to keep own reputations on right sides. The Situation becomes reallydistressing when superior officers partake in the game on the side of vested interested forconsideration and join hands in an unholy alliance to bend and silence the upright among

them. Taking recourse to unfair and illegal means to crush upright officers is also notuncommon. Though courts of law can theoretically protect against such harassments,

expenses, time and uncertainties involved and the history of court judgements being dodgedor rendered ineffective by administrative sleight, render the protection meaningless and force

the upright officer to face all humiliations and losses in silence or yield to the pressures. It is

to the credit of Indian police that it has great officers who withstood all slights without

yielding to pressures.



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It is an irony that the political leadership which supposed to take the lead ofreconstructing India is colluding for mutual selfish ends with the police which is supposed tobe the tool of the reconstruction and thereby strike at the foundation of the strength and

orderliness of the country. Every passing year sees a new phase and a new trend in this nasty

connection between the important players of the national reconstruction to take the country bysome miracle at the last moment. As the people become more and more attuned to the

nefarious nexus and resign to the assuefaction, the players become more and more bold with

the passing years and go with their nasty collusion at the cost of the nation’s interest withimpunity for mutual relief and benefits by subornation.




79

QUOTA SYSTEM

CAN WEAKEN CIVIL SERVICE

It is a historical fact that India was never a single nation at any time till the 20th

century.Neither Asoka of the Maurya dynasty nor Samudra Gupta or Chandra Gupta of the Gupta

dynasty nor Akbar or Aurangzeb of the Mughul dynasth could boast of binding al the regions

stretching from Kanyakumari to the Karakoram pass, and from the Rann of Kutch toArunachal Pradesh under a single rule. If India is a single nation today the credit should go

to a large extent to its distinguished civil service of the early and middle 20th

century whichwas rightly called the steel frame of India unity. Should India continue as a single nation, it

has to be again mainly through the grit, strength and quality of its civil service.

The worst curse for India is the classification of people on the basis of birth with the

lower strata being denied equality of opportunity for growth and a decent life. Post –

independent India, as a welfare state, took a number of measures, both constitutional andlegislative, to erase the sins perpetrated on the unfortunate sections of society, like removal of

untouchability, prevention of atrocities, reservations in jobs and providing educational

opportunities. Such measures are not only the compensation India must pay for havingdeprived some of its children of their growth opportunities, they are also a kind of remorse

the country suffers for its past sins.

But the cardinal question is the direction such measures must take. Wrong policies insuch matters may not only fail to make the measures efficacious; but may also block the

existing opportunities. It may weaken the country’s social fabric and pose a real threat to

even the existence of India as a country. The policy of job reservation in civil service

carries the danger of undermining the quality of the steel frame and deprive India of its mainbinding force.

The victims of the age-old stratified class system deserve many more special privileges.They need easier access to educational opportunities to prepare them for higher slots in life.

Hence, the need for reservations in educational institutions. To remove their poverty for

which Indian society is historically responsible, they have to be provided with easy finance,whether for higher studies or business ventures. Perhaps, an apex development bank with

branches in all districts exclusively for their financial needs of a non-consumptive nature hasto be set up to provide funds at a nominal rate of interest. Liberal scholarships, concession in

or exemption from application fees for jobs, a wider network of board and lodging facilities

for students, special vocational training for men and women, concessional hostel facilities forworking men and women, easy housing schemes, free advanced medical treatment, etc are

other schemes for the underprivileged that may help to bring them on par with the rest ofsociety, without in the process affecting the quality of its governance.

Basically, democracy signifies the rule of the common man. But this definition applies

principally to the political system and not to the civil service which is expected to be thespine of democratic rule. A sound civil service draws the boundaries of governance within



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which the democratic system must function and also inspires a sense of moderation,discipline, fairness, legality and reasonableness in the political leadership. It absorbs theshocks of political follies and helps the political leadership in taking sound and intelligent

decisions.

The well-being of the repressed classes of the India depends upon the survival of India as

a single nation and therefore on the quality and soundness of the civil service. Measures

like job reservation are bound to be counter-productive by weakening the civil servicestructure. Quality and excellence are inseparable from pride. Any allowance to mediocrityleads to flight of quality and excellence till mediocrity completely takes over. This is what is

feared about the present India civil service thanks to the reservation policy.

The apprehension that the steel frame of pre-independent India has crumbled into amediocre set-up because of wrong policies of selection and recruitment needs serious

attention. Several opinion polls point to the diminishing attraction of the civil service for the

Indian youth who prefer jobs in foreign and private industrial houses and banks. This trend

deserves to be noted by those who are interested in the survival of India as a nation and ademocracy, The interest of the country lies in marshalling the best talents of the country torun its administrative services.




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EMPOWERING THE CBI

The last decade of the century sees the CBI becoming the Indian version of the FBI under

J.Edgar Hoover in the middle of the century-with one difference. The FBI became a key

component and feared public institution through Hoover’s open aggression, while its Indianversion gained eminence by the open, meek submission of its spineless Director to his

political masters. This naturally alerted the otherwise somnolent judiciary and the result is

the proactive judiciary of today. The CBI, with cases against political leaders stacked on itsshelves, under the nose of the proactive judiciary, had no option but to steadfastly discharge

its responsibilities. So the CBI started working, and shed its vulnerability to the politicalclass.

The CBI is the premier investigative agency of India. Naturally, it must command the

best brains in the country and should have wide-ranging powers. It must have adequateleadership, marked by exemplary personal attributes like probity and professionalism. But

are these needs met by the CBI at all?

The seventh schedule of the Constitution brings police and public order, except for

deployment and use of forces of the Union, under the State List, and criminal law, criminal

procedure, administration of justice and judicial proceedings under the Concurrent List.

However, it specifically lists the CBI under the Union List. The legal basis of the CBI isprovided by a short six-section Act of 1946 titled the Delhi Special police Establishment Act,1946, which provides for the constitution of a special police force by the Centre for the

investigation of notified offences in any Union Territory and in any area in a state where

jurisdiction of the police force is extended by the order of the Centre, with the consent of thestate government.

The last section of the Act specifies that the force has no jurisdiction in any are in a statewithout the consent of its government. The force enjoys all the powers, duties, privileges and

liabilities of the police officers of an area in connection with the investigation of offences

committed in that area.

A premier investigative authority invested with powers extended to all areas is a sine qua

non for maintaining the rule of law. Naturally, police and public order provisions under the

State List cannot meet the needs of a central agency. Hence the enactment of the Delhi

Special Police Establishment Act 1946, as a prelude to the constitution of the CBI and itsinclusion in the Union List.

But sadly, the CBI does not measure up. The dependence on state clearance is a great

handicap. We have seen umpteen number of states providing and withdrawing consent to theCBI depending on political and parochial conveniences. This is a dangerous trend thatrenders CBI functions and jurisdiction subject to political manoeuvring, and lowers its

images. The result is the growing criminalisation of politics. The remedy lies in spreading



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the tentacles of the CBI, by law, to every area of the country, with blanket powers toinvestigate all classes of offences.

The Act provides for the appointment of the head of the CBI by the Centre. Considering

the importance of the CBI, it is natural to wonder whether the choice ought to be dictated bythe politicians in power. The question is of immediate significance because of degraded

political and public morality, and fragile coalition governments. The appointment of the CBI

chief has to be a professional, not political decision. This power must be taken away fromthe Central Government, to bring all on par, deprive the party in power of an unfairadvantage and give the CBI some credibility.

There is no alternative to trust, even in the current atmosphere of degraded values inbuilding an institution. Fides punica leads nowhere. So also in the appointment of the CBIchief. The solution lies with the judiciary, whose members are assumed to be nonpartisan.

The CBI should be subjected to the supervision of a statutory panel constituted of men of

the law, acting as advisors to the agency. The panel has to be invested with powers to appointand remove CBI chiefs, on the basis of performance, at its collective discretion. It shouldadvise the CBI on whether a case merits investigation and decide on arrests, searches,

seizures, bail and chargesheets. Its advice has to be statutorily binding. The panel has to befree to monitor the process and pace of investigation and must constitute a statutory part of

the CBI at the highest layer.

The panel may consist of a dozen senior retired judges of the Supreme Court aspermanent members, with one among them chosen as chairman on the basis of seniority, and

the CBI chief as member-secretary. The membership of the panel must come to the senior

most retired judges, including retired chief justices, as a matter of right, unless an eligiblecandidate opts out in writing or is incapacitated by age or illness, ratified by a two-thirds

majority in the panel. By the same majority, the panel, may force out one of its extantmembers in the interests of justice. The panel may monitor and take decisions on cases as a

full panel or constitute sub-panels with the CBI chief as member-secretary for each.

However, only a full panel with a minimum 80 per cent quorum can decide by simplemajority on the appointment and removal of CBI chiefs and decide on deputations,

promotions and transfers of officers of and above the rank of Assistant Director, and assesstheir work.

The panel’s functions, privileges, rights, liabilities and responsibilities have to be clearly

defined to statute to avoid clashes with the main body of the CBI. An amendment is the firststep, followed by the constitution of the panel. And the third and most crucial step will be

administrative measures to ensure that the panel discharges its responsibilities with

commitment. Due recognition and an atmosphere free of bureaucratic pressures will helpthe members discharge their responsibilities properly. Life membership, barring

contingencies, will help them to be true to their conscience.

The CBI is the spine of the criminal justice system, and a shattered spine leads to umpteencomplications. The derailment of the CBI is reflected in public life, in political uncertainty.

It is an irony that the situation created by a weakling CBI led to circumstances wherein it is




83

in a position to dictate terms up political parties. The CBI is metamorphosing into aFrankenstein’s monster. This is not in the interests of the CBI, the country or its criminal justice system. The sooner out leaders realise the gravity of the situation and infuse new life

in the CBI by amending the Act, the better.



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THE GUN STILL SPEAKS

The complacency over peace in Punjab was shattered by the bomb blast that killed Punjab

chief minister Beant Singh in front of the Punjab and Haryana secretariat building at

Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. The assassination vindicated the axiom that superficial calmin a situation of serious conflict can be deceptive.

Complacency on the part of the general public is understandable; complacency even onpart of ordinary government functionaries can be accepted. But how authorities responsible

for security functions ignored the prime tenets of internal security, and slackened their guardin respect of Punjab terrorism is something difficult to answer.

Firstly, it is unreasonable to presume that the blaze of terrorism which raised its head with

the Akali-Nirankari clash of April 13, 1978, reached its crescendo in 1985 and continued

with undiminished vigour upto 1992, died down immediately after an elected government

came to power. A bomb blast near the Indian Youth Congress office in Delhi on September11,1993 killed eight persons though Youth Congress president M.S.Bitta survived the

attempt and the son of Ram Niwas Mirdha was kidnapped by the Khalistan Liberation Force.

A minor blast in a car in proximity to chief minister Beant Singh near Dholewas Chowk

in Ludhiana, the hub of previous terrorist activities, preceded the more daring venture.

Thirdly it is rather foolish to believe that a movement which dug deep roots in countries likePakistan, the USA, the UK and Canada through committed cadres withered away just becausean elected government was restored, or militants were overpowered.

It was often claimed by political observers that terrorism in Punjab in general and the

activities of the Babbar Khalsa International in particular came to a virtual end with the deathof Babbar Khalsa leader, Sukhdev Singh Babbar, after being caught at patiala in August 1992

Such assessments are far from ground realities.

No militancy having deep roots depends for its survival on a few leaders, the fear of the

government or the resolution of minor issues. Such developments may only bring about an

ephemeral lull in their activities. It is simplistic to presume that transfer of Chandigarh toPunjab and settlement of water and territorial disputes of Punjab with Haryana and Rajasthan

would have banished militancy. Terrorism has its own cycles of rise and fall, before itfinally withers away with a loss in emotional fervour.

A lull in militancy for a few months or years should not lead to conclusion that terrorismis out. Ironically, Beant Singh as chief minister knew this better than anybody. He often

spoke about the continued threat of militants and called for a joint security zone to fight them.

The fact remains that there was no social base to militancy in Punjab even at the best of

times. The close family links of Sikhs and Hindus with often both religions coexisting in a

single home and family render the demand for Khalistan rather unrealistic and shallow.Issues like Chandigarh and water and territorial disputes with neighbouring states scarcely




85

arouse the passions of the hoi polloi among Sikhs. Lives, finance and peace having beenshattered by 15 years of insurgency and insecurity, they are keen to establish themselves inan atmosphere of peace. The murders, extortions and rapes which the terrorists indulged in

rubbed off the sheen of martyrdom from their names.

There are reports of a working relationship of late among the militants and their

Pakistani masters. Sukhdev Sing Babbar confessed during interrogation in 1992 to the toal

disillusion of Sikh militants about Pakistani intentions. The Inter-Services intelligence ofPakistanmet its cul de sac in recruiting Sikhs after antiinsurgency operations werestrengthened in 1992. Most of the top terrorist leaders fled Punjab in fear. Prominent

leaders like Pritam Singh Sekhon of the Khalistan Liberation Force, Wadhawa Singh of the

Babbar Khalsa International and Wassam Singh Zafarwal of the Khalistan Commando Forceare still hiding in Pakistan. Some other leaders operate from the USA, the UK or Canada.

Pakistan’s efforts to persuade Khalistani leaders hiding there to resucitate terrorism in

India failed badly. The ISI deputed Parmjit Singh Panjwar of the Khalistan Commando

Force to Punjab in 1994, to recruit youths from Ludhiana and surrounding areas. The KCFleader made no headway in his efforts. In a desperate bid, the ISI mobilised about 1,500Sikh immigrants from Europe and trained them, but the immigrants lacked the enthusiasm to

carry out tasks in India at the behest of the ISI.

This lull in terrorism cannot be presumed to be the end of terrorism, which is the

handiwork of a few activists who form a farthing part of the local population. It is wrong topresume that these activities represent the aspirations and fervour of the common peoplearound them. This silent majority becomes a hostage under inevitable pressures. Once, the

people of Punjab found that they were not under terrorist pressures, they collected courage to

express their disinclination towards terrorism. It is a blunder to interpret this disinclination assigns of terrorism being uprooted from Punjab.

To trained eyes, signs of terrorism lurking in shadows were already there. There were no

signs of Pakistan beating the retreat. Rather, there was every indication of Pakistan going

radical in rousing Sikh passions. Virulent attacks of Pakistan’s government controlledelectronic media on the Indian government’s alleged repression of minorities and popular

movements, human rights violations and its efforts to rouse Sikh sensibilities by itsprogrammes on Sikh traditions and culture give evidence of Pakistan’s dishonest intentions.

The continued terrorism after restoration f popular government in 1992, though in

reduced frequency, should have lead those in charge of anti-insurgency operations toconclude that terrorism was alive and may come out of its shell.

Failures on the fronts of analysis, research and use of intelligence also contributed to thecomplacency over Punjab. Indian security agencies did intercept Sikh militants crossing the

Indo-Pak border in 1994, and seized from them a document called ‘ Policy paper’ of Punjabmilitants, wherein plans to resuscitate terrorism were laid down in detail.

Intelligence agencies had information about plants to use human bombs to eliminate those

involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and leaders like Beant Singh and Bhajan Lal.






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CRIME, POLITICS AND THE POLICE

In a blinkered system like ours, where power and wealth are the ultimate virtues and

where power and wealth in themselves stimulate mutual growth, to the exclusion of all other

dimensions of life it is no wonder that the people of this poor country succumb to thetrappings of power and wealth at the cost of all virtues, values, pride, dignity and human

decency.

In an increasingly competitive and complex world, where every day, more mouths are

added to share limited resources, where the principle of the survival-of-the fittest operates toits logical end and where the basic needs of survival and decency can be assured only with

power and wealth, people naturally go all out to ramp the ladder of power and wealth bywhatever means and cost.

JUSTICE, A CASUALTY

In the process, justice and morality become casualties. Criminality too raises its ugly

head as an instrument to achieve otherwise impossible objectives. This is how politics and

crime knit together in the fabric of Indian public life.

The story of the police is somewhat different. As an important part of the nation’s

administration, the police enjoy tremendous power over vast fields of human activities withresponsibilities towards the life and death of the hoi polloi as well as dignitaries. In thissense, the police are the cutting edge of the State power and its ultimate bearer.

No power can be its own law without the police on its side as an executioner and loyal

watch dog. This is why politicians in their activities feel the need for wooing the police totheir side.

The police of independent India have become, by reason of their failing strength ofcharacter and talent, easy prey to the power baits of smart politicians.

Their greed, unsound social background, lack of commitment to good values and failureto comprehend police virtues in the right perspective, make them willing partners in

whatever politicians do, or intend to do. They refuse to look beyond their political mastersand their dispensations of job favours.

So law, justice, righteousness, professional ethics, morality decency, human dignity, thecommon good of people, national interests and even conscience-otherwise common to any

human being-have become invalid nonsense to them

The police, sans sound character and personal integrity, are no more than country dogs.

This is what the Indian police have become in free India. The politicians, inebriated with new

power, smartly brought these weaklings to absolute submission and held them on a tight-leash



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to be their personal watch dogs and personal gendarmes-in-requital for favourable jobplacements, undue promotions and other largesse from time to time.

Nothing is valued higher than this largesse and its dispensers by the new police of India.

It is how the police were involuted in the conspiracy against decent public life of India.

It was a hop and skip for the police from the ugly world of politics to the mysterious

world of crime and the underworld. The police have become a weapon of politicians to bringabout the subjugation of the crime world to use its resources for political ends.

FALL OF CHARACTER

Politicians, thus, made good use of the decreasing strength of character of the police inforging a nexus between the police and criminals in the furtherance of their own ends.

With a weak spine and no principles in the face of odds, the police are only too pleased to

follow in the footsteps of their political masters.

In these changed circumstances, discipline and subordination, which form the basic

connecting link of the police hierarchy, have lost all meaning, and are interpreted as blindsubservience to those who have power to serve personal interests.

And politicians easily led the police to the despicable cul-de-sac of the nexus withcriminals-the very people who are supposed to be controlled and brought to book forantisocial activities.

With politicians as the custodians of power en arriere to support, the police plungedlock, stock and barrel into the lucrative crime world; the resulting wealth and comforts were

in no way less sweet than the hard earned money of law-abiding society.

This is how one nexus between the police and crime world was established.

Whom should we blame for this hapless position? Certainly not the politicians or their

auxiliaries like criminals and police who are the unfortunate by-products of the grind. Theyare created by the situation arising from a system which misfits the people for whom it wasdevised.

The blame lies either on the Indian people who are unresponsive to the democraticsystem evolved for them. Because of their unenlightened and venal conscience, which is so

insensitive that virtues like honesty, service, patriotism, quality and excellence can make no

dent in it at all; or it lies with the political system devised for them. It failed to take theirpsychological make-up into account, and ispo facto led to the problem of maladjustment in

national life.

Otherwise, how can we explain criminals and goondas winning elections with impunity,even while rioting and murders were committed at their behest on the eve of elections itself?




89

The fact is that the chance of winning an election often is pro rata to the aura of a toughimage built around the candidate.

IMMATURE ELECTORATE

It is these people who win elections and rule this country. It is these people whom the

Indian electorate prefers to vest with powers to safeguard their interests!

Obviously, the Indian electorate lacks the far sightedness and vision to understand theconsequences of its irresponsible decision.

It is yet too immature to take decisions about the interests of the nation and see hownational interests are closely linked to its personal interests. It is yet to broaden itsperspective to include the life of the nation as an integral part of its own.

Long –term and rational decisions are alien to its nature. Immediate selfish interests and

parochial outlook continue to be the driving force of all its actions and decisions- on thematters of national importance or personal concern.

In most parts of India, it is money, arrack, sari, threat, fear of landlords or the blazeningpropaganda of a candidate that influence its decision as to whom to vote for.

How can the future of this country be safe in the hands of such an electorate and itselected leaders?

How can an indifferent and irresponsible electorate provide honest and efficient

leadership to the nation?

This weakness of the electorate has ultimately left Indian politics in the hearth of violenceand manipulative extortions, with the instruments meant to protect them mowing the field.

Saner elements in politics, who found survival difficult, have left the field, giving way to

elements which are more suited to the field.

It is how politics, from a class of dedicated and virtuous leaders, has become a pit of junk. The credibility, which is the pith of any political life, is the biggest casualty in Indianpolitics.

People are more and more disillusioned with the extant political institutions. Thepercentage of the electorate that takes the trouble of going to polling booths so cast votes is

steadily decreasing from election to election.

It is an open secret that an election is an opening for a candidate to invest money to reap

wealth, comfort and power for the next 5 years. And how he reaps the wealth, comfort andpower is again not a mystery at all. It is corruption and misuse of public money.



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If he is ambitious and intends to promote his career interests, there is no way out in theexisting system but to resort to pulling strings and pursuing other more deadly methods.Often with the active collusion of the officious criminals and police.

The unhealthy nexus often leads to and facilitates other forms of crime. Cases of rioting,assault, kidnapping, rape and blackmail, involving the supporters or relatives of politicians,

criminals and police in futherance of a political cabal are other usual forms of crime that

result from the vicious nexus.

Often, criminals and police are employed to create disturbance or inspire sensational

crimes in furtherance of political goals. The losses of life and property involved in the wily

schemes seldom touch the conscience of either the politicians, the criminals or the policewho are responsible for these dastardly acts.

The political patronage and the nexus with police desensitise criminals to the process of

law and justice. They are emboldened to commit more daring and ruthless crimes that

endanger the life and property of the plebeians.

The police, in their links with politicians on the one hand and with criminals on the other,

are in their new avatar-the protectors of vested interests with no more commitment andpassion for law and justice.

They have become a discredited force, a willing instrument of power brokers in theruthless and violent cabal of power-games with no heart for the common man and commoncause.

This is the requital the Indian electorate gets for letting by its nonchalance andirresponsibility-the political system putrefy.

POLITICISATION OF CRIME

What we see today is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more things hidden in the latterthan are seen.

This is soon realised by the opportunist Indian politicians who seize the first availableinstance to enlist the support of criminals and underground operators for their nefarious

designs.

This, in turn, is a god–sent opportunity for criminals to restore their lost credibility and

social standing with the help of their association with the custodians of power, apart from

the security and protection from the police that ensure from the association.

They promptly grab the opportunity to their advantage and show how useful they can beto politicians in their career-promotion designs and in the wreaking of personal vendettas.

The experience and professionalism of criminals come in handy to politicians to execute

their nasty operations without attracting the stigma attached to them.




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The vast army of criminals has become ready resource for them to use whenever needarises. This has given a sense of confidence and security to politicians, who are otherwise

vulnerable in their highly uncertain, challenging and competitive environment.

Often, politicians have so much relied on criminals that the latter have become their most

trusted lieutenants, even getting elected to legislature with their help and blessings.

There have been instances in India, where prominent politicians have refused to disowntheir notorious criminal friends in public even after reaching the vortex of their political

career. This shows the sway held by criminals over politicians in the Indian situation.

It is a fact that no syndicate of organised crime in small and big cities anywhere in theworld can survive even for a day without political patronage. Ergo, all syndicates of

organised crime and their menace are the direct outcome of the nexus between politicians and

criminals, with the police as bystanders.

No criminal can take lightly the need for political patronage in running his crimesyndicate. Be they smuggling syndicates, gambling houses, narcotics dealers or plain

hoodlums, the only way to survive is to have comfortable political protection at the rightlevels.

MUTUAL ADVANTAGE

The crime syndicate, in return, pay a good percentage of their criminal gain to the

protectors. Thus, it is an arrangement to mutual advantage.

The crime world also provides hoodlums as volunteers to perform challenging tasks

during the election campaigns of their political patrons, apart from liberally financing thesecampaigns.

How can a politician, after gaining power with the help of a criminal, ever let down thecriminal? This symbiosis of politicians and criminals which has emerged from the extant

Indian political system. Is the root cause of all the complications discussed until now.

The very fact that politicians are prepared to risk their reputation rather than distance

themselves from the crime world, shows how highly the world of crime is regarded by the

politicians in their scheme of things.

Politics and crime have become the 2 faces of the same coin in the present state of affairs

and a saying goes that there cannot be politics without crime and no crime without politics.

In the present Indian situation, it is true that the lotus of politics can blossom only in theoffal of crime.



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In an atmosphere where placements and transfers are decided by the needs and wishes ofself-seeking politicians, no police can efficiently function nor can they be free from theinterference of the politicians.

It is not surprising that hungry politicians grab more and more powers that are legally andtraditionally invested with the police department when the top brass lack strength of

character and conviction.

The leads to a position wherein the police department becomes a chessboard on whichpoliticians move their pieces to checkmate their adversaries and win the political game.

In other words, the police sans effective leadership is becoming more a handmaid ofpoliticians by moving away from its sacred role as the guardian of law and justice and theprotector of the common man.

The credit of bringing the police from their height of power to the present level of

absolute submission should go to the superior strength of personality of wily politicians whohave bent the police on their own terms with the selective use of stick and carrot.

The police is not the real police and what is does is not policing in the proud sense of theterm.

CHANGED ROLE

With the increasing involvement of the police with crass politicians, the conception of

the police about their own role has undergone a large-scale change. No more do the police

look at crime control and maintenance of order as their first duty.

With this, the concern for crime control has received a setback and crime control andinvestigation have receded to the last priority-except when politicians are interested in them

for a specific purpose.

Only crimes that disturb politicians foment police to galvanic and meaningful action.

Other crimes receive no priority.

The very definition of the gravity of crime is adapted to suit the new conception. Those

crimes which are tolerated by politicians are no more crimes.

The self-image of the police as “a fearless arbiter of crime” is changed to a solicitous

servant in attendance at the pleasure of a politician-master.

This blunting of the crime card of the police has made it less awe-inspiring and less

deserving of respect from the criminals.

The police have more and more realised that criminals, particularly those from organisedsyndicates, are personal friends of their political masters and they are no match for the




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criminals in terms of wealth, influence and social standing. The men of the police see thosecriminals on equal footing with their political masters and learn to treat them with awe.

They find it absurd to act with authority against the high-profile criminals who are too

high for the small stature of the police.

It is unfortunate that the police of today have never realised their infinite stature as law-

enforcing agents vis-à-vis all others including criminals and politicians whom they areempowered to search, arrest and take to court if they deviate from rightful path.

Sadly, the trifling wealth and the concomitant “ big-man” image of others appear to the

present police as more appealing than their own awful police authority.

On ultimate analysis, crime is a universal phenomenon. All living beings are criminals in

varying degrees. Criminal thought is a part of the natural function of a healthy mind as is the

moral restraint that prevents the criminal thought from being acted upon.

External restraints brought about by the fear of law, custom and adverse reaction,reinforce the inner restraint to prevent the committing of crime.

However, as the force of external restraints weakens for diverse reasons, and the

proporation of gain to be made in committing a crime outweighs the risks involved in the

balance sheet of the operation, the lure of crime increases and the deed is accomplished.

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE

It is the social situation which controls the external restraints to make committing a crimean asset or a liability. It thereby decides the proliferation or suppression of crime, human

nature being what it is always.

Criminals are criminals because society gives them easy openings to thus meet their

needs. Politicians love to befriend criminals rather than bring them to book because thesociety they live in makes their lives more comfortable with criminals as friends rather than

as adversaries. Policemen find the crime world sweeter because it is how things stand forthem.

The remedy for the proliferation and endearment of crime lies in changing the social

dynamics to make crime a liability to criminals and criminals a liability to politicians and thepolice. In the existing nexus of politics, crime and police, crime is an asset to criminals and

criminals are an asset to politicians and police.

Criminals should not be construed as a separate block of citizenry. They are a cross-

selection of people from all fields of life who have moved beyond a commonly accepteddegree in their criminal tendencies.

Criminality may be prolific in certain civilised fields like commerce and industry in the

form of tax evasion, violation of foreign exchange regulations, hoarding etc.



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Such crimes are generally not taken seriously in spite of the public awareness of thecrimes and the social standing of the criminals remains unaffected. Government servants too

come under this category of criminals because of rampant corruption in public life.

It is a fact that Indian public life is a vast field of criminal activities and politicians and

police, though the custodians and protectors of Indian public life, from part of the crime

world. However, knowledge of the involvement of politicians and police in this nasty worldstirs the public conscience for the reason that they are supposed to be the people on whom thepublic relies to save them.

CRIME AND NATIONAL ECONOMY

A word about the effect of the nasty nexus between politics, crime and police on the

national economy.

Unity gives strength. It is true about this nasty nexus also.

The only telos of the nexus is gain by synergy, which brings confidence and courage to

the troika in its nefarious activities, thereby inducing it to more daring and innovativecriminal activities. This results in proliferation of crime is illegal gain and the incidence of

crime is directly related to increase in black money in the national economy, the proliferation

of crime invariably results in inflation and the weakening of the national economy.

More dangerously, it results in polarisation of the society into criminal rich and honest

poor, and destroys the country’s moral fabric.

The increasing incidence of easy money, material comforts and political power of the

criminal rich ultimately leads to internal strife and popular terrorism.

The indulgence of the rich and powerful in crime popularises criminal activities by

bringing an aura of status to them and negating all inhibitions in the popular mind.

Society easily accepts the example of the wealthy and powerful for making an easybuck to lead comfortable lives in the world where life is becoming increasingly difficultbecause of the spurt in black money, caused by proliferation of crime.

While decent life becomes impossible by honest methods, the need of survival forceshonest citizens to accept crime as a way of life as the last resort. This would be where

politicians, criminals and police lead the country.

Easy money and easy wealth have a tendency to inflate. Criminals tend to spend lavishly.

This ends up in a spurt in prices of land, buildings and essential commodities, while honestmen have to toil hard for an extra quarter.

Crime begets money, and money begets more money, and more money gets power,

comfort and everything. In the crush, the honest man is lost forever. The ocean of criminal




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wealth around him, which is beyond even his wildest dreams, frustrates him and ravages hissense of morality and righteousness.

It turns him violently against all human values and decency, leading him to a world of

crime and violence. It is what we have seen in Punjab, Kashmir, Assam, in faraway SriLanka or even in Naxalism, where it is disguised as political ideology.

It is an irony that politicians and the police, who create the demons, fall to the bullets ofthe grievously hurt, self-righteous, once innocent people. It is said that even the dacoits inChambal are symptomatic of this social and economic malady.

It is true that crime cannot be eliminated from any society as the tendency to commitcrime is ingrained in human nature. However, crime can be suppressed by appropriaterestraints. What restraints and how they are to be applied are ironically decided by politicians

and the police.

If they come out of their indulgent interests to commit themselves to their professionalobjectives, they can certainly save India from the present predicament.

Not that every politician and very policeman can come out to achieve this noble task, butthere certainly are noble elements yet surviving as exceptions among them, who should take

up cudgels in favour of the Indian polity and sacrifice their lives and careers, if necessary, to

make the renaissance of Indian police and Indian public life possible.

The question yet to be posed is: Will the inveterate vested interests let these sacrifices

bear fruit? Let us hope for the best.



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CRIMINALISATION OF POLICE

Organised violence is so much a part of Indian politics that all politics parties

have created youth and volunteer wings to accommodate young hoodlums as a fighting and

street-smart force to be used when violence is needed.

Those who sand out in courage and toughness rise fast and reach the top and today a very

high percentage of Ministers in the Indian Government are these people.

It is ironical that politicians, whose help criminals sought to save themselves from thepolice, brought the police and criminals closer to each other, building a bridge between them.

The understanding reached between criminals and the police is to a great degree responsiblefor criminalising Indian public life and blunting the effectiveness of the police.

Though the nexus between criminals and the police is not a new phenomenon, what was

once an exception has now become the rule and what was the rule once has become theexception. Today criminals on the one hand overawe a weak police force with their

connections with powerful politicians and lure the police with easy money and comfort on the

other, thus tilting the balance to their advantage.

POLITICAL MISHANDLING

Though criminals play their political cards with adroitness, their real aim is to lessen thepressures of the police on themselves.

If some are born criminals, some choose the path of crime consciously and some others

are constrained to follow it. While faulty financial and social policies forged by short-sightedpoliticians are responsible for forcing many helpless people to a life of crime, these same

policies often drive sensitive people to revolt and to embrace terrorism and violence.

Naxalisim, Sikh terrorism, the ULFA movement, Kashmir separatism, Hindu and

Muslim militancy and even the sympathy in India for the LTTE cause are direct results of

political mishandling of national issues.

India has seen isolated political attempts in the past to save people from the clutches ofcrime and to rehabilitate them. The famous Chambal experiment initiated by the late Jaya

Prakash Narayan had some success in spite of the machinations of certain politicians in the

area.

Not that politics is all bad. It is, by definition, governance of the State by popularleadership. The malaise of today’s politics lies in its tilt to populism at the cost of leadershipand more dangerously, populism is being considered an investment to earn returns in multiple

proportions. Nothing, it appears, means as much to the Indian electorate as money to prod

them to cast their votes for a particular candidate.




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VICIOUS CIRCLE

The history of independent India makes it clear that honesty, patriotism, quality, service,

excellence and even charisma have become casualties vis a vis money and power on the

Indian election stage. In this situation, political poser is equated with electoral popularity,which in turn is equated with money and power, which can be had only though political

patronage.

The vicious circle has helped to create a class of extortionists who manipulate the passivepublic. Politics too has its honest and patriotic people who are committed to the welfare of

society. But, sadly, they are caught up in a system which does not let them come to

prominence unless they come terms with it and adopt the venal proposition of winingelections to make money to win the next election.

Only those who correctly grasp the inner dynamics of this and adapt to its mechanics can

hop to make any headway. Others are bound to sink. When the system itself made the

election a venal mechanism, corrupt practices that rope in criminals and police are bound tofollow.

It can be categorically said that the business of crime cannot survive anywhere ifpoliticians and the police join hands to bring the crime world to heel. But alas, this is not to

be in a world of opportunist politicians and a corrupt, weak, police force both with an eye on

the spoils of the crime. The police force is the weak link in the troika of power-brokersconsisting of politicians, criminals and the police. It functions as an instrument politiciansuse to bring criminals to them. The role of the police as a law-enforcing agency and its hold

over criminals makes it a handy instrument for politicians to use.

SAD COMMENTARY

The police is the executioner and odd-job boy of the Government. This image of the

police is effectively made use of by politicians for all conceivable personal and official

purposes. While low-ranking police are used as bodyguards, gunmen, messengers, watchmenetc, high-ranking police officers are used for the same jobs at higher levels.

It is a sad commentary on today’s police force that while low-ranking police do these jobs as an unavoidable duty, high-ranking officers compete and fight among themselves to

attend to the odd jobs of their political masters. This they do, even when they are fully aware

of the criminal antecedents and police histories of some of their benefactors.

Jobs are judged for importance in the police force on their potentialities for illegal money

from crime. And jobs with potential for such gains are most sought after and are often paidfor in lakhs. This is considered an investment. which will earn many times more in a short

period of time.

Many other jobs, on the other hand are known as punishment postings and are largelydetested. These jobs have no potential for illegal earnings.



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It goes without saying that judging jobs on the basis of the challenge or the opportunityfor service that they provide is a thing of the past. It is the crime world that decides theimportance or otherwise of different police jobs and in actual fact controls the type and

calibre of officers in each job.

In other words, it is criminals who invisibly control the police rather than the police

controlling the criminals. This reversal of function has a lot to do with the low morale of the

present Indian police.

Its members find themselves at the mercy of criminals whom they are supposed to bring

to book. The police is no longer confident that it is mentally and organisationally equipped to

do its job.

Increasingly powerful and modernised crime syndicates have made a farce of crime

control by the police. Many factors place the police at disadvantages. Its growth has not kept

pace with population growth. It is also at a disadvantage as far as communication,

transportation and weaponry are concerned as criminals have the best of all these.

INCOMPETENT LEADERSHIP

Consequently, police fatalities in encounters with criminals and terrorist groups are

increasing. As a result the police in India is no longer keen to intrfere with the activities of

the underworld. The understanding between criminals and the police is that both will confinethemselves to their respective fields a and avoid embarrassing each other.

The police is paid for its passiveness while stray troublemakers are silenced. The Indian

police is sane enough to quickly realise that its interests lie in silence while entangling withthe crime world may invite a host of complications.

The responsibility for the present state of the Indian police rests solely on its incompetent

leadership rather than on anything else. Unimaginative planning uninspiring guidance and

lack of leadership and conviction in the top police ranks has led to utter chaos. Dangerouslyineffective recruitment policies, poor training programmes, misuse of the facilities of

confidential assessment of subordinates and the degeneration of control and supervisionmachinery have resulted.

The present Indian police force is utterly unmotivated and police jobs are considered only

as devices that provide rank, power, social status, sundry comforts and a pension. How canthe people of India depend upon this sort of police force for security, protection and law and

order?




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THE INDIAN POLICE:

MALADIES AND REMEDIES

Crime, politics and the police are the 3 sides of the vicious triangle within whichdemocratic India and its free people are inexorably caught today. Though wealthy industrial

and commercial houses form the 4th dimension of this unfortunate situation, their

manipulative strategies are as yet limited to trying to influence politicians in pursuit of theirinterests.

It is their wealth that operates as a catalyst in reducing the normal life of free citizens to a

welter of uncertainties and unending hardships. However, their role is rather distant andindirect, unlike that of criminals, politicians and the police.

Politicians protect criminals from the law while criminals reciprocate by acting as their

henchmen in handling underground activities. The police goes to the politicians for jobprotection while at the same time it strikes an understanding with criminals. Thus works this

nexus of vile power brokers who prey on innocent people and suck the blood of the hapless

masses.

The trio of criminal, political and police manipulators is a dangerous force to reckon with,

in the Indian democratic situation. A tight-knit power-bloc, they have permeated into allconceivable facets of Indian public life with the sole intention of garnering all the benefits ofan inefficient public administration. The tragedy here is that this evil is perpetrated by those

whom the public trust as their benefactors and protectors.

The amoral side of this operation does not seen to have affected either the police or thepoliticians in any way and the vile cabal against, the Indian public works on indifferent to

everything except its own self-interest. It seems that all the actors in this tragic drama think

that the Indian democracy is a free-for-all, where they should try to grab all that they can in aworld where each person has to look after himself.

This approach is certain to undermine not only the democratic set-up of the nation, butalso its social fabric. The blame for this sad state of affairs should be squarely borne by the

ugly troika of politicians, criminals and the police.

All the maladies of the police today emanate from the politicians who are only concerned

with winning the next election. Until it extricates itself from their grip, it cannot hope to riseabove its present mediocre level.

An immediate need is to streamline the organisation. At present, the growth of the policedepartment is not really much more than a spasmodic reaction to various stimuli and as a

result it lacks the benefits of an integrated approach. Operational facilities, counter-balances

and counter-checks are inadequate.



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The constitution of a permanent cell of organisational experts under the direct control ofthe police chief to redefine the police organisation is required to make it more meaningfuland need-based.

This could help in streamlining the hierarchy by identifying and eliminating redundantposts, by rationalising workloads and preventing their duplication and by redefining duties

and procedures and thus the rights and responsibilities at each level. As a consequence,

police functioning would be made more cost-effective and efficient.

UNATTRACTIVE SERVICE

The accusation that no talent breeds and grows in the wilderness of the police set-upcannot be easily gainsaid. The Indian Police Service continues to be an intellectually poorand unattractive service in the spectrum of the All –India services with only misfits opting

for its.

The constabulary, which forms the bulk of the service, is largely constituted of peoplefrom the lower stratum of society who are psychologically handicapped when it comes toexercising their police powers against the more enlightened people in society.

A tendency to sideline superior intellect and excellence, a general reluctance to adopt

modern techniques of policing and management, a dogmatic approach to personnel and

public relations and a lack of insight into human nature are other factors responsible for theunfortunate state of affairs in the force.

These problems can be overcome only by capable police leadership at all levels. The

organisation is bound to experience a glissade until objectivity, reasonableness and good judgement become a part of the police administration.

The annual assessment of men and officers in the police has become a travesty of what it

was originally meant to be. In no way, under the present circumstances, does an ACR reflect

an officer’s qualities or capabilities or lack thereof. Many therefore believe that thedepartment would be better off without this pernicious evaluation process that encourages

corruption and favouritism in the force.

It must, however, be said that the evils of the ACR are not inherent in the process itself,

but stem rather from the calibre of those who write them at various levels. What

characterises the rite of the ACR today is a distinct lack of objectivity: it has become a meansto personal ends, a medium for the advancement of individual interests and even the

settlement of personal scores.

Servility is its inevitable consequence and it would not be wrong to say that eliminating

the ACR altogether would certainly be a step towards commune bonum in the police force.

A Deputy Inspector General of Police in a range wanted a young Deputy Superintendentof Police to marry a girl close to him. The self-respecting DSP chose to marry a girl of his




101

own choice. This antagonised the Deputy Inspector General. His next annual confidentialreport showed the junior as a liability to the police department.

The senior officer also prevailed year after year upon other officers to incorporate

adverse remarks in the confidential reports of the junior. Most of them obliged and thisbright junior officer ended up with a series of unsubstantiated adverse remarks in his

confidential reports.

All his appeals were ignored by the Government. As a result, the young officer wasdenied selection to the IPS for the next 9 years while his far less competent colleagues

superseded him on the career ladder, though there is nothing in his career to justify such

treatment.

Undeterred by the humiliation and career setbacks intentionally heaped on him he then

requested the Chief Secretary of the Government not to consider him any more for the IPS.

He took this measure to show his utter contempt of the corrupt departmental heads who sit

above him to decide his fate.

There are numerous instances of unhealthy practices at the highest levels in the Indian

police. Karnataka produced a police chief who, together with his wife, was taken to court onthe eve of his retirement, from service by a prominent social worker for allegedly defrauding

the public and a spastic society by siphoning off huge amounts of money, collected for the

spastics.

It is a different story that the officer concerned succeeded in silencing the social worker

through police pressure and ensured that the case fell through for lack of evidence. The

incident betrays the levels to which occupying high positions in the Indian police stoop tomake a few bucks.

In such an atmosphere with the maintenance of law and order in the hands of unprincipled

police personnel. Queer things take place. Long ago, a dacoity was reported in the house of a

person of doubtful character in Dharwad district in Karnataka.

The dacoity was actually committed by the illegitimate son of the concerned personafter a serious quarrel. The complainant later settled his feud with the illegitimate son anddecided to settle the case of dacoity to save his family name.

He successfully arranged for an ex-convict of Stuartpuram to be picked up and shown asthe accused. A mangalasutra recast from the gold recovered in some other case was shown

as property seized from the criminal !

Such developments make a mockery of criminal justice. What a serious breach of public

trust it is for the police to involve a person, albeit an ex-convict, in a crime which they knewhe did not commit. The incident reveals the levels of criminality to which the Indian police

has sunk.



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INHUMAN TORTURE

In another instance in 1981, police officials in charge of Koppal sub-division in Karnataka

picked up a poor goldsmith from Gadag in a neighbouring district for interrogation about

receiving stolen property. They subjected him to inhuman torture in the Gadag touristbungalow for 2 nights to make the innocent goldsmith confess to crimes which he had not

committed.

The wife and children of the goldsmith, who found him in the tourist bungalow afterendless running from pillar to post, were chased away from the place though they could hear

his agonised shrieks. The goldsmith succumbed to the torture on the second night.

The news of the lock-up death, as such deaths are popularly called, was splashed in localand other newspapers. The wife of the goldsmith filed a complaint before the local court

about the cold-blooded murder of her husband.

The district Superintendent of Police and the Range Deputy Inspector General of Police,whose protégé the sub-divisional police officer was, rose to the occasion to save him.

They visited Gadag and entrusted the investigation of the case to the compliant DeputySuperintendent of Police of a neighbouring sub-division with oral directions to finalise the

case as “not proved” before the magistrate, who had received the wife’s complaint and taken

cognisance of the plaint.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police complied with these directions and sent his

investigation report to the court for action u/s 210 of the Cr.PC. Thus ended the case of cold-

blooded torture and culpable homicide of an innocent goldsmith.

Such stories of cruelty and criminality make the police appear like demons. What righthas the police to investigate and prosecute criminals while it protects its own killers?

Though it is difficult to extricate the police machinery from the clutches of thepoliticians, it is an important measure that has to be undertaken at al costs in the overall

interests of the country

If policing is to be effective in the years ahead, specialisation is crucial. Three distinct

police services with separate recruitment and training are needed. These are:

1. Regulatory police or uniformed police in charge of law and order

And other regulatory duties.

2. Mainstay police in charge of crime investigation, crime prevention,Security and intelligence operation.

3. Social police in charge of prevention and investigation of all socialOffences and implementation of social legislation.




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All the 3 wings should have their own individual organisations up to the district levelwith independent superintendents and staff as required. They should function in tandem inmuch the same way as the army, navy and air force do.

At the apex could be a specially constituted body called the State police authority withpolice chiefs of all the 3 wings as members and the Chief Secretary to the Government as its

Chairman.

A PANACEA

Creation of an all-India police authority at the Centre, responsible only to the President of

India, with regional police authorities in each State as subordinate bodies, may prove to bea panacea to most of the extant maladies of the Indian police.

The all-India police authority may be headed by a Supreme Court judge with the Union

Home Secretary and Central Cabinet Secretary as members and the senior most police officer

of the country as the member-secretary.

The arrangement is likely to bring to an end the undue interference by politicians in

police affairs, thus enabling the police to function in an independent atmosphere. The Indianpolice may hope to function well in the new age if these measures are implemented.



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THE CRUMBLING STEELFRAME OF INDIA

The All India Service were once called the Steel Frame that held India, a country which

consisted of diverse political systems, comprising British Indian and many other big and

small princely States, together. If India is one today- though in truncated form-the efficiencyof its vintage. All India Services is as much responsible for this as the might of the British

Empire.

The credit for India having made impressive progress, both in the domestic and

international fields and having survived the uncertain, initial years of democracy, underleaders who had no experience of ruling a country of India’s size and diversity, also goes to

the original All India Services- to its traditions and efficiency, that continued to survive forsome years even after Independence.

The sterling performances of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in the unification of India and

the brilliant achievements of Jawaharalal Nehru in the international field are as much thesuccess stories of their civil servant secretaries and advisers as of the leaders themselves.

The fall in standards of the All India Services, in the values of their officers and in theirefficiency and performance, is symbolic of the fall India itself has experienced.

The All India Services experienced a setback after Independence. This deterioration wasin depth of ideas, quality of performance and honesty of convictions of their officers. Withthis deterioration, to All India Service are no longer in a class of their own. Its members can

no longer claim a distinguished standing in society as the All India Services have been

reduced to merely good careers.

The Civil Services had inherited, as a result of their exclusive place in the higher levels of

administration, high pay packets and good perquisites, attractive service conditions and an

awe-inspiring tradition. But since this was not accompanied by superior performance, theconsequence is that the reins of democratic India are now in the hands of people who are in

no way superior in terms of intellectual worth, administrative skill or human qualities. This is

a tragedy for a democracy struggling to progress.

The British created to All India Services to handle the administration of the country.They recruited talented people, imparted the best possible training to them and invested

them with the trust, powers and opportunities to carry out their responsibilities.

They took care of all their personal needs, provided them with many opportunities for

growth and surrounded them with a halo of exclusivity by endowing them with high socialstatus and providing them with generous creature comforts.

Independent India needed brilliant people to handle its complex administrative problems

and to implement its developmental schemes. It is tragic that India after independence not




105

only failed to realise the importance of maintaining its Steel Frame and improving upon it,but positively contributed to its collapse in a very short span of time.

Indian leaders wanted the All India Service of independent India to break away from the

British model they had originally been based on and they gave expression to this desire byaltering the name of the Services. It is ironical that the change in name also initiated a steep

fall in the quality of the Civil Services.

At present, the Indian Administrative Services is not even a pale shadow of the old IndianCivil Services. The Indian Foreign Service stands nowhere near the brilliant Indian Political

Service and the present Indian Police Service lacks the backbone and professionalism of the

good old Indian Police.

A major cause for the disappearance of excellence from the All India Services of

independent India was the secret tendency of the new leaders to look at the All India Services

as their rivals in running the country, rather than as the backbone of the State. A subtle fear of

the All India Services inherited from British India days accompanied by a sense of awe thatthe services inspired because of the halo worn by its predecessor, stirred the new leaders whomade every effort to cut the Civil Services to size and show them their proper place.

SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS

This occurred together with a fall in the standards of management of the Civil Servicesbecause of the failure to recognise the importance of the Civil Services in administering thenation. This fall succeeded in bringing the All India Services of the post Independence era to

its present state.

This brought the Services closer to the people of India in a way, while stripping it of all

its brilliance, excellence and efficiency to give India a mediocre All India Services to handleits administration. And the result of this is the present state of the country.

The poor state of the Civil Services attracted people of poor calibre. This led to all kindsof evils including corruption, opportunism and lack of moral strength to stand by one’s values

and convictions.

This situation led to loss of face and subordinated the All India Services to the ambitions

of the political leadership. Its has been a long journey from the bold and awe-inspiring All

India Services that existed at the dawn of Independence to the present meek and servile AllIndia Services without any backbone to stand erect and hold its head high.

The reasons for the fall and the mechanism that brought about the change, are not far toseek. Everything that made the All India Services of the British days a powerful adminicle

for the administration was just swept away while its new avatar in independent India wasbrought into existence.

The glory of the old All India Services was built on the 3 basic strengths of faultless

recruitment, perfect training and the maintenance of the highest standards of professionalism



PRAVEEN KUMAR

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and character t sustain it throughout. These strengths held the Steel Frame of India togetherfor nearly a century. But independent India just failed to give these factors the importancethey deserved while constituting its version of the All Indian Services.

The primacy British India gave to the process of selection of people of high calibre to theAll India Services is perhaps the single major factor that made the Civil Services among the

best in the world. Promising people with maturity and intellectual superiority were selected

young through a vigorous and efficient filtering process of a carefully devised elaboratepublic civil examination process under the guidance, supervision and control of highlyqualified professionals in the field.

Rarely was anything other than exceptional merit considered in the process of selectionand human weakness like nepotism, corruption and parochial considerations rarelyinterfered in the process, as Britain was not prepared to compromise and accept anyone less

than the best in the higher levels of administration. These people were, after all, to sit on

equal terms with them and help in administering the country! These high standards in the

process of selection and recruitment, made the All India Services of British days, a reallysuperior cadre.

REASONS FOR DETERIORATION

The grand structure of British rule was to be mercilessly demolished later by independent

India. Unimaginative and messy selection and recruitment procedures, which were poorlyconceived and unskilfully executed became the order of the day. Corruption, nepotism,narrow considerations and caste and economic reservations corroded the foundations of the

newly-constituted All India Services as time passed.

The reasons for this deterioration in the Civil Services are many. The first is the general

lack of passion for quality and excellence in the Indian psyche. The agency in charge of theprocess of such selections, namely, the Union Public Service Commission, unlike in the

British period, is unfortunately increasingly being manned by people unequal to the task

either in terms of their professionalism, efficiency and passion for brilliance or in their basiccharacter itself.

As the selection of members of the UPSC became politicised, mediocre people came tofill the slots and in the process, selections to the All India Services suffered. Since members

owed their memberships or chairmanship to their political leaders, they could not avoid the

obligatory quid pro quo. This continues to be the state of affairs today.

The Indian Civil Service, which once produced giants like K.P.S. Menon, now produces

in its new avatar of the IAS and Allied Services only pigmies without voice or strength ofconviction. In this matter, they are like those in the crippled institution of the union Public

Service Commission who select them. The Steel Frame of the IAS has nor become a gildedplastic frame with its steel conscience crumbling into a plastic conscience in the present

uncertain political atmosphere. A Steel Frame Civil Service would never have permittedsuch a degeneration.




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The degeneration is manifeast at all ranks in all services, whether it is the administrativeservice, the foreign service, the police service, the forest service, the central services or thespecialised services, whether at the sub-divisional or provincial level or at the highest levels

of Central Government. The degeneration is uniform everywhere.

Whether it be in creative genius, intellectual heights, strength of character, moral values,

width of human interests or noble qualities, the Civil Service of the post-Independence era

are third rate. It does not have its own voice or any originality. Its members either as ChiefSecretaries of State Governments or as Secretaries of various ministries of departments, are atbest paper-pushers and mindless approvers of reports incompetently prepared by subordinates

down the line.

Imagine people of such calibre presiding over the entire Civil Services. Thus develops avicious circle that promotes the degeneration of the Civil Services.

Sturdy and sterling All Indian Services are indispensable for the survival of democratic

and united India. Whether it is a cadre of generalists as the Indian Administrative Service is,or cadres of specialists in the fields of judiciary, health care, engineering, economics, foreignservice, police etc the existence of All Indian Services functions as the basis of governance of

India and adds to the emotional bonds binding the country together.

Also, as a pool of the cream of the people, it is supposed to bring distinguished and

brilliant people to the job of administration of the country and thereby ensure goodgovernment to the country.

THE REMEDY

Any dilution of the high standards of these services is certain to throw the country to thewolves. British India knew this and perhaps, independent India also knows it. But it does

nothing to arrest the dangerous fall in the standards of its All India Services.

India is preoccupied with myriad issues relating to economic and social development and

perhaps the rapid deterioration of its All India Services does not appear to be important incomparison with these burning issues. But such a feeling is wrong. All India Services are aprecondition for the survival of India. India must realise this fact and act fast.

This brings us to the quintessential question as to how the Civil Services can be broughtback to their original standards and glory. How can we get back the original ideas, quality

and performances and honesty of convictions that existed earlier?

The first and foremost task in this regard is pruning the Civil Services to a small brains

trust of brilliance and commitment which will steer the country in the right direction bygiving competent advice on statecraft and actually running the administration to political

leaders.



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A TINY SELECT GROUP

Merciless pruning of the extant services to create this tiny, efficient and highly

responsible core is a priority task. Only brilliance and the highest potential should be the

criteria for membership in this nerve-centre.

This brains trust must be kept beyond the purview of extraneous constraints like

reservation of any kind and even age restrictions. The guiding principle here is bringingtogether the best talents without restraints of any kind, for ensuring best results. Theservices should not be treated as an employment opportunity for the elite, but as the

foundation of the Government.

INTELLECTUAL CALIBRE

The training programmes for the services have to be made relevant today. Matter taught

has to be updated every year by experts and made changing evento the brightest among thenew recruits, unlike present training programmes which are intellectually impoverished,irrelevant to the times and which in no way help ensuring the right attitudes at the higher

levels.

Another need is to make the passing of a promotional test, of a very standard, held by

the UPSC or a similar Central agency, mandatory for promotion at every level. Only suchtough measures will keep the Civil Services fit and productive as is required for the soundhealth of the administration of the country.

TONING UP THE UPSC

Overhauling the present mediocre Union Public Service Commission to create anefficient and responsible set-up capable of handling the enormous responsibilities under

Article 320 of the Indian Constitution, is essential in order to arrest the degeneration that has

set in, in the set-up. This has led to blunders in identifying talent and in managing the CivilServices.

CREDIBILITY OF THE UPSC

In a recent case, 3 promising officers from the State cadre of a southern State of India,

were denied selection by the UPSC to an All India Service for no obvious reason for 10 yearsfrom 1990, while their juniors were elevated. The acute frustration and demoralisation

caused by this led to the break-up of the family of one of the promising trio.

Violent behaviour by him repeatedly in public led to very embarrassing public

humiliations, and ultimately involvement in a murder case led to his conviction. This is howa reckless and irresponsible UPSC ruined a promising life for no reason at all.

However, another of the trio was an officer of enormous inner strength as well as a poet

and an intellectual of the highest calibre. He weathered the frustration of the 9 years to rise




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to a very high level in individual achievement and public esteem to the shame of theirresponsible UPSC.

The incident created much resentment in the State against the recklessness of the UPSC

and considerably lowered its credibility. Such transgressions are common these days with thepresent state of affairs in the UPSC and the overhauling of the organisation should be aimed

at preventing such irresponsible actions that can have such tragic consequences.

REORGANISATION OF THE UPSC

The way to prevent such unprofessionalism on the part of the UPSC lies in transforming

it to a highly efficient outfit managed by people of unimpeachable character and efficiency.This objective can be achieved by suitable amendment to Articles 316 and 317 of the IndianConstitution to ensure that only suitable people become Members and Chairman of the

organisation and remain in the saddle only as long as they retain their moral and

professional calibre.

This can be made possible by constituting a committee comprising the Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court, the Chief Commissioner of the Central Vigilance Commission and the

Speaker of Parliament as members. The Vice-President of India should be the Chairman andclear the names for appointment as Members and as the Chairman of the UPSC for a fixed

tenure. These people should also be empowered to initiate actions for their removal by an

appropriate procedure in fit cases.

Appropriate changes to this effect in Articles 316 and 317 of the Indian Constitution are

likely to plug the existing loopholes that allow too much political interferences in the processof the selection of Members and Chairman of the UPSC and thereby in its fair functioning.



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INDIAN INTERNAL SECURITY BUILDUP

The police force in India was raised imprimis to tackle crime and law and order

problems. Its recruitment, training and on-the field experience programmes stress upon the

elements required to tackle those problems. The Indian police organisation, in its stiffhierarchical order and discipline, is geared to meet these challenges. There is little scope in

the present police for the growth of an aptitude other than for these déjà vu function. No

effort was made to overhaul the police even after security challenges have superated in theirprimacy in police functions. It should be borne in mind that the demands on the police to

meet security challenges are tout a fait distinct from the demands to which the Indianpolice has long been accustomed. The aptitude required to protect targets from determined

esoteric strikes by terrorists is antipodal with the aptitude required for the show of strength,necessary to suppress a loosely knit mob of wankle law-breakers. In spite of these excessive

strains on the Indian police, its organisation and resources, due to the dangerous spurt in

security threats, it unfortunately has failed to abraid and overhaul its system to face the new

challenges. The glitches of the Indian police in internal security are obvious by the fact thatIndian soil has become a fertile ground to breed and feed terrorist organisations. Every

corner of India has its own terrorist outfit and each of these outfits has proved itself a

pernicious challenge to the Indian police. Never, even by chance has the Indian police shownthat it can control a terrorist outfit. The fact is that even all armies of the world together

cannot bring a terrorist outfit to heel, unless the soft belly of the terrorist outfit is subtly hit

embusque by intelligent operations. Sadly, the Indian police is yet to realise this fact.

Sabotage, terrorism and security risks are not phenomena, pro tempore. They are here to

stay and the police must know to meet the situations they engender. And threats to internal

security, by all means will assume demonic proportions as time advances. The survival of the

police in coming years depends upon its ability to meet the needs of internal security. It hasno alternative but to overhaul its passe system, organisation, operational methods, approach

to work, training and manpower resources to be able to do so. The faster it is done, the better.

For, the inability of the police in successfully handling security challenges is resulting infatalities almost every day.

The first parameter for preparing the police for the future challenges of the internalsecurity is selecting right people with right aptitude, right abilities and right background.

This requires thorough job analysis in the requirements to handle the pertinentresponsibilities. Choosing the right man from the motley to inclip him to the ergon forms

the foremost need of preparing the police for the impending challenges. It should be

realised that the need of such people to the police overweighs the need of the police for theseextra-ordinary species. As internal security is a condition of national survival, no law, no

fundamental right, no directive principle nor any social welfare ideologies should interferewith the recruitment of the right people. Internal security being a highly sensitive andsecretive job, each less than right man inside is a positive risk to security operations.

Further , such people are a drain on the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.

Ergo, avoiding people less than right for the job is as important in recruitment as selectingthe right person.





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The Indian police system lays emphasis on dashing qualities rather than on mentalqualities and planning that form the elan vital of security policing. The age-old police traitslike a criant show of force and a strict adherence to hierarchical order have a mis-alliance

with the needs of security operations where patience, perseverance, calculating mind and

imagination was to foresee developments, speedy physical and mental reflexes, unbreachablesang-froid in adverse situations, high commitment to the work in hand, initiative and above

all, courage to take responsibility for action decide the success or otherwise of the security

build-up. Indeed, these human qualities have to be reinforced with neoteric securityequipment including latest communication, transport, information, weaponry and othersecurity –oriented systems. The organisation must have three full-fledged wings in charge of

(a) collection of intelligence; (b) process and assessment of security risks; and (c) field

operation.

Collection of vital intelligence forms the pith of perficient security operation. An effective

security build-up perforce stands on the foundation of strategic intelligence. The ferocity of

security basically depends on the quality of intelligence as an input. A security organisation

of neoteric age cannot survive without an effective intelligence wing as a backup unit. Andkey intelligence does not come freely. It has to be extracted at great risks from closelyguarded sources by resourceful intelligence operators. Often, such an operation may require

years of patient preparation by an undercover to cultivate dependable insiders to the cause.These operations are potential comminations to the mutual relation and ergo intelligence

operators are left to their own fate by employers when the operators are caught. Intelligence

is a venal commodity and its price can be fixed in monetary terms. Collection of intelligenceinvolves huge expenditure to maintain organisation and communication reticulation, supportthe logistics of the operations and at times to affect outright purchases as well. It requires a

huge army of highly-paid and expensive operators and agents to cover places and groups that

are potentially security risks. The success of security back home tout a fait depends uponthe quality of the intelligence sent back. In an age of bitter concourse to win over or withhold

a piece of intelligence, double crosses or even triple crosses are au naturel. The situationnecessitates keeping an ey on these operators from a distance.

The raw inputs from intelligence sources have to be winnowed, classified and processedif found to have security relevance. Intelligence collection sans processing is as good as, if

not worse than, not collecting them at all. Raw intelligence throws the national security to thewinds by raising a maelstrom, wherein facts and fancies are completed beyond recognition. Itblunts the sensitivities of the sleuths and excoriates targets to real danger. The possibility can

be avoided by creating a nerve-centre, a command post in the security organisation to process

and assess intelligence inputs anent ground realities, past history and known facts. Thisorganisation must be manned by people au fait and capable of reading between lines to

arrive at right conclusions as well as invenit strategies in the interests of the internal security.

This body must have a flair for research and analysis and knowledge of the internal situationof the country, dynamics of various factors that have bearing on the internal security and

possess an insight into minor developments that may blow up into serious security risks atsome future date. It must be constituted of carefully chosen professionals with proven

records of eximious work and a deep sense of patriotism and commitment to their work andshould be directly responsible to the chief of the organisation and work as a high-power

advisory body in all matters pertaining to the security.




113

Field operation is the cutting-edge of the security build-up. Other activities in theorganisation are just postern backups to the field operation that forms the mainstay of the

security organisation and inclips a vast portion of the organisation’s manpower, equipments,

machinery, money, time and other resources. If intelligence operators must have alert eyesand ears, security analysts must have smart mental faculties and field-operators must have

smart reflexes inter alia. Only people with exceptional courage and perseverance and dare

devilry can behove to this job. Resourceful people with energy and willingness to work hardin tramontane circumstances, rare single-mindedness of purpose and devotion can alone besuccessful in the dangerous world of field operations. They have to be pollent-willed people

with the precinct to risk their lives for the sake of achieving goal. Screening people for these

traits is not a facile job. This arduous job has to be performed with great care and caution forthe quality of internal security of the land depends upon the work turned out by them. Thepeople who are chosen for the job must be able to provide security to men, places and

structures, known to be sensitive and comminuted by enemies, while themselves remain in

shades. Speed and surprise are their chief attributes. Resourcefulness to do jobs which

appear impossible is their mainstay. Indeed, the demands are too high and this necessitatescareful selection and recruitment, efficient training, high motivation and liberalcompensation in the form of generous pay, perks and expenditure accounts. The people who

play with their lives to meet the objectives of the internal security have to be treated well forthe risks to which they willingly submit themselves in the interests of the country and its

internal security.

All internal security operations must be part of a raisonne security plan that is drawn outin advance after through research and study of the best available intelligence on internal and

external affairs, the geographical position of the country, the internal and external economic

situation, likely shifts in foreign relations, objects and intentions of neighbouring countries,the dynamics of ethnic, communal and linguistic interaction within the country and scientific

advances in weaponry and other gadgetry, having a bearing on the security matters. Thesecurity plan must foresee likely sources of trouble inside and outside the country and

cultivate undercover operators at sensitive spots either by its own resources or through

agents, often years or decades in advance to keep an eye on developments, feed intelligenceand control situations by infiltration to strategic positions. Without this groundwork, no

security operation can make much headway.

Any security build-up must stand on two basic requirements; firstly, up-to-date

knowledge of the security risks and their starategies and secondly, a security machinery

devised to meet specific demands of the specific circumstances. A thorough knowledge ofthe adversaries includes an in-depth knowledge of their long and short term objectives, their

time-to-time aberrations, strategies, expertise, modes of operation, friends, enemies, sources

of support, likely change of strategies and their analyses to assess the possibility of securitythreats and likely targets. Yes, it is a stupendous task involving huge manpower and other

resources a grands frais. Yet, it is worth the cost and trouble in the interests of the nationalsecurity and a far more intelligent and meaningful use of human and material resources than

spending them to criminals after they accomplish their pernicious job. Investigation ofterrorism-oriented crimes serves practically no purpose and makes no impact on the plan and

strategies of a well-planned terrorist outfit.



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A security build-up is infrangible only if it is specific for each circumstance dependingupon the needs as assessed by security experts from time to time. Security must essentially

be an esoteric operation with open eyes and ears and closed mouth; with open mind and

closed heart . It must be a shadowy operation rather than a gust of light blinding peoplearound. Intelligent terrorist operators prefer to strike in this gust of light which is what

security tends to be. A good and pollent security plan should not have an open set-plan

which by all likelihood would be used by intelligent terrorists to their advantage. Thepollicitation of a good security plan depends upon its secretiveness, perspicacity and abilityto take even a well-prepared and resourceful terrorist operator by surprise.




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INVESTIGATION OF DOWRY DEATH CASES

Nature created women different from men with a definite purpose. Balance is stillness

and stagnation; imbalance is motion and progress. Nature designed life and action by means

of the imbalance brought about in the traits of men and women. In the process, women find

themselves at the receiving end. They ended up as the weaker half of society by their very

nature and are naturally handicapped in a world of men, by men, for men. In a world wherestrength commands charity and weakness receives cruelty, a woman is at a great

disadvantage. She has suffered all types of cruelty and humiliation all along centuries withpatience and in silence. This part of woman is symbolised in tradition by calling her as the

Mother Earth who bears all sufferings. The cardinal principle of the survival of the fittestapplies to the weak, natural attributes of woman which renders her less fit for survival than

man. She must live at his mercy and on his charity, silently bearing all his atrocities unlessand until society in an enlightened mood comes to her rescue.

The immane approach of the stronger world to its weaker counterparts has to be countered

with strong arm methods of the state power. In an enlightened age such as this people in

public life are sufficiently sensitized to this issue and more and more legislation come up tostop stronger people from riding over the weak and meek. India too has several legislations

that have become Acts to protect its women folk.

Atrocities against women in India are mainly rape and unnatural offences, dowry deaths,abduction and kidnapping for various purposes and outraging their modesty apart from minoracts like various marriage offences, dowry and other harassments, insulting the modesty,

causing miscarriage without consent and prostitution. Most of these offences are punishable

under the Indian Penal Code : in sections from 375 to 377, for rape and unnatural, offences,

abduction and kidnapping girls for various purposes being punishable in sections from 364to 369, offences related to marriage being subjected to penal provisions in sections from 493

to 498, outraging the modesty of a woman in section 354 and insulting the modesty in

section 509 being offences. Section 314 makes causing miscarriage without women’sconsent, a punishable act. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1983 (No.43/83) provided

for in camera trial of rape cases and also enlarged the scope of rape cases by placing theburden of proving innocence on the accused persons apart from making penal sections more

mordant, particularly in cases of custodial rapes by public servants. The Suppression ofImmoral Traffic in Women and girls Act 1956 with the Suppression on Immoral Traffic in

Women and Girls (Amendment) Act, 1986 and rules framed by states u/s 23 of the Act deal

with offences relating to immoral traffic in women and girls.

Dowry death cases have become sensational topical issues these days with the public

being highly sensitised to the menace of the offences with the unfortunate swelchie of cruel

practices and circumstances deliver an innocent girl at death’s door. All institutions of societyincluding the government, press, women’s organisations, judiciary and police handle dowry



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death cases on a special footing. Each such case outrages the patience of thinking peopleand rouses passion and outcry against the perpetrators of the offence. The police too givespecial importance to the investigation of these cases and closely supervises the

investigation process. In the circumstances, an insight into the investigation of dowry death

cases and proper understanding of the spectrum of challenges posed and how they are met isin the interests of both the public and investigating officers. It must be borne in mind that no

investigation can succeed without public cooperation. And the public, particularly people

aggrieved by such unfortunate incidents, can contribute to the progress of investigation ofthey have knowledge of its due process. With this in view, salient features and parameters ofdowry death investigation are outlined in this work.

Investigation of dowry death cases has special links with the science of forensic medicinebecause of the special nature of the investigation. Dowry deaths are figuratively calledbedroom deaths. In most cases, no outsider including the investigating officer can have any

knowledge about the circumstances and events that led to the death. Secondly, the offencers

being the custodians of the dead body and the scene for many hours after the death till they

volunteer to make its occurrence known, have all the time in the world to eliminate or tamperwith any clues. In the circumstances, the investigating officer is completely at the mercy ofmedical experts to interpret the cause of death.

Often, the mode of death noticed, be it asphyxia, drowning, or burning, may prove to be

post-mortal; ipso facto suggesting homicide in place of suicide. Only forensic medicine can

provide decisive proof to the investigating officer.

The success of the investigating officer in investigating dowry death cases largely

depends upon forensic medicine experts. Sans proper briefing from the latter, the

investigating officer may not realise the importance of noting the profusion of bleeding ormarks of inflammation in deciding whether wound is antemortal or not. Again, in a

poisoning case, the investigating officer may overlook the importance of recording the timewhen the deceased ate last, how many hours thereafter the first symptoms of poisoning

were noticed, what were those symptoms and how many hours thereafter death occurred.

Thus, the interaction between the investigating officer and forensic medicine experts iscrucial to give the investigation a direction.

Dowry death investigation has to address certain problems in the field in collectingevidence and examining witnesses.

These offences take place within the family circle. Sometimes, though blood relatives ofthe deceased volunteer evidence in the heat of trauma, a gradual reconciliation would be the

normal tendency. Therefore, sound evidence is rarely forthcoming and difficult to sustain.

Dowry death being an offshoot of the relationship of wife and husband and veiled in ashroud of secrecy, even the parents of the deceased may be unaware of the hardships the

deceased underwent at the hands of her husband and his relatives in the process of the dowrydeath.

If the investigating officer is lucky, he may succeed in collecting some, evidence of

cruelty. The next stage at which he would find himself would be the girl’s death. There




117

would be an absolute void in-between with no clues or evidence of what happened or noeyewitnesses to vouch for that , Clues on the dead body and surroundings are likely to betampered with by the offenders.

Investigations are witness-oriented. A dowry death case being primarily a family affair,independent witnesses refuse to involve themselves. And partisan witnesses are too polarised

to be credible.

It is in these circumstances that investigating officers have to trace witnesses, conductpurposive examinations and undertake directional recording of statements after proper

analysis of the offence and likely charges.

The dowry death cases are offences primarily under central Acts namely the DowryProhibition Act, 1961 with its amendments of 1984 and 1986 and certain sections of the

Criminal Procedure code, 1973 as amended by Criminal Law ( 2nd Amendment) Act, 1983.

In spite of attempts during amendments to avoid ambiguities in some sections of the earlier

Acts, it is patent that there are still several louche terms that need interpretation by the court.The term ‘ in connection with the marriage’ while defining dowry in section 2 of the DowryProhibition Act is unspecific about the flexibility of the word ‘ connection’ and gives way for

its subjective interpretations as well as that of the term dowry. ‘ The same word ‘ connection’brings in a similar impression while defining ‘ dowry death’ in Section 304B of the Indian

Penal Code and Section 113B of the Indian Evidence Act while declaring ‘ in connection

with demand of dowry’ ipso facto rendering the incatenation between the offence of dowrydeath and dowry’ demand uncertain and open for discussion. In the same sections, thephrase ‘ soon before her death’ raises the question, how soon before? Similarly, the words ‘

relative of her husband’ that figure in Section 498A of the Criminal Procedure Code, Section

304B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 113A of the Indian Evidence Act in no wayprovide exactly what is intended to be defined; the scope of the words there is too vast and

includes even the blood relatives of the deceased as they are also relatives of the husbandafter the marriage. Another important term that defies full comprehension is ‘ likely to

drive’ in Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, where the word ‘like’ by its very meaning is

indefinitive and open for subjective interpretation. The scope for divergent interpretationsof these terms in the comparatively new acts do create problems during investigation of the

cases until convention assigns them definite meanings.

Law by sections 113 (A) and 113(B) of the Indian Evidence Act relieves the investigation

of cases of death of girls within seven years of their marriage from the special nature of

difficulties by the reason of the crime being committed in the intimate circle of the offenders.The law provides that the court trying the case may presume that the accused persons

committed the offence if it is proved that the victim was subjected to cruelty by the accused

persons inter alia. The presumptions made easy the investigation of these otherwiseimpossible cases.

While the presumptions under section 113(B) of the Indian Evidence Act is applicable to

prove dowry death cases u/s 304 (B) IPC, section 113 (A) is applicable to prove abetment tocommit suicide u/s 306 IPC within seven years of the marriage. The latter presumption

benefits investigation of cases while a girl commits suicide under harassment for reason other



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than dowry also by her husband or in-laws within seven years of the marriage while thebenefit is available for cases of suicide under the same circumstances and homicide fordowry reasons under the same circumstances. This renders investigation of cases of homicide

of girls by husband and in-laws within seven years of marriage which poses the same

difficulties as suicide cases under the same circumstances an impossible task and there areany number of such homicide cases that were acquitted which would have been convicted by

the benefit of the presumptions u/s 113(A) of the Indian Evidence Act if they were suicide

cases. Amendment of concerned laws may be necessary to avoid this loophole in law.

If the investigating officer adequately employs his common sense and intelligence

during the preliminary stage of the investigation while examining the dead body and the

scene and collects all incriminating clues and evidences without restricting himself to theapparent cause of the death, no criminal can fool him and deflect him from the right line ofinvestigation.

Marriage is often called the second birth in a girl’s life; it brings an entire metamorphosis

in the form and contents of her life and in the process exposes her to inopinate adaptationproblems. It is an irony of nature and social customs that it is the girl who is delicate innature rather than the man who is selected for this difficile gauntlet of transformation in the

process of familial socialising. Per case, the gentle and amenable character of the femalebreed expose her to the natural selection for the purpose. In the process, death of the most

unfortunate of them by felo de se or homicide because of the grind of the circumstances has

become an unfortunate phenomenon. Dowry is only one though primus interpares amongvarious immane manifestations of adjustment problems to which the tender psyche of ayoung girl is exposed after her marriage. An integrated approach to all these symptoms of

adjustment problems to which a girl is suddenly exposed while her persona is yet unprepared

to meet the gauntlets alone can bring deliverance to the fairer sex of the human genre. Theentire process of social legislations and their enforcement is only a distant link in the whole

catena of luctation warranted to achieve this end.




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TOWARDS SANE SERVICE

It is a historical fact that India which is characterised by its unity in diversity was never a

single nation at any time in its long course of history of several millenniums, till the feat was

achieved in the 20th

century.

Neither Asoka Mourya or Samudra Gupta or Chandra Gupta nor Akbar or Aurangzeb of

Mughul dynasty in Indian history can boast of binding all the regions stretching betweenCape Camorin and Karakorampass, and Rann of Kutch and Arunachal Pradesh under a single

rule to give meaning to the concept of a single nation.

No military strength, no religion, no cultural similarities, no unity of civilisation, nolinguistic resemblances nor geographical proximities at any time before succeeded in forging

a single nation out of the vast land masses south of the Himalayas.

If India is a single nation today, though in its rather moth-eaten form, the credit should goto its distinguished civil service of early and middle 20th century vintage which was rightly

called as the steel-frame of Indian unity.

Should India continue as a single nation, it has to be through the grit, strength and quality

of its civil service alone.

Any tampering with the quality of the civil service and doing anything that may manglethe ‘steel-frame’ grade of Indian civil service certainly go fatal to the very existence of India

as a single nation.

The worst curse on India and its people is the classification and stratification of humanityon the basis of births and adoption of rigid codes of social conduct to rule the relationship

between those in different strata.

The lower strata being condemned to be treated less than street dogs and denied equality

and any opportunity of growth and decent life.

This curse for several millenniums permanently handicapped certain accurst social

groups from breaking away from primitive way of life.

This cancer in Indian social life develops a major moral responsibility on India not only

to get rid of the nasty disease, but also to rehabilitate the victims of the age-old social bevue.

Post-independent India, as welfare state, took innumerable measures, both constitutionaland legislative, towards absterging the sins perpetrated by its past practices of ages on theunfortunate sections of the society.

The removal of untouchability, prevention of atrocities, reservations, in jobs andeducational opportunities to quote but a few.



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Sine dubio, such special treatments alone can somewhat remedy the inhuman treatmentand delour meted out to some without an iota of fellow-feeling and kindness for generationsafter generations.

Such measures on special footing are not only compensations India must pay for havingdeprived some of its children of their growth opportunities for so long, though belated and

inadequate as they are.

They are also a kind of remorse the country suffers for its past sins.

But the cardinal question is the direction such measures must take.

Wrong policies in such matters may not only fail to make the measures efficacious, butmay also block the existing opportunities too.

It may also further weaken the social fabric of the country and ipso facto pose real threat

to the very existence of India as a country.

The apollyon in question is the policy of job reservation in civil service which may eat up

the quality and steel-frame toughness of the setup to disintegrate and balkanise India sans itsonly binding force namely a sound civil service to keep the country united in its diversities.

The victims of the age-old stratified class system actually deserve many more specialprivileges than delivered to them at present.

The necessarily need easier access to educational opportunities to prepare them for higher

slots in life.

Hence, the need of reservations in educational institutions.

Perhaps, institution of an apex development bank with branches in all districts or taluks

of the country, exclusively for their financial needs of nonconsumptive nature at nominal rateof interest a la rural or agricultural banks may prove a significant step in this direction.

Institution of liberal scholarships, concession in or exemption from, application fee for jobs, wider network or board and lodging facilities for students, free higher studies, special

vocational training for men and women, concessional hostel facilities for working men and

women, easy housing schemes, free advanced medical treatment facilities, etc are otherwelfare schemes for the unprivileged classes that may help to bring them on par with others.

This will wipe out the achilles’ heel from the face of Indian social structure to makeIndian society civilised without affecting the quality of its governance and parameters of

survival.

It was Winston Churchill who said democracy is the worst type of governance except forall other types of governance. Basically, democracy signifies rule of common man and rule

of mediocrity and ergo, more dangerously the rule of hoi polloi or mob.




121

This definition applies principally to the political system of the democratic governanceand not to the civil service system which is expected to be the subtle spine of the democraticrule. A sound civil service as amicus curiae draws the metes and bounds of governance

within which the democratic system must function and also inspire a sense of moderation,

discipline, fairness, legality and reasonableness in the political leadership of the system.

It absorbs the jerks and shocks of the political follies and helps the political leadership in

taking sound and intelligent decisions at right times.

In this sense, a sound civil service structure is sine qua non for running a democracy and

the strength of the democracy depends entirely on its soundness and quality. A democracy

without sound civil service slumps like a mass of flesh without a spine to support it.

The well being of the repressed class of India depends solely upon the survival of India

as a single nation and therefore on the quality and soundness of the civil service.

If there is anything scanty in the present world, it is high quality and excellence. Theyare such a rare commodity that even slight distractions in the swink to cultivate them end upin their disappearing in thin air. Excellence has a distinct tendency of light from mediocrity

and regrouping otherwise at its own level. This tendency renders maintenance of the tempoof high quality and excellence a difficult task. Any allowance to mediocrity leads to a

sustained flight of quality and excellence till mediocrity completely takes over. This is what

is feared about present Indian civil service thanks to reservation policy.

The fear that the steel-frame civil service of the pre-independent India vintage have

crumbled into a mediocre setup now by wrong policies of selection and recruitment in

independent India needs serious attention it deserves.

Several opinion polls point to the diminishing attraction of the civil service to crème dela crème of the Indian youth in preference to foreign and private industrial houses and banks

as job opportunities.

This trend deserves deeper concern than at present in those who are interested in the

survival of India as a nation and democracy. The interest of the country lies in marshalling thebest talents of the country in service of maintaining the country as a nation and democracyand that need must get the first priority over all other issues including developmental and

welfare vintage. Unfortunately, it is not happening in India now.

Civil Service is the trunk of the tree of democratic governance and breaking the trunk

itself is self-defeating for all national goals including justice for all. By the policy of job

reservation to civil service, India is venturing to the folly of cutting its own s trunk. Stracientdamage has already been done by this in the last five decades. No distraction like reservation

of any kind must deter the criterion of genuine merit and competence in civil service.

Real merit and competence emerge from exemplary unity of diverse human faculties likesound character, strong intellect right attitude, commitment and devotion to work. Doing



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anything to subvert these virtues in civil service in tantamount to wrecking the interests ofthe country.

It is not that somebody wants to subvert the interests of the country by hoisting job

reservation policy on civil service. The intentions of reservation is beyond reproach . Thefault lies in its pursuance.

Reservation of any kind in civil service clearly proves to be wrong means to reach theright end. How early India realises this fact, so fast is served India’s best interests.




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LACKING VIGOUR

Independence half a century back marks the greatest turning point in the history of Indian

police. It marks the end of the 88-year history of policing on modern lines under the BrithishRaj which began with the enactment of the Madras District Police Act of 1859 and assumed

countrywide acceptance with the enactment of the Police Act of 1861. Independence marks

the beginning of the history of Indian police under Indian hands in a democratic milieuunlike of yore though in form and contents they were its continuation.

The hitch lay in its spirit, in the contradictions of the intentions of a colonial police and

the traditions of a democratic police. It patently is against jus naturale to expect a colonialpolice transform to a democratic set-up overnight with the awakening of the country at

midnight. Spirit is never known to be a quick-chameleonic, particularly while form and

contents maintain their stead. Change in spirit is the natural outcome of changes in

ambience leading to metamorphosis of value system and attitudes by rapid exposures tochanged trails and tribulations to ripen the spirit to its new avatar. The first fifty years of

independence of India marks this period in context of the spirit of Indian police maturing to

democratic traditions in the hands of Indian rulers.

Crime investigation is a task as important to police as national security is. While national

security gained currency in India after the country became independent, crime investigationalong with law and order duties was the mainstay of Indian police from periods long before it.But, India never realised the importance of crime investigation in national affairs until very

recently. Nonetheless, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of Mr.Edgar J Hoover in the

US showed to the world around the time of India’s independence, what a powerful instrument

an investigation agency can be in national affairs and how resourceful chiefs of investigationagencies can hold even the heads of governments of their countries to ransom.

PLAYING SAFE

It is to the credit of Indian Police that the primier investigation agency of the country, the

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) instates and union territories never harboured such ambitions till now. It is a different matter

that in the recent years the CBI is forced by the judiciary to proceed against ranking politicalleaders including former union cabinet ministers and prime ministers, in discharge of its

legitimate duties. Otherwise, Indian investigation agencies, both at the Centre and in

regions, kept themselves away from interfering with the affairs of political leaders and theirkith and kin for most parts of the period in the last fifty years, save dictated for limited

actions by the ruling parties for political purpose as in the Classic Computer case of 1993 inKarnataka or cases against Ms. Indira Gandhi and her kin in 1977 for emergency excesses.Otherwise, they believed in the sanctity of political leaders and their associates as beyond the

laws of the country.



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Criminal cases filed against those people invariably fell through for lack of purposefulinvestigation and the trend led to the belief that powerful people are beyond the reach of law.Recent judicial activism changed the myth and infused a new vigour to the judicial and

law-enforcing systems of the country. But, an investigation agency doing its legitimate duties

under the pressures of the judiciary cannot be an adequate compensation for doing the sameworks with a missionary zeal of professional commitment. Indian investigation agencies at

both the national as well as regional levels are far from any professional zeal and

investigating skill seen in internationally acclaimed investigation agencies like the ScotlandYard of England which provided the model for the CBI and other regional investigationagencies of the country.

Sadly, Indian counterparts adopted only the form and not the spirit of the Scotland Yardand thought it best in its indigenous wisdom not to stir the hornet’s nest by going active andradical after the FBI of the US

LACKLUSTRE PERFORMANCE

Recent developments in the national crime scene of India like the CBI investigating

top political leaders of the country for involvement in various scandals of national importancehas not changed the situation of investigating agencies of India. Crime investigations

continue to be a factor of political decisions, in spite of periodical judicial reviews of the

investigation process

Investigation agencies enjoy tremendous leeway in carrying out investigations in

desired directions in spite of judicial scrutiny of the cases. Until investigation agencies

exhibit professional commitment and develop a passion to deracinate evils from the society,exercises like judicial reviews of the investigation process cannot really make substantial

differences, either to investigation agencies or to crime investigations.

Unlike spirited investigations of corrupt leaders in countries like Italy, Japan and

Korea in the recent past, Indian investigation agencies dither and drag their feet back tohandle cases of political corruption in spite of judicial compulsions on it. The professional

and social commitments seen in those countries are a far cry from Indian police of theindependent vintage. There seems to be no scope of Indian police catching up with the spiritin near future if the first half century of the democratic rule in India is any indication. Indian

police leadership is too steeped in slef-promotion to be bothered by the spirits pro bono

publico.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is true in the field of

Indian politics as well. It is significant that after the Supreme Court of India took activeinterest in the investigation of crimes involving top leaders of the country, a new trend has

surfaced with the post of the CBI chief being invested on somebody from the cadre of thestate from which the chief executive of the government hails, as if to counter the pressures of

the judiciary on the investigation agency. This was true in 1993 and again in 1996.




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The new trend only makes clear that everything is not well in the administration ofthe investigation agencies of the country and pressures and counter-pressures have a great sayin the process of investigations of those investigation agencies.

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

The recent judicial activism in the investigation of important crimes and scandals of India

is not confined to the Supreme Court of India; nor is it limited to the cases investigated bythe CBI. High courts and even session courts these days are taking lead from the SupremeCourt, as evident from the court proceedings in cases under trial in lower courts like

Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case involving an ex-prime minister, anti- Sikh rioting case of

1984 and recent cases of harbouring notorious mafia leaders involving prominent politicalleaders wherein the courts have taken tough stands either in summoning top leaders forexamination or in refusing bails.

The judicial activism of the Supreme Court on the other hand is not restricted only to the

cases investigated by the CBI. In a recent case of investigation of medial seat scandalinvolving prominent political leaders in a state, the Supreme Court directed that the chief ofthe state CID investigating the case should not be transferred out form the CID without the

permission of the court. The Investigation was transferred to the CBI in 1996.

The basic issue is why judiciary should do the legitimate works of the heads of

investigation agencies in safeguarding the objectivity of the investigation process. The veryfact that there is the need of judicial interference in the legitimate works of investigationagencies strongly suggests that the investigation agencies are seriously ill. While

investigation agencies honestly and professionally discharge their responsibilities towards

fair investigations, no judiciary can even afford to cross the sacred halls of their legitimateduties in violation of the sensitivities of the investigation agencies and invite righteous

wrath of the public opinion. The investigation agencies and the public are aware of theextant situation in investigation agencies and therefore the interferences of the judiciary in

investigations are not only tolerated, but also welcomed by all sections of the people.

SYMPTOMS OF ATROPHY

The serious maladies witnessed in secret police and investigation agencies of India areactually common symptoms of atrophy observed in all wings of Indian police, including the

law and order police. Dishonesty, lack of professional commitment, extra-professional

loyalties and unchecked corruption are the albatross that commonly affect the Indian police atall levels. It is not a rosy picture to have of a police force which is more than a century old

and is now reaching half a century mark of existence in a free country.

The deterioration of Indian police is steep after independence. Perhaps, democratic rule

in the country has not done any good to Indian police. The nexus of police with criminals andpoliticians is smothering and squeezing the country and its public life out of its vitality to a

stage of paralysis. While this truth has been realised by people in states like Bihar and UP itis eating up the vitals of the country



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in other states too. The talk of private armies doing recent elections in UP and Bihar is anindication of the confidence Indian police inspire in public after fifty years of self-rule.Indian police in 1990s appears like a century old giant tree rendered hollow by the termite

of corruption. Unless something is done fast to return the vitality of professional pride and

commitment, Indian police may irrevocably fail the country in leading it forth to thecentury-mark of India’s independence.




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PROFESSIONAL PRIDE

OF THE POLICE

The basic needs of police and policing are professional pride and a good image. The

police force capable of doing its duties are carrying out its responsibilities with devotion and

self- sacrifice. But it needs its sacrifices and devotion to work to be appreciated. A goodimage entails public cooperation and enhances the social recognition of the police

personnel. Pride and a high morale are necessary in manpower oriented organisations like

the police, particularly those which have to deal with the public from a position of strength.

Police personnel shamed and humiliated in their career can never face the public and do goodpolicing.

The tragedy lies in police administration. Its vanity belittles the police, breaches its pride,

shatters its self-image and destroys its good public image by unscrupulous and selfishinterferences in police affairs. Suspensions and disciplinary action are a common

phenomenon in the Indian Police. When no grounds are available for disciplinary

proceedings, they resort to unfair and indecent measures like withdrawing vehicles,telephones and other facilities, denying promotions, transfer to humiliating jobs created for

meeting such eventualities, keeping on prolonged compulsory waiting without a job etc.

These humiliations weaken their position before the public as well as subordinates whom

they are supposed to control and guide with the strength of their leadership qualities.

ARROGANCE OF POWER

A factor responsible for maladministration becoming the abracadabra of policeadministration is arrogance of power. The police is the real power, the crux of the state

power. The police administrators weild power on the enforcers of the state power. Power

breeds arrogance, ultimate power, ultimate arrogance. The sweep of arrogance is so strong

that it has no patience for rules, laws, codes of conduct, moral values, natural courtesies andhuman dignities. The only goal of the police administration in the ambience of arrogance is

proving its invincibility as tout prix.

A serious lapse of police administration in India is its presumed virtue of indifference to

other’s predicaments. The compulsions of being led deprive government officials the great

human gifts like freedom of thought, originality and creativity and drain off feelings andsensibilities. The humble situation is spawned for government officials by themselves by

their zeal to conform.

This is the position in which the police administration finds itself. The need of makingvirtue out of irresponsiveness leads to mendacity and dishonesty. Normal human courtesies

are unknown there. Evasion is the stock reply for queries. Vanity is the hallmark. Approach

to all except higher-ups is always brusque and stroppy. Normal man-to-man interaction is

impossible unless one is capable of gratifying. Public relations is an unknown concept,



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McGregor’s need hierarchy and such management, concepts are nonexistent in theirvocabulary and thoughts.

A CUSHY JOB

The police administration provides a good cover to meet long cherished desires and is

therefore considered a cushy job. A police administrator like the Home Secretary of a state

can avail for himself from the police organisation all benefits inherent to the police job likethe best available transport and communication facilities and orderly services at will. Thepolice network throughout the country would be at his personal service wherever and in

whatever way he desired it. This is an invaluable asset, for him and his kith and kin. In the

name of various studies concerning the police, he can visit foreign countries at his will andconvenience at government expenditure.

The prevarications of the police administration from the right path in most cases is not

even to achieve right professional ends. They mostly are pure and simple means to self-

grandiosity and personal gains. Show them elements of personal grists. Files move fast.Discussions and meetings are held day and night. Decisions are taken overnight. Proceduresare cut-short to ease the process. Ordinary situation turns to an emergence. Administration

becomes a hub of incessant activity. Lots of energy and thought go to the process ofadministration. The result is that work is done irrespective of the relevance and importance

of the work while more pressing and vital, but less remunerative works rot in files for years.

Selection and recruitment of men in the age of unemployment and purchase of heavyvehicles in the ambience of commissions play a pivotal role in the administration of police

and related safety-oriented organisations like the fire force. Recruiting men in thousands and

purchase of scores of heavy vehicles at a single go in the name of expansion of anorganisation involves subterranean change of hands of crores of rupees in a short span of

time. It is a dizzy amount to be pocketed.

Decisions were taken by the administration for expansion of the organisation with fresh

recruitment of thousands of men and sub-officers and purchase of scores of heavy vehicles.A police officer in a sensitive juncture of his career who could be compromised was put in

charge of the organisation and the selection and purchase processes. The setup worked out bythe Home Secretary worked to his satisfaction. The result was that the police officer incharge was rewarded by quick and easy promotions. The organisation concerned saw rapid

expansion. Thousands of unemployed youths got jobs. Manufactures of heavy vehicles got

business. And the Home Secretary got what he wanted. Thus all are happy and contented.This is how administration works in India.

Most ills of the present Indian police emerge from the malaise of the morbid handling ofthe police administration at different levels. Be is in handling of the body and shape of the

organisation and its functions of managing the spirit and the soul of the force, the policeadministration can play a major role either in building or marring the prospects of raising a

healthy police outfit for the country. As of today, police administration failed the country andits police by indifference on the one hand and crass handling of the organisation and its

affairs on the other. The only solution to this serious malady lies in rebuilding the police




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administration with people of character, integrity, devotion, efficiency, ability and above all,deep insight to human nature and its problems.



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NEED TO REVITALISE THE POLICE

In a disciplined organisation like the police where subordination and role play formacrucial psychological necessity, rigid inheritance of the style of functioning has become sine

qua non in the vacuum of independent and creative thinking. This is the seed of the frigidity

of the Indian Police set up. More dangerously, blind faith in the inherited style of functioningas the only way out to the exclusion of all other open alleys deprive the Indian police of the

richness of variety and growth opportunities while cementing ranks and bringing a sense ofunity and belongingness that create a sense of strength about the organisation in outsiders.

The stereotype style of functioning irrespective of merit, suitability to a given situation andoptions available makes the police functioning largely mechanical and stripped of any

intellectual or creative contents in it. Any deviation from the beaten-path is considered with

contempt and suspicion and birds of the same flock come together to bring the prevaricator

to the required path. Until then, he is labeled and condemned as pout of the mainstream. Thatis why an imaginative and creative soul newly entering the Indian Police feels absolutely

stifled and either follows the flock at the cost of his convictions or just withers away fighting

a loosing and humiliating battle outside the mediocre mainstream. Winning such a battle toeffect a couple of changes in the mental makeup of the giant organisation is an extremely

rare phenomenon and not worth to an individual to have that try.

These features bring distinct characteristics to the organisation. Indeed, the police have

people come from all walks of life with their distinct personal features and styles. But , once

they enter the police organisation, the grind of the system takes its toll and creates a common

profile in its members. Though such a grind is common in many other organisations also, it isnot as complete and clear as in the police. The process is not consciously man-made and ergo

incidental to the policing system. The standardisation so brought by the process has its own

advantages and disadvantages. In case of the police, it appears that disadvantages as thestandardised style of functioning cut through the growth process of the organisation in

efficiency and excellence. It also grievously destablises dignity of the service and stifles

professional values. There is inveterate servilitude in the style of functioning evolved in thepolice by this prices. This often exposes the police to gratuitous risks in performance of

legitimate duties.

POLITICIAN- POLICE NEXUS

Adaptations to political masters as a bargain to secure key posts prove fatal to thedignity as well as professional values of the police set up. A Police officer of a state in

southern India succeeded in cornering the coveted post of police commissioner at the State

capital a few years back with the support of a politician known in the then political parlance




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as the ‘ Father, Mother’ of the state Chief Minister. A few days later, the politician in aninebriated state was arrested with his associates while fleeing in acar late night after being involved in a sex scandal involving a budding film star. The police

official who affected the arrest recognised the identity of the person he had arrested only

after they were brought to the nearby police station in the city. The Police Commissioner wasintimated about the developments. The Police Commissioner promptly made his appearance

in the police station in the night and ensured the immediate release of his political godfather.

But, the political heavy weight in a temulent state was impeccable. He caught the collar ofthe Police Commissioner in front of the shocked subordinate officials and shouted at thePolice Commissioner in his inebriated voice asking him whether he was made the Police

Commissioner to arrest and bring him to the Police station. The police Commissioner was

seen meekly begging the politician to pardon him. The incident made headlines in newspapers. The Police Commissioner later rose to become the Police Chief of the state and isnow retired. Such incidents abound in circumstances of Police officers vying for coveted

posts a tout prix and as a consequence, the dignity of the posts lowers and the professional

qualities of the organisation suffer.

An important reason at the derriere of this failing of the police lies in their generalinability at assessments. A rather queer characteristic of the police is its dithering as far as

assessments in any form are concerned. It is an organisational failing in the police and thepolice have found an easy way out of this failing –falling in line with the general trend and

precedence sans application of mind. An officer once wrongly rapped as difficult to work

with, would be seen so forever by all so much that he himself would begin to trust it as true.

Though this trend strengthens the sinew of collectivity and collective responsibilities for

whatever purposes in the organistion, it considerable weakens the intellectual credibilities of

the police and tears to pieces the fabric of objectivity and fairness in the organisation.

Once in service, independent thinking becomes a disaster and metabasis as a mechanicalpart of the flock becomes a crude habit. While this tendency in the organisation brings the

elements of collective acceptance within the danger of a person or situation or event once

wrongly interpreted, never again to be seen in right perspective, destroys its strength andcredibility. This lessens the possibility of seeing things at anytime rightly thereafter. The

result often is perverted assessments. In the police, where assessments of men and eventsform a crucial role, this failure proves fatal to the organisation as well as to the society. Thisfomented with generally low intellectual qualities of the police, confines the police to

mediocrity and restrains it from rising to excellence in performances and promoting high

calibre in its personnel.

SENSE OF COLLECTIVITY

There is a sense of collectivity for good or bad in the police. None in the policenormally get a spark to see a thing from a new angle and give their own interpretations or

judgement ectogenesis to the view already held. The sense of rectitude becomes secondarywhen the sense of collectivity is at stake. Though the police profession demands fairness,



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justice and rectitude as its primary concern, passion for the values in the police issurprisingly feeble. The commitment to do things legally and rightly is superficial.

A fall-out of corruption in the police is build-up of a dynamics which promotes the

interests of corrupt in the system at the cost of those who retained the pristine value ofprofessionalism. The flexible elements who can be manoeuvred to required moulds through

the juste milieu of pelf and position are useful assets to people in key positions to save the

interests of their kith and kin as and when they get involved in criminal proceedings. Suchcharacters in the force are always cultivated and posted to key positions so that strikingcompromises, when situation warrants, becomes easy. This strategy ends up in honest police

officers being sidelined and promotes corruption. The dynamics which helps influential

individuals to evade the long arm of law, harms the interests of the country, its police andthe rule of law. Police officers of plastic conscience are preferred to upright professionals tokey posts even in national level police agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and

the Intelligence Bureau. Police officers known for professional approach are spurned and

distanced as inconvenient elements. In the situation, competence plays no role in preferences

while honesty, integrity and professional commitment play negative roles. A history ofbending backward on professional considerations always becomes a qualification in obtainingpreferences to more sensitive jobs in important police organisations.

A case of dowry death reported against a retired judge and his family in February 1992 in

a state as referred to the state investigation agency. The investigation made out a case for

charge-sheet against the retired judge and five others including his wife, son, two daughtersand another person. The chief of the investigating agency in the rank of IGP being close tothe retired judge, dragged his feet from further proceedings in the case. The Superintendent

of Police who was supervising the investigation of the case wanted to take the investigation

to its logical end. But arrests in the case were prevented and the charge-sheet was undulydelayed. The insistence of the Superintendent of Police to charge-sheet the case cost him his

post and he was transferred in July 1992 to the Home Guards department of the state as thehead of it training wing. The case remained frozen sans charge-sheet for more than one and

a half years, till the IGP’s transfer in 1993. The case was later charge-sheeted in March 1994

with the retired judge and his two daughters being dropped from the charge-sheet on the basisof evidences tampered at later stages. The police officer who tried to stall the wheel of the

legal process subsequently succeeded in gaining entry to a sensitive police organisation at thenational level and later in his own state.

An extension of this style of functioning is their complete absorption in their service to

the exclusion of other dimensions of life including family life. Nothing interests themoutside the police except specific popular entertainments to counterpoise the tension of the

quotidian police work. The result is the family life of most police officers being disoriented

and their children more then often betraying criminal tendencies because of the lack ofpaternal care and attention. The lack of attention to personal habits manifests in very few

police officers leading a happy and normal retired life.

It is in the interests of the police to come out of this pernicious grind of the style offunctioning, to breach the accretion and break out to the fraicheur of the invigorating open




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world of endless possibilities. But the adnate growth over the police system is so thick thatno trickles of fresh air survive through it. Anything ab intra cannot ruffle the complacency ofthe constricting system. This is general experience and concomitant conviction, that

something cataclysmic from outside should shake the system and bring it to its senses to

show it how and why it is wrong and what retards the growth of the police to its full bloomto efficiency and excellence and how returning the style of functioning can flush new life to

the Indian police. We can only hope that such a development comes soon and saves the

Indian police from further degradation.



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HOW CRIME AFFECTS NATIONAL LIFE

No criminal can take lightly the need for political patronage in running his crimesyndicate. Be they smuggling syndicates, gambling houses, narcotics dealers or plain

hoodlums, the only way to survive is to have comfortable political protection at the rightlevels. The crime syndicates en revanche, pay a good percentage of their criminal gain to the

protectors. Thus, it is an arrangement to mutual advantage. The crime world also provideshoodlums as volunteers to perform challenging tasks during the election campaigns of their

political patrons, apart from liberally financing these campaigns. How can a politician, afterhe gains power with the help of a criminal, ever let down the criminal? This symbiosis ofpoliticians and criminals which has emerged from the extant Indian political system is the

root cause of all the complications.

The very fact that politicians are prepared to risk their reputations rather than distancethemselves from the crime world, shows how highly the world of crime is regarded by the

politicians in their scheme of things. Politics and crime have become the tow faces of thesame coin in the present state of affairs and a saying goes that there cannot be politics without

crime and no crime without politics. In the present Indian situation, it is true that the lotus ofpolitics can blossom only in the offal of crime.

UNIVERSALITY OF CRIME

On ultimate analysis, crime is a universal phenomenon. All living being are criminals in

varying degrees. Criminal thought is a part of the natural function of a healthy mind as is themoral restraint that prevents the criminal thought from being acted upon. External restraintsbrought about by the fear of law, custom and adverse reaction reinforce the inner restraint to

prevent the committing of crime. However, as the force of external restraints weakens for

diverse reasons and the proportion of gain to be made in committing a crime overweighs therisks involved in the balance sheet of the operation, the lure of crime increases and the deed is

done. It is social situation which controls the external restraints to make committing a crimean asset or a liability and thereby decides the proliferation or suppression of crime with

human nature being what it is always. Criminals are criminals because society gives themeasy openings to thus meet their needs. Politicians love to befriend criminals rather than

bring them to book because the society they live in makes their lives comfortable withcriminals as friends rather than as adversaries. Policemen find the crime world sweeter

because it is how things stand for them. The remedy for the proliferation and endearment ofcrime lies in changing the social dynamics to make crime a liability to criminals and

criminals a liability to politicians and the police. In the existing nexus of politics, crime and

police, crime is an asset to criminals and criminals are an asset to politicians and police.Criminals should not be construed as a separate block of citizenry. They are a cross-section

of people from all fields of life who have moved beyond a commonly accepted degree in theircriminal tendencies. Criminality may be prolific in certain civilised fields like commerce and

industry in the form of tax evasion, violation of foreign exchange regulations, hoarding etc;




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such crimes are generally not taken seriously in spite of the public awareness of the crimes,with the social standing of the criminals remaining unaffected. Government servants toocome under this category of criminals because of the unconfined corruption in public life. It

is a fact that Indian public life is a vast field of criminal activities and politicians and police,

though the custodians and protectors of the Indian public life. Form part of the crime world.However, knowledge of the involvement of politicians and police in this nasty world stirs the

public conscience, for the reason that they are supposed to be the people on whom the public

relies to save them. But, it cannot be because they are also part of the society which makespublic life a nasty affair and nourishes it.

CRIME AND NATIONAL ECONOMY

A word about the effect of the nasty nexus between politics, crime and police on the

national economy. Unity gives strength. It is true about the nasty nexus also. The only telos

of the nexus is gain by synergy, the synergy which brings confidence and courage to the

troika in its nefarious activities, thereby inducing it to more daring and innovative criminalactivities. This results in proliferation of crime, a part from affecting the quality of crime byopening up new avenues for operation. As the ultimate end of all crimes in illegal gain and

the incidence of crime is directly related to increase in black money in the national economy,the proliferation of crime invariable results in inflation and the weakening of the national

economy.

More dangerously, it results in a polarisation of the society into criminal rich and honestpoor and destroys the country’s moral fabric. This increscent incidence of easy money,

material comforts and political power of the criminal rich ultimately leads to internal strife,

emeute and popular terrorism.

POLITICISATION OF CRIME

The overworld is just the tip of the real, raw world. There are more things hidden in thisworld than that are seen. This is soon realised by opportunist Indian politicians who seize

the first available instance to enlist the support of criminals and underground operators fortheir nefarious designs. This is turn is a god-sent benison for criminals to restore their lostcredibility and social standing with the help of their association with the custodians of

power, apart from the security and protection from the police that ensues from the

association. They promptly grab the opportunity to their advantage and show how usefulthey can be to politicians in their career-promotion designs and wreaking of personal

vendettas. The experience and professionalism of criminals is handy to politicians to execute

their hasty operations without attracting the stigma attached to them.

The vast army of criminals has become a ready resource to them for use whenever needarises. This has given a sense of confidence and security to politicians, who are otherwise

vulnerable in their highly uncertain, challenging and competitive environment. Oftenpoliticians have so much relied on criminals that the latter have become their most trusted

lieutenants even getting elected to legislature with their help and blessings. There have been



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instances in India, where prominent politicians have refused to disown their notoriouscriminal friends in public even after reaching the vertex of their political career. This showsthe sway held by criminals over politicians in the Indian situation. It is a fact that no

syndicate of organised crime in small and big cities anywhere in the world can survive even

for a day without political patronage. Ergo, all syndicates of organised crime and theirmenace are the direct outcome of the internchant nexus between politicians and criminals,

indeed with the police as bystanders.

SOCIAL POLARISATION

The indulgence of the rich and powerful in crime popularises criminal activities by

bringing an aura of status to them and negating all inhibitions in the popular mind. Societyeasily accepts the example of the wealthy and powerful for making an easy buck to leadcomfortable lives in the world where life is becoming increasingly difficult because of the

spurt in black money, caused by the proliferation of crime. While decent life becomes

impossible by honest methods, the need of survival forces honest citizenry to accept crime as

a way of life as the last resort. This would be where politicians, criminals and police lead thecountry.

Easy money and easy wealth have a tendency to inflate. Criminals tend to spend lavishly.This ends up in a spurt in prices of land, building and essential commodities while honest

men have to toil hard for an extra quarter. Crime begets money and money begets more

money and more money gets power, comfort and everything. In the crush, honest man is lostforever. The ocean of criminal wealth around him which is beyond even his wildest dreamsfrustrates him and ravages his sense of morality and righteousness. It turns him violently

against all human values and decency, leading him to a world of crime and violence. It is

what we saw in Punjab, Kashmir, Assam, in far away Srilanka or even in Naxalism where itis hidden in the guise of political ideology. It is an irony that politicians and the police, who

create the demons, eat their own pies by falling to the bullets of the grievously hurt, self-righteous, once innocent people. It is said that even the dacoits in Chambal are symptomatic

of this social and economic malady.

It is true that crime cannot be eliminated from any society as the tendency to commit

crime is ingenerate in human nature. However, crime can be suppressed by appropriatestraints. What straints and how they are to be applied are ironically decided by politiciansand the police. If they come out of their indulgent interests to commit themselves to their

professional objectives, they can certainly save India from the present predicament. Not that

every politician and every policeman can come out to achieve this noble task, but therecertainly are noble elements yet surviving as exceptions among them, who should take up

cudgels in favour of the Indian polity and sacrifice their lives and careers, if necessary, to

make the renaissance of Indian police and Indian public life possible. The question yet to beposed is whether the inveterate vested interests will let these sacrifices bear fruit. Let us hope

for the best.




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NEED OF ATTITUDINAL CHANGE IN POLICE

The major problem that confronts extant police is its attitude to work, responsibilities,

profession, organisation, government and the public. It is confounded about its goals,objectives, loyalties, professional ethos, job culture, procedures and practices that carry it

forward in the field in attending professional duties. In the wilderness of undefined roads,

Indian police grope for perspicacious directions to reach professional ends. Popular phraseslike maintenance of order, enforcement of law, prevention of crime, investigation of offences,

protection of security interests etc are too generic terms to carry any meaning andsignificance during the process of actual policing. Perficient policing is possible only in the

ambience of well-rounded and clearly defined specific guidelines for action that helpmoulding professional attitude in the organisation. Police develop wrong attitudes in its

absence by erroneous interpretation of the situation around. This is what happens to Indian

police now: wrong attitudes and concomitant confusion about performing legitimate duties.

A profession like police naturally has its own goals, objectives and ideals to pursue. They

get clouded in the smog of practical turn-arounds in the field and ultimately lose their edge in

the spin of attitudinal aberrations. The consequence is clashes of loyalties, adoption ofimmodest vectors in policing, the issue of excesses and inactions, tendency to bend rules and

laws to achieve perceived ends in the hour of need of upholding the rule of law, urge to cash-

in on the ignorance and weaknesses of the ignorant people around and indulgences inunprofessional works in the name of discharging legitimate police duties. Performance ofany profession depends upon three factors: professional ideals, job culture and actual

practices and procedures. Job culture is spawned of constant interaction of professional

ideals and actual practices and procedures in the field. Though basically is a product of the

past, it considerably affects the future performance of an orgnisation. Practices andprocedures being the primary vehicle of attitude, they help moulding job culture a la

immanent attitude in the job. The result is a pollent hold of attitude in deciding the direction

of an organisation. A profession loses its raison d’etre while attitude in the job prevaricatesfrom professional ideals.

Professional ideals of police are rooted in the terra firma of the rule of law, justice, orderand the security of the country and its citizens. Police organisation is basically responsible to

the constitution of the country and the government constituted and the laws enacted inaccordance with the constitution. Police lose its relevance to the country when its

professional attitude goes against the cardinal ideals of the profession. The challenge of a

police organisation lies in moulding professional attitude as required by the ideals of theprofession. Wrong attitudes inveterate in extant practices and procedures of policing are

shaped by self-interests, misconceptions, ignorance and tendency to pursue easy and shortcutmethods: they are hard to be broken and survive under most odds. Only efficient, honest andhighly motivated leadership alone can crack the etui encompassing it. Once it is done,

building a new set of right professional attitudes is relatively a simpler job to a committed

leadership. Basic to these efforts is a realisation among the top-brass about what constituteright and wrong attitudes. The crux of the problem of Indian police lies here. It is distressing



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to note that the top leadership of post-independent Indian police is responsible for theprevarication of the organisation from its professional attitude of absolute commitment topublic order and safety, justice and rule of law to easy and shortcut avenues of selfish

interests. The change percolated downwards. In the rush of Indians replacing the British to

sensitive government positions on the eve of independence, men of inadequate calibre andmerit occupied key government posts. This happended in police as in other government

departments. The result was happened in police as in other government departments. The

result was corrosion in leadership qualities, traits of excellence and high personal merits, soessential to run public and national affairs at the top. It was during this period that Indianpolice lost its track in professional policing and exposed itself to the luxury of dancing to the

easy and soft tunes of convenience by yielding to pressures of political and other vested

interests. Policing powers served as a tool of maximising self-interests and personal comfortsat the cost of professional policing. In the process, the country suffered and police lost itsface.

A major handicap of the extant Indian police is its dependence syndrome. No more,

Indian police realise itself as a master sui juris. For every piece of work under its sphere ofdecision, it looks for advice, guidance and direction from the political leadership, bureaucracyor the judiciary. It is more a symptom of immanent servilitude and lack of spine than

anything else. Present Indian police lack of hardihood of professionalism and the self-confidence ensues from it. Policing is not a job dependant on outsiders like politicians and

bureaucrats. For one, the latter are not professionals and their advice, guidance and directions

in re policing are unlikely to be sound. Secondly, subjecting policing to their advice,guidance and direction while they themselves are subjects to policing discipline is unlikely tobe in the best interest of the professional policing. Not that police officers do not know these

facts. They lack the professional resolve to uphold the purity of the principles of policing au

reste being unsure of themselves. Tendency is to avoid risky responsibilities of policingwhile hawks outside are avizefull to make the maximum out of the weakness of the police

and pledge policing responsibilities to those who sit above them in exchange for secure careerprospects. That is shy meekness and servilitude of police officers in India is pro rata to the

importance of the posts they hold. Somebody cornered or placed in an insignificant slot has

nothing to lose by standing up to his superior and no need to go servile to anybody unlikesomebody in a coveted spot and therefore not required to protect his position coute que coute.

It is impossible for an upright officer to land in key jobs like chiefs of police forces instates or the centre save in disturbed provinces like Punjab and Kashmir. The result isdownward slide in professionalism and perpetuation of servilitude and dependence. Policing

worth the name is possumus only while the glissade in professional resolve is arrested. But,

the vice in which Indian police is caught is too pollent to be breached. The dependencesyndrome has to be replaced by professional resolve. This requires change of attitude. The

change is not easy to come in present vicious circumstances. Without it coming soon, Indian

police has no deliverance.

A serious handicap of present Indian police is its noncommittal and causal reliance onmechanical procedures sans passion for professional objectives. Tendency is to show the

amount of labour put to a job rather than showing results. There is no true passion to reachgoals and achieve professional objectives of safety, security, justice and the rule of law.

Every attempt is to do minimum required so that the chances of being caught committing




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mistakes are minimal. Procedures and practices form the staple and there is no spark forcreative policing. Policing has become a mechanical process sans substance. It is theminimum common denominator that counts in present policing environment. The passion

natural for those in police for public security and order, rule of law and justice is seldom felt

in Indian police of the present vintage. Risk-taking which is a common trait of good policinghas become a rarity and a scarce commodity. The problem lies in wrong attitude. The

atrophy set in, in the field of committed policing has become the mainstay of the Indian

police. Reversing the trend is the first priority to bring Indian police on the right rails.

A manifestation of this wrong attitude is evident in investigation of crimes. The reason for

the problem lies in the environment in which investigators function. They are prosecutors of

another kind in real terms in Indian police environment and work to collect evidence ofwhatever merit to prove that the persons accused of crime had committed the crime ratherthan unearthing truth. Persons under investigation are treated as criminals and harassed.

When sound evidences are not available, anything that goes for evidence is trumped up. The

infamous Jain Hawala case is a case in point. The case was cold-stored for years. The

dependence syndrome of the premier investigation agency of the country prevented it frominvestigating the case sans clearance from political masters. Once polictical bigwigscalculated that investigation of the case was in their interests, CBI proceeded full-steam to

prove the case. When direct evidence was not available, CBI probed for circumstantialevidences. When circumstantial evidence failed to prove anything, CBI went for anything

available to feed its fanciful interpretations. Need of corroboration was thrown to the wind.

Political leaders were tried on the basis of initials and numbers entered in a diary. Court oflaw exonerated the politicians for lack of evidence. In the process, many heads rolled on theblock of the political gameplan. Professional attitude to investigation with a passion for

fairplay, objectivity, truth and justice would have saved the country from the quite

unnecessary hardships. Politically sensitive cases are taken up for investigation only whenpeople in power decide in favour, and investigated with a particular end in sight and

chargesheeted on the basis of whatever little could be gathered in the name of evidence.Professional investigation is not meant to proceed in this fashion where possibility of a prima

facie case and quality of evidences precede every thing else and decide the course and pace

of the investigation process and chargesheet. Sensitisation to fairplay, objectivity, truth and justice is the foundation of the professional policing. Professional police display

extraordinary scruple in exercise of policing powers like arrests, bails, searches, seizures,interrogations etc so that law bites only the hors la loi and innocent citizens go absolutelyunharmed. It is not the case in Indian police now. Investigation has become a one-way track

of somehow raising evidences and chargesheeting, truth and justice become tragedies in the

process. This basically is a problem of wrong attitude.

People caught in the web of criminal laws deserve sympathy and kindness until they are

proved guilty beyond doubts. They need to be treated with gentleness and courtesy thatbehoves to interpresonal relationship in a civilised society while the process of investigation

continues with all efficiency and ruthless exactitude. Police as investigator is not investedwith powers to punish for the crimes committed. Fair chance to persons under investigation

to prove their innocence goes a long way in unearthing truth and solving crimes justly. Thishas to be the attitude of the police during crime investigation. Truth and justice have to be

their goal. Indian police lack the maturity and poise.



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A serious Achilles’ heel of Indian police is its perverted attitude towards rules and laws.Bending rules and laws to suit self interests is one dimension of the spiel. Another

dimension is its blind application sans sense of proportion and discreetness while self-interest

is not an issue. It is seen in enforcing laws and maintaining order. Police forget that rulesand laws are just tools in the larger cause of peace and order of the society and sadly handle

laws for law’s sake. Rules and laws are invested on police like weapons as the dernier

ressort while all other avenues are shut. Discreetness in their constraint. Objectives areprimary Rules and laws must follow them only as tools to that end. The realisation is rarelyfound in the present police. It operates laws for law’s sake by relegating organisational

objectives to oblivion. Professional objectives suffer and police become an object of

detestation consequential to this perverted attitude. Mechanical enforcement of gratuitousrules and laws constrict the freedom of people for no specific purpose and weaves anunnecessary web of constraints around them for nobody’s good. The attitude is fatal to fair

and professional policing practices and needs to be corrected on priority to make application

of rules and laws need-based in reaching professional targets.

Another field where police need to change its attitude is its contempt for human values.Policing is just an instrument to the cause of protecting human values. Police oblivious to

this fact, subject human values to immane policing methods in the name of policing. Thirddegree methods are the point. Malfeasances do not behove to the cause of human values.

Means are as important as ends in policing. Pursuing unjust means for the cause of justice is

the spiel of the frankenstein, the story of an off-spring eating its creator. Inviolablecommitment to human values and rights is the foundation of good policing. Human touch issine qua non for professional policing. Human concern is the raison d’etre of good policing.

The shift in attitude needs to be from blind and blanket-policing for the policing’s sake to

discreet and enlightened policing to reach professional objectives. The shift has to be from theuse of policing powers to maximise professional goals. The shift must see police taking risks

in the interests of the profession and doing intelligent policing rather than indulging inmanoeuvres of personal security. The process warrants massive exercise in attitudinal

change.

What constitutes perficient exercises of attitudinal change in a massive organisation like

the police? Police organisation is a tough and hard-to-crack candidate for any manipulations.It is a no nonsense outfit. The only way to bring it to senses is intensive and extensive appealto its reason and emotion to convince about the need of change. Police rely on past practices

and procedures. It looks for the job culture to aemule. Forcing police away from vicious

practices and procedures and undesirable job culture through the attitudinal change is anarduous and time consuming exercise even for experts in the field. The exercise has to be a

multi-pronged attack on inveterate misconceptions and wrong notions in extant policing by

extensive exposures to talks, discussions, seminars, briefings, studies, researches and in-service training involving analyses of policing, its ideals, objectives, methods, means and

ends, social relevances, pressures, policing environment, psychological aspects of policingetc. The exercise have to be intended to provoke police personnel to think about their

profession without dogma and arrive at desirable conclusions about professional policing andimpress them on the ingredients of good policing by constant exposure. A few ideal cases as

models have tremendous impact on the cause of creating eight attitudes, Studies and




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researches on policing and policing methods provide a sound foundation to these exercises.A police organisation interested in improving its quality and performance cannot go withoutsound study centres and research projects on the issues of policing. These attempts provide

both inputs and insight to the behavioural pattern of the police in field under different

situations and stress patterns as differentiated from what are desired. They bring both gestaltsto contrast in terms of their perficiency, professional needs and relevance to the environment

of policing to affect attitudinal change in right direction by way of conviction. The

immediate need is inducing doubts about the soundness of existing attitudes to encouragediscussion on the topic. Deliberate guiding through structured mental exercises to desirableend forms the latter part of the task. Indeed, the whole exercise has to be planned and

executed in detail by highly efficient leadership in the police. The conundrum is who

behoves to handle the highly responsible job while the leadership of the police itself is miredin wrong attitudes to the job of policing.

Problem of attitude basically is a problem felt at higher wrungs in top-brass of the force.

The stiff hierarchical order and command-obedience pattern of functioning make the lower

wrungs irrelevant in matters of job attitude. Those down the ladder are loyal followers andobedient operators in the path and policy laid above them. Their attitudes change shape fromcase to case to meet the demands trickle from above. When the demand is to let out a rich

and powerful criminal with royal honours, those down the level do just that with vengeance;when the demand from above is to frame an innocent man and obtain his confession by

subjecting to torture, they just do that with dedication for the sake of a well-earned pat of

their omniscient superiors. It is again a question of ill-conceived job culture and attitudewhich need to be corrected as it is tangible to the standards of policing as all organisationalmatters are. The primary target of attitudinal change is the higher wrungs and the top-brass.

Others follow and fall to place. The key lies in the realisation that something is wrong in the

present mode of policing. Demolition is the beginning of the construction. Once therealisation of wrong dawns upon, reconstruction becomes possible. Police being an extrovert

and action-oriented outfit, self-analyses and inward-looking tendencies do not come easily.While things to wrong, introversion becomes sine qua non for healthy growth. This is what is

required in Indian police now.



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PRECEPTS OF POLICE ADMINISTRATION

The word ‘ administration’ originates from the Latin administrare and administratum

which would mean ‘ to serve’ or to be an aid to. Administration in its pristine form denotes

service or aidance though in modern parlance it stands for management or governance ofaffairs. Non obstante the metachrosis of the word, administration even in its modern avatar

is service and aidance in essence though from managerial level. Administration even now isserving and aiding an objective or commitment through suitable planning, organisation,

supervision and control mechanisms. It normally is a distinct field of activity while being apart of the organisation en attendant and stands above the latter by holding overall charge of

the affairs. Administration manifests at diverse levels with its lower strata rooted in higher

levels of the organisation. In government organisations, higher functions of administration

are invested in government at stratified levels while lower functions are burdened on higherlevels of the organisations. The heads of the organisations join hands with the secretaries of

the departments and higher authorities in the government to run the organisations. It is also

in the police. While the police organisation en semble is responsible for policing, the leversof police administration at lower levels are handled by the police chief and his staff while the

home secretary in charge of police in tandem with higher echelons of the government handles

it at higher levels.

POLICE ADMINISTRATION

Administration, be it service or management, is immanent in organisational operations ofall levels. In police, elements of administration are inherent at all supervisory levels

beginning from head constables upwards. Police stations as grassroot policing units go away

with a large slice of the police administration. So are district police offices in districts andpolice commissionerate in big cities with the unit headquarters as the apex body of police

administration within the organisation. The interim levels bridge the gaps in between. The

springboard of police administration within the organisation is the state police headquarters ina state with all important decisions of policing and police administration emanating from

there under the control, supervision and guidance of the government in the form of homedepartment and higher levels. The police chief ab intra and home secretary and chief

secretary in states ab extra form vital links of police administration. The ethos and character

of a police force are shaped by these key figures of the police administration. Thoughpolitical leadership is there as policy makers and executive heads of both the organisation

and the government, it is these three configurations as innards of the setup, control and guidethe police by administrative controls, head and shoulder above political heads.




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A SPECIALISED FIELD

Administration as a service in spirit and governance in manifestation deals with men,

money, materials and machinery through the means of laws, rules, decisions and directions.

Of these, men form the most vital ingredient of management and governance. This isespecially so in organisations entirely dependent on human resources to meet objectives and

goals. Administration for most part is human resources management in a manpower oriented

force like the police. The special problems of the police setup, its distinct culture and serviceconditions, the stress and strain of policing and the non a such psychological factors uniquefor the organisation crop up issues unseen otherwhere. This renders police administration a

specialised field to be handled by experts having insight to and realisation of the special

nature of policing conditions and the psychological pressures on policemen on the off duty inthe organisation.

ISSUES IN POLICE ADMINISTRATION

The problems of police and policing are inveterate in the contradictions immanent to theorganisation, its status in society and the nature of job it performs. The organisation is primly

stratified with a serve hierarchical order and stern discipline to the boot, preposterous to a freehuman nature. Police, perform the unpleasant task of disciplining and using force against

fellow citizens. The unpopular job does not bode well to the psychological well-being and

for leading common life in a society that exoterically fear and esoterically hate them. Thepolice live in society in the ambience of sempiternal fear, suspicion and hatred against them.There is no love lost between the two and no real mutual respect. Such a living is not

conducive to healthy mental fettle of human beings what policemen are. Sine dubio, the

status enjoyed by the police as enforcers of the rule of law and the fear they inspire among the

hoi polloi are some compensations and solace for the malaise. The tragedy is that these

apparent benedictions themselves create problems of complex social adaptations to make upfor the imbalance caused by their real social status nowhere coming near the importance they

enjoy in society as law-enforcers vi et armis. The embarrassment is common to all ranks of

the police. As constables of limited education, social position and enlightenment, they arerequired in streets and police stations to handle people of far higher social status and standing

from a position of strength. As senior-most police officers of premier investigation agencyof the country, they are required to investigate, arrest and chargesheet men of the standing ofthe Prime Minister of the country and similarly placed high dignitaries. The position is not as

easy and joyous as it appears ab extra. The strains of such responsibilities preposterous to

human nature and natural human tendencies of respect to social stations cause can only beimagined to be believed. Added to it, the feeling of insecurity bred by the potentiality of

wrath and revanche of highly placed people pregnant in upright police actions further

flummoxes the matter for the mental peace of the police. It is easily said that policemenought to perform their duties en regle on merit. Images of policeman as a father shooting to

kill his fleeing criminal son, as a son arresting his erring father or as a brother in pursuit of hiscriminal brother etc are mere fairy tales invented for films. The fact is that a policeman

cannot be a creature abstracted from his surroundings and shut to natural human passions,emotions, feelings and familial attachments. If did, he cannot be a human being, but a mere

robot, a lifeless machine performing police job. A policeman is a human being imprimis and



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the human nature makes him a good policeman. He sans human nature and its sweet failingscannot be a real police stuff. He is not a mere robot to unwind in the blinkers of professionalduties and responsibilities. The police in field perforce perform as robots against their natural

human sensibilities and sensitivities on orders from above to show results. This ingredient of

policing has great impact on the psychological makeup of the police. Added to this, theunending oppression and fear of disciplinary actions from higher-ups for a wink of an eye

common in police makes the police life suffocating. It is said that policemen at all levels live

with a sword of danger algate dangling over their heads. Ruthlessness is a fact of manmanagement in police administration. Human relations here are slender and easily snapunder the weight of job-related surquedry. The biggest tragedy of police life is the absence of

human concerns around it. Endless interaction with ruffians inside and outside the

organisation deprives policemen their natural sweetness and gentleness. There is no scope forinteneration of their mental makeup. Police administration needs to take these specialfeatures of police life and psyche into consideration in running the organisation. The need

renders police administration a specialised field.

A BALANCING ACT

Responsibilities of any administration are two fold-providing the body and shapesrequired to fulfil the objectives of the organisation within the limits of the extant laws and

providing right ambience to boost the morale, motivation and above all, the mental well-

being of the manpower of the organisation. The extra-ordinary nature of the organisation ofthe police and its working conditions render the latter responsibility a sensitive fieldwarranting specialised study and application. The complex psychological factors involving

policing in diverse social conditions and social imperatives of a policeman’s life perforce

require dextrous handling of affairs to promote high morale and right motivation in the placeof present crass ruleof –thumb approach common to Indian police. What is required is a

highly intricate organisational policy imbued with specialised skills and insight of the highestorder to human nature to inspire, motivate and get most out of the manpower at disposal.

This involves balancing in police many contradictions inherent to human psyche. In one

hand, the police force has to be steeped in professional pride, while on the other hand, taughtto accommodate in its character, the need of perfect obedience to the verge of servilitude in a

stiff hierarchical order. It has to be tuned to be loyal to authority while its ultimate loyaltymust go to its professional objectives and the rule of law. The police have to be tough andfearsome to criminals and law-breakers while it has to be gentle and friendly to the plebeian.

They have to be led to be law-abiding model citizens while day and night deal with hardened

criminals requires to break the latter to submission. While they are attuned to the interplay ofranks and status in the stiff hierarchical order of the force, they have to be compelled to treat

all as equals and exercise authority even on the people at highest levels in society while

performing duties. The list goes on endlessly. The cardinal task of balancing thesecontradictions in police is the real challenge of the police administration.




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FIELD SITUATION

While police administration is a highly specialised field requiring extra-ordinary skills the

present police administration in India is archaic at best and maladministration at worst.

Actually there is no administration worth the name save some mechanical motions andunintelligent convulsions to provide body and shape to the organisation as time to time

responses to day to day challenges. No long term plans. No organisational initiatives. No

growth and coordination studies. The organisation takes care of itself depending upon needfactors. The maximum, police administration in India does is controlling initiatives andworks o of the police by throwing hurdles to prove existence. As far as morale, motivation

and mental well-being of the manpower are concerned, the contribution of Indian police

administration is absolutely nil. Police administrators believe that they have no role to playin the morale and motivation of the police organisation. Threats and suppression are thestaple of manpower management in police. Wastage of human resources and man-days is

the general rule. Quality, efficiency and character are inconsequential. Assessments are

misnomers. Personal behoofs are the centres of all decisions. Accommodating the desires of

higher–ups in official and political circles and the powerful people in consideration for quid

pro quo is the accepted norm of Indian police administration.

A CUSHY JOB

Police administration provides good covers to meet long cherished desires and thereforeconsidered as a cushy job. A police administrator can avail for himself from the policeorganisation all behoofs inherent to police job like best available transport and

communication facilities and orderly services at will. The police network throughout the

country would be at his personal service wherever and in whatever way he desires it. This isan invaluable asset for him and his kith and kin. In the name of various studies concerning

police, he can visit foreign countries at his will and convenience at government expenditure.Recently, a regional edition of a leading national English newspaper raised a hue and cry on

its front page for several days followed by a flood of letters to the editor against a visit of the

home secretary of the state with a huge contingent of inconsequential police officials to a fewwestern countries, supposedly to study crime and traffic problems. The newspaper called the

intentions of the study apocryphal, the study gratuitous and the foreign tour during theholiday season of those countries without first obtaining the assurance of cooperation of thehost countries in the study venture as outrageous and cried for stopping what is called a

pleasure trip. Its hullabaloo proved infructuous and the contingent completed the tour malgre

tout . When the home secretary visited foreign countries again after six weeks for the samepurpose, the national newspaper did not dare to make an issue encore.

WRECKER OF PRIDE AND GOOD IMAGE

The basic needs of police and policing are professional pride and a good image. These are

the breath of policing and oxygen for the lungs of the police organisation. They refresh theorganisation, its system and personnel after back-breaking and dangerous policing above the

oppressive life-style in the police ambience. They infuse entrain to the organisation, its



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system and the men to take on gauntlets in wait and attend to with commitment andefficiency. Pride is the fuel of policing. Good image is the air that sustains the fire or thezeal of the policing. Who are not aggraced by appreciation? Police force is capable of doing

its duties and carrying out its responsibilities with devotion and self-sacrifice; It only wants

sacrifices and devotion to work natural to it are appreciated. A good image boosts itsprofessional pride and adds to its sense of belonging. What else the society can pay to the

police for its self-sacrificing devotion to the well-being of the society? The professional pride

and the sense of belonging to an organisation widely respected and appreciated by the publicspur the police to do better and better every time. The pride adds to its high morale which issine qua non for good policing and healthy discipline in any police organisation. Good image

entails public cooperation and enhances the social recognition of the police personnel. True

policing is nonpossumus in the absence of the strength of pride about work while dischargingresponsibilities to the society from a position of strength. A weakened police organistion andits personnel put to aidos can do no good policing . Pride is the root of morale. Commercial

enterprises know the fact and use the knowledge best to derive maximum out of their human

resources. Pride and high morale play decisive role in deciding the quality and efficiency of

work and discipline in the organisation. Its importance naturally is very high in manpoweroriented organisations like the police, particularly those which have to deal with the publicfrom a position of strength. Police personnel shamed and humiliated in their career can never

face the public from strength and do good policing. The tragedy lies in police administration.Its vanity belittles the police, breaches its pride, shatters its self-image and destroys its good

public image by scrupleless and selfish interferences in police affairs. Indian police

administrators are too unenlightened to realise this basic psychological imperative of goodpolicing. The irony lies in that, that they crassly indulge in exactly the opposite, that iscrushing the professional pride wherever it is traced raising its majestic head in the police.

Sadly to meet personal ends. Perhaps men in no other government departments suffer

humiliations for humiliations’s sake as in police. This is true of all levels including thehigher ranks in police. Suspensions and disciplinary actions are a common phenomenon in

Indian police. When no grounds selon les regles are available for disciplinary proceedings,resorting to unfair and indecent measures like withdrawing vehicles, telephones and other

facilities, denying promotions, transfer to humiliating jobs created for meeting such

eventualities, keeping on prolonged compulsory waiting without a job etc are the commonscenario to face even by very senior level officers in Indian police. These humiliations

weaken their position before the public as well as subordinates whom they are supposed tocontrol and guide with the strength of their leadership qualities. What leadership one can havewhile he himself is wronged and humiliated from above for no apparent reason? This is the

atmosphere in which Indian police, police the crime world. The consequence is a weak and

confused police force with low self-image, low morale, low motivation and servile complexessans confidence and public approbation.

ARROGANCE OF POWER

A factor responsible for maladministration becoming the abracadabra of police

administration is arrogance of power. The police is the real power; the crux of the statepower; the enforcer vi et armis on the field, not on papers as most other government agencies

are. Police administrators wield power on the enforcers of the state power. Ergo, police




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administrators enjoy the temulence of holding the ultimate power. Power breeds arrogance;ultimate power, ultimate arrogance. This is the source of the unamated arrogance of the policeadministration. The sweep of a arrogance is so strong that it has no patience to rules, laws,

codes of conduct, moral values, natural courtesies and human dignities. The only goal of the

police administration in the ambience of arrogance is proving its invincibility a tout prix.Neither the well-being of the police administration nor the upkeep of laws of the country have

any say in choosing the means to achieve this end. Police administrators going hors la loi

for this vain goal is the rule in the country. A recent example is a senior police officer in astate who insisted for suspension or transfer of a subordinate after a criminal case of forgery,cheating, falsification of records, breach of trust etc involving misappropriation of about

Rs.36 lakhs during discharge of official duties was registered against the subordinate in the

police station by his department. The latter’s good connections in the higher rungs ofadministration prevented any further disciplinary actions imperative in such circumstances.The insistence of the senior officer in writing for departmental procedures against the

subordinate inconvenienced the administration. The insistence of the senior officer in writing

for departmental procedures against the subordinate inconvenienced the administration. The

thinking of the administration was that, that how a police officer at whatever rank can insistdisciplinary action when it has decided against it for whatever reasons. It decided that therecalcitrant senior police officer had to be brought around and taught to conform with its

decisions, by legal or illegal means. The machinery of administration ground is so hard thatthe senior police officer found continuing in his position practically unbearable and

impossible. He went on indefinite leave, rather forced to do so. His harassment was so acute

that at one juncture, he addressed the head of the government, doubting the mental well-beingof the perpetrators of the harassment and requested to save the department from the prise ofpsychopathic tendencies of the concerned. The Chief Secretary of the government after

hearing him in August 1996, issued instructions for providing the senior officer an alternative

posting forthwith. The police administration in a show of rare defiance, resisted theinstructions of the Chief Secretary till the latter’s retirement later. It was only after the

principal secretary of the chief minister took interest in the case that files moved against thewishes of the home secretary and the four month vanavasa of the senior police officer came

to an end. En attendant, the subordinate with criminal charges continued bien chausse in his

cushy job. The new Chief Secretary in the beginning dove-tailed to the depraved homesecretary against the sound judgement of his predecessor on the ground that he never had an

opportunity to know the senior police officer. This is how police administration is run inIndia.

HUMAN RESOURCES STIFLED

A serious lapse of police administration in India is its presumed virtue of indifference to

other’s predicaments and idee fixe to distance from noble human values. The compulsions ofbeing led and the sequacious tendencies cap-a-pie gratuitously deprive government officials

the great human gifts like freedom of thought, originality and creativity and drain off feelingsand sensibilities. It is why common human sense treats odd to find intellectuals poets, artists

or genius among government officials. The humble situation is spawned for governmentofficials by themselves by their overzeal to conform. An outcome of the ambience is

administration going heartless and mindless, dry and irresponsive to the core to its



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surroundings. While arrogance of power adds to this, the situation becomes worse. This isthe position in which police administration finds itself. The need of making virtue of theirresponsiveness leads to mendacity, dishonesty and immunity. Finding honest and

dependable people there , finding people of character and integrity, finding a genius or

creative soul at any level in police administration is like finding a pepal tree in a desert.Normal human courtesies are unknown there. Evasion is the stock reply for queries. Vanity

is the hallmark. Ironically , these negative qualities are accrescently pro rata to the heights in

the ladder of the police administration. Approach to all except higherups is always brusqueand stroppy. Normal man to man interaction is impossible unless one is capable ofgratifying. Public relations is an unknown concept McGregor’s need hierarchy and such

man-management concepts are nonexistent in their vocabulary and thoughts. Efficient

management of human resources is a fool’s paradise to them. They find the greatest virtue ofadministration in ruthlessness. In the process, human resources wither and gargantuanwastage of manpower becomes a common phenomenon of the police.

BREAKING THE SPINE

Police force is a vital instrument that if brought on knees can be of immense help to staveoff the interferences of the rule of law and its enforcers and help to lead a good and

comfortable life sans the fear of law and law–enforcers. Breaking and bringing on kneesindividual policemen is a clavis to this end. Police administrators know this secret as none

else. They know that nothing works on police as fear at whatever ranks. They know that the

advantages of a policeman broken of spine and reined-in easily outweighs the risks ofbreaking his spine by whatever means and that the policeman goes to any extent even atrisks to his life and honour to gratify and pander to the needs of his master, because of his

sequacious job culture. This is the reason why police administrators spare no efforts and lose

no opportunities to beat, terrify and cow down a policeman of whatever rank, status andenlightenment though they know well that they are sacrificing the interests of the professional

pride of the police, its commitment to the profession, efficiency, organisational interests, theinterests of the rule of law and national interests at the altar of their personal grists in doing

that. Service rules and jus naturale are arriere concerns to them in exercise of their

governmental powers to chevir this goal. No normal human concerns nor common courtesiesfor fellow beings deter them from pursuing their evil designs. The recent example is an

upright officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police in a state. A scholar indiverse fields, he is known not to easily bend against his conscience. This rendered himunpopular to the police administration. While he was holding the post of state prisons chief in

1995, he addressed government about tragic security lapses in a major prison of the state and

sent proposals to government for improving the situation. No actions were taken on them bythe government. In the closing months of 1995, a mafia gangwar ensued in the state capital

led to murder of a gang leader lodged in the prison. Government ordered an enquiry into the

matter by the home secretary of the state. The latter who algate found the ADGP of his sameage, rank and status an inconvenient candidate for his esoteric urge of bringing police to

submission. He found a golden opportunity in the enquiry. The ADGP was immediatelyremoved from his position and refused any posting for the next 3-4 months though as the state

prisons chief, he cannot be held responsible for the security breach in the prison, particularlywhile his report on the matter was ignored by the government . If anybody was to be acted

on a highest levels for lapses in the prison, it was the home secretary for not acting on the




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report of the ADGP. If it is the position of officers at highest ranks in the police in the handsof police administration, how precarious is that down the ladder, can only be imagined.

ROLE OF PERSONAL GAINS

The apostasy and prevarications of the police administration from the right path in most

cases is not even a malfeasance to achieve right professional ends. They mostly are pure andsimple means to self grandiosity and personal grists. The fact is that police administrationseld goes to any length of initiatives and risks for purely administrative reasons unless some

elements of personal gains are involved. As far as purely administrative reasons are

concerned, the communi consensu among police administrators is for letting the policecarcass boil in its own broth uninterfered. After all, who wants the risks of awakening thesleeping monster? Somehow the police function, and let it do so as long as possible. Who

knows how the monster may react while they loosen or tighten a screw or a nut here and

there. Who wants gratuitous risks? It is the reigning thought of Indian police administration

in normal times. Show them elements of personal grists. Lo, colour of everything changesand risks become sine qua non of the administration. Files move fast. Discussions andmeetings are held day and night Decisions are taken overnight. Procedures and cut-short to

ease the process. Ordinary situation turns to an emergency. Administration becomes a hubof incessant activity. Lots of energy and thought go to the process of administration. The

result is that work is done irrespective of the relevance and importance of the work while

more pressing and vital, but less remunerative works rot in files for years. Selection andrecruitment of men in the age of prolate unemployment and purchase of heavy vehicles inthe ambience of commissions play a pivotal role in the administration of police and related

safety oriented organisations. Recruiting men in thousands and purchase of scores of heavy

vehicles in a single go in the name of expansion of an organisation involves subterraneanchange of hands of crores of rupees at a short span of time. It is a dizzy amount to be

pocketed with little risk. Decisions were taken by the administration for expansion of theorganisation with fresh recruitment of thousands of men and sub-officers and purchase of

scores of heavy vehicles. A police officer in a sensitive juncture of his career who could be

compromised was put in charge of the organisation and the selection and purchase processes.The setup worked out by the home secretary worked to his satisfaction. The result was that

the police officer in charge was rewarded in oodles. The concerned organisation saw rapidexpansion. Thousands of unemployed youths got job. Manufacturers of heavy vehicles gotbusiness. And the home secretary got what he wanted. Thus all are happy and contented.

This is how administration works in India.

Most ills of present Indian police emerge from the malaise of the morbid handling of the

police administration at different levels. Be it in handling of the body and shape of the

organisation and its functions or managing the spirit and the soul of the force, policeadministration can play a major role either in building or marring the prospects of raising a

healthy police outfit for the country. As on today, police administration failed the countryand its police by indifference on one hand and crass handling of the organisation and its

affairs on the other. The only solution on this serious malady lies in rebuilding policeadministration with people of character, integrity devotion, efficiency, ability and above all,

deep insight to human nature and its problems.



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HUMANIZING THE POLICE

Though policing is a human service au fond, its methods often are strikingly inhuman

due to poor leadership and failure of police leaders to tread pari passu with the requisites ofman management and other rightful policing techniques. The tragedy of the Indian police is

that its means and ends do not amate. The querimony that the feral methods of the Indian

police are more dreadful and antisocial than the criminal acts they are supposed to controlcannot be dismissed glibly as inaccurate in prevailing circumstances. Out police system has

grown to be a monster deprived of any strains of humanism because of its perennial exposureto inhuman methods of both the criminals and the extant policing system. It is true that

association moulds character. The tenor of immunity obfuscates the strains of humanism inpolice. The issue can be dealt on two fronts; adopting suitable measures in police

techniques to make it a more civilized operation and shaping the police environment to make

it sensitized to inhuman exposures. As the police leaders themselves are victims of this

infaust mould of mind, tremendous organisational efforts are necessary to reinstate humanismin the police. Should the police conform to the standards of humane comportment and

methods a la its desinent goals, policing would become a meaningful and relevant service to

the society.

The test of the police as a humanised organisation is its acceptance by the societyas a

couthie associate so that no child is scared of hearing the name of a policeman and noilliterates take to their heels at the mere sight of one. It is a wonder how people manage toaccept the police whom they perceive as an embodiment of bestiality, incivility and inanity as

guardians of their life, honour and property. Indian police has cohabited long enough with

its disrepute. A decision to furbish its image as a humanised setup though late, is not

intempestive as policing is yet intact with its relevance to society though its inhuman methodsare fast eating up its credibility. Its leaders cannot afford any more the exuberance of

complacency if the police must stand up to its expectations as the peace-keeper of society

and assert to resile to its deeper human strains. The process of showing the police its rootswhich are obfuscated by the lounderings of time and its own working methods must begin

anon. The wherewithal of affecting the transformation is varied and covers such disparate

avenues as recruitment, training, exposures, in-service role-play, environment, manmanagement, policing methods, criminals laws organisational pattern, living and working

conditions of the personnel, work pressures, self-image, public relation techniques etc. Apolice leader should cover all these aspects in his plan should he wish to see his police

verily humanised.

Human aspect is the fulcrum of policing. Policing is primarily latitant human interaction

in the perennial luctation to safeguard the security and rights of the common man and thehuman quality in the force determines the effectiveness and vitality of the performance.Human resources policy as a device of selecting human stuff needs careful handling at the

highest level to attract right people to the fold. The present Indian environment of ruthless

concours impleached with a degringolade of values has made human resources managementa farce in India. The wherewithal of human resources management like recruitment,




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promotions, transfers, rewards, punishments etc are no more employed for maximum benefitof the organistion. Self-interests have undermined quality and character and organisationinterests are subordinated to personal behoofs. Though this proclivity is prevalent in all fields

of present India, its adverse effects are kenspeckle in police as the line-system of the

organisation makes the ingenuity of the human resources management a factor having directand immediate bearing on the efforts of humanising the police.

ORGANISATIONAL MEASURES

An earnest effort from the highest level to infuse the crème de la crème characterised by

genuine human stuff, probity and commitment is the foremost need of the police. The

prevalence of police administration over general administration in the survival of a nation as ademocratic and orderly country necessitates changes in recruitment policy. This is toensure that only those with a deep natural humane disposition step into the police so that the

arrogance and savagery bred by the environment do little harm to the public and the tenue of

humanism continues alongside policing work.

The chief cause of the police seldom being humane in Indian is its ineffective trainingfacilities. In spite of adequate infrastructures available for police training in India, these

centres largely fail to offer quality training to humanise a recruit adequately to stand up-tothe challenges of the temulence of the arrogant and feral environment that policing breeds.

An overhaul of the extant training facilities in terms of quality, content and character in

favour of humanised policing practices in inevitable to keep the police excubant against thedepravity of the modern society. There has to be a psychology faculty in the centres to buildcharacter and strengthen human fibres. The training centres should lay emphasis on

attitudinal change in recruits and develop the skill of humanised policing. The training

centres should give the impression to the public of being temples dedicated to humanising thepolice apart from actually being so.

EXPOSURE TO LIFE OUTSIDE THE POLICE

The strenuous nature of policing hardens the police in spirit and mind . A measure of

creative activities like literary interactions, exposure to poetry and fine arts, musicalperformances etc besprent in the precious spare-time between policing hours intenerate theman behind the police façade and resiles him to his natural human tendencies. Artistic

activities counterpoise the damage done to the man by the role-pay of policing and open him

up to the halcyon clime of the ideal and imaginary world, far removed from the hard andbrusque realities of the police life and make his life richer. Exposure of the police to social

service activities acts as the celestial surgeon to enrace mellowness and dignity to the police

. Interaction with people from the plane of oblation sinks the policeman from his inflated selfto the roots of his genuine feelings and concerns and conditions him to respond to the

vicissitudes of the environment. It opens up a new vista of feelings and experiences thatmake life richer and meaningful au reste sensitisation of the self. The social service

activities as a form of servilitude to mankind and a voluntary involvement with the peopleabserge the temulence of power and abraid latitant human tendencies in the policeman to

bring to the surface his pristine self . It is left to the police leaders to include social service



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schemes in their human resources development programmes in an endeavour to humanise thepolice.

IMPORTANCE OF SELF-IMAGE

Rogers in “ On Becoming A Person”, says, “ The more fully the individual is understood

and accepted, the more he tends to drop the false fronts with which he has been meeting life,

and the more he tends to move in a direction which is forward”. The conviction of fairtreatment and concern for human dignity in the policeman deeply affects his comportbeneath. An atmosphere of respect, dignity and fairness resiles his self to its pristine charm

of innocence and couthie disposition. On the other hand, the strains of humiliation,

contempt and scorn drive him to catharize his frustrations and indignities on both those lowerin the hierarchy and the members of the public who come to his doors au desespoir forredressal. The spite and the feral indiginities he inflicts on those at his mercy would be

pro rata to those he is subjected to by his leaders. A policeman shabbily instated in his

organisation develops a poor self-image. Solley and Murphy analyse this when they say” He

perceives, responds, acts and communicates in terms of his complex self-image leads toadjustment mechanisms”. A policeman, proud of his self and work is created by respect to hisindividual dignity that develops a confidence about humane strains subjacent in his persona

and dares him to betray the human responses that are so natural to his entrails and makes thepolice environment in the country besprent with the milk of human attributes like kindness,

tenderness, elegance and civility.

FACTORS OF ATTITUDINAL CHANGES

Motivation and deterrence are opposite facets of the same coin that pay for attitudinal,change. Deterrence, although an extra force to the system, is an effective wherewithal in

materialising mobility in an intended direction as an addendum to disparate motivationfactors. Efforts to humanise the police call for the apposite employment of deterrence to

inhumane acts by way of exemplary punishments. The prevalence of means over the ends

should be made the cardinal principle of policing. The ends, however eximious they be,should not find recognition by the police if the means adopted are mean and deplorable. All

inhuman acts by the police should be met with heavy punishments and an atmosphere ofsocial ostracisation of such elements should be created in the force. The realisation that thepolice are ordinary people and no criminal acts committed in discharge of official duties

would extricate them from the ensuing, liability should be made crystal clear. An ingenerate

sense of regard to people, oblivious of their locus standi in the social ladder, can begenerated in the police by instilling a mortal fear of inhuman acts through exemplary

punishments. The fact that policing is a human service au fond does not justify adoption of

feral methods in policing. Adoption of violence and savagery by the police gives legitimacyto such methods in the public eyes and thus weakens the orderly fabric of the society.

Violent methods like employment of third degree in interrogation to obtain quick results inpreference to the tedium of swink’t investigation weaken the image of the police already

weighed under by pressures of work.




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ADOPTION OF SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES

Adoption of scientific techniques in policing helps in humanising the police. It saves the

police from the antilogy of committing criminal acts to meet the ends of justice. All efforts to

humanise the police prove infructuous until the police continues to be at the mercy of violentmethods for results. A genuine effort at humanising the police should begin with methods to

instil sophistication and accuracy in policing. Old habits die hard. Vigorous efforts to

mundify old nasty habits should find priority as a substruction on which the edifice of theefforts of humanising the police should be built.

CONTRIBUTION OF CRIMINAL LAWS

A few glaring anomalies and erroneous provisions of the extant criminal laws in India

contributed to the easy fredaine of criminals from the clutches of the law in many cases and

the harassment of innocent persons by the police in some other cases. The loopholes in the

criminal laws have to be plugged if crime administration is to be humanised and command asemblance of public respect and confidence. Intelligent adaptations in the extant criminallaws to interdict inhuman policing methods and provide wherewithals for facile crime

administration are the needs of the hour. The policeman or the judicial officer under whosecustody a person is kept under detention must be made responsible by name for the timely

release of the detenue with the provision that if detention exceeds the period provided by

law, the concerned officer is liable for proceedings for the unlawful detention sans theprivilege of exemptions for acts performed in official colour. Also, all cases of violence andphysical outrage committed in police custody should be made punishable with exemplary

penalties by special legislations. Such outre measures may bring an end to shocking

inhumane acts committed in the similitude of policing in some quarters and save the Indianpolice from acute public resentment. All discretions with police and judiciary regarding bail

should be taken away with only a select few offences of enormous gravity made nonbailable.This will restrict both the police and the judiciary from showing favours to some criminals

en revanche to favours and bring mechanical accuracy to bail provisions. This measure may

be found a path-breaker in preventing the misuse of criminal laws and the inhuman play offavours to some and disfavours to others among the criminals.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL LEGISLATIONS

The propensity of weighing the police with the responsibility of enforcemetn of all types

of legislations has become a major hazard to effective policing. It is emphatically so withsocial legislations which pass out of our legislative homes sans cohibition. These

progressive measures are inherently controversial in nature and their enforcement by the

police weakens its credibility as an agency of serious business and peremptory order. It isplauditory to conceive of the police as a vehicle of progressive measures. In the process,

however, the police, is certain to put both its credibility and professionalism in jeopardy asthese social legislations lack the depth and gravity required to enforce them and brings an

aura of commitment to certain sections of the society or people against the universal image



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enjoyed by the police as a profession. Assiduous enforcement may be perceived as inhumanacts of high-handedness and harassment of certain section of the society. It is not in theinterests of the process of humanising the police to expose it to civil contecks. The exclusion

of social legislations from the ambit of normal police work will save the police organisation

from the embarrassment of handling issues for which it is not equipped either mentally orprofessionally or organisationally. This measure will exeme the police organisation from

unwarranted pressures that add to the dehumanisation process also enhances its legitimacy as

the guardian of the order and security of the human interests.

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Though efforts are en train to ameliorate the image of the Indian police, nothingsubstantial could be achieved due to amateurish handling. The present Indian policemanagers have their image development wherewithal limited to issuing occasional press

statement while image development has become a highly advanced field of specialisation

with perennial scope for further advancements. In view of the considerable significance of

the image for successful police operations, the wherewithal of image building in the policeis required to be updated with the latest techniques applied by professionals in the field. Itdoes not suffice if the police is humanised; the police also should appear humanised. While

public relations professionals can handle the job from the organisational level, an insight tothe police about the rudiments of public relations is sine qua non if it is to appear humanised

to the public eyes. This necessitates the exposure of the police to the latest public relations

techniques at regular intervals to imbibe the skill of civility in interacting with the public.

IN-SERVICE IMAGE AND ROLEPLAY

The proclivity for role –play is a major driving force in the process of motivation. People

who enter a new setup, look to their new environment for the role they should assume and thesetup tenders them homo coloris in conformity to its own image. People joining a humanised

organisation play the role of humaneness to fulfil their esurient urge to identify with the

setup. The in-service image of an organisation is a powerful springboard that sets it toactuate that image. An in-service image as a humane setup is de rigueur if humanising the

police is to grow as a tradition. The very reputation of the police as a humane setup limitsthe options of the insiders against acting antilogous to its reputation and thus exert an inviedpressure to rise to the expectations of the organisation that owns them. The process of

building a humanised image ab intra requires the assistance of skeely image-building

technicians and adroit operations by police leaders. This forms the desinent and vital stage inhumanising the police.

Humanistic propensions in a hierarchical setup like the police should permeate from

above should the organisation be humanised and its power-strata identify it with their

organisational self. The police leaders should set standards of human comportmetn for

others in the organisation to make it the substruction of organisational behaviour. Policing is

an exercise revolving around the fulcrum of humanism while humanism is the foundation onwhich the edifice of policing should stand. Policing is a crime sans human concerns to




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support it. The infaust polarisation of dulcet human propensities from nefandous policingactivities in the present police setup is a serious organisational malady that renders the verypolicing system of India counter-productive and as a perpetuator of the licensed crimes.

Policing powers are a trust invested in the police for exercise in the general interests of the

people. The police loses all its claims to power, the moment it sinks its concerns for peopleand its policing activities become a depravity, pure and clear.



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INDIAN POLICE

AND SIXTY YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

Independence circa half a century back marks the greatest turning point in the history of

Indian police. It marks the end of 88-year history of policing on modern lines under the

British Raj which began with the enactment of the Madras District Police Act of 1859 andassumed countrywide acceptance with the enactment of the Police Act of 1861.

Independence marks the beginning of the history of Indian police under Indian hands in ademocratic milieu unlike of yore though in form and contents they were its continuation. The

hitch lay in its sprit, in the contradictions of the intentions of a colonial police and thetraditions of a democratic police. It patently is against jus naturale to expect a colonial

police transform to a democratic setup overnight with the awakening of the country atmidnight. Spirit is never known to be a quick-chameleonic, particularly while form and

contents maintain their stead. Change in spirit is the natural outcome of changes in

ambience leading to metamorphosis of value system and attitudes by rapid exposures to

changed experiences. The process perforce requires a very long period of trails andtribulations to ripen the spirit to its new avatar. The first fifty years of independence of India

marks this period in context of the spirit of Indian police maturing to democratic traditions in

the hands of Indian rulers.

RISE OF CLANDESTINE OPERATIONS

It is significant that the history of police of sovereign India begins immediately posterior

to the turbulent years of the second world war which opened up or saw expansion of a newvista of duties for the police worldwide. The most kenspeckle of them is clandestine

operations in international scale for national security. Though the history of intelligencecollection and covert operations go as far back as human history itself and stand next only to

prostitution as the oldest profession practised by man, it flowered, expanded and receivedworldwide plaudite as an established tool of statecraft only during and after the maelstrom of

the second world war with Germany, the Soviet Union and Britain before and during the warand the United States and Israel after, perfecting the techniques. The raising of the Central

Intelligence Agency(CIA) in the United States in the early years of 1950”s from the crumbs

of the old American secret service of the second world war vintage, the Office of SpecialServices (OSS), with an elaborate Plans division to handle gray clandestine operations

abroad (sometimes domestic operations also) marked a long step in the history ofinternational twilight operations. Following words spelled out by the Hoover Commission

during those momentous days form the agenda of secret police service all over the world.The commission, in justfication of postern operations, said, “ There are no rules in such a

game. Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply. If the US is to survive,longstanding American concepts of fair play’ must be reconsidered. We must develop

effective espionage and counter-espionage services. We must learn to subvert, sabotage and




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destroy our enemies by more clever, more sophisticated and more effective methods thanthose used against us. It may become necessary that the American people be acquainted with,understand and support this fundamentally repugnant philosophy”.

COVERT OPERTIONS OF INDIAN POLICE

Free India, in spite of its moral values and abiding impact of Gandhian Philosophy oftruth and honesty, found covert operations sine qua non for survival. Though attempts werescratchy in inchoate stages, India made significant breakthroughs in penetrating, moulding

and controlling the affairs of the neighbouring countries after raising the Research and

Analysis Wing (RAW) to handle covert operations in foreign countries. Its operations andperformances in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and to somewhat lesser extent inAfghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and some of the Gulf countries are on par with the best in

the world. Its chevisance in international events like the creation of Bangladesh, containment

of Eelam ambitions of Sri Lankan Tamils in India, eheckmating the Kashmir card of Pakistan

and controlling the terrorist misadventures of international Sikh communities against Indiantargets earned it worldwide accolades. This is in spite of the fact that Indian secret police is afeather-weight performer in the arena of international clandestine wars and its overall

performance in world events is very unimpressive for the size and resources of the country.Reasons are many. Foremost of them is lack of commitment to the national cause and

national ideologies like national integration, democracy, secularism, nonaligned movement

and mixed economy. Another reason is the moral atrophy experienced by Indian police afterindependence leading to decline in professional commitments. Postings to RAW withopportunities of foreign assignments has become a status symbol and lost all substance of

challenges and performances from it. The other reason is political interferences in postings

to and transfers of the RAW officials. It is political connections rather than securityscreening and clearances and aptitude for clandestine operations decide the postings in the

RAW. Huge unbudgeted and unaccounted funds at disposal makes the RAW postings highlylucrative and attracts easy going siblings of the powerful to its fold. This is an extremely

dangerous trend in a security apparatus where commitment, trust and absolute secrecy form

the basics of survival and an unguarded moment may make life and death difference formany. More important, clandestine operations unlike other police responsibilities require

highly specialised skills, ignoring this need in manning the organisation is a sure way ofcompromising the organisation, betraying its operational efficiency and exposing thecountry to dangerous security threats. Another important reason for the retarded growth of

Indian secret police is the general lack of security consciousness in the country and inability

to see and place the imperatives of a national security policy in right perspective. Theseglitches end-up in security breaches of the dimension of ISRO spy case Purulia arms drop

case. Rattan Sehgal episode etc. India lacks larger horama of the country and its survival

needs and goes algate weighed down with ephemeral considerations. Its approaches tonational security are always piecemeal, incoherent, causal and disturbingly unsound. It does

not have a sound and well-conceived national security policy. Its approach to security threatsare always short-term face-saving responses which never contribute for the real long –term

security needs of the country. If it is the situation at government level, people who fought amighty power to the situation at government level, people who fought a mighty power to

liberate their country from the yoke of foreign rule just half a century back care nevermore






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needs of integrated approach in national policies and programmes. This is a dangerous trendin the present competitive world where even a minor edge over the opponent makes thedifference of elimination and survival for a country. While even developed countries made

all aspects of their national policies subordinate to their security interests, India cannot afford

to subordinate its security concerns to the freaks of people who come to head variousministries in government and their political and personal ideologies. India lacks in a cadre of

long range security programmes to make its security operations meaningful and purposeful.

It is lagging in hi-tech ultra-secret espionage operations far behind world standards andnowhere comes near even to the old U-2 spy plane of the US of 1950’s . Its secret police isyet to make perficient use of the country’s impressive progresses in fields like satellite

launches to the outer space and other space programmes. Except for isolated cases as in

Pakistan, India is yet to fully utilise the services of world-class mercenaries in its clandestineoperations as in vogue in almost all major gray operations worldwide. Security services inIndia unlike other countries world over, do not weigh high in the national priorities of the

country.

SPECIAL BRANCHES

This affairs are worse in Special Branches or intelligence units of states and unionterritories. Special Branches have become pure and simple tools of political intelligence of

ruling parties with surveillance over political opponents and assessment of field situations for

the benefit of political masters becoming the piece de resistance at the cost of law and orderconcerns accrescently losing importance in the portfolio of their responsibilities. As far asinternal security is concerned, they are rather passe and ill equipped for the task in

manpower resources, hi-tech equipments, expertise, organisational efficiency and

motivation factors, save some routine VIP security exercises sans any expertise in it. That isalso meant just to oblige and gratify political masters and provide grandeur to their

presences. Their assets in news media which is sine qua non for a sound Special Branch israther impoverished and mostly confined to local newspapers for the purpose of

disinformation and keeps track of news dissemination. Occasionally, these contacts are

misused to promote favourite subordinates as authors or experts in a discipline. Theambition of these Special Branches providing skilled recruits to security agencies at the

national level remains a far-fetched dream in the situation of gross unconcern for nationalsecurity commitments.

PERMANENT CORE GROUP FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

Institution of an all-powerful apolitical agency for national security with a permanent core

group of security experts of proven commitments to the cause of the country as the nucleus atthe highest level as the guide and advisor in national security matters to the head of the

government a la the NSA of the US with over-riding powers can alone change the situationfor free India and lead it safely to the centennial of its independence. Efforts made to this end

till now are rather sketchy, ill-conceived and half-hearted. It is high time now that spade-works are initiated to institute a comprehensive agency in India for handling national

security concerns.



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EMPHASIS ON VIP SECURITY

National security for all practical purposes in India is synonymous with VIP security

and Indian police vocabulary refuses to read for it any meaning much beyond protecting

leaders. This is because of the lopsided loyalties and aberrations in Indian police inunderstanding professional objectives and responsibilities of the police at best and a

tendency to trade off professional responsibilities and services for the benefits of career

promotions of a few at worst. That is why units for the security of different kinds of VIPslike Black Cats, National Security Guards and Special Protection Group are raised from timeto time. While security of national leaders is an important role of a national security policy,

it is not the only plank on which the national security concerns stand. There are many more

important and vital roles a national security policy is called to assume and sidelining thoseaspects for the sake of a single role of political clout is suicidal tot he country’s securityinterests. It is public knowledge in India how VIP security has become a public farce with

all kinds of people with some lobbying muscle striving and obtaining a security

classification depending on the type of money and power they have so that they get the cover

of highly trained police personnel as a caract of their prestige and social standing. It has to beunderstood that all matters concerned with national security are highly sensitive andconsiderably grave entities and need to be treated as such. They should not be allowed to

stoop to epideictic exercises for the benefit of a few powerful as witnessed in democraticIndia. Such abuses lower the gravity of national security commitments. National security has

to be treated and respected as a matter of highest priority and insulated from the trifle fancies

of superficial leaders. The strength and relevance of national security to the country lie in itsesoteric and purposeful operations; not in pandering to the superficial needs of a powerfulfew.

VIP SECURITY AS A SHOW BUSINESS

VIP Security has become such a craze in Indian police that it incorporates all wings of

the national police force in its body, it be central police, state police or district police, it be

security police, Special Branch, striking forces, investigating agency or law and orderpolice. In the process, other police functions rapidly lose importance as the pressures of VIP

security mount up with the number of dignitaries and their spheres of activities expand withthe accommodation of more and more influential people and their kith and kin underpressures as VIPs. All said and done, these VIP securities are nothing but shams meant

only as epideictic ensemble without any substance as far as real protection is concerned in

the present age of hi-tech terror.

The period saw no substantial progress in expansion and reorganisation of the district

police. There are much to be done in the field, both in strengthening the organistion andcleansing it. Policing at this level comes in daily contact with the hoi polloi, and for them

police means the district police. The police at this level really form the image of the policefor the common man. Unfortunately, corruption is rampant in district police, because of the

powers invested in it to control the daily affairs of the people. The power breeds corruption;and the corruption breeds mad rush to man key positions in district police. In magnitude also,

the district police form the biggest slice of the police force in the country.




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The serious maladies witnessed in secret police and investigation agencies of India areactually common symptoms of the atrophy observed in all wings of Indian police includingthe law and order police. Dishonesty, lack of professional commitment, extra-professional

loyalties and unchecked corruption are the albatross that commonly suffer Indian police at all

levels. It is not a rosy picture to have to a police force more than a century old and nowreaching half a century mark of existence in a free country. The deterioration of Indian

police is steep after independence. Perhaps, democratic rule in the country sinsyne has not

done any good to Indian police. The nexus of police with criminals and politicians issmothering and squeezing the country and its public life out of its vitality to a stage ofparalysis. While the virus is coram populo in states like Bihar and UP, it is eating up the

vitals of the country in other states ab intra. No part of the country is free from this slow

process of sphacelus. The talk of private armies during elections in UP and Bihar is indicia to the confidence Indian police inspire in public after fifty years of self-rule. Indian police in1990s appear like a century-old giant tree rendered hollow ab intra by the temite of

corruption. Unless something is done fast to return the vitality of the professional pride and

commitment, Indian police may irrevocably fail the country in leading it forth to the century-

mark of India’s independence.



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CHALLENGES OF THE POLICE SETUP

The hazard of the Indian police lies in immobility of its organisational structure. The

existing police system is utterly devoid of any adjustment mechanism that keeps it relevant tothe zeitgeist . A time-to-time review and concomitant updating of the police organisation

becomes sine qua non in the circumstances, particularly while the nascent democracy lounderthe policing system of India remis velisque, quite obvious of the futuristic kiaugh. A

systematic study of the policing in India with an adequate pernoctation to screen the latest

researches and findings in relevant fields of social and politicial systems and science andtechnology in reorienting the public organisation and administration is an essential parameterin the vital exercise.

A police setup worth its salt should meet the specific needs of the policing. The police

setup must necessarily be raucle in its frame to be capable of absorbing the shocks to which

it would often be exposed. Secondly, motive factors should be substructed in the body of the

organisation as sound motivation alone can make policing a purposeful activity. This shouldbe reinforced with external motive factors that can be infused to the organisation e ra nata.

Thirdly, the system should be organised so as to generate optimism and confidence ex

propriis to excudit the magical entrainement . Another important aspect that should weigh

lourd in evolving an effective police organisation is evolving a mechanism whereby everypolice officer or unit is put in charge of a specific job matching his or its competence andaptitude. An element of entrain should be brought to policing so that the work in hand can be

attended to with genuine involvement by each police officer. Another strategic principle of

healthy police organisation is having absolute faith and giving full responsibilities tosubordinates with a concomitant, reward and punishment system that follows at the heels.

Any attempt to disturb the balance of faith, full responsibility and reward and punishment

system is certain to fell the organisation into desuetude. The extant concept of collectiveresponsibility through a chain of command has gone passe by its propensity to demotivate

the real workers due to the corrupt ambitions of those at higher levels in the chain of

command. Policing has grown of late to be such an independent field of specialisiation that it

is impossible for a mortal being to be proficient in even a single aspect of policing. It is rathera folly to ween a police officer as being able to handle all aspects of policing though at

different times. Hence, the need of specialisation-oriented policing. The present managerial

world is increasingly realising the importance of human resources as organisational inputs.

Unless all-out efforts are made to inhaust to police the crème de la crème of the country withexceptional attributes of probity, intelligence and commitment and impart eximious and

purposeful training to bring out the best of each, no efforts at updating the organisation can

bring about a sempiternal transformation in the setup. The fact that policing can be successful

only with popular co-operation, focuses the attention of the police organisation on the needsof building up its image. Although efforts are already afoot towards building up the imageof the police, the depths of the possibilities are yet to be fully explored and exploited. A

scientific approach in this score will make policing tanato uberior . Also, the scope forscholarly and intellectual activities in policing will make policing multi-dimensional and add





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collection or security operation with synergy manifesting only at higher levels. So India mayhave independent law and order police, detective police, special police and security policeeach separately recruited and trained for professionalism and expertise in their respective

fields. Officers from all these specialised fields should be eligible to rise to general policing

at higher levels on the basis of a pro rata quota system for promotions.

The increased preoccupation of the police with law and order and security issues in view

of the growing cataclysmic activities in the country has adversely affected effective crimeadministration of late. Police stations have become registering stations as far as crimeadministration is concerned. The time of the local police is fordone with immediate issues of

law and order and VIP security, and in the process, crime investigation has become a

casualty. The process may further deteriorate as security and law and order problemsincrease in coming years. Neither the crime staff at subordinate levels nor the supervisorystaff at district and higher levels, in the melee, have the will or the resources to divert to crime

investigation while the crime rate in the country is assuming dangerous proportions.

Crime investigation should not be allowed to suffer because of disorder and insecurity inthe country, as otherwise, a vicious circle may develop wherein disorder and insecurity leadto fall in investigation and flabby investigation in turn, to patulous disorder and insecurity.

This triste development may be effectively dealt with by an independent crime setup, parallelto the law and order outfit.

An independent crime outfit in district and state may exquisitely behove to a futuristicpolice setup by giving crime investigation a boost and insuring it against the peracute pangsof organisational maladies of the future.

The compulsions of urban policing are strikingly different from those of rural policing.Response time is the hallmark of urban policing where a delay of a few minutes can make a

difference between death and life as criminals and terrorists with the most sophisticatedcommunication, and weapon system and hair-raising organisational accuracy overawe the

police, pitted against them in the course of their criminal operations. The present police

station-oriented policing is incomeptent to meet the challenges of the urban criminals either inresources or in organisational ingine. Further complacency in re own procinct may stifle the

very policing system of India.

Unity, resoursefulness and speed form the spine of urban policing. The control room-

centered policing in urban centres where men and transportation and latest communication

facilities that work round the clock in shifts enables galvanic operations to tackle law andorder problems.

This outfit with unlimited resources at its disposal for launching any type ofoperation within a few minutes of communication may suffice to meet the challenges of

maintaining law and order in urban areas in the new age.

The chief cause of policing never being a profession in India the ineffectiveness of itstraining facilities. In spite of adequate infrastructures available for training police officials of

various ranks these centres largely fail to meet the quality required to make a recruit a




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thorough professional. An overhaul of the extant training facilities in terms of its quality,content and character is inevitable to keep the Indian police excubant to future challenges.The training facilities should be made centres of scholarship and research on police subjects

with professionals of national reputation in each subject handling their respective subjects.

The psychology faculty of the centre should endeavour to build character and infuse rightorientation among the recruits. The faculty members of the training centers should be

exceptionally well paid so as to inveigle the best in the field to join. Army officers must

handle outdoor classes. This model helps in instilling the highest standards and expectationsin trainees till they become full-fledged officers and orient them to become professionalpolice officers, apart from distancing them from the moderate influences which are herded to

handle police training centres in the present setup. The trainees must be exposed to police

officers as guest speakers, by inviting very senior police officers of the highest integrity and job standards to deliver talks on specific topics. Separate professional training courses shouldbe available in the training centres for law and order police, crime police, intelligence police

and security police with scope for advanced learning with an eye to the latest developments in

each respective field. Latest training methods should be adopted with management,

computers and advanced psychology inter alia as the common subjects of study for all thecourses. The training centres should give the impression of being temples of advancedstudies apart from being so.

Policing requires commitment and dedication on the part of its operators. The principles

of faith and responsibility must run invisus through the vitals of the policing, should it be

purposeful and successful. The extant bureaucratic malady that infested the Indian policesetup cohibits healthy policing practices. The police organisation should be reoriented todevelop a professional approach to its operations with full faith and responsibility as the

hallmark of the delegation of power. The present emphasis on procedures should be shifted

to commitment and result-orientation within the ambit of the rules.

An analytical study of policing, its trends and modern techniques helps to bringprofessionalism in policing. Due encouragement for the study of theoretical aspects of

policing and its application in the field through in-service training will be a welcome step in

this direction. If police managers succeed in inspiring in police officers an interest, intheoretical aspects of the policing and its latest techniques, it would be a kenspeckle leap in

abraiding Indian police to the challenges of the future.

Policing as a phenomenon of maintaining order and security in society cannot afford to be

oblivious of the flux in the modern lifestyles. As an integral part of civil living, policing must

prepare itself to amate the increasing complexities of modern life by modifying itsorganisational and administrative setups to the demands, these vicissitudes create. The

changes warranted in policing may either be deciduous or peremptory depending on the

nature of the transition in society. It is left to police planners to analyse the nature of the fluxin the society and locate the areas where decession from the past practices has become sine

qua non for policing. This should be an ongoing process if policing is to retain its relevanceas the guardian of social discipline. The futuristic challenges of policing would be pro rata to

the twists of the future living. The prospects of Indian population reaching the mark of abillion and the concomitant luctation of two billion needy hands to grab a share in the

country’s limited resources of food, shelter, water, clothing, electricity schooling,



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employment etc., naturally make life a cut-throat concours and a ruthless adventure devoid ofscruple, human values and concern for fellow men. It would be a fight for survival with lesscompetent and skeigh gentlemen going belive hors de combat. The kenspeckle pejoration

had already set in from the early sixties. Though the Indian policing system managed

somehow to deal with the vicissitudes till now, the geometric acceleration of the flux of thecoming years may prove to be too much to the extant police setup. Therefore, it si high time

now that we prepare out police organisation and administration for the future challenges.




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CHALLENGES OF

COORDINATION IN INDIAN POLICE

Multitude brings confusion. Multitude breeds rifts. Multitude is the source of contraplexdrives, necessitating efforts to forge divergent thrusts into a single mosaic. This is true of

police also. India has a multitude of police organisations. Crime and law and order being a

state subject, each state and union territory has its independent police force. A host of centralpolice agencies like CBI, IB, SIBs, RAW, CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SPG, BPRD, NPA,

NICFS operate under the direct control of the central government. The fabric of Indian policeis woven with nearly two scores of police organisations, held together by same laws,

procedure and the goal of national interests.

Various state and UT police organisations reflect the diversity of India while central

police agencies, the unitary nature. State and UT police organisations extending from Kerala

to Jammu and Kashmir, from Gujarath to Arunachala Pradesh enjoy divergent ethos,environment and professional attitude in spite and uniform police structure and goals. They

are manned at lower and middle levels of the hierarchy by the people of the concerned

regions though officers drawn from the length and breadth of the country head them at thetop. These organisations jealously retain their identity and character and seldom venture out

to interact with others though much is made on paper and public platforms about the needs of

border meetings, combined operations and sharing of professional expertise and intelligence.Though a deep feeling of fraternity is a reality in police all over the world, it seldommanifests in cooperation and coordination in working for professional goals. Police

organisations see each other with suspicion. Competition rather than cooperation forms the

plane of their mutual relationship. The ingrained thirst for recognition and desire to

monopolise accolades and policing is the basic thrust of avoiding anything to do withoutsiders. Differences of job culture and environment make cooperation and coordination

further difficile. Differences of identity and character add to the problem. As a result, police

organisations build barriers around them and work in isolation on common issues of crime,security and law and order, leading to duplication of work and wasted efforts en face

criminals and hors la loi with their tentacles spread all over the country, taking best advantage

of the splintered mosaic.

The spiel of central police agencies is quite different. They represent unity in diversitywith an amalgamation of men, identities, environment and character, drawn from diverse

sources and tested in a single crucible. Their stretch is broad covering the length and breadth

of the country with opportunities for interaction inter se and outside. These agencies dodepend on state and UT police forces for manpower. They do operate all over the country.

Yet, these agencies have their own identity, character and job environment, which do notencourage give and take with state police forces and inter se in any meaningful sense. Again,it is one-upmanship and immanent passion to corner all recognition. Precedence of narrow

interests over performance and results in central police agencies is not a wholesome affair.






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Recognition and appreciation get precedence over organisational objectives in the presentenvironment of Indian police. The remedy lies in restoring organisational objectives to theirrightful place in the ambience of police. The immanent prevarication of the police from the

professional path and the ingrained slant to self-agrandisement make it easier said than done.

Border meetings are rare. More than that, often they are meaningless exercises conducted

for the purpose of record. Joint operations by neighbouring police units are rare to the extent

of being unheard of. Resentment to take advantage of the specialised units like crimebranch, special branch, training units etc is also evident. The only exception is the servicesof the armed police in states and the paramilitary forces at the centre. The reason is that the

utility of these forces in controlling unruly mobs overshadows the problems of ego-clashes

and recognition.

Mutual indifference is just one side of the problem and simpler in that. The other, more

complicated face of the problem is inter-organisational rivalry and attempts to sabotage the

works of each other. This manifests in two forms: One, as a self-surviving, instrument and

the other, as a result of jealously and one-upmanship. Police in a region collude with law-breakers of the region wherein the law-breakers restrain from creating problems in the regionin exchange for trouble-free life from the local police. The criminals are allowed free to

operate anywhere outside the jurisdiction of the local police. The arrangements can otherpassive or active. In a passive collaboration, police, do not actively assit the law-breakers in

their nefarious activities outside. Just that the police knowingly shut eyes to the existence of

the criminals in exchange for the latter refraining from stirring water at their ponds.Criminals in exchange for the latter refraining from stirring water at their ponds. Criminalsuse the places for retreat and rest. They serve as hiding places for the criminals. Criminals

need such places of retreat and rest to fall back after their activities outside. Bangalore serves

as such a retreat for most terrorist groups including Naxalites, LTTE,ULFA,Kashmirseparatist and radical Akali cadres. The terrorists avoid striking anywhere in Karnataka and

unnecessarily stirring the police there. In return, Karnataka in general and Bangalore inparticular is used by them as a retreat for hiding, rest, medical care and strategic meetings.

Sivarasan, Subha and their associates hid in and around Bangalore after assassinating Rajiv

Gandhi. Naxalites are often noticed taking medical treatment at various private clinics inBangalore. So also other terrorist groups. Local police avoid acting against them unless

compulsions dictate otherwise, so that dogs in slumber are allowed to continue to sleep.

In an active collaboration, both the police and the criminals or one of the parties activelyassist the other. The police may assure and actually provide protection from potential

troubles. They may leak intelligence about outside police organisations operating against.The hors la loi on their part may use their criminal skills to the advantages of the police in

sabotaging the interests of the rival police organisations apart from sharing the res gestae oftheir operations with the police. The police may use the criminals to raise crime rate at

particular areas in the neighbourhood or create law and order problems there for strategic

benefits.

Even in case of cooperation and coordination as a state policy, coordination may becomea casualty in the absence of purposefulness and commitment. The combined operations of



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Karnataka and Tamilnad police often with the help of BSF in the forests of M.M. Hills regionalong the Karnataka-Tamilnad border against forest brigand Veerappan is a point. Nineyears of combined operations yielded no results. Lack of coordination among Karnataka and

Tamilnad police is often stated as a source of the glitch. Approach of the police of the two

states to catch the brigand is presumed to be at variance. Tamilnad is considered to berelatively soft to the brigand while Karnataka, that lost many of its officers and men to the

guns of the brigand, is after his blood. Au reste, absence of bureaucratic and operational

coordination between the police of the two neighbouring states and survives in his exploitssans souci. As a strategy, he strikes inside the borders of a state and escapes to the forests ofthe former state after striking inside the borders of the other state. A perfect coordination

between the police of the two states should have made the operation easier and more

feracious. But, it is not to be the case. The game is going on and the police of both the statesare frustrated on end. The case of Veerappan clearly shows that border areas wherecoordination between different police units are called for for effective policing, are havens of

criminal operations. Absence of coordination in police makes it so.

Sabotage of mutual interest is not a problem confined to Indian police only. It is a

universal problem and manifested in the police of even enlightened countries like the United

States. There are instances available of the CIA and the DIA, the intelligence brethren of theUnited States government, trying to steal sensitive assests and useful agents from each other’s

furrow and undermining them when failed to win over. Such instances in the police of other

countries, however, do not make them en regle in Indian police.

Lack of professionalism and single minded commitment to organisational goals is the rootcause of the problem. Absence of an institutional machinery for affecting coordination and

efforts to define the scope of such a coordination adds to the problem. The so called border

meeting and occasional seminars and conventions are informal and far-between measures onindividual inspirations of a few, at best. In the ambience of absence of the spirit of

cooperation and coordination, such isolated inspirations seldom make abiding impact, Mutual

suspicion builds barriers. The problem can be overcome by two methods; One devising aninstitutional machinery for such cooperation and coordination between different police

organisations with a rider of making their use binding in all relevant case. A compulsion

brought about by law for cooperation and coordination will go a long way in improving thesituation. Second, encouraging and cultivating the spirit of cooperation and coordination in

the police culture. Coordination at higher levels in key operations and exposure of the lowerlevels to their success stories will bring necessary changes in the psyche of the Indian police.Careful overhaul of the selection process to absorb right people and a training programme

devised to strengthen the characteristics of coopertion and coordination will go a long way inbuilding an environment of cooperation and coordination in Indian police. Work curlture in

police force must encourage it. Leadership qualities that realise cooperative and coordinatedefforts into reality and pave the the path for it, have to be made the bedrock of policing and

police character.

Indian police now is more a collection of splinter groups than a mosaic. There is no

rhyme or reason in their mutual relationships. Different police forces do not match with eachother. There is discord and cacophony; no concinnous music. Each Police organisation in




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the tapestry of Indian police works for its own end at its own wavelength, spawning a pictureof disorderly melange. How such a motley crowd can perform the job of national interesttogether? The disharmony cost India a Prime Minister and an ex-Prime Minister in the hands

of assassins and terribly suffered the country in the hands of the extremists of Punjab,

Kashmir and North-East. Dacoities are rampant. Threat to peaceful and orderly life is prolate.Security is shaky. Crimes and steadily accrescent. Commitment to professional policing is

fractured. Public fund invested on the police goes down the drains. The resurrection of

Indian police must be built on the foundation of cooperation and coordination betweendiverse police forces to make concerted policing possible. A semblance of unity in diversityin the mosaic of Indian police is the need of the hour. A sense of belonging and oneness

among all police forces is sine qua non for effective policing. Unless this foundation is laid,

the edifice of Indian police is bound to crumble and collapse one day. No attempts toresurrect Indian Police will ever succeed unless this basic need is fulfilled. A fractured policesetup as in India now is a dangerous drain on the public exchequer with unimaginably huge

money, time, energy and work wasted by seepage through weak joints. Once this problem of

cooperation and coordination is fully attended to, the money, time, energy and work saved are

enough to take the police to the heights unimagined before and infuse new life and vitality toit. Unfortunately, no serious thought was given to this matter of utmost importance in the lastfive decades of independence. It is high time now that Indian leaders realise the bevue and

make up for the lost time by giving their full attention to this nonfeasance. Only that can saveIndia and Indian police from the present maelstrom.



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POLICING THE POLICE

The work police or policing is derived from the Greek roots polis means city and

politeia, Latin politia and French police means polity; its English root is “policy” meansstatecraft, plan or course of action especially in statecraft or administering the laws. The

spectrum of the meanings of the word ‘police’ and ‘policing’ swings from ‘city’ in one

extremity to ‘statecraft’ and administering the laws in the other. Police and policing implyadministering the laws of the country in the process of the statecraft. Police deal with laws as

part of the administration in shape of its enforcement and detection and investigation of itsviolations. Policing the police is administering laws to police and bringing violators to book

selon les regles. It is a measure of fencing the fences to prevent them from themselveslooting the crop. The vectors of policing the police rely on the moral convictions of the police

force and pro rata decide the effectiveness of policing outside. A law-abiding police is a

boon to the country, its administration and policing system as well.

The very concept of policing the police is pregnant with the suggestion that police do not

necessarily limit themselves to the bounds of the laws, therefore require policing. A

protector, guardian and enforcer in one has two facets: he is a master as well as a servant atthe same time. This is what is expected of police in regard to laws. The issue is whether

police serve the laws in the capacities. They do act as masters in enforcing them. But their

role as servants of laws needs deeper probe about how far they are subject to and guided bythe laws in force.

Policing the police involves self-policing. Internal vigil against lawlessness within in the

form of prevention, investigation, enforcement and protection motivated by a sense of

commitment to law and justice is its pith. Such commitment presupposes professional pride,conditioned by high morale spawned by clean professional culture of high values, sound

reputation and standing of the profession in society and the sense of achievement and

recognition, the profession induces. The elements of policing the police are embedded in theorganisational culture and the managerial dynamics of the police setup. Its value system,

objectives, means pursued to achieve them, attainments, strengths and weaknesses, the

reticulation of human relationship, public image, efficiency of managerial vectors, sense offairness in assessing performance and granting recognition determine the orientation of a

police organisation to rein in itself to the consuetudes within the bounds of law, justice andpopular acceptability. Their sensitivity to their image and reputation helps to strain every

fibre to keep up to public expectations and avoid unfair practices. This is au reste the

individual pride in the force about being a worthy member of a worthy institution. Theindividual and organisational prides interact to create an ambience of high morale and great

professional pride to serve as the greatest tool of policing the police from within.

Creation of a distinct arm within the police setup to police the organisation a la military

police in army is another techinique. This is gratuitous in police for the simple reason that

police organisation is capable of handling police responsibilities within as effectively asoutside. The only block to the process is natural fellow-feeling and sympathies to erring




173

colleagues. The issue can be handled through appropriate administrative measures au reste adequate sensitisation to the threats of unlawful and criminal activities ab intra.

Criminal and other unlawful activities of the law-enforcers destabilise the democratic

foundation as well as the judicial system of the country. Police hors la loi while act asharbourers and pillars of support to outside criminals and create havoc in the law–enforcing

system, no meaningful policing is possible. They boost the confidence of criminals and help

the spread of criminal activities. A true effort to arrest lawlessness in the country must beginwith pernoctation against outlaws within the police and drastic measures to snap theirconnections with outside criminals. This brings the need of policing the police to the

forefront.

Efforts at policing the police must begin with right recruitment policy to ensure that onlyright people enter the job. Next important stage is right training. Third stage is creation of

right ambience of job culture within the service. Fourth factor is institution of a right system

of rewards and punishments on the basis of actual performance. Fifth is sensitising the top

brass of the force about the need of policing the police too make policing meaningful andpurposeful. An extension of this sensitisation is willingness of the police administrators totrack down unlawful and criminal elements within the force and efforts to deracinate hem

from the system as fast as possible. It is easier said than done in actual practice.

Obstacles to policing the police are numerous, ranging from clever use of loopholes in the

system and laws to circumvent the arm of legal authority to use of external pressures toextricate from impending disciplinary proceedings. Police is a part of the world outside andcannot exist in complete isolation from it. Their close interdependance and symbiosis make

them sine qua non for each. In the circumstances, they mutually influence and the

lawlessness and criminal tendencies of the society outside seep into the police system to allayits resolve for self-policing, and corrode the process. This allay reflects in recruitment,

training, job culture, system of rewards and punishments and resolve to cleanse the system.Concomitantly police lose moral right to policing anywhere.

Vigilance organisation does keep tab on all government organisations including thepolice. The arrangement is simply inadequate to meet the needs of policing the police for the

simple reason that the scope of a vigilance organisation is more or less limited to activitiesrelated to corruption and that its jurisdiction is so widely spread on all governmentorganisations that it can hardly do any meaningful work to cleanse the police even on the

single agenda of rooting out corruption. The pith of such a vigilance organisation being

constituted of police personnel, chances of sympathies for criminal colleagues are more thanincidental. That is why, vigilance organisation can hardly be an answer for the problem of

policing the police.

Service and conduct rules that guide the conduct and activities of government servants are

too weak an instrument to meet the needs of policing the police. Rules therein couched inprocedural hurdles and usual governmental loopholes can scarcely be effective in providing

the vigorous drive needed for the efforts of policing the police. It is a fact that these rulesachieve no more than keeping the government business going. They are not meant either to



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inculcate true fear or induce motivation towards any end. Police cannot look to them forsustenance of its need of policing the police.

An outside agency that can substitute for the lack of self-regulation in police is judiciary.

Both are closely-knit in the cause of the administration of law and justice. Policeorganisation is functionally subject and subordinate to the directions of the judiciary in the

dispensation of justice and the rule of law. The ethos of judiciary prevents it from close and

day to day scrutiny of the police functions unless it resorts itself to pro-active mode in selectcases when warranted by the atrophy set in as in extant India. Judiciary is a disinterested anduninvolved observer of the field trends unless it is forced to interfere in the overall interests of

justice. Its ethos prevent it from being an effective tool of policing the police save in rare and

far-between circumstances like the recent ones wherein handling of investigations ofpolitically sensitive cases came to public scrutiny and popular condemnation. Further, judiciary lacks the infra-structure required to perficiently police the police. Judiciary is best

suited to give jolts once in a way on selective basis. This is just about to remind police about

what is right and what is expected of them rather than effectively policing the police.

Bihar is a distinct example of how police, putrid at the core, add to the atrophy of thepublic life rather than bringing a sense of discipline there. Police organisation is not only

ineffective there; it foots the bill of being a setup of criminals in uniform. The claim of justice Mulla of the Allahabad High Court in 1968 that if there was an organised force of

criminals in India, it went by the name of police, perfectly suits the police setup of some

major states of North India like Bihar and U.P. Though Punjab police did commendable jobin containing terrorism in Punjab the police in the job there at the time were almost sans self-policing. The point is that the same goal could be achieved with better self-policing in part of

the Punjab police. Nexus of criminals and police in Bihar is too striking to be ignored. The

police of U.P do not lag behind much. The misease is a common phenomenon in India.Politicians hold criminals and police together from above for obvious reasons. In the

circumstances, policing the police from below becomes meaningless and purposeless even inthe unlikely even of efforts of self-policing within the police. The true clavis of policing the

police lies in breaking the noxious nexus.

Policing must begin from within and spread outward. Self-policing is the primus of the

responsibilities of any effective policing setup. It needs higher commitment and resolve as afoundation to meaningful policing otherwhere. Self-policing must constitute the core ofactivities of a police organisation worth the name. As only a flame within can shed light

outside and only a conviction within can spread confidence outside, a clean environment

inside only gives strength to cleanse the world around. The conundrum is how to bring itabout. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Police as the arm of the state

power structure, enjoy enormous powers. Incidence of corruption is natural in the

circumstances. Corruption of police badly affects the hoi polloi and their trust in police, judicial system and honesty of the government. A corrupt and lawless police makes lives of

plebeian a hell. Policing by a lawless and corrupt police is just a mockery played on haplesspeople.

A cardinal measure in policing the police is making the unlimited power of police

accountable. The present provision of protection given for acts done under the colour of




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office is largely misused. No proper mechanism is evolved to demarcate what to what degreeconstitute acts done under the colour of office. Anything done in performance of officialduties including unlawful acts and often those done outside the ambit of official duties too

are carried piggyback under the clause of official protection unless the acts draw the public

scrutiny and become too hot to be defended by the birds of the same flock in uniform andtheir godfathers above in government. Police being a closely knit organisation, its members

rarely let down each other as any of them may find himself in a similar situation at any time

in the prevailing prolate disregard for law in police . Also, the usefulness of police renderthem protected for their misdeeds by the bureaucracy and the politicians. The outcome is apolice force with unlimited powers and protection against its misuse without any purposeful

accountability. No organisation with such powers, protection and lack of accountability can

develop any respect for law. The foremost need is forcing police out of this protection tobring it en plein jour to accountability for every evil committed by it. Protection have to bean exception rather than a rule for actions done in honest discharge of official duties. A

suitable machinery manned by disinterested persons of high standing can be instituted to

oversee the benefit of official protection is justifiable. Leaving the matter to official

superiors from the same flock may only serve the travesty of justice.

An important safeguard to strengthen the process of policing the police is insulation of

disciplinary and rewards system from outside influences. A sense of exactitude andpromptitude has to be injected to the system and objectively is made the abracadabra of the

process. A sense of certitude about penal action for a given failure has to develop in the

organisation. Punishment has to be pro rata to the gravity of the mens rea and adequate todeflect others in the organisation from pursuing the path in future . More important, nothingfrom outiside should deter the process, so that the feeling of security that one can save

himself from whatever irresponsible and unlawful act by bringing pressure from outside

remains no more available to schemers and worng-doers.

There are informal measures too, like transfers and selections of police personnel formedals and other rewards. Presently these measures are careened towards money and

political clout one enjoys which is earned always by corrupt, immoral and illegal means.

Once weightage is given to right people in the organisation in posting to rewarding jobs andselection for medals and other rewards instead of those with illgotten money and political

clout, the measure itself works as an enormous boost to the morale of the police force andbrings its members on right and lawful tracks. The first step here is bringing an end to thepresent policy in favour of money and political powers. This step itself helps police force

enormously in weakening the prise of money and political clout on the police force. The

positive step of encouraging right personnel by proper transfer and rewards policy adds to thebenefit. These subtle measures can do wonders to the efforts of policing the police.

Intelligent employment of conventional stick and carrot method can certainly cleanse thepolice setup and make policing purposive, meaningful and effective. What is required is

willingness to police the police to make the organisation condign of policing responsibilities.The power of police does not lie in its numerical strength or the arms it weilds. The real

power of police is its moral strength and the image it presents to the outside world. A clean,honest and professional police have galvanic effect on the public as well as law-breakers.

They are feared, loved, respected and patronised by everybody. This is an environment, most



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conducive for perficient policing. Clean and professional police help the cause. A clean andprofessional police is possible only with an effective tool of policing the police. The majortask in reforming and building a new police force to India is restructuring it with an inbuilt

mechanism of effective self-policing. How fast it is done, so much easier for the country to

build a healthier nation by the time India will celebrate the centenary of its independence.




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MAN MANAGEMENT IN POLICE

Man management is the point d’ appui around which all organisations revolve. Among

man, material, machine and money, it is man with his skill and creative ingine, with hiswisdom and capacity for ceaseless labour, with his thinking faculty and intelligence,

manifests in excelsis in any organisation structure as its real spine. The strength, vitality,

quality and real test of any organisation depend upon its human stuff and the process of itsman management. For, man in an organisation stands for totality of his motivation to the

organisational objectives and totality of motivation a toute force depends upon the grade ofman management in the organisation. Ergo, man management is the fulcrum of any

organisation’s process of survival. This is more so in a police organisation where policing a

fond is a human resources orientated profession with boundless need of motivation for

successful operation and therefore substructured tout a fait on the merits of man management.

A police organisation sans right man management policy is bound to crumble in a welter of

discontentment and demotivation. Salient parameters of a sound man management policy inpolice organisation though vary e re nata, more prominent of them can be discussed to lay the

matter in right perspective.

HIGH MORALE

The present Indian environment of ruthless competitions impleached with thedegringolade of values made human resources management a farce in India. TheWherewithal of human resources management like recruitment, promotions, transfers,

rewards, punishment etc, is no more employed for the maximum benefit of the organisation.

Self- interests have undermined quality and character and organisational interests are

subordinated to personal behoofs. Though this proclivity is prevalent in all fields in India oflate, its adverse effects are kenspeckle in police organisation as the line-system of the

organisation makes the ingenuity of human resources management, a factor having direct

bearing on the quality of the policing. While is becoming a dynamic part of the governancein urban areas, with the rise of urban pockets, the damage done by egregious management of

human resources in the police cannot be exaggerated. The declension may go patulous with

the passage of time if frack measures to arrest the depravation in human resourcesmanagement are ignored.

Diligent efforts at the highest level in the organisation to create a force characterised by

integrity, commitment and intelligence may be the foremost need of a police organisation of

the coming age. The prevalency of police administration over the general administration inthe survival of a nation as a democratic and orderly country may necessitate future changes in

recruitment and service condition rules to attract the very best talents of the country to thepolice organisation with extraordinary care to ensure that anything less than the best withclean antecedents does not step into the organisation.



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WARMING-UP PROCESS

The period of initiation is the most important and impressionable period in the career-life of

fresh recruits to the police department. The process of warming-up is based on the

psychological needs of human nature. New entrants must be handled with utmost care to givethem confidence and a feeling of belonging at the incipient stage itself. A sense of

confidence and belonging to the organisation and an ingenerate love and respect for the

higher –ups are the substruction on which discipline grows. Efforts to inculcate disicipline ina void a like waiting for rain from the autumn sky. Indian police impresarios failed tounderstand such finer nuances of administration when they copied the system of the British

Indian police. And so we now have a police system where discipline is insisted on

subordinates sans the conditions requisite for the discipline. The recruits who enter the foldwith open sensibilities and high expectations, wither after braving for a while the brusque andinsensitive conduct of their higher ranks. These recruits continue thereafter to be constant

enemies of the higher ranks and the department for which they must continue to work for the

next three to four decades. A police department constituted of such members, thanks to the

shabby approach of the insensitive higher ranks in this most impressioanble period of theformer’s carrier-life, cannot turn out eximious work. It is a tragedy that India neither spawneda police force of its ain superior values nor copied the police force of the British vintage in its

entirety with its finer points, but cultivated instead a burlesque of the rough and mediocreaspects of both.

WORK PRESSURE

All creations in their fraicheur and the nature’s bounty are kind and tender and elegant.

The strains of the environment cause inquietude in nature’s balance and leads to theobfuscation of a few precious sheens from its innards. It manifests in loss of human factors in

man and his mental space turns intenible of human qualities by environmental strains such aswork-pressures.

The Indian police is weighed down with an impossible quantum of responsibilities andtasks. This work-pressure adversely affects the mental balance apart from depriving those

tasks from the due attention. It is impossible to expect a man bogged down withresponsibilities and tasks to spare his time for the niceties of human qualities.

An important measure in humanising the police is to scale down the work-pressure on it

to a bearable level. An element of lightness in work makes the work environment dulcet andprovides an adequate mental space to devolve on the exuberances of human comportations.

HUMAN ASPECTS

The human aspects is the fulcrum of policing. Human comportment teethed with authority

to compesce the human mass forms the essence of police activities. Policing essentially ishuman interaction, latitant in unending luctation to smite criminal and anti-social elements. It

is the human quality in the force that determines its effectiveness and vitality. Therefore,




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human resource policy in a police organisation needs careful and gritty handling at thehighest possible level. People can afford the luxury of humaneness when they are insulatedfrom the quotidian diversions of their occupational hazards. A delectable service atmosphere

mellows their responses to those around them. They begin to see the world in a better light,

in conformity with the atmosphere around them and try to share these pleasant feelings withthose they come in contact with. The levity of the environment and the absence of strains

from the service-front facilitate their opening-up to give vent to their latitant human contents.

An effort to humanise the police cannot ignore the need to improve service conditions tomake the police proud to be enraced in the vocation. The sense of contentment generated bythe service atmosphere devolves to the public that interacts with the police. In addition, the

public learns to hold the police in esteem in conformity with its improved service conditions

and sophistication. The interaction between the police and the public can be a soundsubstruction for humane policing.

GOOD LIVING CONDITION

A resonably good standard of living helps the police to rise above the physical andsecurity need-levels to social and higher need-levels in the need-hierachy outlined by

McGregor and have the mental space for wider intersts like human concerns of kindness,tenderness, elegance and civility. A low living standard retards the police image and esteem

in society.

The police organisation functions effectively only when a reasonably good living standardis made affordable to all ranks, so that they can deal with anti-social elements from a level of

strength and confidence sans the lure of easy booty, thrown en revanche to a let-off. A low

living standard retards the police image and esteem in society, that are the essentials ofsuccessful policing. It is more so in future while more and more of the so-called elite jump

into the fray of criminal activities in an increasingly complicated society. It is necessary tomake the police financially bein by adequately compensating for the risks and hazard factors

of their jobs to attract the best men to its fold apart from securing them against financial

distractions. A feeling of condign compensation and contentment is certain to raise the policeabove physical and security need levels to give free expression to natural human tendencies.

It may be necessary to make police officers financially bein in comparision to theircounterparts in other services with risk allowance and hazard allowance to compensate jobfactors. This helps to attract the best to the fold of the police organisation, apart from

protecting them from financial distractions. A feeling of condign compensation is certain to

boost the commitment and efficiency of the police.

HOUSING

Policing is a risky profession that draws antagonism and hatred by its very nature. Itinvolves round the clock duties, often at odd hours, at odd places in odd circumstances.

Retaliation by criminals is a constant risk under which policemen live. Their work constantlyexposes them to danger. The very nature of their duties necessitates their being treated on a

different footing to others in the government. The security of housing and other facilities



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being genersously available to them is de rigueur. Indeed the spirit of the ancien regime remains undisturbed in matters of housing facilities for the police. However, a much moreliberal attitude in providing housing and other facilities to the police is necessary to

strengthen the Indian police and make policing more effective.

WELFARE ACTIVITIES

Police forces administer welfare funds for the benefit of their members. The currentapproach of disbursing money from these funds to needy applicants needs to arouse a sense

of pride and dignity even in receiving help from the establishment. Much thought has to go

into this aspect to make the welfare funds useful to them without giving the impression ofcharity. If the funds go to them as their rightful share, they would be put to better use than asa charitable contribution. A newly structured police for the new age certainly requires a fresh

approach to the utilisation of police welfare funds.

TOUGHNESS

The Indian police is not paying sufficient attention to the need for physical prowess,sturdiness and skill in martial art. The need for attention to these factors during recruitment,

basic training and in –service challenges is tout a fait ignored. A healthy and sturdy police

requires healthy and sturdy men and officers, capable of taking up gauntlets and defendingthemselves when exposed to comminations. The need can be sidelined only at the risk ofweakening the organisation. The police is often required to defend itself in circumstances

when unarmed and undefended. Policing involves performance of tough and physically

trying jobs that can only be performed when policemen and police officers are physically andmentally fit. The police, aspiring to a bright future, must attend to this need for its own good

health with genuine seriousness.

UNIFORM

A change in the existing police uniform is an issue to be deeply probed into the improvethe police image. The present khaki uniform of police inspires resentment as it ispsychologically associated with repression and violence. A change of police uniform to

white or pleasant colours may prove to be a measure for the better in removing the negative

image of the police. The overall strategy in selecting a new police uniform should be toinfuse a sense of oneness and quality among the ranks of police and inspiring a psychological

disposition of friendliness, confidence, dignity, respect and healthy fear in the public with a

compulsion to see the police as their own people, but invested with the responsibility of anoble task.




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HUMAN RESOURCES FROM THE PUBLIC

The performance of the Indian police in utilising the services of the public is far from

desirable. Most parts of the country are yet to avail of the services of the people as special

police officers, as is provided by police regulations to assist in policing. Wherever theservices are availed, the potential is not made use of to the full. The system of village police

officers also is yet to fledge to take off. The use of people as traffic wardens to assist traffic

police is limited to major cities of India. No police can be tout a fait self-contained.Involving the public and obtaining its cooperation in policing is a necessary art which needsto be carefully cultivated for making policing a success story in India. There is no shortage

of people among the public who would volunteer their services. Only, the police must open

its doors to such services and organise a system to make such services really effective anduseful.

WEAK LEADERSHIP

A factor that seriously affects the morale of a disciplined force like the police is weakleadership, often affected by disorders of inferiority complex, in posts from where it canaffect the career of subordinates. This is a very serious situation wherein weak and insecure

leadership holds reins of the career of thousands of subordinates with many at very seniorlevels. The feeling of insecurity in them colour their interpretation of normal conduct of

subordinates from their pusillanimous standpoint to interpret foursquare qualities of

subordinates as surquedry; normal reporting or explanation appears like an intrigue andtough posture appears like insubordination. A desire to teach a lesson to the forthrightsubordinates who make the leadership feel inferior is a natural outcome of this. This makes

retaliation an ever pensile threat to the career of the subordinates. And the threat, sine prole is

true in the police. This makes people of sound mind, a must in responsible positions in thepolice. For an organisation like the police, the need of sound mind is more basic than any

other faculty. Should the prodigies of virtues like sufferance, intrepidity and four-squarequalities in face of odds constitute the bedrock of the police organisation, the force make

meaningful impact on the society.

The basic tenets of man management in police organisation discussed above are that a

person happy, contented and proud of himself makes his work situation happy, contentful andsomething to be proud of, and ipso facto enriches his work and himself; that man au fond isgood natured, trustworthy and tends to take responsibility and if he is treated as such, he

certainly turns out his best work that if he is convinced that fairness is the rule of the game,

he is the easiest social animal to be handled. It is left to the police leaders to infuse thesetenets in their man management policy to get most out of the human stuff under their charges.

But the conundrum is that the police leaders need to be motivated towards the end, and who is

to motivate these police leaders to the task by own man management programmes?



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WHERE INDIAN POLICE IS HEADING?

History of Indian police on modern lines dates back to the dawn of the 19th

century. East

India Company controlled police activities in areas under its charge through Village PoliceRegulations. Post-sepoy mutiny saw enactment of laws to streamline police organisations at

provincial levels. Enactment of the Police Act, 1861 as Central Act V in 1861 is a major step

in streamlining police organisations and their activities at the central level. The Act whichcalls itself as “ An Act for the regulation of police” preconises at its Preamble that…”it is

expendient to reorganise the police and to make it a more efficient instrument for theprevention and detection of crime”. The Act seeks to establish one police force under a State

Government and its Preamble declares prevention and detection of crime as the objective ofthe force.

POLICE UNDER BRITISH CROWN

Periods sinsyne saw ascensive use of the police force for suppressing freedom struggle

and maintaining law and order au reste prevention and detection of crime. Indian police

metamorphosed to a law and order outfit in the next nine decades au contraire to theproclamations of the Preamble of the Police Act, 1861. British Raj ruled India on the strength

of police force during the turbulent periods of the independent struggle. In the process, law

and order functions came to centrestage in the charter of priorities of the police duties at thecost of the objectives of prevention and detection of crimes.

A MAJOR TURNING POINT

Indian independence marks a major turning point in the history of its police. The eventmarks the transition of India police from a colonial heritage to a democratic character. The

change has momentous impact on the spirit, character and objectives of the organisation. The

basic interests of a colonial police is the perpetuation of the colonial rule wherein mattersectogeneous to the interests are treated secondary. In a democratic police, the foremost

objective is upholding the interests of the country, its people, its democratic heritage and the

sanctity of the constitution. This is a formidable responsibility. Maintenance of order, ruleof law, security of the people, safety of the national properties and interests, prevention of

offences and investigation of crimes sit squarely on the sturdy shoulders of a democraticpolice. Its allegiance shifts from the rulers in a colonial rule to the people, the interests of the

country and its constitution in a democracy. The shift is basic to the character, job culture,

functional values and the organisational gestalt of the police force.

WORLD-WIDE TRENDS

The cardinal question is how far Indian police in the democratic ambience worked –out its

adaptations to the new situation and zeit geist . Half-a-century should suffice for a fair and

complete assessment. The developments Indian police underwent in this period can either bedue to the world-wide developments in the field of policing and police system as a




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continuing process or due to the adaptation of Indian police from the colonial heritage to thedemocratic vintage. The evolution in world-wide policing practices and police system in thelatter half of the 20th century itself is portentous. National security activities gained primacy

neck and shoulder above the crime and law and order functions. With it came the grey areas

of clandestine operations across the countries. Police shed their uniforms and threw laws andmorals to the wind in pursuit of national security policy. They became international players,

hopping from country to country in disguise, committing murders, overthrowing

governments, forging passports, shipping weapons, training rebels, spreading, disaffections,organising violent protests etc in the interests of their own countries.

SECURITY CONSCIOUSNESS

Indian police could not lag behind. Moving pari passu with the world trend is basic forsurvival. The consequence was the rising prominence of security activities at the cost of both

the prevention and detection of crimes and the law and order functions. A craze for VIP and

VVIP securityis the Indian manifestation of the new security consciousness. World-wide rise

in terrorism gave way for specalisation in anti-terrorist operations all over the world. Crack-forces became the spine of the security police. Anti-hijack squads were organised as an eliteforce of the police. Advances in science and technology made national security a high-tech

field. Satellites, modern communication systems, high resolution photographics, laser beams, night vision systems, computer technology etc made national security highly advanced and

comlex operations. The international developments only marginally touched Indian police

for lack of will to be a major player in international clandestine warfares. The only realconcern of Indian police more suo in the last half century was VIP and VIPs security. Heretoo, performance did not match the concern as many of its important leaders including those

occupied top positions of Prime Minister and Chief Minister fell prey to assassins.

Indulgence of Indian police in form in lieu of substance, in number in place of efficiency andin display where subtle moves were en regle led to the grave failures. The popular axiom of

Indian police to this day is that larger the number, better the security. Motto is counteringsecurity threats with counter threats; or better, meeting security gauntlets with the show of

muscle power. The approach is the antithesis of modern perceptions and theories of security

policing. In Indian ambience, VIP security has become a fanfaronade; a procession of sound,light and motions; a festive assemblage. Tragically, it is happening at the cost of law and

order functions and more so, at the cost of prevention and detection of crimes.

MUSICAL CHAIR

The situation is tardier in law and order functions. Obvious powers and tremendousavenues for illgotten money make law and order jobs hotly sought after posts. Politicians

and people in power are the bestowers of these jobs on favourite few. Result is the desperate

concours of police officials of all ranks to aggrace politicians and people in power to cornerright spots in the musical chair. The ragmatical situation leads to law and order functions

losing the edge of fairness and objectivity in efforts to keep right people in right side. This ishow law and order police become law for themsleves or for their political masters against the

raison d’etre of a law and order machinery. The situation breeds corruption and encouragespartisan policing. Law and order duties being closely interlinked with the everyday life of

the people, police on the duties come in contact with them everyday and present the image



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of the entire police force. The hors la loi image, corruption, inefficiency, meekness beforethe mighty, insensitivity, arrogance and immanity to the hoi polloi, these are the cornerstonesof the epinosic image, the law and order police spawned for the benefit of the Indian police.

LOSS OF CREDIBILITY

Fences itself grazing the field in law and order policing led to the debasement of moral

values in public life. Money power became the effective counterpeise against the arms of thelaw and the state power. Making money by any means became the secret of success. Fraudsand corruption became lucrative business. Governance was commercialised and State power

became a venal commodity. Administration process became a scelerate and police lost

credibility. People were forced to pursue illegal and unwholesome means in their dealingswith the State and the police for survival. Laws as means of the state power becameloathsome objects for the commonman. This spread unrest and protests and violent

agitations became the order of the day. The people and the police found themselves pitted

against each to break the other. Violent protests led to violent suppressions by the police.

Hatred spawned hatred and violence begot violence. This is where India stands today.Violence by dalits, attacks by Naxalites, terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir, gangawars inBombay and Bangalore, lawlessness in Bihar and UP or enlevements by ULF activists speak

of the symptoms of the same malady namely lawlessness in the law and order police thatdivellicate from its raison d’etre.

CHARTER OF PRIORITIES

The pressure of law and order functions and importance of VIP security sidelined

prevention and detection of crimes to a minor responsibility in the charter of priorities of the

Indian police. Preventive techniques saw no updating from the mechanical motions of thepre-independent vintage. Prevention is forgotten in the pressure of other works. Indian

police come to picture only after a crime is committed for detection. Here again,investigations are hijacked by political and money muscles.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Too many cases under investigation with investigators is a serious misease of Indiancrime investigation field. Work-pressure leads to cursory investigation. Third degreemethods are adopted for easy results. The malfeasance itself is a black-mark on Indian

criminal justice system. Corruption and political pressures lead to miscarriage of justice.

Cases are taken up for investigation, investigated and chargesheeted according to politicalconveniences. Bails, arrests, searches, pace of investigation and timings of the chargesheet or

final report are subject to the equation between the head of the investigating team and the

head of the government. This is the situation at all levels including the premier investigatingagency of the country. Case diaries were tampered at highest levels before sent to courts.

Intentions of chargesheeting political heavyweights were declared to media before legalcompulsions of such a sensitive act was met. Cases of political significance were

chargesheeted on filmsy grounds and later equitted by the court. Inaction in some cases inpart of the apex investigating agency of the country led courts to monitor investigation of the

cases and warn of contempt proceedings for noncompliances. The apex court of the country




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observed about the conduct of the heads of the premier investigating agency of the countrythat “there appears to be too many officers bitten by the publicity bug…Inefficiency appearswrit larger than performance.” When the head of the agency was removed from his position

for misdemeanour, the media of the country fished in the troubled water to sensationalise the

issue; the apex court was constrained in the matter to observe that his removal should havecome earlier. This is the egarement to which Indian police condemned its criminal justice

system.

INDIFFERENT POLICE ADMINISTRATION

There should be a single root for the general fall of standards in Indian police. It is

insensitive and indifferent police administration, lacking in all branches of administration, beit planning, organisation, cooridnation, direction, execution, control or research anddevelopment mechanism. The cause of atrophy lies more in negative schemings than in lack

of a positive face. Haphazard organisational growth as responses to the time to time

pressures sans elements of foresight and detailed planning, corruption in selection and

recruitment procedures, sham training practices, non-existent inter-branch coordination,apocryphal infrastructure, directionless directions, self-serving decisions, deviant controlmechanisms, perverted assessments and farcical research and modernisation programmes

have all added to the poor standards of Indian police today. Huge budget allocations madefor police are want-only frittered away without accountability. Precious human resources are

wasted away with frivolous and mischievous games in career planning programmes sans

thought or seriousness. The culprits of these shoddy affairs vary from the top-brass of thepolice to the fonctionnaire in the government to the so called professional outfit, theegregious Union Public Service Commission. Incompetence is writ large in their approach to

police administration. Their failures and mischiefs in managing human resources seriously

affect the interests of an organisation based on human resources like the police.

GLIMMER OF HOPE

Not that all is bad. Occasional good works are there. The role of Indian secret police in

liberation of Bangladesh is the tour de force of Indian clandestine operations. So to lesserextents are the successes in containing activities of LTTE cadres and Sikh and Kashmiri

militants. India showed considerable presence of mind in Afghanistan front also. The fearof law and a semblance f order, the law and order machinery could infuse in a country ofIndia’s size itself is a matter of credit and pride to Indian police. The unshaken trust of the

plebeian on the criminal justice system of the country nonobstante the extant maelstrom in

the field per se is its apogee and speaks volumes about the utility of police investigation incontrolling crime.

What is distressing is that what is done is far short of what is expected from Indian police.No country can afford to have an apollyon in its midst in the shape of a corrupt, inefficient

and disorganised police force. Right leadership at the top can be the lever de rideau to bringthe system to its professional senses. Such a leadership in police should rise ab intra from the

very womb of the degenerate system by rupturing the womb. The walls of the womb are hardand thick in police. That is why the apotropaic process takes a long time. Till then, Indian

police must boil in the broth of its own ignominy.



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LAW AND ORDER POLICING IN INDIA

Amidst the diverse functions the police perform, the plebeian identifies the police with

maintenance of law and order. He sees the police in uniform intervening the incidents of hiseveryday life beginning from a simple street quarrel to mob violence. He sees them

conducting raids on vice dens and restricting his actions and movements in the name ofpublic interest. He sees their presence in well-nigh all state and public gatherings,

controlling crowd and maintaining order; in beats and villages, checking history-sheeters.As a part of the law and order staff, traffic police in white uniform are visible controlling andregulating traffic during rush hours. The hoi polloi have learnt to see the law and order

police as their saviours in hours of need malgre restrictions involved in the latter’s methods.

As far as public deals are concerned, help and support of the law and order police have

become sine qua non in the ambience of prolate fruad and unruly tendencies in public life. Non obstante unvcivil methods and mouvais ton, ordinary citizens consider the law and order

police as a necessary evil and the pith of the public order. It enjoys a special place in thepsyche of the people as a hated saviour and a constant compagnon in public life. The image

of law and order police decides to them the image of the police in general. The law andorder police steeped in corruption makes them believe that the police force en semble smell

rammish and its good performances earn their unqualified plaudit to the entire force. Thestrategic position of the law and order police in crime scene is patent from the fact that itcomes to picture right in time of a crime to prevent its commission as the true strain of law

and order policing while other wings are involved either too early as in the case of security

police or too late as in the case of crime police. The strategic timing brings them to the

centre-stage of crime management in the eyes of common people and wins them their trustand confidence. Furthermore, the law and order police provide a rare praxis of symbion withthe law with each limiting and protecting the other unlike security police ectogenic and

crime police subservient to it. There cannot be laws sans the law and order police and no law

and order police sans the laws. This is the ‘secret of the matchless relevance of the law andorder police to the orderly life of the country.

ABSENCE OF COMMON POLICY

Police stations are pillars of the law and order police reticulation with district police

offices in districts and police commissionerates in major cities at regional levels and statepolice headquarters at provincial levels beholden to the responsibility. Intermediary levels

like circles, subdivisions and ranges coordinate the work interterritorial. Armed forces aremaintained as reserves at regional and state levels in addition at the centre to assist the law

and order police in highly disturbing situations. These are striking forces, specially trained

to handle serious lacunae of Indian law and order police is that no special training facilityis available for its staff for actually dealing with the quotidian law and order issues. It is

rather crude to expect the police to depend on past experiences and untrained personalfaculties to meet professional law and order challenges. The lapse leads to arbitrary handling

of law and order situations sans sound and uniform policy save peripheral measures to be




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adopted before and during use of weapons and opening fire. The only help available to anofficial on the field is the general guidelines of his seniors who are equally illequipped tohandle those situations. This complicates situations during actual actions by depriving the

elements of mutual understanding among the police and the subjects as a natural and essential

factor of successful policing, and ipso factor creates chaos. The situation can hardly becalled as professional policing of law and order. The uncertainties of each law and order

issue added to it, make handling of law and order in India, a pure maelstrom.

PULLS AND PRESSURES

Pulls and pressures are sine qua non in a democracy. Pressures of influential and

powerful blocs is an accepted phenomenon of the working of a democratic government.This is patent in the working of Indian police. Police as an agency that limits the liberty ofthe people pro bono publico and discipline those who prevaricate, occupy a strategic position

in the interpersonal and public life of the citizens and makes success and failure or life and

death differences to them and their ventures. The strategic position of the police is more

pronounced in law and order policing. Sadly law and order policing in India imprimis ismanagement of pulls and pressures in the wilderness of rules and laws. Law and orderpolicing has become a contrivement of bending and interpreting rules and laws to the

convenience of rich and powerful who can pull strings at right places. This is an irony ofdemocracy. These prevarications go conspicuous in acts of political avatars and subject the

police to serve public censure. Otherwise, it is a mute affair as the police algate are on the

vocal side of the rich and influential against dumb and helpless plebeian with none to fightthe latter’s cause against the risk of the wrath of the police save isolated cases of courage andcommitment. The situation is to the benefit of the police as the shocks of possible

disturbances by the prevarications are always absorbed by the powerful on whose favour the

police acted and the interests of the police are safeguarded avec acharnement by them. Thisis a tacit arrangement between the police and the powerful wherein the police are really

lower partners in the high-stake game played for the benefits of the powerful bloc. Thepolice with their little statute and easy contentment, trade off their high powers to the mighty

people for the limited gains of the easy process of policing, career promotions, peaceful life

and and lucre. In the process, the police sacrifice the sacred objectives of its profession.

UNDUE STRESS ON PLAYING SAFE

The current abracadabra of Indian police in managing law and order issues is letting

sleeping wolves sleep and avoid further troubles. Who meet the requirement are hailed as the

best law and order hands. Sine dubio, management of law and order issues anywhererequires handling situations without inviting gratuitous problems. But, the matter seems

overstretched in Indian ambience. Not ruffling feathers unnecessarily is indubitably a

priority. But, this should not be in shape of a compromise, at the cost of law and justice, atthe cost of professional objectivity like in extant Indian law and order machinery which

believes in calm at all costs; those who are adequately insensate to go to that length byplacating powerful trouble-makers only win races for coveted law and order posts in Indian

ambience. The consequence of the apostasy is that the law and order policing in India hasbecome progressively a nest of playing favouritism with utter contempt for professional

character. Those with a sense of objectivity and professional probity self foot the bill as their



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professional uprightness falls foul with powerful lobbies who in tune with the thoughts andfears of the higher echelons of the law and order police, create troubles to those who darednot to favour them. The sleight leads to a vicious circle that perpetuates the wily interests of

the powerful at the cost of weak and dumb in the hands of the law and order police by

hoisting corrupt and lither elements in key law and order jobs. The conundrum is whetherbeing a part of such a vice system is as inevitable to the law and order police as it appears.

The answer definitely is in negative. An understanding of the trickery en train in the system

and a little toughness and resolve to stand up to the challenges of the powerful certainly helpto solve the riddles. The real question is whether the law and order police really want asolution to the riddles or is it contented with what is there as its own making. All available

data point to the fact that the law and order police of India enjoy what is there as its own

making that provides them security and patronage.

INTOXICATING POWERS

Important responsibilities of the law and order police include prevention of crimes,

enforcement of laws, maintenance of public order, controlling rowdy activities, checking thespread of vide dens, regulating meetings, processions, and other activities in public places inthe interests of the maintenance or order, controlling crowds, quelling mob violence etc. The

police are invested with a spectrum of powers which include powers to arrest, detain, searchseize impound, prosecute, levy collective fines, enter and take possession of private places

and buildings, use weapons to hurt and even kill to force compliance etc. Most of these

powers save in specified emergent circumstances are circumscribed by the need of obtainingappropriate magisterial orders for exercise. The maintenance of law and order in large citiesis facilitated by investing the magisterial powers with police commissioners, often delegated

upto the level of DCPs in charge of law and order. The powers enjoyed by the law and order

police amate to their enormous responsibilities and perhaps rank first in range and the width

vis a vis other wings of the police setup. Unfortunately, the importance and the width of

powers of the law and order police per se are its real bane. The dependence of the commonman on this wing of the police and the fear, the police inspire prompt him to gratiate the

police by all his means. The incessant rush of people on the doors of the law and order

police for patronage creates farthing power-centres at lower levels, giving an image of feudallords to the chiefs of police stations who dare to preside over and pass judgements on small

local disputes irrespective of their relevances to maintenance of order and other police duties.Marriages made in Police Stations are not uncommon in states like Karnataka and Tamilnad.Favouritism abounds and rules and laws are sidelined at will in these arbitrary arbitrations.

This in itself creates angry frustrations among wronged people and leads to group rivalries

and clashes. Thus the police are integrated as an inseparable component of a deteriorating lawand order situation.

TOOLS OF PATRONAGE

Powers enjoyed by the police to control and contain vice dens and rowdy activitiesprovide a new dimension to the importance and manoeuvrability of the law and order police.

Powers are two-sided weapons employed for punishment as well as patronage. Humannature being what it is, the police use its wide powers more as tools of patronage than as tools

to check rowdyism and vice dens in absence of professional commitment and motivating




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factors to guide them on right lines. Organised crime syndicates vie inter se for the favourand patronage of the police that ensure the smooth sail of their anti-social activities andprotection to the gang. The gang that gains upper hand in the race rules the roast till the key

figures in the police responsible for the patronage remain in power with the tacit

understanding that the gang operatates within certain limits to save the police from undueembarrassments plus a subterranean arrangement to share the res gestae. The importance of

the police being what it is for the survival of these organised crime syndicates, the importance

of having right police officials in key positions for these gangs cannot be overemphasised ;this leads to huge amounts changing hands to ensure that particular police officials are postedto particular law and order jobs. The end–result is happy and secure crime syndicates in

highly lucrative vice business under police patronage at the cost of unassuming citizens and a

contented and richer law and order police running the show without a fluster of major lawand order scene. The hoi polloi too are contented because there are no major disturbancesand crimes with the underworld crime lords on the right side of the police. Only they do not

know how they are looted ab intra and their unsuspecting character is taken advantage of

and ravaged by the conspiracy of criminals and criminal-baiters namely the law and order

police.

LACK OF CONCERTED DRIVE

Any shakeup in key positions of the law and order police leads to the problems of

maladjustment among the crime syndicates for superiority and between the police and the

crime world with gang-wars and ascensive criminal activities creating real problems to thepolice. Once the police come to terms with the crime gangs again, situation returns tonormalcy. Refusal by a four square official in a key law and order slot to cooperate with

crime syndicates invariably leads to further disturbances till the official is either brought to

heels or transferred out to placate the disturbed powerful gang-lords. It is a rather tristeaffaire of Indian police that the resolve or the killing instinct to go tough with the crime

syndicates that play the police by their little fingers is just not present there. More distressingis how upright officials who choose to fight powerful crime syndicates without yielding to

the temptations of easy and comfortable life feel isolated when seriously let down and

compromised by their own organisation by denying support at the behests of the powerfulcrime lords on the mendacious plea of maintaining peace. In a case more than a decade old,

a young Deputy Commissioner of Police in the port city of Calcutta in West Bengal fell foulwith a powerful crime syndicate operating from the port area and patronised by a powerfulpolitician in power in the state. He was lured by the gang to pursue a criminal into the

strongholds of the gang in the port area; caught, horrendously tortured in captivity and later

lynched. Though criminal cases were registered later, nothing came out of the case. Thisway a living lesson to upright police officers who dare to take on powerful crime syndicates.

SIDING WITH THE PRIVILEGED

A major cause of law and order disturbances is the absence of objectivity, fairness andsense of justice in the police in handling important issues. The police tend to favour the rich

and privileged few in interpretation and exercise of powers to the disadvantage and outrage ofthe weak and dumb majority. This in the long run, leads to resentment and breeds resistance

against the establishment and the system which conspires to perpetuate the weak and






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the law and order police. The intelligence failures of the law and order police contributed foreruption and spread of law and order disturbances in many instances. A striking recentexample of such a failure of intelligence is the Veerappan case wherein the combined forces

of Karnataka and Tamilnad police failed to humble and bring to book the notorious forest

brigand Veerappan who operates from the forests bordering the two states. Though theoperations by no means are easy, the failure of the efforts for ten long years speak volumes

about the strengths and weaknesses of Indian law and order police.

The most precious aes triplex of a law and order police is its professional honesty andcommitment to the objectives of the profession. The selflessness, impartiality and the sense

of justness and fairness bred from such a professional commitment endear the police to all

including its friends and foes. The trust and respect ensue from this, take the police alongway to success in its professional endeavour and protect it from enormous professionalhazards and risks common to the job. Once this trust and respect are breached by immoral

and illegal slants in discharge of responsibilities lucri causa and other selfish causes, the

police are exposed to the wraths of the public and the assaults of its foes and those crowds

wronged by it. By prevarications, the police are protecting neither their job interests nor theinterest of the country and its people; nor their personal interests are protected as no gainsmade at risk to the life is worth the trouble. Indian police seld book so long and open eyes to

look around. Once they stop to shed their professional arrogance and see the mine-fieldsunderfoot, they realise the bevue they commit and may pursue a path befitting the diginity of

their great profession.






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machinery increases to bring the hors la loi to book. Demands per se do not meet the needsof efficient investigation. Commitment to the job is one side of the need. The other side is theskill of investigating economic offences.

Investigation of economic offences is a specialised job requiring special skills farremoved from the needs of investigating bodily crimes. An investigator of economic

offences has to be well versed in the intricacies of financial transactions, the dynamics of the

market forces, rules and laws regulating and controlling the financial market and the fineraspects of auditing and accounting apart from a sound analytical disposition to interpret thedata and evidences during the process of investigation. He should command indefatigable

patience to scrutinise and interpret stacks of bills, vouchers, minutes, contracts, balance

sheets, audit reports, correspondences, records, registers and other documents. It is a timeconsuming drudgery far removed from the glamour attached to it.

A point central to both economic crimes and their investigation is the willing cooperation

and participation of several related agencies and individuals in the operation. They call for

group-work involving meeting of mind and synergy towards the main goal. Symbiosis is thesacred hymn of the operations. Indeed, there is a main player to whose initiative and plan, allothers contribute as and when required. Other constituents in the play necessarily include key

government agencies responsible for regulating financial activities in the country and its keyofficials. Large scale economic crimes need their cooperation in shutting eyes to willful

violation of inconvenient norms and regulations of financial discipline and active connivance

in issuing official favours against rules to ease the passage of defrauding the public. Suchconstituents may include commercial banks, the SEBI, The RBI, the Ministry of Finance, anyof the three credit rating agencies of the country, the auditors who audit the company or all of

them in synergy as in the CRB scam. Other ministries and agencies involved in activities

related to financial matters may also form part of such fraudulent operations. As CRB scammade explicit, non-banking finance companies form the spine of such frauds on the gullible

public.

Investigation of an economic crime must cover the role of these agencies, the key officials

involved and the mens rea, the quid pro quo involved etc and support each fact with soundevidences. The work necessarily requires willing cooperation of the agencies concerned to

provide related documents as evidence, interpret the meaning and significance of thesedocuments, explain the related practices, procedures, rules and laws and provide insideinformation pertaining to the commission of the fraud au reste volunteering to be witnesses to

the crime. The investigators require guidance from these experts about evidences and the

course of further investigation to build up the case. This is a formidable job that cannot behandled by one investigator and a handful of his assistants. An essential feature for the

successful investigation of an economic crime of large dimension is constitution of a team of

experts drawn from all related agencies to assist the investigator.

Investigation of any economic crime cannot be fair and square unless the investigationcovers all aspects of the crime. Localised investigation leads to unfair and partial justice.

The aspect is popularly forgotten in the investigation of scams and scandals in Indianenvironment. Localised investigation limited to the main front-man of the fraud is a simple

job that can be completed in a short duration to everybody’s satisfaction including the clever



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criminals and the guillible public with only a paid front-man sacrificed in requital to the gainof hundreds or thousands of crores of rupees. Such unfair investigation suffers justice andfinancial discipline and encourage financial institutions to connive in such frauds. The crux

of the investigation of economic crimes in tracing the end-users of the fraud and reaching the

persons responsible for planning and organising them. Rarely these investigations in Indianenvironment reach the depth, nor touch the government agencies and its key officers who

willingly contributed to the fraud for gain by commissions and omissions. It is a grave

Achilles’ heel of the investigation of economic crimes in India.

In an intelligently planned, organised and executed megafraud, the big fish always

remains inconnu. It is only the little or sometimes middle-sized fishes who act as the front for

the main-players are caught. It is so arranged in such frauds that all books and records pointonly to the front-players; public contacts and media exposures are designed to play up theroles of the front-players. The real players remain at the background harmless even while the

fraud comes to open. It is only a few daring players who venture into risky financial

operation with honest intensions, do so in their own names and get caught while their venture

with the public money dooms. An investigator should be familiar with these nuances of thecrime. Another aspect is the possibility of the grists made from the fraud being tucked awayor invested in some far away foreign countries. Swiss banks are only a tip of the ice-berg.

An investigation into economic crimes is incomplete without a probe to this possibility. Acorollary of this aspect is violation of Foreign Exchange Regulations; thus FERA comes to

picture, Offences under Income-tax provisions is another side of the crime. A mega-

economic crime spreads it tentacles over myraid financial enactments to involve independentinvestigations to the same crime by different agencies au reste the investigation by the police.This leads to gratuitous waste of time, manpower and energy by duplication of works apart

from creating problems of inter-agency coordination and inter-agency rivarly. The fear of

impinging on the limits of other agencies prevents free and concerted investigation. Theresult is shallow and peicemeal investigations by several agencies leading nowhere. Solution

to this problem lies in integrated single investigation with the cooperation and activeparticipation of the concerned financial institutions as expert advisors in the investigation

team. Only such a holistic investigation can delve deep into the roots of the crime and unearth

the truth in its entirety as a means of deterring recurrence of mega-frauds. No investigationinto economic offences is complete without the impresario of the fraud, however deep be his

cover, is brought to book and his gains, wherever it be stacked, is unearthed. This is seld donein extant Indian investigation situation.

Investigation of mega-economic crimes cannot be handled by all and sundry investigators.

Apart from investigation skill, they required special attributes to lead that investigation to asuccessful end. For one, they must have basic knowledge and familiarity of the goings on in

the financial world to help them understand the interpretations and the explanations of the

experts in the team about the complexities and intricacies of the financial transactions of thecrime. In the absence of this basic familiarity, the investigators may appear like fishes out of

water in the maze of financial transactions leading to the crime. These datas being oftenencoded and computerised for safety by clever criminals, a splatter of knowledge of

computer and software are helpful to manage control over the process of the investigation.An essential feature for a investigator of economic crimes is leadership qualities, an ability to

delegate and decentralise work, ability to trust right people, inspire confidence, draw




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cooperation and ability to coordinate the works of myraid agencies involved in theinvestigation to guide to the desired end. Commitment to lead the investigation to successfulend and ability to work hard are other characteristics sine qua non for the investigator.

A serious handicap of the investigation of economic offences is its slow process. Thereason is mental fatigue. Examination of loads of documents, records and papers per se is a

tiresome and time-consuming labor. To crown it, the mental processes involved in sifting

right and relevant documents from the heap of papers, interpreting them, placing in rightperspective to the commission of the crime, assessing its value in the overall process of thecommission of the crime etc., are extremely exhausting and tiresome job. It naturally retards

the pace of the investigation and the process taking years for completion is a common

spectacle. On the other side, time is central to the investigation of economic crimes. Moneyrapidly multiplies with time in form of profits of investments or interests on deposits.

Delay of investigation is in the interests of the criminals with this illgotten money. Delay

in investigation process helps criminals to multiply their res gestae several times with the

passage of time, ipso facto rendering them huge gainers in terms of monetary benefits thateasily off-set the pains of trial and conviction in court, if any. Early completion ofinvestigation is vital for the cause of justice. Constitution of a team of investigators including

experts from various financial institutions should be able to overcome the natural handicap ofinordinate delays in the investigation of economic offences.

A need of common sense in investigation of economic crimes is the initiative of theinvestigator to make up the losses of the victims of the fraud to possible extent by luring thecriminals to a deal. Here comes to picture the discreetness of the investigator in striking a

deal with the criminals selon les regles without jeopardising the process of the investigation

in any way. Investigation per se does not bring any relief to the victims of the fraud as itsvalue lies only as an instrument of deterrence. Safeguarding the interests of the hapless

victims is the cardinal need in the circumstances au reste bringing criminals to the book.

Huge money running to hundreds and thousands of crores of rupees is at the centre of the

investigation of scams and criminals are those who are clever, influential and stacked witheasy money. In the circumstances, attempts to lure the invesigator from the rightful path of

investigation are a natural phenomenon. For the investigation to be successful, theinvestigator should have immense inner strength to resist the lures and stick to hisprofessional path. It is said that every person has a price ; and meeting whatever price is no

problem in the efforts to distract investigators of mega-economic crimes from their

commitment. In the circumstances, selection of right people as investigators becomes a keydecision in the success or otherwise of the investigation.

The tendency of soft-pedalling the role of financial institutions in the commission ofeconomic crimes for whatever reason is a serious Achilles heel in the investigation of such

crimes for the simple reason that lapses by these agencies create a framework for the crimes.No large scale frauds against the general public is possible without these agencies responsible

for the financial discipline of the country willingly ignore violations of financial norms andregulations and offer favours against rules and laws of the financial discipline to the

criminals engaged in the frauds. The role of theses institutions in the commission of the



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crimes is as grave as that of the main –players and the impresarios of the fraud. The fact isforgotten in the investigation of economic crimes in India. The result is lopsided and unfairinvestigation which satisfies none let alone acting as a deterrent against recurrence of such

frauds. CRB scam is an example. Unless many agencies responsible for financial discipline

helped the the commission of the fraud by the CRB capital markets by blatantly ignoringviolations of norms and regulations by the latter and unlawful favours, the swindling of the

public to that extent would not have been an easy feat. The SEBI tolerated CRB managing

scores of shady share issues and permitted to start a mutual fund and a share custodial service.The SBI opened its banking services to the company to encash interest warrants and refundorders of the company from the public without adequate security. Credit Rating Agency and

IDBI’s subsidiary CARE gifted the company’s fixed deposit programme, CRB caps a “A+”

rating in spite of the full knowledge of the liquidity problems and deteriorating assest qualityof the company after ICRA and CRISIL failed to oblige the company. The auditors of thecompany ignored irregularities in the company’s operations in the audit report. To top it all,

the RBI turned blind eye to massive irregularities noticed during inspection and issued an in–

principle banking licence as favour and even tolerated the company raising money for its

bank after the licence was withdrawn. In absence of the synergy by various financialinstitutions of the country. CRB Capital Markets just could not befool and defraudthousands of investors to the extent it did, and struck gold. The key figures in these financial

institutions who helped CRB scam are as much responsible for the scam as wasMr.C.R.Bhansail, the head of CRB capital Markets. Their involvement gives an added

dimension of conspiracy to the case. Law which provides for the investigation of the case,

treats all these players of the conspiracy on equal footing. The exclusive attention of theinvestigation agency on the CRB chief and his close associates to the exclusion of otherconspirators cannot be called en regle and bound to shake the confidence of the public in the

investigation.

This is not an isolated case of financial institutions prevaricating from their raison d’ etre.

Another top credit rating agency of the country CRISIL failed to warn investors in advanceabout the poor showing of ITC Classic Finance on the eve of the issue of NCD and fixed

deposit schemes of the company. For CRISIL, this was the second instance within the short

duration of a year after similar failure regarding Mideast Shoes. The role of commercialbanks infamous security scam is too well known to be repeated here. Indian Bank scam is

waiting on the side-wings to blow up to a major scam. Ignoring the part of financialinstitutions and other government agencies in mega-economic crimes is a sure way of ringingthe death-knell of the financial discipline of the country. An investigation true to its

profession must give primus to fix these institutions for their irresponsible roles and

connivance in the scam. The responsibility of the main-player of a scam reduces toinsignificance before the filures, lapses and impacts of the connivance of the players of these

institutions on the financial market and public life of the country. No honest investigation

can afford to leave the key figures of these institutions out of the field of investigation.Distractions like strikes and protests by the colleagues of the offenders in the institutions as in

the case of suspension of the officials of the Bombay Branch of the State Bank of India forcomplicity in CRB scam should not deter a professional investigator from his commitment.

Corrupt colleagues flocking together to go on agitation to protect one of them while caught isbecoming a popular strategy of scaring away the hands of law reaching them. A few years

back, central customs and excise staff of Delhi international airport resorted to agitation to




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protect a few corrupt colleagues from the CBI net, Recently, air traffic control staff went onagitation while some inefficient of them were suspended from service for grave dereliction ofduty. Very recently, arrest of public servants in Bihar fodder scam was deferred by the CBI

for the fear of creating law and order problems. A turly professional investigator should not

be deterred by such extraneous developments in his resolve to unearth the truth. This is oreso in case of the investigation of economic crimes for the simple reason that the money

involved in such crimes in capable of buying anything under the sun and creating any

situation to the advantage of the criminals.

Crimes are committed either out of passion or for gain, if not by accident or negligence.

Economic crimes constitute a major and important block of the crimes for gain. Economic

crimes against the gullible public and the financial system of the country assume dangerousdimensions because of the magnitude of the crimes, their impact on the financial discipline ofthe country, the losses and grief come with it to the gullible public and the sense of the loss of

credibility it brings to the financial market. Professional and in depth investigation to these

scams is sine qua non for the growth and stability of the economy of the country.



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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Professor B.Kuppuswamy in his book “ Social Change in India” apropos of ‘ Paradox of

the Indian Situation Today’ writes, “ On the one hand there is a conscious, deliberate effort tochange the social structure as a result of the assimilation of new social values. Because of

the struggle for political freedom and the desire for economic reconstruction, new social

justice and equality of opportunity. On the other hand, there is the fear that the old socialvalues are being repudiated and destroyed by the values of social justice and equality, which

pose a challenge to the past privileges based on caste, aristocracy, age, sex etc. The farmlabourer, the factory worker, the student, and women are repudiating the authority which

denied them social justice and equity”. This perennial conflict between privileged and non-privileged, of reactionaries and revolutionaries is the mark of a zoetic society. The clash of

interests and values steeped in an instinct for survival is the hall-mark of social change. It is

here the state comes into the picture as the arbiter elegantium, as a beacon to guide both the

pace and path of social change through public education and legislation. The socialawakening which is possible through public education is sine qua non for social change

which can only be formalised through legislation as a statutorily accepted social value to

make its violation a criminal act. A good piece of legislation backed by effectiveenforcement works as catalytic agent in the process of social change.

SOCIAL CONFLICTS

Peter Worsley in ‘ The Third World’ writes “ In those countries which fail to achieve the

take-off and relapse into the hungry frustrations of stagnation or regression, all kinds of

conflict from anarchic protest to regional schism or even communist revolution could

flourish. A revolutionary leadership could easily replace those nationalist parties which havelost their social reforming zeal”. The state can be impervious to the ascensive zeal for social

reform only at its own peril. Social inequality and social injustice as starting points of a

vicious circle wherein they are perpetuated cannot be the situation a welfare state seeks toprotect from the dynamics of positive change which as a natural force of unending

frustration expresses by peaceful means in principo and by violence as dernier ressort if the

state errs by protecting the vested interests of inequality and injustice and fails to dischargeits responsibilities towards positive social change.

SOCIAL AWAKENING IN INDIA

The veteran journalist Shri.D.R.Mankelkar in his book titled “ A Revolution of RisingFrustrations” beautifully analyses the situation of ascensive social awakening in India. “ The

fact is that the worm is at last turning, falsifying the prophets who have averred that theIndian masses are too underfed, too lethargic, and too fatalistic to rebel against their fate andviolently wrest from the rulers their elementary human right-the right not only to survive but

to improve their lot. “ The new awakening roused the esurient expectations of the long-

repressed and infested segments of the gens de peu and fomented their neoteric hopes ofbeing extricated from age- old repression. The government of democratic India responded




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favourable to the aspirations of the infaust segments of its populace, non obstante the not-so-inopinate resistance from the privileged lobbies, by enacting legislations with the potential forfar-reaching changes towards establishing social isonomy and justice. However , the zest in

enacting the legislations is not amated by the political will to enforce them, though some

isolated attempts were made here and there. Experience in the field dictates that somethought should go to the modalities of the social legislation and their enforcement to make

the whole process genuinely effective as a vehicle for faster growth towards social equality

and social justice.

CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL EQUALITY

As French thinker Auguste Compte noted, a nouveau regime can emerge only if manassumes responsibility for his actions and makes his own society. The changes in socialinstitutions do not occur by themselves, but by a positive moral desire and commitment in

that direction. This active aspect of social change manifests in intellectual assertions for

deliberate social legislations and their effective enforcement. The theory of “ Challenge and

response” as expounded by the great British historian Arold Toynbee, points out that asociety can grow if it can constructively respond to challenges. The challenges are oftensocial and internal and every civilisation as a facet of the society can learn from the failings of

quondam civilisations. Active responses to the extant gauntlets of social equality and social justice against the background of nonfeasance should be the foundation on which social

legislation and its enforcement mechanism should be broadly based.

SOCIAL JUSTICE VS LEGAL JUSTICE

Social justice is imprimis an informal social process rather than a formal legal procedure.

It is the moral standard of a society to which its laws and actions conform. The injusticesand legal disabilities against certain sections of the society enshrined in many rules of Indian

society in bygone days are now a matter of the past. It is only now that the need of liberty,equality, security, freedom from want, fear and frustration as parameters of social justice are

realised. Social justice ex consequenti demands preferential treatment for the socially

backward and repressed classes who are at a disadvantage in respect to others.

SOCIAL LAWS AS ‘CLEANSING FORCES’

Johan Galtung defines “ Structural violence” as “ The dominance of one group over the

other with subsequent exploitative practices” in “Peace Thinking”. The pirlicue of this

statement implies that preferential treatment by the state to certain segments of the society tosuperate its dominance by the others becomes at the outset an act of injustice and structural

violence by the state. However as Jerome Skolnick preconsied, violence is a louche muticous

term whose meaning is established through political process, ipso facto acts of institutionalviolence are comme il faut if perpetrated by the state in the larger interests of the society as

they fall beyond the ambit of the concept of violence. Frantz Fanon, an African Psychologistin “ The Wretched of the Earth” calls violence intended to restore self-esteem and do away

tyranny as ‘ Cleansing Force, Jean-Paul Sartre confirms the idea when in Preface to Fanon’he says, “ Violence, like Achilles’ lance, can heal the wounds that it has inflicted”, indeed

while it is institutional violence in society’s interests.



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SOCIAL JUSTICE IN INDIAN CONSTITUTION

The Indian Constitution in its preamble preconises social justice and quality of status

and opportunity to all the article 14 constates fundamental rights while it declares that thestate shall not deny to any person equality before law, or equal protection of the law. The

Article 15 interdicts any kind of discrimination on grounds of caste, creed, sex, birth etc.

However, the Constitution recognised the inadequacy of legal eqality in meeting theexigencies of social justice when it recognised the necessity of special measures to upliftsocially deprived segments and constates in sub-section (4) of Article 15 that the

constitutional provisions do not prevent the states from making any special provision for the

advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or the scheduledcastes and scheduled tribes. This exception in the constitution to legal isonomy is thecornucopia of most social legislations intended to misprise the crude ancien regime and

usher in a dream world of social equality and social justice.

SOCIAL LAWS

Law is an instrument of both the continuity of social behaviour and of social change.

Manu had said, “ Immemorial custom is transcendent law” Social consuetudes metamorphoseinto social laws in rerum natura and perpetuate social customs. Professor B.Kuppuswamy

in his book “ Social Change in India” writes about two functions of the law according to

this view is social control and the major problem of law is to design the legal sanctions tominimise deviances and to maintain social stability. According to the other view, law couldbe more dynamic. It has not only the function of social control but it has also to bring about

social change by influencing behavior, beliefs and values”. The social laws of India are

devised to bear the kiaugh of the dynamic function of bringing about social change byinfluencing behavious, beliefs and value in addition to social control. In Indian society where

social inequalities more suo, form the bedrock of living for historical reasons and embeddedin the Indian psyche as consuetudes and basic social rules more majorum, the awakening and

metabasis to new values of social equality and social justice from the deep slumber of a

millennium are not easy to come by. Though isolated calls for certain changes are heardmostly from the self-made spokesmen of the oppressed classes because of the influences of

liberal western thoughts, the albatross of orchestrating these thoughts to the mosaic of thelaws of the land falls on the government. Social laws function as catalysts of social change inthe Indian situation.

SOCIAL CHANGES THROUGH LAWS IN INDIA

Most of the important social laws were enacted in India in the face of plangent opposition

from reactionaries inveterated in the terra firma of the past practices. The queasy practice ofpolygamy was made hors la loi and divorce was legalised by the Hindu Marriage Act of

1955. The barbarous praxis of untouchability was made punishable by enactment of theUntouchability (Offences) Act in the same year in conformity with Article 17 of the Indian

constitution. The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 is a meith in bringing daughters on pariel with sons in a respect of property inheritance. The Hindu adoption and Maintenance Act of

1956 straightened the position of women in regard to the right to adopt. The Dowry




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Prohibition Act of 1961 tried to deliver nubile colleens from the menace of dowry. TheFactory Act of 1948 raised the minimum age of workers to 14 years and provided for annualmedical examination of minor workers. The Employment Exchange Act of 1959 provided

for state help to unemployed citizens to get jobs. The children Act of 1960 provided for

special care of children. All these incipient legislations of independent India on social matterswere enacted as vindicated by the directive principles of state policy in line with the

fundamental rights enunciated in the Indian Constitution. Article 24 of the Constitution sui

juris interdicted employment of children below 14 years of age in factories.

British India too saw much of the momentous legilsations conducive to change and

social justice. The Sati prohibition Act 1829, the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act of 1856, the

Female Infanticide Prevention Act of 1870 , the Special Marriage Act of 1872 providing forcivil marriages and inter-caste marriages as amended in 1923, the Child Marriage RestraintAct of 1929 the Payment of Wages Act of 1939 providing for regular payment of wages, the

Industrial Dispute Act of 1929 providing for settlement of disputes, the Trade Union Act of

1926 which legalised trade unions the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923 providing for

compensation to workers for accidents, disablements and death on duty, the Act of 1922defining a child and preventing a child below 12 years for employment, the Act of 1931 andits 1946 amendment reducing hours to work a week are major keeks to social change via

social laws.

The trend to usher social change through new legislations or amendments to old ones is

en train even in this neoteric age. The Debt Relief Act of 1976, the Bonded Labour AbolitionAct, the Protection of Civil Right Enforcement Act of 1976 and amendments thereon, the1983 amendments to the Dowry Prohibition Act are important instances of such a nisus.

SOCIAL NORMS AND SOCIAL LAWS

Whenever the enactment of law is consectaneous to a change in social norms, the law asa device of legal sanction against deviations there-from, succeeds in legalising these

neonate social norms. However, the law proves ill-equipped and falls into desuetude while it

seeks to introduce intempestive social norms as a means of social justice for ‘ forcedcompliance’ as Festinger called it in An Analysis of Compliant Behaviour’. The paradigm is

the law regarding dowry and child marriage being not as effective as that pertaining tomonogamy for lack of social force behind it.



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ENFORCEMENT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

Social laws can be social laws only if they are of the society, from the society and for the

society. They have relevance in a society only if they are unrevocably concinnous with

everyday lives of its members- in terms of their ken of the laws and its general acceptance.Social laws that are abstruse and unacceptable to the plebeian are destined to atrophy because

they lack en arriere the inherent mechanism of compelling society to comply with their writ.It is in this sense, that social laws which are lex non scripta are indited with the stamp of

approbation of the state by popular demand, though the process from the antipode can beinchoated if their assimilation by the society is assured through active propagation. The

effectiveness of social laws depends entirely on their assimilation by society and the strength

of propagation and publicity that follows the enactment of the laws. This need of the social

laws being balked is the quiddity of the serious setbacks faced in making certain social lawslike the Dowry Prohibition Act or the Child Marriage Act effective. The enactment of social

laws that are intended to accord primacy to social norms must be preceded by intensive

fieldwork to introduce the newell and make them acceptable to the society and enactmentshould be resorted to only when the idea becomes ripe enough to be assimilated by the

society because the symbiosis of social norms and social laws is inseparable. Haste brings

definite waste in respect of the enactment of social laws.

A kenspeckle feature noted in most social laws is the lack of perspicacity in definition of

the concepts involved. It is an understandable glitch when commonsense concepts like

dowry, labour, discrimination, practice of untouchability, compensation or even marriagemakes the quandary of the commission or noncommission of an offence wafer-thin and

often a matter of opinion based on interpretation of the concepts involved. Though

postliminary amendments to the law based on field experience and interpretations of theconcepts by courts attempt to impale the concepts to a prim form, the inchoate ambiguity

continues to confound the issues in the popular mind, weakening the credibility of the law

itself. The louche spectrum of the impair interpretations of a concept can turn an offence toinnocence and more perniciously, an innocent person into a criminal according to the

predilection of the investigating officer. The subjectivity involved in understanding the lawsociety. It is for this reason, concepts in social laws must be formulated with utmost caution.

Another major hurdle in calling social change through law is the failure by the authors of

the laws to clearly comprehend and indite in them the causes and mechanisms of the immane

social evils they intended to contain through the laws themselves. The abhorred socialpractices that manifest as social evils are only the external symptoms of serious maladyinveterate in the psyche of the society. Attempts to strike at these skin-deep symptoms prove

infructuous in reaching the malady embedded in the vitals of the system. Often, the personscomminated by the shallow social laws are simple innocent plebeians who are caught













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issues, that they are social doctors interested only in excising cancerous growths from thesociety. They have to be sensitive to human sufferings and committed to social justice.Thesecharacteristics thought to be alien to police nature are not easy to come to police unless

recruitment process takes special care to draw men of appropriate mental makeup to the force

and their training process is programmed to reinforce the characteristics. The police alsorequire periodical programmes to sensitise them to the cause of social equality and social

justice.

NEED OF CIRCUMSPECTION

Social injustices of discrimination and exploitation are committed by the pollent on their

weaker counterparts. This makes witnesses to crimes reluctant witnesses for the fear ofreprisals. The natural resourcefulness of the police comes to the fore in handling such

obstacles. In a social situation where the exigencies of survival, coexistence and security

force rival parties to bury the hatchet and the weaker of the two submit again to the tyranny ofthe pollent for the sake of survival, commitment of the police to the goal of social justice

plays a crucial role in bringing offenders to the book and absterging evils from the body of

the society. However discreetness and circumspection are the calves here. In nonseriouscases where possibility of exploitation in future is ruled out, rehabilitation and compensation

become important factors from the human side of the issue and the need of a fair settlement

gains ground. Police are required to attend these problems with discreetness andcircumspection in the best interests of the society and justice. Ability to handle situations

with creative ingine is the core of the skill of handling socially sensitive cases.

LOCUS STANDI OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES

Discriminations and exploitations based on race and caste take myriad forms and shapes

in India of a million races and castes, each individually and in groups discriminating against

the other. The main strain of this discrimination is about 20% of the country’s populationspecified by the President as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Articles 341 and

342 respectively of the Constitution being discriminated against and exploited by forwardcommunities. Discrimination against and exploitation of have-nots by the well-to-do is the

elan of all discriminations of race. Caste and sex practised in extant India. Power andstrength make all the differences in this world. Money, knowledge, mental ability, political

power and muscle power constitute real power and strength. Those who have access to thesepowers and strength. Those who have access to these powers and strengths come outsuccessful irrespective of their race, caste and sex. It is the weak and powerless irrespective

of race, caste and sex are exploited most. Weak and powerless sections of society in race,

caste and sex are discriminated against and exploited most. The police with their statutorypowers, laws, arms and weapons are in position to give spine to the weak and powerless in

discharge of duties towards social justice.




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CONFIDENCE BUILDING

Police support to weaker sections can be physical and psychological. Physical supportcovers aspects like providing protection, strict enforcement of social laws and honest

investigation to violations. Psyhological support implies carrying out above responsibilities

with an added objective of creating a sense of confidence and well-being in the exploited

sections of the society. Making enforcements of social laws a show-piece of deterrence alsohelps. The psychological aspect needs emphasis in policing against social evils. Enforcing

laws for its own sake does not help tackling social issues. Involvement and participation ofthe police with a sympathetic commitment to social justice is the clavis. The immane

approach of the rich and powerful to their weaker counterparts has to be countered with thestrong arm methods of the state power through its tool of police.

CIVIL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT

Civil Rights Directorates au reste the executive police bear the responsibility of

protecting the interests of the exploited races and castes of the society. Police endeavour toguarantee strict enforcement of the provisions of The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1995

and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 as

amended from time to time and rules thereunder, au reste keeping pernoctation on violationsof constitutional safeguards and protections to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.Police have responsibilities to give relief under rules and laws pertaining to bonded labour,

debt relief and land grants. They are duty-bound to trace the cases of misrepresentation of

castes to knock off the benefits given by the government orders pertaining to reservations tothese groups of the society. The responsibilities of the police is to ensure that really weak

and helpless among these weaker sections get maximum benefits of the state protection and

benevolence. The discreetness and circumspection needed to make this task of social justice

possible cannot be indited in law and has to be exercised by the police by its owncommitment to the cause of social justice.

ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN

Rape, unnatural offences, dowry harassments, abduction, kidnapping, outraging modesty,

eves teasing, marriage offences, causing forcible miscarriage and forcing to prostitution arethe most common outrages committed against women by the more powerful men. Thediscrimination and exploitation accounts for about 50% of the population committing

injustices against the other 50% and for this reason assumes serious dimensions as a socialmalady. Unlike offences against weaker races and castes, most offences against women are

punishable under the Indian Penal Code; rape and unnatural offences come under sections

from 375 to 377, abduction and kidnapping under sections from 364 to 369, marriage

offences under sections from 493 to 498, outraging the modesty under section 354, insultingthe modesty under section 509 and forcible miscarriage under section 314. The Suppression



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of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 and its amendment in 1986 with rulesthereunder deal with offences relating to immoral traffic in women and girls. The DowryProhibition Act, 1961 with its amendments of 1984 and 1986 and rules thereunder deal with

dowry harassments and dowry deaths either by homicide or abetment to commit suicide

caused against young girls by their husbands, in-laws and their associates. The CriminalLaw (Amendment) Act,1983 (No.43/83) and The Criminal Law (2nd Amendment) Act,1983

(No.46/83) brought further safeguards to women during the investigation and trial of

offences under immoral traffic and dowry prohibition Acts. Dowry death cases have becomesensational topical issues these days with the public being highly sensitised to the menace ofthe crime which deliver an innocent girl at the death’s door. Each such case outrages the

patience of thinking people and rouses passion and outcry against the perpetrators of the

crime. The police must give special importance to the prevention and investigation processesof these crimes.

Social justice is a glidder concept that changes its hues with time depending on

prevailing social norms and social values. No age has a right to preconise its own norms andvalues as absolute and peremptory. In this sense, every social law is passe and peregrine

beyond its immediate time frame. The deciduous nature of social laws necessiates

circumspect approach in their enforcement for the reason that mens rea in the sense it is

used in conventional offences may be absent in these cases. The change of the face of social justice brings new social laws with it. Police must go pari passu with these developments

and differentiate between justice and injustice selon les regles in force at the time. Effective

enforcement of social laws reinforces reigning social norms and values by giving them theteeth of law. How it is done depends on the commitment of the police to the cause of social

justice and equality.




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STATUS OF WOMEN IN EMERGING INDIA

Indian culture treats women with utmost reverence. Woman is identified with Adi

Shakti or the primordial energy; she is considered as the prikriti or the basic nature; she iscompared with the mother earth. Woman’s avatar as mother is treated as the highest

manifestation of human relationships. It is mother who gets precedence over all other

principles of life including father and god in importance. She is considered as the movingforce of life. It is presumed that there is a woman behind every great event of the world.

Indian scriptures state that where women are revered, god resides there. Great epics of Indialike Ramayana and Mahabharata revolve around female characters like Sita and Draupadi.

This is only an illustration of the status of women in India, the honour and reverence withwhich they are held from time immemorial, the importance given to them in the scheme of

the history and affairs of human life. Nobody can gainsay these factors in the scheme of

Indian life. However , these are conceptual realities. In a country and culture where a

sacrificial animal is treated as sacred and worshipped before slaughtered, conceptual realtiesremain far removed from ground realities and may even symbolise dangers ahead as ground

realities. It is particularly true about the status of women in India.

Nature created women different from men with a definite purpose. Balance is stillness

and stagnation; imbalance is motion and progress. Nature designed life and motion by

means of the imbalance brought about in the traits of men and women. In the process, womenfind themselves at the receiving end. They ended up as the weaker half of society by theirvery nature and are naturally handicapped in a world of men, by men, for men. In a world

where strength commands charity and weakness receives cruelty and humiliations, women

suffered all along the centuries with patience and in silence. This part of woman is

symbolised in tradition by calling her as the Mother Earth who bears all sufferings. Thecardinal principle of the survival of the fittest applies to the weak natural attributes of

woman which renders her less fit for survival than man. She must live with his atrocities

unless and until society in an enlightened mood comes to her rescue.

The immane approach of the stronger world to its weaker counterparts has to be countered

with strong arm methods of the state power. In an enlightened age such as this, people inpublic life are sufficiently sensitized to this issue and more and more legislations come up to

stop stronger people from riding over the weak and meek. India too has several legislationsthat have become Acts to protect its women folk.

Atrocities against women in India are mainly rape and unnatural offences, dowry deaths,abduction and kidnapping for various purposes and outraging their modesty apart from

minor acts like various marriage offences, dowry and other harassments, insulting themodesty, causing miscarriage without consent and prostitution. Most of these offences arepunishable under the Indian Penal Code: in sections from 375 to 377, for rape and unnatural

offences; abduction and kidnapping girls for various purposes being punishable in sections

from 364 to 369, offences related to marriage being subjected to penal provisions in sectionsfrom 493 to 498; outraging the modesty of a woman in section 354 and insulting the modesty



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in section 509 being offences. Section 314 makes causing miscarriage without women’sconsent, a punishable act. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1993 (No.43/83) providedfor in camera trial of rape cases and also enlarged the scope of rape cases by placing the

burden of proving innocence on the accused persons apart from making penal sections more

mordant, particularly in cases of custodial rapes by public servants. The Suppression ofImmoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 with the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in

Women and Girls (Amendment),Act, 1986 and rules framed by states u/s 23 of the Act deal

with offences relating to immoral traffic in women and girls.

Sensitization of the people and the government in the recent past to the ground-realities

has brought sea-changes in the status of women. Rise in female education as noticed in the

first decades of the present century opened up the aboideau of the resistance to sexualdiscrimination. Though the process was very slow in principio , it gradually picked up paceas decades passed by. Nineteen- seventies is a watermark in the process. The advent of Mrs.

Indira Gandhi in 1966 and the grit and strength displayed by her as the Prime Minister of

India and as the only real woman among the parliamentarians of the time, revolutionised the

concept of womanhood in India. It became a fashion even in tiny villages of India tocomfort while a female baby was born, that who knows, the child may also become a PrimeMinister or somebody big like her. Though India have innumerable valiant queens in its

history who led huge armies against formidable armies and fought jusqu au bout , they wereout-of-turn phenomena at their respective times and seldom touched the chords of the

women among the commoners. But, Mrs. Indira Gandhi was a product of the time, of the

process of the awakening of the women, and in turn, as a phenomenon, she greatlycontributed for the advancement of the process.

The Indira Gandhi phenomenon helped to improve the status of women in India in

another way. It crumbled male chauvinism. It humbled male pride. The historical coweringsof great leaders of India of the time before Mrs.Indira Gandhi exposed the halo of the male

superiority as hollow. It made it patent that it is the power one weilds that makes thedifference, not the sex of the person who weilds it. Indeed, these are subtle realisantions that

shook the thoughts of the people though none said it in so many words to them. Rise of

Mrs. Indira Gandhi, sine dubio, will remain as a meith in ameliorating the status of women inthe annals of Indian history.

The trend of women going for jobs and pursuing professions started far before the adventof Indira Gandhi at the centre-stage. Her advent revolutionised the trend. After Indira

Gandhi, women in jobs became more a rule than an exception and they looked for

progressively higher slots and sought fields where never before women stepped into. As aresult, more and more fields and higher and higher slots opened up for them. As time passed

by, the reservations towards recruiting or promoting women thinned and ultimately

disappeared. As a result, sexual discrimination in jobs is a matter of past now. More andmore people realise that is skill and other abilities that count in doing a job well and not the

sex of the performer. As far as jobs are concerned., sexual equality is a reality already.

Economic strength generated by jobs has successfully boosted the self-Image of womenin India. Economic liberation is the touch-stone of all other liberations. The power, status

and influence generated from the jobs add to the solidification of the status of women in




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emerging India. Evils like dowry are bound to be wiped out of the earth of India in theemerging atmosphere. Being an evil, inveterate in Indian soil from millenniums, a historicalprocess like deracinating the assuetude of dowry cannot take place overnight. Such a

historical process takes its own time. And emerging India happily is on the road. It is only

a matter of time before India is free from the prise of this shameful menace.

Dowry death cases have become sensational topical issues these days with the public

being highly sensitised to the menace of the offences with the unfortunate swelchie of cruelpractices and circumstances deliver an innocent girl at death’s door. All institutions ofsociety including the government, press, women’s organisations, judiciary and police handle

dowry death cases on a special footing. Each such case outrages the patience of thinking

people and rouses the passion and outcry against the perpetraters of the offence. The policetoo give special importance to the investigation of these cases and closely supervises theinvestigation process..

Marriage is often called the second birth in a girl’s life; it brings an entire metamorphosis

in the form and contents of her life and in the process exposes her to inopinate adaptationproblems. It is an irony of nature and social customs that it is the woman who is delicate innature rather than the man, who is selected for this difficile gauntlet of transformation in the

process of familial socialising. Percase, the gentle and amenable caractere of the femalebreed expose hers to the natural selection for the purpose. In the process death of the most

unfortunate of them by felo de se or homicide because of the grind of the circumstances has

become an unfortunate phenomenon. Dowry is only one though primus interpares amongvarious immane manifestations of adjustment problems to which the tender psyche of ayoung girl is exposed after her marriage. An integrated approach to all these symptoms of

adjustment problems to which a girl is suddenly exposed while her persona is yet

unprepared to meet the gauntlets alone can bring deliverance to the fairer sex of the humangenre. The entire process of social legislations and their enforcement is only a distant link in

the whole catena of luctation warranted to achieve this end.

The emerging sexual equality has another happy face vis a vis the conceptual reality of

the reverence and importance given to women in India and Indian culture from timesimmemorial. The equality of man and woman on the field certainly tilts the balance of

advantage in favour of woman because of the favour with which she is accustomed to beseen. This tilt of balance is not a forced one on the man, but one volunteered hors de combatbecause of the natural attributes of a woman’s characteristics . This tilt is already in

evidence. Given equal chances, woman is favoured in recruitments and promotions because

of her natural sincerity, honesty and devotion to work. In this sense, women are overtakingmen. The process is on. They are in limine. It is a happy development. It is civilisation. It is

culture. It is good for the future of the humanity. Humanity can survive only if women with

their far superior attributes, lead men en face in addition to being driving forces en arriere.Man sans woman is not only incomplete, but also lightless and lifeless

Not that woman and man are really equal. Nature meant them to be unequal for its own

purposes and process. Basically, they are in-comparable quantums, separate entities bythemselves. If to be compared at all, woman has an edge over man. Often the reality is

distorted by man by his brutish physical strength as against the gentle mental and spiritual



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attributes of woman and he forcibly cornered all opportunities of growth. If women areopened up to their de jure opportunities, women as nature designed it for them, go ahead ofmen and lead them to a far better world then existing now. A cultured and civilized world

must provide this natural opportunity to its women-folk for its own good. This is what is

happening in emerging India.




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POLICE AND THE UNDERWORLD

Behind every great fortune, there is a crime, said Balzac; behind every great crime, there

is underworld indulged in making unlimited profits. Might is right there and only the fittestsurvive. Animal side of man is at its best in this business of organised crimes. Gangs operate

in violation of accepted social norms to make fast buck. They are antisocials and threats to

the peace and security of the law-abiding society.

POWERFUL CONNECTIONS

Pollent organisation is both a strength and weakness of crime syndicates. Organisationprovides these gangs the benefits of a well-oiled management machinery: objectives, targets,

data collection, through planning, right recruitments, motivation, coordination,

communication system, competent direction, infrastructure, efficient execution, leadership

and accountability, and with it, the all important ruthless efficiency. Added to this are theruthlessness and the enormous wealth of the crime world. The combination is deadly and the

result is powerful connections at right places doing right things at right times in their

interests. Silence and secrecy are the keys here. Powerful and the underworld complementeach other for mutual benefits and the arrangements usually cover politicians in power, top

bureaucrats, those high-up in judiciary and enforcement agencies including the police.

Enormous ill-gotten wealth amassed by criminal methods bring powerful connections withinthe reach of crime syndicates to twist the arms of law. Thus develops an axis betweenunderworld and the powerful to the detriment of the country.

HAND IN GLOVE

Underworld is an independent world per se. It is a world of crimes, secrecy, silence, fear,

loyalties, dangers, wealth, outlaws, sui generis professional norms, efficiency and wide-

ranging infrastructures. Here various gangs coexist with deadly rivalry or alliance andpartnership. There is no road in between. Choice in the netherland is between success and

imminent death. Though underworld and open world coexist on the surface of the Earth,

their objectives, values and norms of action render them worlds apart. It is only the policefrom the open world keep avizefull eyes on the underworld. They are the bridge between the

open world and the underworld and form a protective sheath between the two. This positionplaces them in a pivotal role vis a vis crime syndicate survives without the active backing of

the police. The support boosts their confidence and gives strength to their criminal activities.

The police get a farthing share in the res gestae as the quid pro quo many times over theirsalary. Police being hand in glove with the underworld, is a secret known to all.

UNDERWORLD DYNAMICS

Underworld indulges in extortions, protection money rackets, running vice-dens of

gambling, prostitution, cabret, bars, massage parlours etc, indulging in crimes like smuggling,drug peddling, adulteration of petroleum products, land grabbing, arms shipments, hawala






217

iceberg. India has chief ministers having close links with the underworld. Many rose topowerful positions with the money and muscle of the underworld. Quid pro quo naturallyfollows. Underworld has become a highly lucrative business in India.

GLAMOUR

Plush money and wealth make underworld a fastuous world. Members of the underworld

are seen in finest dresses, driving costliest cars, frequenting best five star hotels and living inbeautiful bungalows in best localities of the town. Their ostentatious and comfortable life-style, indulgences in sex and scandals, outrageous adventures etc. tend to fool the hoi polloi

to remanticise the underworld. The underworld itself uses masterly propaganda to boost its

image in the public eyes. Series of popular films extolling the virtues and lives of mafia donsas heroes being churned out from Bollywood is a common knowledge. Indian filmworld inthe taut prise of the easy funds from the underworld help the latter to manipulate the

filmworld to its advantage. In the ensuing publicity blitz, guillible public forget that the

underworld is a pack of hors la loi indulging in antinational and antisocial activities. The

underworld knows the utility of the sympathies of the public. It uses every trick in the bookto win over an own following.The Arun Gawli phenomenon in Bombay as an instantpolitical leader and the ascendancy of his Akhila Bharatiya Sena is an extreme manifestation

of such a process.

EXPANSION

Underworld tries to gain a foot –hold wherever there is enormous and instant easy money.It does everything to grow, spread and ultimately take over that. It be hotel business, land

deals, film production of construction business, underworld steals a share either as

protection money or returns of direct investment. When construction business dried of plushmoney, underworld turned to the film world in a big way with its easy funds at disposal for

investments in the field. Recent series of murders in the filmworld in Bombay and Bangaloreare results of the involvement of mafia in film business.

DANGEROUS GROWTH

The most dangerous trend of recent underworld phenomenon in India is the rise of asupreme don and his unlimited powers posing threat to the peace and security of the country.More so, while he is holed up in an inimical foreign country and guiding operations in India

by remote control. Various factions of Dawood Ibrahim are creating havoc in Bombay. They

are now looking outside to grow. Bangalore saw myriad gangwars and murders in recent pastas a consequence . Police knew everything and noticed every move. Underworld takes care

to keep key figures in police on the right side before forcing into a new region. Bangalore

underworld resisted Bombay underworld invading Bangalore. The result was gangwars andmurders. Police was vertically split ab intra between the two gangs. Plans of attacks on

rivals were plotted in posh hotels and bars and murders were committed in daylight. In spiteof the knowledge of the plots and plans, police come to picture after the commission of the

crimes. In a recent instance, a key mafioso arrested was taken to a district headquarters forfurther investigation. The gangster disappeared from the toilet of a restaurant while police

officers having his custody were sipping tea in the restaurant. Such a fredaine is not possible



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without the active backing and cooperation of the police. In another instant in the same city,a police team sent from the state capital to apprehend a budding mafia don, entered the placewhere the gangster was hiding. The gangster was waitiing for his friend in a car outside

while the team arrived. A senior member of the police team came directly to the car and

informed the ganster to leave the place immediately as they had come to arrest him. Theganster immediately drove away from the place. The police team formally conducted search

of the place and reported back that the gangster was not traced there. This is species of what

happens in most actions against mafioso and the underworld. In most gangwars and murders,friendly police officers from the spot of crime are taken into confidence and informed inadvance about the impending plans by the underworld to keep ground ready in their favour.

This is the scenario of the axis between the police and the underworld.

Underworld can be brought on knees only by breaking the axis between them and thepolice. While gangsers are the visible body of the underworld, police is its spine.

Underworld cannot stand up without the backing of the police. The axis between the two is

based on the money and muscle power of the underworld generated by massive illegalities.

Underworld is flanked by the laws operating against it on one side and enormous money andmuscle power working in its favour on the other. Though police has the responsibility to sidewith the law, it finds the money on the other side more attractive and desirable. Ergo, the

vicious axis between the police and the underworld. This is the crux of the problem ofpolicing the underworld. The problem needs committed police doing professional policing

that is nonexistent in extant India. The country is caught in a 22-catch situation. Any attempt

to handle the problem of the underworld must begin with the police. Until it is done,underworld is bound to grow from strength to strength to eat up the vitals of the country andrender it hollow democratically.




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KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM

Kidnapping per se is a crime. Kidnapping itself as an end, as in a child being kidnappedby either of the estranged parents of the child from the custody of the other or a minor

beloved being kidnapped by a lover, is a crime known to man from the inception of socialliving. Kidnapping as a means of other crimes as in forcing governments to release

prominent terrorist leaders in custody in exchange or for procuring other illegal benefits is amore heinous form of the crime and often led to cold-blooded murder of innocent people.

The world-wide rise in the incidence of kidnapping cases as a political tool in the

international crime scenario in 1970s is an important meith in the evolution of kidnapping asa crime leverage. The next decade saw use of this tool by mafioso and criminal gangs as aconvenient means of extortion in India in states like Bihar, UP, Delhi and Assam. The

criminal virus is now percolating to healthier parts of Indian. The means which was once

confined to criminal gangs of Bihar, UP and Delhi and to terrorist outfits of North-East,Kashmir and Punjab regions as means of meeting their respective criminal goals is now

becoming an ambitious adventure of resourceful street-hoodlums of big cities of India ofmaking quick easy money in oodles. The trend needs to be arrested quick and fast a toute

hasard .

SELECTION OF RIGHT TARGET

Most cases of Kidnapping for ransom are never made public nor reported to police,

Demands of the kidnappers are met posthaste and release of victims is obtained. Reasons are

many. Kidnappers who are after big money and professionally operate, conduct more than

adequate research about their target to ensure that the target is not only capable of meetingtheir demands, but also efficacious of coughing up them in private to secure the safe release.

Secondly, the strike is mostly against people stacked with unaccounted money, whotherefore dare not public scrutiny of their ill-gotten riches and prefer private settlement. Thelow credibility of the police in respect of its competence and commitment in handling such

sensitive cases adds to the misease of the maledict victim. Added to this is the fear of being

forcibly led by the unenlightened police to commit insensitive acts that may endanger of

safety and security of the kidnapped persons.

UNEQUAL POLICE

In cases reported to police, the chance of kidnapped persons safely returning home is

tout court a matter of rare accident in the ambience of present health of police competence inhandling the cases. Public of present health of police competence in handling the cases.

Public perception in this matter is accurate. The criminals are generally a highly qualified

and efficient group of committed people operating on their own plans and convenience.Lots of thought, analyses and money go to the plans, strategy and technique before acted



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upon. Hi-tech facilities are employed to the best use. The success of police against thesetremendous odds in the absence of an elaborate strategy is a matter of pure chance. Even in achance detection, endless investigation and trial generally end with equital in extant judicial

system. Even in the rarest of the rare convictions, punishment awarded at a distant future

nowhere amate to the promised fortunes of a successful kidnapping case for ransom. Thebalance of advantage algate is patently is favour of taking risk.

ROMANTIC IMAGE

In the age of high-money operation run through bank securities and other bankingchannels, huge cash in hand is a rarity. This added to the age-old stigma, makes

conventional property offences like theft, HBT, robbery and dacoity lean and nonglamorouscrimes. On the other hand, crimes like bank robbery, kidnapping for ransom and mega-fraud

foot the bill as glamorous crimes in the extant high-money world and yield enormous grists

unheard of in other crimes and make the criminals instant heroes. The elaborate plans,strategies and efficiency involved in the crime give an intellectual slant and bring the

elements of adventure and thrill to the whole affair. The romantic combination prompts

adventurous and ambitious unemployed youths in drones to take to the crime.

CRIMINAL OUTFITS

Many criminals take to kidnapping for ransom as a means to sustain their criminal outfitsengaged in other major criminal activities. They kidnap rich persons from the surroundings

to meet their monetary besoin. Notorious forest brigand, Veerappan, operating in forests

bordering Karnataka and Tamilnadu used to extort money from the owners of granite minesin the areas of his operation. Any resistance was met with kidnappings for ransom. This

forced Karnataka Government to ban all mining operation in the area. ULFA activities

played the same trick in Assam with tea estates. The arrest of top officials of Tata Tea Ltd.

In 1977 on the charges of sedition inter alia for providing huge funds and other services tobanned ULFA terrorist outfit threw light on the going on in Assam for years under the pall of

the threat of kidnappings.

LURE OF QUICK MONEY

Other criminals take to kidnapping for ransom by the lure of the res gestae of the crimeand the easy money involved. These criminals with importable lure for easy money spreadlike wildfire in Indian crime scenario and pose threat to the fabric of safety and security of

the country. Ambitious and der-doing unemployed youths constitute the core of this groupof criminals. Unlimited riches around, unfulfilled besion, own frustrations, the thrill of

violence and the promise of belle vue offered by criminal life as seen in television, cinema




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and cheap literature together spur faex populi to make it big at a single sway by takingkidnapping for ransom.

SCOPE FOR INGENUITY

The crime provides ample scope for the bluette of ingenuity. It allows for immensefreedom of action and strategies depending on the mental calibre and material resources of

the criminals. Right strategies, efficient brasstacks and pernicketiness can make the crime a

foolproof operation. This is an inviting challenge to any resourceful and skeely criminal.Use of hi-tech communication, transport and weaponry system makes the crime a highly

sophisticated operation. An elaborate and hi-tech kidnapping operation for ransom involves

huge money. In the circumstances of de trop riches and plush targets capable of huge yieldsas res gastae of a kidnap effort around, intelligent and enterprising criminals take it as a good

investment. Liberal spending in the stage of reconnoitre is the hallmark of criminalsresorting to this crime. They hire safe-houses at posh areas at exorbitant rents, wear rich

dresses and move in luxurious cars while preparing for their strike. The criminals in Nirmal

Jaipuria kidnap case of Bangalore of 1977 who made a ransom demand of Rs.5 crore, hired ahouse in Bangalore as the centre for their operations at a rent of Rs.1.5 lakh a month for

three months prior to their strike. An investment of a few lakhs of rupees is more than worth

in an operation that promises to yield Rs.5 crore in a single sweep.

SPREADING THE CRIMINAL VIRUS

The crime as isolated adventures for quick money in unorganised sector poses the greatest

thread to the peace and health of the country. The youths in the crime seek their targets faraway from their home state to avoid detection and other embarrassments. This is how youths

of Delhi, Punjab and UP are found operating in a southern city like Bangalore. The processhelps the spread of the criminal virus of a crime-infested region to healthier regions of the

country. Medical and engineering colleges that offer seats to the sons of crime tainted andblack-money-plush parents on the strength of donations help the spread of crime tendencies

to other parts of the country. This is how the crime culture of UP and Bihar is spreading torelatively crime-free areas.

Cases of kidnapping for ransom pose a tough gauntlet to the skill and ingenuity of apolice professional. His competence is openly on test while criminals negotiate ransom with

the victims. This is the stage in which the scelerate ingenuity of the subdolous criminals is

in excelsis while providing the real opening to the police to catch the criminals red-handed.

The incertitude of the situation bring the true skill of the police to the acid-test. It is a live

challenge to the police- a climacteric. His single faux pas in the glidder path of hismanoeuvres may make life and death difference to many. The knowledge makes himnervous. The albatross gives him delitescent strength and drive to move him forward with a



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resolution to succeed. This is the real moment of policing. The thrill of real policing lies insuch live moments and real joy in bringing relief to the people in real distress.




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INDIAN POLICE: WHAT COURSE TO PURSUE

IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

With the accrescent demands for limited resources of the Earth and concomitantconcours for survival in the world of the survival of the fittest, the advent of the new century

is bound to herald ascensive economic bewilderments in the crucible of hotting up social

complexities. Reintepretation of life in the complex environment of technical advancements,systemic and structural changes in society and spurts in criminal activities is likely to provide

the paramenters of the coming age and determine the quality of life in the coming century.The police, as the custodians and enforcers of the safety of life and property, have to move

pari passu with the time for perficient handling of the emerging situation. They cannotafford to adapt to challenges as and when they are posed as in vogue in government service.

Assessment of situations ahead, defining the future challenges and deriving means to

checkmate them in advance form the basic tenets of good policing and are sine qua non with

the survival of the country and its peaceful life.

The piece de resistance of future policing has to be perficient performance with minimalvisible presence. This means a far more professional organisation than now. This means far

more skilled policing than now. This means better management of the police organisation,

better equipped force, men of higher calibre and devotion to work and more contented peoplemanning the police hierarchy.

20th Century saw the expansion of the utility of the police to every conceivable field of

human activity in social and national life. Security duties are increasingly encompassingceremonial objectives. Traffic and law and order police are more and more replayed to add

grandeur and humour to private functions of the well-to-do and powerful. The presence ofthe police is becoming more a matter of prestige and social standing in society than an

emergent need of protection. The police are now called to mediate and solve familial

problems, labour disputes and case and communal differences. People call them now tointervene in their differences with others, expect them to handle rescue operations during

natural accidental and man-made calamities. Their services are warranted to bring orderwherever and whenever things go wrong at public as well as private events with unendingnumber of acts, rules and their amendments passed every year by the legislatures. This wide

use of the police in the vast spectrum of the statecraft rendered it jack of all and master of

none. The transformation blunted the effectiveness of the police in handling its cardinalduties of providing security, maintenance of order and investigation of crimes.

Policing is presently seen as an unintellectual exercise with a flare for brawn,

ruthlessness and derring-do. Reality is not very different from this image. The situation

certainly does not do in the future complex societal network as the breeding ground forcomplicated criminal activities warranting skilled and intelligent policing. The Police of the

21st century have to be manned by highly intelligent and brainy species of men should it be

feracious in meeting challenges and showing results. The change, apart from improvingthe quality of policing, will bring respect to the job in addition to the present awe and fear, the



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police inspire. An overhaul of selection and training policies to infuse and buildup mentaland intellectual strains in the manpower of the police should be the bedrock of the efforts tosnod the organisation to meet the challenges of the future.

The paramount need of the future police is a professional image tout au contraire topresent image as a handmaid of rich and powerful. What is required is a perspicacious

definition of police duties and responsibilities and relegating the force to perform the duties

under the avizefull eyes of the constitution without the distractions of interferences ab extra.The police should have free hand to tackle and solve issues cropping up during the process ofpolicing with concomitant responsibility for any failures squarely lying on its shoulders.

Hi-tech policing is another imperative of the 21st century. Police cannot afford to loseground to criminals in the field of hi-tech. Efficiency of policing is pro rata to competence toperform in a given situation in meeting challenges offered. The competence necessarily

implies moving pari passu with the fast changing hi-tech environment in the fields of

transport, communication, weaponry and detection system. Police can ignore this need only

at its own peril.

The growth of police in the 20th century is marked by its insulation from the intellectual

explosions of the age. Police is seldom touched by the zeist geist . Policing methods andideas remained stagnant throughout the century sans effective voice raised to infuse new spirit

to the body of the police. The century saw no concrete and concerted efforts to bring crime

investigation on modern lines. The problem of human rights violations remained a majorblot on the policing process throughout the century. Use of third degree methods ininterrogations sullied the image of the police in a century which brought revolutionary

changes in the concepts of human dignity, equality, justice for all and basic rights. The

image of the police in the 20thcentury is that of a licensed criminal syndicate run by thegovernment to checkmate unlicensed criminal activities.

Indian legislatures churn out new legislations and bring out amendments threeon in such

numbers and festination that neither those legislatures nor the police who enforce them can

afford to keep a track of the enactments and their provisions. This Achilles’ heel in the lawenforcement machinery will perforce disappear in years ahead. A solution is creation of the

Community Police as enforcers of the social legislations as distinct from the body police.The community Police require skills different from those in general policing owing to thespecial nature of the social legislations and special sensitivities of its enforcement. The

huge share of the social legislations among new enactments and the gargantuan task of

enforcing them is another justification for creating a separate community police wing out ofthe present police. The measure will relieve the body police from lots of work-pressures and

provide it spare time and energy to concentrate on vital issues of the general policing.

Another task ahead to attend tout de suite is sewing the investigating responsibilities

and the prosecution duties to a single whole. Inter-departmental co-operation thoughspecious in theory on paper, it is exceptions in field in the Indian environment of

interdepartmental jealousy and rivalry. The police with the need of prompt responses andquick decisions vis a vis the complex nature of emerging crimes cannot do for long with the




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extant system of the police and the prosecution pulling apart from opposite directions in therace for one-upmanship.

The key to the success of the police is its response time, the speed with which it

responds to the challenges of the crime. Where time is a precious commodity and adifference of a couple of seconds make the difference of success and failure of a police

operation, persistent efforts to shorten response time will get the highest priority. The thrust

of the police administration of the next millennium will be directed to bettering the responsetime as speed will be the mainstay of crimes and criminals of the coming age. Shortresponse time implies improved communication and transport network and highly motivated

human resources ever-ready to handle challenges. Outmoded communication and transport

facilities in disrepair conditions most of the time have no relevance there and casualmanpower is rather passe in that ambience. The millennium will see the police force in thefinest fettle in terms of orgtanisation, manpower and equipments and becoming a highly

organised efficient limb of the state apparatus.

The 21st century police will be required to shed to idee fixe for the show of strength in

lieu of efficient policing. The stress in future will be on lean and fit policing. The structuraldeformity and oveweight caused by redundant posts, undefined jobs, lack of accountability,

epinosic equation of rights and responsibilities, top-heavy structure, erratic span of control,demotivating factors, nonprofessional ambience and uninspiring leadership will become a

matter of the past with the police going perforce competitive en face gargantuan challenges

from criminals posing threat to the raison d’etre of the police and its relevance to the extantsociety.

Going hi-tech to match the gauntlets of the crime world is another possibility open for the

police of the 21st century. The age will see the needs of investigation process expanding the

horizons of science and technology rather than the other way round. Gene tests will become a

strategic and commonly employed tool of investigation against crimes relating to bodilyharm, paternity and even bodily associations. Laser guns will come handy in handling

violent law and order issues. Night-vision instruments will become an essential part of the

investigation and security operations kits to be handled by every policeman. The age maysee police using eaves-dropping instruments to overhear unsuspecting people from distance.

“X-ray eyes’ aid viewing across walls or closed doors. Computers will become an integralpart of the routine as well as special police works and police stations. Police may seesoftware devised to guide investigating officers in investigating every kind of crime at every

level. Helicopters and mini-aeroplanes will become common mode of transportation for

carrying investigating teams, deployment of security staff and airlifting armed forces todisturbed places as time becomes precious and criminals become ingenious in dodging the

police.

An important possibility of the next millennium is the police becoming an elite force with

even its bottom levels being manned by highly qualified, skilled and enlightenedprofessionals as a result of the pampering ahead for the police in the administrative

hierarchy. Constabulary will be spruced to striking forces and manual works without policingpowers. With it, may go the pernicious misuse of the constabulary as household assistants.

Single-point recruitment will come to vogue with linear promotions from the lowest to the



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highest ranks on the basis of merit and actual performances in the field as assessed by apanel of distinguished public figures, constituted for the purpose.

A cost-efficient manpower policy in future police administration will bring motivation

and commitment centre-stage. The extant diffident response of maximum mobilisation orraising of new units under every new challenge will give way to perficient strategies and

tactics. The present tendency of doing minimum required in a given situation unless

otherwise compelled by the situation amounts to criminal wastage of manpower. The 21st

century will require every single policeman straining his best with a sense of motivation andcommitment in the interests of superior policing.

Motivation and commitment are derivatives of self-actualisation in the need hierarchypostualted by Maslow. Pride of performance can be a reality only while lower physical,security and social needs cease to be issues. Indian police planners have no alternatives to

grooming the police manpower of the next century to this level of sans souci. This means

good living conditions, job security and sound social status. The police must find a

respectable place in the hierarchy of state administration and shed away the extant obnoxiousimage of odd-job-man of the government as well as political leaders to inspire awe andrespect in the hoi polloi. The transformation is sine qua non with the new age.

Creating a self-contained police machinery in place of the present mere nuts and bolts of

the administration is cardinal need ahead. The nasty political and bureaucratic interferences

in professional policing have done no good to the country and its police in the last fivedecades. Insulating the police from the vice prise of ectogenetic pressures and influencesneeds to be a reality in the coming decades should the police have relevance in the

governance of the country. This is possible only by the metamorphosis of the police to an

independent body with goals and objectives perspicuously defined and laid down. The newpolice have to be responsible only to the constitution through a suitable machinery of checks

and counterchecks exercised by constitutional bodies manned by people of proven track-record in matters of integrity, competence and other mental attributes and chosen from

academic, bureaucratic and political fields as well as public life. The change may bring a

semblance of justice and fairplay to administration and ipso facto infuse a value system toIndian public life and bring the fear of god to force strict adherence to probity and the rule of

law in public life. India has no alternative to this metamorphosis should the country survivethe moral crisis and degringolade of national spirit, it witnessed since independence.




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POLICE IN THE

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

Justice begotten at a cost is justice lost. The fact is lost sight of by the presentadministration of justice. Justice is a natural right. It is the sine qua non and raison d’etre of

social grouping. Justice in a social environment have to be as natural as sleep or oxygen to a

living being. Free and fair justice is the leges legum of human rights. The proficiency of justice administration has to be assayed with this litmus test and the role of the police in the

system has to be judged by its contributions to this goal of the justice administration system.

Justice in its basic sense necessitates an integral vision. Justice abstracted from itsenvironment, past, present, future, diverse issues, dramatis personae and related events

cannot be justice in the true sense of the word. Justice in parts is no justice that lasts. Justice

involves delving deep down to the heart of an issue and delivering justice in reference to all

related issues and matters to the rightful entitlement of all. This presupposes a passion forobjectivity and justness and above all, selflessness in the arbitrators of justice as well as in

those who are in the service of the administration of justice. The role of the police in the

administration of justice comes to scrutiny in the context of their non a such part in theinvestigation of crimes and maintenance of law and order.

Police play umpteen roles as grassroot executors. They are basically performers, actualdoers in the field. Passion in the normal trait of action. Objectivity and justness seldom givecompany to those who act to show results. Expecting selfless traits in a profession like police

is waiting for rain drops from white clouds. They do perform duties with normal flair and

loyalty while put in service of justice. The tragedy is that the loyalty of the police prefers the

interests of the rich and powerful to the abstract idea of justice they are put in service of.

Loyalty to justice is a noble cause. It signifies a heightened mind bound to a heightened

cause. Loyalty to a value or a just cause is always a great virtue. The same cannot be saidabout loyalty to individuals of whatever importance. Loyalty by definition signifies loss of

freewill and independence of thought. Loyalty is a binding, strong in that, an emotional

binding by volition, but a binding nevertheless; there is no independence in it. It is amortgage of the self. Loyalty denotes polarisation of the self; devotion to one, and

thoughtless opposition to whoever stands up to the object of the devotion. This notionrenders loyalty devoid of any sense of justice, which bounces from the springboard of

freedom of thought and independent judgement. Ergo, individual loyalty in the service of

the administration of justice is self-defeating to the cause of justice. The Achilles’ heel liesin loyalty basically being a faith, a blind faith. Sans stirrings in the conscience. It is an

inferior submission to a superior existence, ipso facto subverting per se the very foundationof the cardinal principle of equality among individuals. The only loyalty to conscience,freedom of thought and independent judgement. A police man with this loyalty can do

exemplary job in service of the administration of justice.



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Police as the cutting–edge of the governance, enjoy enormous powers. Bringing law-breakers and criminals to book is just a part of the gargantuan responsibilities on theirshoulders. As the task-masters of the statecraft, they are invested with diverse rights and

privileges. They have a peek to all private as well as public activities of the citizenry. They

can constrain people to perform specific tasks and forbid from doing others in the nationaland public interests. They prevent, check, prohibit, restrain, regulate, confine or arrest erring

people depending on time to time needs dictated by the circumstances. They can forcibly

break open, enter, search and seize when need arises. They use weapons to hurt and kill. Thewide spectrum of powers impinging on the basic rights of the plebeian places the police on apedestal different from that of the common man as far as the administration of justice is

concerned. These extraordinary powers are tools of the police in serving the interests of

justice. The police, as the means of justice, are often exempted from the process of justice bythe law itself. Human nature being what it is, the need of keeping the police in tight leashregarding exercise of their sensitive powers has become conditio sine qua non for the

administration of justice.

The relevance of the police in administration of justice is two fold; one, fair exercise oftheir responsibilities in the interests of justice; two, fair exercise of their powers to ensure thatno harm is done to the process of justice. As dispensers of justice during investigation of

crimes and maintenance of law, police perform highly sensitive tasks capable of underminingthe very process of the justice administration, Police enjoy unrestricted freedom unbecoming

to the sensitivity of their job. Practically, there are no means to force them to comply with

the needs of objectivity and fairplay in work save their own interpretations of laws andactions. Postliminary intereferences of courts are too little, too late to be meaningful. Bythe time an issue knocks at the doors of courts, damage to the process of justice could have

been irrevocably done. Whatever courts to thereafter help only partial recovery from the

damage. Innocent people would already have been arrested, chargesheeted and harassed;decent people would have been dishonestly denied rightful dues in the name of maintenance

of law; criminals would have been willingly let off the noose; or hors la loi would have beenlet free to do things in violation of the extant laws as quid pro quo. What police do in the

name of dispensing justice are material to the hoi polli, not what courts deliver, if deliver at

all, at some distant future. The fact brings the police centre-stage in the administration of justice. Police unequipped for the crucial role is the crux of the issue. Lack of sound

mechanism of supervision and poor position of policeman in society, mediocre education,deviant job culture etc inhibit police from performing at levels adequate for the importance oftheir responsibilities. It denies them organisational pride. Field orientations distract them

from high human values. Weak economic position and easy opportunities for dishonest

riches render them prone to corrupt practices. There is nothing tangible in their service toinspire commitment to noble causes. Their job culture does not inspire them to delve deep

into diverse nuances of their job. Their service lacks in facilities to enhance professional

competence. Consequence is shallow policing, mechanical works en face policing crying fordeep, intellectual analyses of its relevance for establishment of a just society and national

well-being. Shallow policing is responsible for all the mishaps and turbulence of the firsthalf century of independent India. The period saw police distracted to go berserk seeking

parochial and selfish ends. A force committed to parochial and selfish interests can hardly doany justice to the administration of justice.








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found a series of criminal cases stacked against her and her associates, once she fell out ofpower and popular support.

Recent past saw executive heads of government opting for their own men in the police

force to head the premier investigation agency of the country and political rivals beinginvestigated and chargesheeted at politically opportune times on flimsiest grounds while

cases of national significance on sound footing were dragged on for decades wantonly.

Often, ambiguous entries in diaries to prove bribery and old photographs together in publicfunctions to prove collaboration became conclusive evidence to proceed against inconvenientpolitical leaders. It was a scene of every successor hurling criminal cases against his

predecessor. Police reduced to a tool of political revenge in this powergame. In the process,

the police lost its credibility as a nonpartisan player and an invincible tool of establishing justice. It is a pity that the lee-way police enjoy in policing contributed to its loss of face andspine by its patent sequacious comportment and lack of passion to the case of justice.

Opportunities of dispensing favours during maintenance of law are common and aplenty

in policing. It be raids on vice dens, issue of licences, or action on rowdy gangs, decisions ofpolice about whom, when and how, play important role in political gameplan. The decisionsand concomitant actions more often than not, are taken on political convenience rather than

as measures of curbing lawlessness. Police act as conduits of partisan measures in favour ofthe powerful rather than as tools of administering justice to all. Power assumed higher

importance to police than justice. Vice dens, criminals and rowdy gangs, bien chausse with

political patronage or money power, are not only allowed to run trouble-free, but oftenprotected to the hilt by the police. This is how the police in the job of serving justice arestabbing it en arriere.

Police patronage to hors la loi is ephhemeral and changes colours with the change ofguard in the government. Personal ambitions of some in the organisation lead to partonages

ectogenous to political manoeuvres in form of crosspolitical allegiances and subservience torich and influential segments of the society. In the maelstrom, justice suffers, and the

nation, its constitution and the general public to whom the police as the guardians of justice

are responsible, suffer.

Police is not the odd-job boy of the government. It is not the hand-maid of politicians inor out of power. Police is an organisatioon of professionals committed to the safety, securityand well-being of the country. Justice and rule of law are the litmus tests available to

achieve these ends. Once police miss the bus of justice and the rule of law, their goals of

safety, security and well-being remain a distant dream. They lose the credibility and respectof the public, so essential for effective and perficient policing. The fear the police inspire

can not take it far in absence of credibility, respect and sympathy of the public. Once the

police lose their usefulness in political and power gameplans consequent to losing publiccredibility, their political patrons will discard them like used condoms. The best bet for the

police is to be professional and committed to their responsibilities towards the administrationof justice. Police would forget this need only at their own peril. Doing anything violative of

its raison d’etre like sabotaging the course of justice will prove to be fatal to the relevance ofthe police for the society.



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The relevance of the police lies in its usefulness to the administration of justice au reste safety and security. Police are the arms of the administration of justice. They are the driveand thrust of the administration of justice. Paralysed arms crumble the body of the

administration of justice. Arms struck by struck by gangrene, poison the whole system of the

administration of justice. As a vital organ of the administration of justice,police haveinherent potentiality to sabotage the interests of justice ab intra in umpteen kinds including

blatant mendacity. Inordinate delays in the process of investigations is one. Bartering

justice is another. Subjecting justice to the terms of quid pro quo is one more. Inefficient andshallow policing add to the list. Delivering partial justice adds to the problem. Refusing toact against injustice is another kind of injustice to justice. Making justice a costly affair gives

another dimension to the issue. Effectiveness of police lies in its ability in making justice an

easily and cheaply dispensable commodity. Police are the first line of the means of dispensing justice. Courts come to the scene only in far later stage for restricted number of cases. Forthe hoi polloi, police is the first and the only easy defence against injustices. Most cases of

disputes never cross the thresholds of the police stations. Police do act as arbitrators of

justice in criminal as well as civil cases in exercise of the wide spectrum of responsibilities of

crime investigations, investigations, maintenance of law, enforcement of order, preventivemeasures and security duties. They enjoy a key position in the administration of justice. Agood police certainly symbolise effective administration of justice more than courts and

prosecution department together do. That is why a sound police system is conditio sine qua

non for the health and progress of the country and its tenuous social fabric.




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WHERE PROACTIVE JUDICIARY LEADS INDIA?

Be you ever so high, the law is above you’ said J.S.Verma Former Chief Justice of India.

The law of the country represents the aspirations of the people in running the country in ademocracy. That is the adhesive that binds the people, the country and its administration

together. That is the thread that holds them together into a system and defines the latter’s

ends and its means. In this sense, law is above the people, above the country and above itsadministration. Taken away the law, people do not remain people, country does not remain a

country and administration does not remain administration. Sans law, there just will be a jungle raj.

LEGISLATURE, EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIARY

Law protects people, country and the administration as much as people, country and the

administration protect the law. The ultimate responsibility of protecting the law lies on theadministration. Legislature, Executive and judiciary as Brihma, Vishnu and Maheshwara,

the all powerful trinity of the Hindu mythology, share the peise of protecting the interests of

the rule of law. Legilslature creates law, Executive enforces it and judiciary adjudicates it.Difficulties surface while Brihma, Vishnu and Maheshware begin to encroach into other’s

domain for supremacy by claiming themselves as the true arbitrators of the interests of the

people, and each seeks to usurp the responsibilities of the other eo nomine. India iswitnessing the farce in its democratic system on the eve of golden jubilee celebrations of itspartition and independence.

A PAWN IN THE POWER-GAME

Sine Dubio, Legislature let down the country by over-indulgence in petty politicking and

Executive plunged itself in ineffciency and corruption to be any more relevant to the interests

of the country. Similarly, goings- on behind the veil of the threat of contempt proceedings inJudiciary is in no way really sobering. Any one of them taking advantage of the general

breakdown by raising accusing fingers on the other and assuming on itself, the role of the

champion of public interest may not ported well to the democratic traditions of the country.Such an eventuality does stir the hopes, expectations and imagination of the frustrated and

defeated hoi polloi. But, as time wears off, they come to realise the power-game forsupremacy among the contenders. The plebeian more and more understands that he played as

a pawn in the power-game. This deepens his frustration and intensifies his sense of hurt,

defeat and let down. This is what is happening to Indians after half a century of self-rule inthe rumblings of the pro-active judiciary.

LIMITATIONS OF THE JUDICIARY

Legislature, Executive and Judiciary have their own roles to play as demarcated by the

Constitution. Article 142 (1) of the Constitution of India while dealing with the enforcementof Supreme Court orders perspicaciously lays down as, ”The Supreme Court in the exercise



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of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as in necessary for doingcomplete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or orderso made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be

prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so

made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe. “ The Article provides a clueto the spirit of the Constitution in matters of the responsibilities and limitations of the

Judiciary vis a vis overall governance. The key phrases that prescribe the role of Judiciary

here are “in the exercise of its jurisdiction”, ‘ for doing complete justice, ‘ in any cause ormatter pending before it’ and enforceable….. as may be prescribed by or under any law madeby Parliament . The phrases make perspicuous two limitations on the Judiciary, namely that

it shall act only on matters pending before it in exercise of its jurisdiction for doing complete

justice, and that the operation of its decree or order is subject to the law made by Parliamentor Presidential order. The limitation of jurisdiction and the need of matters being pendingbefore it, together constitutes a serious limitation on the Judiciary to do anything ‘ for doing

complete justice. The role of the extant pro-active Judiciary has to be discussed under the

light of these limitations.

USURPING EXECUTIVE POWERS

Judiciary indubitably is responsible for doing complete justice. Facts and evidences arethe basic tenets of modern judicial system and judiciary cannot overstep these needs in its

entrainement of doing complete justice. Executive exercises the power of transferring

investigating officers and other police personnel selon les regles. Jus naturale dictates thatanybody encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the other for whatever reasons amounts tousurping the powers of the other by postern means. Judiciary as the ultimate machinery of

providing justice, resorting to superrogatory means to meet a cause amounts to irrevocable

breakdown of the Constitution and the rule of law and Executive en attendant finds itselfnowhere to go for redressal against the injustice. Being the ultimate dispenser of justice,

weighs down the Judiciary with the need of being moderate circumspect and scrupulous in itsmeans. Supercilious radicalism by the Judiciary prompted by procacity is like wild run of a

bull in a chinashop.

People cannot approach anybody for redressal when they are wronged by the Judiciary

and the sword of contempt proceedings constantly hang over their heads lest they open theirmouths in public. Self restraint is the lex non scripta of a sound Judiciary. There is nothingso fatal to the independence and democratic traditions of the country as the delubrum of the

rule of law and justice with all its special powers and privileges growing to be a cimmerian

monster. The sickly developmetn violates the very raison d’etre of the Judiciary. WhenJudiciary fails to recognise its limitations ex mero motu, none is there to do it for it.

Uberrima fides is basic to Judiciary. When Judiciary prevaricates from its rightful path, that

rings the death-knell of the democracy and leads the country to the ineluctable anarchythrough constitutional breakdown.

LOSS OF CREDIBILITY

Intentions of the Judiciary may be good. But, intentions alone do not constitute the right

to act in anyway desired. Indian Constitution does not provide for that even “ for doing




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complete justice”. Supreme Court of India on its verdict on 13 August laid guidelines toprotect the interests of working women from sexual harassment and ruled that the guidelineswould be in force till due legislations replace them. Intentions of the court in such a course of

action is definitely very `noble. But means pursued to the end may not be in the best interests

of the country and its constitutional machinery. Judiciary acting on Public Interest petitionsis certainly a step forward towards better judicial system. But, Judicial meddling in every

state affair outside its jurisdiction may prove costly to both the Judiciary and the country.

Indian Judiciary is certainly losing sight of the difference between pronouncing judgementsand making Executive orders. The latter part of the Article 142 (1) clearly dictates that theoperation of the decree or order made by the court is subject to the law made by Parliament

or Presidential Order. The Executive Orders, Indian Judiciary now ends to make are in

violation of the spirit of the above constitutional provision. The parturition of the Judiciary toshift polluting industries from the heart of Delhi to the outskirts pro bono publico, led tostirrings against the very well-meaning verdict. Paroxysms of the Judiciary in Patna in Bihar

Fodder Scam and later on the use of Article 356 in Bihar led to open protests in Parliament

and outside. The apostasy Indian Judiciary suffers by encroachment on the domains of the

Executive and the loss of restraint in Judicial proceedings lead judiciary to the cul de sac ofthe loss of dignity and credibility.

Unless those at the helm in Indian Judiciary wake up from their somnolency and realisewhere indiscreetness in their part is leading the country to, the future of Indian democracy is

bound to be bleak and mired in incertitude and disaster.



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IN DEFENCE OF JUDICIARY

Judiciary deals with and justice pertains to specifie cases and an individual’s past, present

and repute have nothing to do with justice and judiciary, as for as it does not entail with thecase under adjudication to surface the truth. Judiciary, in its present system, can not bother

about a person’s history and other attributes as much as how his particular act wronged an

aggrieved party. Judging the judgement of the judiciary extra muros of this scope is a greatdisservice to the judiciary and the people whose right’s cardinal guardian is the judiciary.

After all, wrong committed is wrong whether it is committed by a person of honesty andintegrity or by a person sans the virtues. The reason that a wrong is committed by a person of

honesty and integrity, does not abate the incisiveness of the injustice to the wronged party. Inthe circumstances, berating judiciary for punishing a person for committing a wrong, just

because the person enjoys a good reputation, is travesty of reasonableness. It is in fairness

to presume that the judiciary which is posted of all aspects of a disputed issue for years,

studied them in pro rata importance before pronouncing its judgements in all its variance.Such a faith in judiciary is sine qua non until myriad slip in part of the judiciary in major

cases of national importance disturb the national conscience at all strata to prove, sine dubio,

that the judiciary no more remains the cardinal dispensor of justice. Taking judiciary to taskin other circumstances on the basis of punishment awarded to an individual or a blessed

section of the society for a proved wrong as the judiciary sees it or for the quantum of

punishment awarded as the judiciary sees it in its wisdom as right vis a vis the injusticesheaped upon the plebeian everyday in India by various government bodies and civil servantssans an easy recourse for justice and for that reason, accepted in mute suffering, is height of

unbalanced appropinquation in public affairs.

When judiciary, particularly the highest seat of judiciary in the country, decides thequantum of punishment to be awarded for a wrong, it keeps in mind the gravity of the wrong,

mens rea, suffering undergone by the petitioner, the message of the judiciary in the

circumstances to the public at large, dignity of the judiciary and the interests of the nationand its people. Judiciary is a professional body to consider all these aspects before passing its

judgement. When so many aspects are in stake, just the dignity of a privileged individual or

section f society cannot be a criterion for relaxing the quantum of punishment. Anybodyarguing against judicial pronouncement because of sympathy for a privileged individual or

section may not be doing his public service in excelsis.

Often, judicial pronouncements are commented upon for using diverse yardsticks in

awarding the quantum of punishment for the same wrong at different times. Such commentsare based on wrong notion of judiciary as a linear punishing apparatus. Judicial function at

no time, even in ancient India, was limited to the simplistic job of equating the quantum of awrong with the quantum of punishment. Indian judiciary was and in its western heritage ofpresent days is, always creative in its dispensation of justice and takes causes and effects and

overall interests of the public in its administration of justice. It is in the interest of the

administration of justice and the system of government to leave the matter at it with liberty tothe judiciary to compute more suo, the quantum of punishment to be awarded on its own





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a res judicata, judiciary may be called to judge who committed the wrong. On the strengthof the facts and figures provided to it by various parties. All the concerned parties are ad

libitum to show before the judiciary how and why they are not responsible for the wrong

indubitably committed. If somebody fail to defend themselves to the satisfaction of the

judiciary by parting relevant information at their possession, even after judiciary, called themto do as judicial procedure lays down, the people are doing so at their own peril and

responsible for the consequences of the judiciary’s ultimate findings. The judiciary cannot be

held responsible for the glitches of the concerned parties at all. The concerned parties are freeto exercise their option either to own responsibility for the wrong under issue or to show tothe judiciary, under what circumstances they were forced not to do full justice as judiciary

thinks it had to, even though such revelations put them and other concerned persons in

difficulties, judiciary cannot be blamed for passing orders against persons who fail to comeclean before it, even after being called to do it.

What is called as activism in judiciary has come as a blessing to India. The process may

more appropriately be called as creative judiciary and will certainly do a lot of good to India,

its people, its judiciary and its system of government. Rather than advocating sticking to theold granny’s back, Indian opinion leaders including intellectuals, press and electronic mediamust support judiciary to shed its lethargy and come actively to perform its sacrosanct

responsibility of reigning in pandemic injustice in Indian society. It is a wonder that Indiansare in reverse gear while its judiciary rose to its constitutional responsibility.




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THE ROLE OF POLICE IN A DEMOCRACY

Democracy stands for popular rule. Popular rule implies mass involvement of people

in the political process. Mass involvement of people necessitates rules and laws and an

agency to enforce it. Here lies the relevance of police in a democracy.

The seed of democracy is self-discipline. It involves responsibility to the interests ofthe country and identifies self-interests with the national interest. In this sense, every person

is police for himself in a democracy. This being only an ideal situation, field realitiesnecessitate an external agency per procurationem of the government to enforce rules and laws

and police the national interests from the assaults of parochial and anti-social interests lurking

in shadows of a democratic rule. This is the police of a democracy.

Police is a double-edged sword. Its front is national interests and safety and security

of the national life. Its one edge accounts for policing of the people; the other, for policing

the process of governance. Though the two functions towards the well being of the countryappear intrenchant prima facie, they do make significant difference in the actual process of

policing. In one, police police the ruled from the side of the government. In the other, policepolice the rules from the side of the people as true power-wielders. While in one, it is the will

of the rulers that prevails in driving the police to police, in the other, it is the will of thepeople as expressed through the public media, bind the police to police in a particular way.

Police in a democracy are no more than a system driven by the pulls and counter pulls of the

government and the public opinion in one hand and the laws in force and the safety and

security of the national life on the other. For the infaust police, the diverse contradictory pullsand pressures only multiply with the ascensive complexity of the national life. This situation

of policing in a democracy makes policing an infinitely more difficult task than otherwise by

forcing police to make decisions and take sides. This may be an opportunity for better servicein the circumstances of true professional work. It turns to grave mess-up in absence ofprofessionalism probity and genuine national interests.

The key of policing in a democracy is sensitivity; sensitivity to the needs of thesociety and the nation. Policing in a democracy involves keeping eyes ears and even olfactory

organs open with an argute faculty of conceptualization to understand the fast changing

dynamics ’neath the frontal layers of the society and ability for fast responses to handle

emergent situations. No society is static. Changes are repaid in a democratic atmosphere withgroup interests in constant conflict. The kaleidoscope of changing faces of the society is bestaccounted by the media in diverse forms. Though government is expected to be alert to the

needs of the society, factors like inefficiency and corruption more often than not work againstsocial vectors and lead against social sensibilities. Policing under such a government hardly

fulfill the needs of the national well-being. An avizefull police can always comprehend the

complexity of situation through media and judge the right course of action on its ownwisdom. However, media in a democratic ambience is not infallible. Public opinion is morean artificially created venal commodity than a natural phenomenon in a democracy. Media

has become a hi-tech business in the age of power through elections. Most tools of creating



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and arousing public opinion are instruments of propaganda. In the circumstances, blindlyrelying on opinions artificially trumped-up by the media may not lead police anywhere.Rather, it may mislead police in its pursuit of justice and well-being of the country. Ergo,

perpetual pernoctation is the watchword of a democratic police while being sensitive to the

needs of the government au reste the ripples of the public opinion with the national interestsand its well-being as the litmus test.

Police is the ultimate weapon of the rule of law in a democracy. Government, lawsand police form a holy trinity in a democracy and each is sine qua non for the other two in thesystem. The fact is that laws are mutable. They are enacted to meet the challenges of the

society from time to time. Laws are collective responses of the legislators to a given situation.

Chances are that laws in force are not adequate to handle extant challenges in the field. It is aserious problem, police face. Policing is not exactly like a football game wherein rules of thegame are paramount and goals are scored selon les regles. Laws are sine dubio paramount.

Equally paramount is the safety and security of the national life. Here lies the dilemma of the

police. When the two paramount objects refuse to go pari passu, police find themselves in the

precarious position of making a choice between the two as in national security decisions.Laws have to be broken in the larger interests of the country while national interests cannotwait for the enactment of requisite laws. The situation leads to human rights violations and

popular condemnation of police in some cases. Police have to bear the humiliation withdignity in the interests of their professional objectives. The pith of the issue is that what

constitutes national interests and what not, and how far police to be trusted in deciding where

they can be given leeway to break laws in the presumed interests of the safety and security ofthe national life. Even while laws provide for action, laws only speak what to do; it is left topolice how to do and how much to do. In the polluted atmosphere of criminalization of

politics and the politicization of police, neither the police nor the political leadership as the

highest layer of governance in a democracy is worthy of a trust of such a magnitude. Theneed is a sensitive balance between the laws in force and the safety and security of the

national life. Police in a democracy need to be perpetually alert to both the needs and find anaurea mediocritas to fine-tune its professional objectives.

Police enjoy tremendous leeway in governance in a democracy. The only limitingfactor that works on it is pulls and counter pulls. The contradictory pulls and pressures are the

clamor of the public for professional and honest policing on the hand and the call ofpoliticians and bureaucrats steeped in personal interests for work as their handmaids on theother. The cardinal issue is where the loyalty of police should lie in the exercise of leeway in

pursuit of professional objectives in a democracy. Is it the convenience of the government or

the public interests? People in government claim that the first loyalty of the police togovernment is en regle. Their argument is based on the position that police form a part of the

government. The government appoints men and officers of the police force; they are

subject to conduct rules, administration and superintendence of the government. Theother side claims that the police are responsible only to the laws in force and for nothing else.

Such a commitment by police is the foundation of the administration of justice. This is thesituation even in England from where India adopted the gestalt of its democratic system. In

the famous Blackburn case in England, Lord Denning in reference to police, pronounced,“…is not the servant of anyone, save of the law itself. No minister of the crown can tell him

that the must or must not keep observation on this place or that; or that he must or must not




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prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority tell him so. The responsibility forlaw enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and to the law alone.”

The responsibility of the police in a democracy is multifaceted. It must guarantee

justice and safety to all strata of people and ensure equitable enforcement of law sineira et studio. This implies special care and protection to weaker sections en face exploitation

from the powerful and involves contranatant stimuli. This is where the sphere of social laws

comes to picture. Police has to paramount role in social transformation in a democracy.Resistance is inherent and conflict is inevitable in the world of changes. Group dynamicsmake conflicts pronounced in a democracy. The roles police play in social conflicts have a

major say in determining the futuristic pattern of society. The importance necessitates police

to be a thinker and a judge in addition to being a cutting-edge executor. A thinking police is aspecial need of a democracy. Laws only say what to do and what not to do; it is left to policeto decide how to do and how much to do. It decides where, when, how and how much

invokes what laws. Only a thinking police can handle the responsibility perficiently. It has to

deal with a variety of situations of different points of time in enforcement of laws. Failure

cripples the evolution of social system to social justice.

A special feature of police in a democracy is involving people in policing. People

policing themselves are the leitmotiv of in involving people in policing in a democracy. Theregular police force is just a skeleton for the true policing efforts of a democracy wherein

every citizen is a policeman of his country. The regular police force is just a reticulation with

necessary structure, resources and expertise at its disposal towards that end. The potentialityof the citizens to police themselves being fully exploited is an essential ingredient of asuccessful democracy. No police organisation can succeed in a democracy without people

being activity involved. The involvement can be either formal or informal. In informal

involvement, services of eligible citizens are enlisted for policing under diverse categories ofschemes provided by police Acts like Special police Officers, Additional Police, Traffic

Wardens, Village Police or even Home Guards as provided by the Home Guards enactments.The citizens so enlisted help the regular police in various police duties with special rights and

privileges under the supervision and superintendence of the police force. The services are

normally voluntary. The skill of the regular police lies in making the voluntary schemesattractive and popular and enlisting enthusiastic citizens to its fold in large numbers. Not

much is done in India in this area. Nor real efforts are made to activate such voluntaryschemes provided by the law. The result is that Indian police sweat out without a mass base ina maelstrom and bear impossible burdens on its weak frame to the point of breaking down.

The informal involvement covers the use of citizens during the policing. The help thecitizens render to police varies from being informers, witnesses and signatories to various

panchanamas in criminal cases to patrolling in groups in strife-stricken or dacoity-infested

areas at nights. These duties are principal to the success of policing. The skill of the policein enlisting the cooperation of respectable citizens plays an important role in making policing

successful. Not much attention is given to this skill in the present scheme of things in police.The result is poor policing for lack of involvement of the people. Stock witnesses are the

order of the day. Willing cooperation of the public in policing is a rarity. Police are morehated, feared and distanced than respected and helped.



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Involvement breeds a sense of belonging. It brings police and the public closer. This isa major step towards the relevance of police in a democracy. The sense of participation inpolicing helps to appreciate the problems of the police and policing. It enthuses citizens to

partake in nation building and boosts patriotism.

The relevance of police in a democracy lies in the direct interaction between the

people and their police. Utility of police lies in its usefulness to the people and the country. A

two-way channel between the people and the police makes a democracy really democratic.Periodical meetings between the public and the police at various levels serve the purpose.People from all walks of life of a specific area interact with the police officers of the area in

formal meetings held periodically on policing issues. The exercise helps the public and the

police know each other better and appreciate mutual limitations in right perspective. It makesbetter cooperation between the public and the police possible. Informal contacts between thepolice and the public at different levels also help the process. It boosts mutual confidence to

the benefits of both the sides and makes policing cost-effective and efficient. The interactions

develop a sense of belonging between the two to the advantage of both the sides as an

essential ingredient of good policing in a true democracy.

Policing in a true democracy can be extended to a wider scope of experiment a la the

Goa Police Bill, 1995. The bill modeled on Singapore police, provides for creation ofauxiliary police force by owners of private establishments to safeguard life and property in

specified areas apart from being empowered to maintain law and order, preserve public peace

and prevent and detect crime within that area. The auxiliary police force enjoys police powersand protections provided by law on par with the regular police. It is a welcome experiment inIndia in democratizing the police of a democracy, provided every act of the auxiliary police

force is subjected to effective control, supervision and superintendence of the regular

police force to avoid misuse of powers. The idea of people policing the people should notdegenerate to a situation where bigger fishes gorge the smaller ones or the fittest only survive.

Democracy is not a free- play of powers. It is a balanced exercise of power wherein all peopleco-exist irrespective of whether they are weak or powerful. Giving them policing powers to

police themselves is in line with the highest traditions of the democracy. In the circumstances

of the corrupt society, the vigil of the regular police as the symbol of the state power isabsolutely necessary to make the auxiliary police force behave within the parameters of the

law. The same thing can be said about provisions in the Bill to punish uncivilized conductlike spitting, smoking, urinating, throwing garbage etc in public places. They are boundto be appreciated in an enlightened democracy as a measure of cleansing their cities and

inculcating decent and healthy practices among them while in an unenlightened democracy

like India, there is bound to be opposition to the provisions as an intrusion on their right ofdoing what they want and irresponsible and sensation- mongering Indian media is bound to

linger on the protests as an event of national significance. Both sides are the part of the

democratic interplay of a democracy.

The options before the police in a democracy are often a bundle of non- options. Theyfind themselves in the precarious situation of neither taking a decision nor avoiding it. It is

like being caught between the devil and the deep sea. Democracy let loose contradictoryforces to pounce on police from all sides. A police not steeped in professional resolve gets

seized in the melee and exposes itself to grievous errors. A good example is the case of




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dreaded underworld don Arun Gawli of Mumbai. The world knows that he is a dangerouscriminal with scores of criminal cases pending against him. Mumbai police obviously washelpless in containing his criminal activities. Large sections of the people in Dagdi Chawi,

Mumbai and Maharastra idolized and supported the criminal. Democracy dictates

respect to the feelings and sensitivities of all sections of the society. Shiva Sena supreme, BalThackeray and his party called him as their answer to dreaded underworld don Dawood

Ibrahim and tried to promote him and his gangsters. He become a respected figure to Mumbai

police under Shiva Sena Chief Minister, once he established his Akhila Bharatiya Sena (ABS)at Mumbai and other places of Maharastra. When he fell foul with Shiva Sena and itssupremo, political parties like congress tried to woo him and his muscle of labour

organizations to their fold. Then Mumbai police under Shiva Sena government realized that

Arun Gawli and his criminal activities are security threat to the nation and he was arrestedand detained under NSA for a couple of extortion cases and harboring criminals. NagapurBench of Mumbai High Court declared the arrest and detention under NSA as illegal. The

episode explains all the maladies of policing in a democracy in the ambience of

criminalization of politics, politicization of police, lax judicial system, constricting group

dynamics and the ability of criminal elements to take advantage of the Achilles’ heel of asystem. A flexible police is the centre of all these malaises.

People, their group interests and concomitant conflicts are centre stage in ademocracy. Police are caught in the web of the dynamics of a democracy. In a situation where

government and power depend upon the vote banks of groups, the task of police weaving

through these groups to police them and bring wrong- doers to book pro bono publico is anunenviable task demanding tact. In the notorious Shivani acid attack case of Jaipur, a 17 year-old girl, Shivani Jadeja on way to school from her residence on April 12, 1997 was attacked

with acid, allegedly by the son of the transport minister of the state and his friends; the state

police turned impervious to the statement of the victim recorded by them and her letteraddressed to the Jaipur Superintendent of Police about the involvement of the minister’s son

in the offence. Even public protests and agitations by women’s groups and the interest of themedia in the case failed to deter the state police from its inaction against the actual offenders.

Even the state police chief gave evasive answers to the media about action against the

offenders named by Shivani. This is the quantum of political pressure on policing. It was onlyafter two representations from socially conscious organisations being treated as Public

Interest Litigations that Rajastan High Court directed the state government to withdraw thecase from the state police and get the investigation done by the CBI. This is the extent of thecredibility of the police under political pressure. Police just cannot do justice to justice under

the extant democratic pulls and pressures. Every interest group in a democracy is powerful

with scores of followers. Police by the very nature of their work cannot please every side andtherefore bound to work in an atmosphere of hatred and inimical feelings. In group dynamics

of Indian kind, law, justice and propriety make little sense.

Even criminals form a pollent group of considerable political

maneuverability and strength in a democracy. Any move against the interests of this group isbound to create serious problems to police. A police officer with a commitment to crush

crime syndicates and their criminal activities on coming to power meets with dramatic rise incrimes and law and order problems in his area to the extent that he soon realize that he has no

alternative to keep the underworld on right side were he to save his professional reputation,



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his new position and peace in his area. A few fools, who fail to read the writings on the wall,get thrown out of their post and avoid any responsible job thereafter on the charge of beingincapable of controlling crimes and maintaining law and order. Cooperation of the powerful

criminal groups is conditio sine qua non for smooth policing a democracy. The recent

example is a state capital in India. Its new Police Commissioner adopted a soft approach topowerful mafia gangs of the city and shut eyes to the flourishing business of cabaret, live

bands and nightclubs. The result was a relatively crime-free tenure for him in the city. But, he

rubbed the media on the wrong side on the first day of his taking charge in the city. As aconsequence, he had to bear an unfavorable media throughout. The next Police Commissionerof the city was after stopping the menace of cabaret, live bands and night clubs and

containing organized crimes in the city. The immediate response to the new Police

Commissioner was inordinate rise in crimes like chain snatching, kidnapping, extortion, gangwar, housebreaking and dacoity and law and order disturbances. It was the crime syndicatessending signals to come to terms with their existence and activities. The political pressures

the underworld wields au reste the warning shots are capable of bringing a practical police

officer to his senses. He is forced to compromise his convictions to retain his position. This is

how police is under seize in a democracy. Police derive strength by adhering to law and justice. Once off the track to aggrace political masters. Thus develops a vicious circle thatleads police to be perpetually under the beck and call of the politicians in power. The

beginning of the collision of politicians and the police in a democracy is always for mutualbenefits.

Police is a democracy’s spine, its conditio sine qua non. It is an instrument ofcontainment in the ambience of narrow interests trespassing on each other’s interest. Successof a democracy entirely depends on the effectiveness of the police there. It is the only

instrument available to bring people to their senses and to the needs of the laws. It is unlike

other forms of government, wherein other forms are created to bring the people to submissionto the will of the rulers. Private armies in whatever name sans the leash of law, operate as

executors of the will of the rulers in non-democracies. Indian police these days with its deeppoliticization is gradually approximating to the sad state. Mass transfer of police officers at all

levels with the change of government, use of intelligence units for political maneuverings,

use of investigating agencies to keep political rivals in check etc are just the signs on thesurface of this tragic malady. The slant is not in the interests of democracy, for, the strength

of democracy is pro rata to the professional resolve of the police. A weakened and ineffectivepolice is a sure sign of crumbling democracy. A democracy just cannot stand up without thespine of the police, especially while people are yet to realize their democratic

responsibilities. Strengthening the police is the foremost need of firming up democratic

traditions. How soon India realizes this, so much good for the country.




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POLICE AS SOCIAL SURGEONS

Police deal with social ills as physicians and surgeons deal with physical ills. A surgeon

incises parts of the body to set right wrongs and remove dangerous growths from the systemto save a person while a police do the same for the society. Police job like the works of a

surgeon involves administration of bitter potions, prescription of restrictions and incisions to

lay foundation for a sturdy system. Like medical profession, policing is a highly responsiblefunction and ergo needs to be bound by moral ethos as lex non scripta to avoid misuse of

special rights involved in discharge of duties. Both professions involve independentdecisions in handling each case and exercise of infrangible conscience in doing justice to it.

The difference lies in the medical profession mostly maintaining its pristine purity as aprofession while police as a splinter of bureaucracy being illaqueated by formalities and

procedures inherent in government functions at the cost of forthright involvement and

commitment immanent to a profession. The ineluctable hierarchical order as the spine of

policing and the concomitant interferences from above bring a measure of incertitude andrender honest and professional policing nonpossumus by depriving field officers their

freedom in handling cases on dictates of the conscience. This perforce adversely affects the

effectiveness of policing and ipso facto, the health of the society. It is the reason why in spiteof sound presence of the social surgeons, Indian society witness the deterioration of its health

de mal en pis each passing year.

TRUST OF THE PEOPLE

Physicians and surgeons have as much potentiality and opportunity to damage as to save

health. Because of their expertise and credibility, surgeons have umpteen opportunities to use

their tools and instruments on people on the claim of restoring health. The whole process isbased on trust on the surgeons and their honesty. Imagine the situation when the lot of

surgeons is greedy and sans scruples, while the people have no alternative to offering

themselves for surgery to their hands in times of need. None can be sure what would happento an unconscious patient on the operation table in the hands of such surgeons behind the

closed doors of the operation theatre. The whole situation becomes hopeless when the whole

setup is run by similarly profligate surgeons and the precept that birds of the same featherflock together operates to hold them in syndesis at the expense of any relief by appeals or

complaints. The harm done to the patient to meet the greed of the surgeons would be pro ratato the latter’s immoral propensities. Synergy among them may lead even to venal deals in

human organs at the expense of the health of the ignorant people. Their contempt for

professional skills and negligent work may tremendously harm the safety of the patients. Thesituation in the field is certain to wreck the trust of the people on the surgeons. The

predicament forces them to rely on the contabescent setup foute de mieux. The haplessposition spawns a sense of disillusion in people and they even resign to the situation ashelpless subjects. This exactly is the situation of the social surgery by the police in India.

The society has to depend for surgery upon an epinosic organisation, which is inefficient,

enrivon with quandaries, mismanaged, enfested with scandals and above all, undependable.The society, for its well-being, has to fall on an organisation with which it tends to keep



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distance and thinks it indignity to associate, its womenfolk consider as an insult on theirwomanhood to approach and its children see it as an image of fear and silenced by invokingits name to gallow. It is the predicament of the Indian society. On the one hand, the popular

image of the police in Indian psyche is that of a devil, of an evil. But, it has to fall on the

police for all of its social evils. Though part of the bad image of the police is sheer myth, partin quiddity is the result of wrong people and wrong concepts coming to the centrestage in

Indian police from a long time.

RELEVANCE OF CRUELTY

The similarly of surgeons and police basically is their hard means to achieve the desired

end- surgical methods involving incisive tools to cut and remove unwanted growths. It is enregle as far as surgeries and concerned. The tragedy of the police lies in de trop extension ofthe hard means unlike surgeons to other aspects of life. The difference between a surgeon

and a police is that while a surgeon outside the operation theatre is a gentleman every farden,

unaffected by the ambience, the hard approach renders a police apocryphal at the cost of civil

living and basic human nature. This is why the image of the police is very low. The hardmethods in police extend even to its policy of human resources management at the cost ofneoteric principles of man management. The rule of thumb continues to be the bedrock of

handling human resources. Ruthlessness and cruelty are its principal weapons in bringingsubordinates and the public to submission. Human dignity is an unknown concept in the

police. The result sees motivation becoming a casualty in the bedlamish system.

SADISTIC PLEASURE

The endless affairs with legal matters perhaps insensitise the police to the problems of

legality. This is evident in their hors la loi approach to various issues. The police seem tothink that end justifies the means. The problems of malfeasance are common in the police.

The mode of approach of the police to man management proves this. No scruple is shown inmeasures meant to bring a subordinate to knees or an accused to confess to the offence, he

had not committed. Third degree methods in interrogations is a too familiar issue to discuss

here. Though third degree methods are universal in application in police investigations, thereare vital differences in their use in advanced and countries like India. While utmost care and

discreetness are employed in englightened police forces of advanced countries in decidingwhether a particular individual has to be subjected to serve interrogations, where imminenceof the concerned person being an offender is a prime criterion and the methods are used as the

dernier ressort, Indian police like their counterparts in backward countries adopt third degree

methods in investigation as their staple right over innocent citizens and fall to it in the firstavailable instant like wolves on their preys. It cannot be gainsaid that there is a streak of

sadistic pleasure in Indian police. They think that third degree methods are de rigueur in

crime investigation. The sadistic pleasure finds expression in severity down the hierarchicalladder at the cost of dignity and self- respect of others down the ladder. It is a free-for-all

field. Basic values like mutual respect and courtesies are rare in Indian police. Ruthlessnessand cruelty are the ropes Indian police find commodious with. This invidious stria is hardly

the desirable attribute to which any decent society wants to submit itself for any treatment.

LACK OF COMMITMENT




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A ken of the extent to which the Indian social surgeons are committed to their work andgoals can be had from the fact that in a small department headed by a Director General of

Police, deputed from the police department in a southern state of India, a criminal case of

fraud and forgery involving a huge amount was launched against some staff members of thedepartment in a police station after the misdeeds were unearthed during an audit. The

circumstances of the case normally warrant departmental actions like suspension of the

officials, departmental enquiries and measures to recover the loss to follow the launching ofthe criminal case. In this case, the department washed off its hands after launching thecriminal case as if it had nothing to do about the fraud and forgery in its own organisation.

No suspensions, no departmental enquiries, no recovery processes. Even the criminal case

was just a front to save the skin of the people at the helm of the was just a front to save theskin of the people at the helm of the organisation. Advice from well-meaning officers in thedepartment to the DGP in 1996 to take the affairs to their logical ends by initiating essential

departmental actions as an apotropaic measure fell on dunny ears. In addition, the police who

were investigating the case were surreptitiously advised by the DGP to go slow with the case

till the people involved in the case easily retire. This much about the zeal of Indian police associal surgeons in tackling evils.

“Surgeon” is an abracadabra; the concept of social surgeon is pregnant with highestideals human mind can conceive. The application of this concept to recognise the duties of

the police is the highest honour the society has invested the police with, and ipso facto lays

sublime responsibilities on the rough and tough little shoulders of the police. Unfortunately,police suffer from alexia and fail to read the elevated position in which they are held whilerecognised as social surgeons. It is position in which they are held while recognised as social

surgeons. It is sad to see how the sacred responsibilities are not only frittered away, but

abused at will to the chagrin of the hoi polloi. The consequence is that while the police is yetseen and called as social surgeons foute de mieux, they are no more loved and respected as

social surgeons should be. On the other hand, they are misprised and distanced for theapostasy, they suffer from their avowed path. Indeed the fear of police is there because of the

weapons and the muscle of power they weild. In some parts of the country, even the rear is

glidder after the pelbeian has learnt the lesson that money can do any tricks with the police.The cause of the degringolade certainly lies in the police itself, in the type of people enter the

service, their calibre, their values and convictions and the professional atmosphere created bythe service. If the organisation and the people in it cannot rise to the high levels expected ofit and prove their raison d’etre, the reason lies in its ephemeral self-interests ectogenous to

the professional values and ideals. Police as social surgeons perforce require single-minded

commitment to the cause of well-being of the society. It is seld or never found in presentIndian police. The society whose well-being is the responsibility of the police, know it. The

police know it. The society is left to itself to mend its problems. Police work only when there

is gratification and while people with muscles of money and power need help. This certainlyis not characteristic of a social surgeon, but of a social-wrecker. Sadly Indian police is

becoming that in oodles, the protector of and tool in the hands of rich and powerful. Thepreposterous trend has to stop in the interests of the police as an organisation and a

profession, the society, the country and the humanity. The key for this change lies in creationof right professional ambience in the police system. The secret of creating right atmosphere

lies in right leadership and the burden of right leadership lies on right convictions about the



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importance of police and policing as a profession. The malaise of Indian police lies in lack ofright convictions about the importance of policing as a profession. The result is that all typesof wolves ab intra et ab extra falling on the system to tear it from all sides and eating it. The

wolves within are more dangerous than outside. The ensure that no upright resistance breed

ab intra to the detriment of their esurient appetite and no professional pride raises its head totopple their schemes of self-promotion The only response of their greed is wrecking

uprightness and professional pride wherever they are traced. Such hawks in higher echelons

of the career-ladder succeeded in their schemes and the result is the Indian police in itspresent wretched state. The salvation of Indian police lies in breaking the vice prise of thesearriviste and laying it in the safe hands of the professionals steeped in the foundations of

professional pride and uprightness, to make the system acceptable to the society as its

protector and ‘ social surgeons’ true to the abracadabra.




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POLITICAL CRIMES AND SECURITY

The importance of political crimes for the police lies in politics and crimes being two

fields ex utraque parte of policing with the police depending on political leaders forsustenance while acting on criminals to justify its raison d’etre. The police can ably deal

with politicians and criminals separately in discharge of their professional duties with their

obedience and subordination side furbished for political masters and tough and ruthless sidereserved for criminals. Unfortunately, the police are not required always to deal with politics

and crimes separately. They are more and more required to handle a special category ofcrimes by the name, political crimes where their masters and subjects join hands to their

chagrin. To further flummox the issue, the political crimes rate the highest in the scale ofimportance of various crimes on the basis of national interests at stake, the prominence of

personalities involved and the magnitude of interests, the crimes arouse in the country and

outside. The scope of political crimes range from petty crimes committed by political

activists to serious crimes including white-collar crimes committed in the colour ofperforming political duties to grave crimes against national interests committed for political

reasons from within or outside the country. The gravity of political crimes and their threat to

the national interests subject them to the scrutiny and handling by a district of distinctsecurity apparatus attached to the intelligence setup in addition to the usual purview of the

uniformed police. But, the technique of handling political crimes in India is yet to be

perfected. The present technique is yet a patch work and the police especially at the top arepsychologically ill-equipped to handle political crimes as seen by poor performance of theIndian police in handling of such important political crimes as Bofors Gun deal, St.Kitts’

affairs, Jain Hawala case, anti-sikh riots of 1984 and investigation of cases against godman

Chandraswamy. The result is proliferation of political crimes in India and fear of a parallel

rule by the crime world coming into existence under political patronage.

CRIME AS A TOOL OF POWERGAME

Vohra Committee report on the nexus of politicians and criminals perspicaciously

indicated Indian political culture for its close links with the underworld and provided a

compte rendu on the havoc created by the criminalisation of politics and the politicisation ofcrime. Politics imprimis being a powergame and an art of possible, Shakespeare’s

characterisation of love and war where everything is fair, most politicians obviouslypresume, holds good to their profession as well. War and politics being two facets of the

same powergame, one external and one internal, there is no point why the axiom that

everything is fair in politics should not be honoured while fairness of war in all its shapesand forms is sacrosanct. As politics being a powergame in extremis like war and decides the

degringolade or steep rise of those involuted in it, the politicians are convinced that they are justified in seeking any means, apocryphal or de jure, to ensure that they win and survive.Afterall, being suicidal is not a virtue; nor faulting the art of possible bring any credit in

public life. Ultimately, it is success that decides what is right and wrong. There is no sin or

wrong worse than a defeat. History has shown how success can absterge even the sin of massmurder of innocent people by dropping atom bombs. The cardinal goal of survival and



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success is the first priority and the means to achieve it takes care of itself. Depending uponthe success or failure of the mission in hand. So goes the thinking of politicians maintainingclose links with underworld. The only gaffe in their perception of politics is their failure

understand politics in a civilised system like democracy as a powergame selon les regles

unlike emotional games of love and war, where everything goes by emotion and passion. Ina democratic party system, where procedures are shaped to make the rule of the majority a

scientific reality in form of constitutional provisions, rule of law is paramount and one who

moves extra muros is not only debarred from the game, but also dealt as a criminal. However, many politicians refuse to accept constraints on their political powerplay and continue toindulge in links with criminal world to have immediate need of winning power fulfilled. The

crux of the problem of Indian politics lies in this with certain categories of crimes in delicius

of Indian political field loosening the very terra firma of the Indian democratic system.

POLITICIAL MURDERS

Political murders are common features these days in India. When a political adversary

grows to be an irritant, too serious for comfort., he is seen to be eliminated. No careerpolitician wants to stain his name with a murder case and get his name registered as acriminal in police station. He does the work through his faithful underworld henchmen

whom he keeps in good humour always for being available for such a need, by providinghim political support and protection. For this, he keeps the police at his side. This is easily

done by intervening in police postings and helping to get early promitons for favoured ones.

BOOTH CAPTURING

A candidate for an election may even resort to booth capturing through his criminal aides

to facilitate his victory. This operation requires through planning and training of the meninvolved, apart from the willing cooperation of the police. An attempt at booth–capturing can

succeed only with the intrenchant nexus between politicians, criminals and the police forsynergy.

POLITICAL KIDNAPPING

Political kidnapping is an international phenomenon that comminated the world ofdiplomacy in excelsis in the 1970’s. The Menace trickled onto the Indian scene thoughslowly, decisively in the 1980’s. The realisation that political ends can be easily met by the

malengine of the kidnap-drama opened up an aboideau to the terrorists who were acharne to

meet their political telos. The increase in terrorist activities in India, perchance, as anoutcome of the suspected “balkanisation of India” policy adopted by some foreign countries,

made political kidnapping an ubiquitious reality on the Indian political scene from the latter

half of the 1980’s. The terrorists of Kashmir and Punjab set the tone in India which waspicked up by the People’s War Group and the ULFAs in the 1990s. The inexperience of

Indian political leaders in tackling the problem complicated the matter. While most countriesaround the world explicated a policy of stubborn refusal to yield to kidnappers’ demands

under straints, the Indian leaders goofed by displaying their weaknesses while people close tothem were abducted, in yielding to demands as a quid pro quo in releasing large number of

dangerous terrorists, who were arrested at huge cost and loss of lives. The situation has been




251

further complicated by adopting a policy of double standards in sacrificing the lives of lessermortals in some other cases. It is obviously sending a mauvais depeche to the would-be-terrorists that the closer the proximity of the kidnapped to a political leader, the bigger is the

chance of meeting their political ends.

The reclame attached to the kidnap-drama and the arousal of the public interest in the

developments that follow is another dimension of the political kidnapping that brings an

identification and gives an image to a terrorist outfit as nothing else can. It has become afashion to initiate a terrorist outfit with a kidnapping operation. The chevisance in theinchoate drama proves the strength and resourcefulness of the new outfit and its locus standi

among such other outfits, in the way the murders committed by a recruit decides his place in

the mafia. The finesse displayed in executing the operation to a successful end decides thefutue of the organisation, a part form the advantages of the ransom money and the release ofcompatriots. Interestingly, the first experiment of political kidnapping in the Indian scene

was conducted in a foreign country in the form of the egregious abduction and killing of Mr.

R.H.Mhatre, a junior diplomat in the Birmingham consulate in the first week of February,

1984 by JKLF militants.

POLITICAL KIDNAPPING VERSUS DISPLOMACY

Political kidnapping and murder is tout court the most heinuous crime that often involves

cold-blooded murder of absolutely innocent people for political ends. The mental agony and

postliminary destruction involved to the maledict hostages and their near and dear onesbecause of the misguided entrainement of a handful of greenhorns go waste and makekidnapping an infructuous political tool at the end. The considerable fall in the incidences

for political kidnapping on the international scene of late is an indication of the increasing

realisation of this fact, Crime scarcely survives in the situations of haute politique likediplomacy and relations between nations. High thinking by enlightened people functions as

a catchpole to check the criminal tendencies from being perpetuated. Political kidnapping inthe Indian scene is also bound to be a temporal phenomenon as seen otherwhere in the

world.

PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS IN KIDNAP DRAMA

A disturbing tread in political kidnapping is the possibility of professional criminals likesmugglers and drug peddlers resorting to political kidnappings at the hest of their illegal

profession in the guise of political kidnappers. The accrescent dependence of terrorists and

professional criminals on each adds to the complexity. This unhealthy situation is alreadytrue in India as it is in many other countries.

POLITICAL KIDNAPPINGS IN INDIAN SCENE

The operation Rhino against the ULFA activities is a direct off-shoot of a series ofkidnappings of Indian and foreign nationals and killing of some of them by the ULFA

militants in Assam. The peoples’ War Group in Andhra Pradesh is going progressively activein kidnapping government officials to bring the state government on its knees. The

government of Andhra Pradesh is yet to take the gauntlet by the horns. The kidnap dramas



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excoriate criminals, politicians and the police to a war of nerves and those who have steel-nerves in them, emerge successful in the end. The political kidnappings are furthercomplicating the welter created in the Indian and international scene by the rise of

kidnappings by misadventurous individuals or groups lucri causa. The kidnappings

becoming the piece de reistance of organised crime as a means of making a fast buck isalready evident on the Indian scene as more and more reports of businessmen, industrialists

or their relatives and children being kidnapped for ransom appear in newspapers in Bihar,

Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay and even smaller places. Ascensiveanfractuosity of egregious mafia gangs in these operations is a pollent possibility. Therelevance of the police comes into the picture in their ingine to check these pernicious

developments. The triste reality is that the Indian police has failed to rise to the occasion till

now.

UNITY OF PURPOSE IN INDIAN POLICE

The political crimes of gargantuan proportion can be successfully tackled only by pollentpolice organisation with its all resources and resolves pooled together. In the current systemof policing in India, police stations and district police units form basic units of the

administration. Some of the functions discharged at these levels have concurrent jurisdictionwith some special units at state and national levels. Crime investigation in special

circumstances can be taken over from the district police administration by the state CID or the

CBI at the national level. So, it is with the intelligence collection, security operations, theraising of armed police forces, maintenance of crime records etc. The police in the state isdevised as an independent unit. In a vast country like India, policing being shared between

scores of independent units with no perspicaciously defined mechanism of cooperation, the

problem occurs of coordination and units of purpose in tackling challenges that cover morethan one of these unity. There are too many challenges such as these in the increasingly

complex society of India. Except for the sense of national unity there is nothing commonamong these units to approach the gauntlets with a common cause. Even the common Indian

Police Service is unable to bring about a unit of purpose to policing throughout India. This

gives an impression of fragmentation in the Indian police. A fragmented police cannot turnout work in full-stream owing to the waste by leakage in the process of co-ordination between

the fragmented parts. India must consider devising a pollent unitary police administrationat the centre with full control over subordinate state and union terrotory police setups. Thiswould avoid coordination problems and help policing to be more purposeful in tackling

challenges from the national perspective . It also makes available larger resources from the

national level for policing apart from strengthening the sense of belonging to one police. Thisis necessary in the interests of the country and its policing in the future.

CRIMINAL LAWS

A few glaring anomalies and some erroneous provisions in the extant criminal laws ofIndia contribute to be easy escapades of criminals from the clutches of law in many cases and

harassment of innocent persons by the police in some other cases. The loopholes in thecriminal law have to be plugged imprimis if crime administration has to be effective in India

and command a semblance of respect and confidence of the public.




253

The police or judicial officer under whose custody a person is kept under detentionshould be made responsible by name for the latter’s timely release with a provision that ifdetention exceeds the period provided by law, it will make the concerned officer liable for

proceedings for unlawful detention without the privilege of exemptions for actions

performed in official colour, available under the extant laws. Also, all cases of violence andphysical outrages committed in police custody should be made punishable with exemplary

penalties by special legislations. Such outre measures may bring an end to shocking criminal

acts committed eo nomine policing in some quarters and save the Indian police from theembarrassment of serve public resentment.

CRIMINAL LAW BOARD

India requires the constitution of a statutory Criminal Law Board as an advisory body toliaise between the police setup and the union law ministry regarding criminal laws to

facilitate glib policing. The board, as a permanent body, may have seniormost officers of the

central government from home and law ministries, police and prosecution departments,

distinguished humanists and senior advocates of the Supreme Court as members with theunion home minister as its chairman. It must undertake the study of the need of changes incriminal laws from time to time. The board may meet every quarter or a year and discuss

extant criminal laws and their shortcomings in the light of representations received fromofficers in the field from the police and prosecution departments and make proposals for

requisite changes in criminal laws e ra nata.

HUMAN RIGHTS CELLS

Political crimes whether it be of the stature of national politics or international politics,

have the queer propensity of arousing issues of violation of human rights to crumble thecredibility of the law-enforcers in the eyes of the public. Institution of human rights cells in

each district and metropolitan city as advisory conseil to the police of the region with localhuman rights champions as its members to draw attention to specific instances of inhuman

conduct by subordinate officers would meet the needs to keep the police on pernoctation

against political crimes credible vis a vis likely false hue and cry by affected politicalleaderships. The human rights cells should be a dynamic part of the police administration in

the regions and its observations should set in motion a process of verification andperemptory action. Though subjecting police to the scrutiny of an outside setup may appear aretrograde measure, it may help the assuefaction of the policing methods to human comports

in rerum natura and save the establishment from the charges of violation of human rights in

controlling political crimes a la Kashmir, Punjab and elsewhere in the country.

INTELLIGENCE OUTFITS

Collection and analysis of intelligene and special operations from the building blocks of

all nuances of the police operations. Indian intelligence system is yet to stand up to theenormous challenges thrown to it in detecting and controlling political crimes and can

nowhere be compared with its counterparts in developed and even a few developingcountries. Various intelligence outfits of India are often found functioning at cross purposes

even in protecting VVIPs and other sensitive targets from political crimes. India should



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reorganise and strengthen its intelligence outfit if it is to survive the challenges and stand upto the threats of political crimes to the integrity, security and law and order of the country.

UNIFIED INTELLIGENCE AUTHORITY

The Indian intelligence system may develop unity of purpose and operation to control

political crimes ab intra and ab extra by working under the umbrella of an unified

intelligence authority with the chiefs of all intelligence organisation as members. Theauthority must affect a synergy of intelligence operations through its various wings of

internal, external, counter, military and security intelligence. Sufficient attention has to be

given to infuse entrain to the intelligence system of India and modernise its methods to raise

it to a few degrees closer to the international standards. The interferences of offficialdomneed to be minimised and a sense of commitment and dedication to be infused by makingintelligence operations a lifelong career.

The ultimate purpose of all police functions is public security. Either it is intelligence

collection or crime investigation or maintenance of law and order, all roads leads to this

single aspiration. Therefore, the security operations form the crown of policing activities,

without which all other police operations prove futile exercises.

SECURITY OPERATIONS

India needs specially trained battalions of security operators in every state to take charge

of the security of vital installations and VIPs. Also each state police unit may have a smallcommando force to meet threats during emergencies like hijacking, VVIP security under

difficult circumstances, complicated operations against terrorists etc. This special group has

to be brought into operation only under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Otherwise, ithas to be involved in continuous commando training of the highest order. The commandos

have to be well-equipped with the wherewithal of commando operations of the latest order.

Only select officers may be recruited to the group with extra emoluments to make the jobreally elite. The commando units of the central government must train the state commando

forces.

The need of commando groups in the state police forces will be increasingly felt in future

as the menace of terrorism and sabotage grows uninhibited with the future possibility ofviolent methods being accepted as legitimate ways of expressing political dissent.

INADEQUATE SECURITY PLANNING

The present perception of internal security in India revolves round a few catchwords likeprohibited areas, protected areas, official secrets, sensitive installation, static guards, armed

pickets, mobile patrols, striking forces, perimeter protection, infiltration, mechanical

breakdown, external and internal attacks verification, unobtrusive watch, internal watch,

intelligence collection, top-secret papers, security information, leakage of information etc.

Model internal security scheme, containing jugglery of these words are available in all districtpolice offices. The plans in the schemes do not touch even the fringes of the present security








257

POLICE AND ADMINISTRATION

The police basically is a backup force of the state administration. Its primary functionsare en arriere. It is the backbone of the state administration. The police is the enforcer of the

rules and laws of the land and safeguards its compliance by all. For this reason, the policecan be rightly called as the guardian of the state administration. State administration would

be edentate sans the police with none to keep people on the right sides of the rules and lawsof the administration and make the state administration more than mere paper-work. Even for

the hoi polloi, administration is mostly police functions and nothing in state administration

holds its attention as much as what the police does. The police is the most visible and themost obvious state functionary for them, by its striking uniform and prim mien in addition toits availability as the dernier ressort of the state administration. The police forms the

cutting-edge of the statecraft. The police functions as both the enforcer of the country’s laws

and as the investigator of the crimes. Ergo, the police both precedes and succeeds the lawenforcement process and ipso facto encompasses the whole gamut of the state legal system.

The very fact that no folds and rumples of the state administration are excluded from thefield of the police reveals that the range and scope of the policing is as wide as the

administration itself and often exceeds it. Take away the police, the state administrationcrumbles and collapses like a messy mass without backbone. The sine qua non of the police

in the statecraft is a widely recognised fact among the scholars as well as the plebeian.

The inevitability of the police in the statecraft also renders it the most abused setup in

the spectrum of the tools of governance. Control over the levers of running the policeorganisation is considered to be a significant privilege in the realm of state administration.

The explains the range of influence peddling and prolate pressures on police transfers and

keen concours among politicians and others to befriend the police.

The significance of the police lies in the lowest nature of the work it does in contrastto the highest degree of awe and weight it commands among politicians, administrators and

the general public. The esteem, however, worked only to the detriment of the police

organisation. The propinquity to pamper the police while helped the growth and expansion of

the organisation, it certainly spoiled the police setup and crumbled its professional valuesystem. The development is obvious in post-independent era for the simple reason that the

propensity to paper the police saw abnormal rise after the country’s reign came to people’s

hands and politicking and political cabals became the rule of the game. While friendly policebecame valuable assets to politicians in the chess-board of the country’s politics, it became

the mainstay of the administration with the gradual fall in the skill and acumen of running theadministration. The police, which once in pre-independent days was basically a force to

keep the freedom fighters at bay and maintain law and order, became the alter ego of the

governance sinsyne.



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THE POLICE AND THE CIVILIAN AUTHORITY

The root of the problem lies in the civilian control of the police; this control renders thepolice liable to function at the pleasure of the civilian authorities against whom also the

police are required to proceed as required by its professional ethics relentlessly in case of

commission of criminal acts. This is a strange position in a disciplined organisation in which

absolute obedience to masters in the most sanctimonious obligation. Thus the police findsitself in an unenviable position of being absolutely obedient to its political and civil masters,

antilogous to being ever-ready professionally to proceed against to put them in the gaol. Thisis an impossible position for the police and against the tenets of the human nature. But, this

impossibly contrarious functions are expected from the police The problem is overcome byadvanced countries like the United Kingdom by strict adherence to the chain of command

with the head of the organisation responsible to the laws of the country while civilian

authority has to be contented with the administrative control of the police. The safeguard isyet to seep into the police system of democratic Indian.

THE POLICE AND THE MAGISTERIAL POWERS

However, complete insulation of the police from the civilian control may not be a healthy

development per se in a democratic rule. Here, the need of check over a function throughthe bifurcation of operation and control processes in related job a la the bifurcation ofaccounts and audit functions in accounts department come to the fore. The police au fond is

arms and muscle of the administration; it basically is an operational wing of the

administration. It is only the watchdog of the administration. This locus standi of the policeimprimis denies it any job, related with administrative decisions and assessments. The police

is there to obey the orders of the administrative machinery above it to exercise control over

it. A watchdog perforce indicates a master to rein in. This nature of the police functions

necessitates administrative control over it in the use of force and other enforcement activities.This is the backdrop of magisterial powers being denied to the police except where police

commissionerates are organised. The demand of the police to invest it with the magisterialpowers is a corpus of the ongoing dispute. The matter continues to be a contentious issue

between the police and the civil administration and a major source of dissatisfaction in thepolice force. The civil administration is resisting a toute force any attempts to do away the

magisterial powers from its hand in favour of the police, it be in promulgating preventive

orders or issuing search warrants or conducting inquest proceedings or initiating externmentproceedings or initiating preventive proceedings or ordering the use of force, to name only a

few. The argument of the police is that the denial of the magisterial powers which are

exercised by officers as low as Tahsildars in the civil administration is a preposterous stepsans any rational basis and suggests lack of trust in the police organisation. The denial of the

magisterial powers to the police has nothing to do with trust or lack of it a la audit control

over accounts function does not suggest lack of trust in accounts. The police have forgotten

that the civilian control over the police is in step with well established principles ofadministration and functions as a safeguard to the hoi polloi against the dangerous

overstepping or overzealous use of police powers, potential of bringing destruction including





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In the spectrum of the state administration, the police enjoys or suffers a rather polemicposition defying many principles of the statecraft like the insulation of legislature, executiveand judiciary in the machinery of the state governance or the compatibility between the

constitutional rights invested with the importance enjoyed by a government organisation in

the state administration. The police organisation on the other hand is the best example of theunity of state administration, of the synergy of various organs of the state governance. It, as

an enforcer of laws, investigator of crimes and an apparatus of state security, share a lever

with all the pockets of the statecraft and acts as the spinal chord of the government bycoordinating the functions of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in establishingthe rule of law. Its bonds with the executive and the judiciary are equally strong and act as a

powerful link between the two powerful sings of the government. It is a string that binds

disparate wings and organs of the government together and give it a sense of oneness andbelonging while itself remains en arriere. This explains the sine qua non of the police in stateadministration while denying it a ranking place as a governing body sui juris like many other

organs of the state administration. The police as a government agency represents the driving

force of the executive and the controlling device of the judiciary. It is the working muscle of

the government. It represents the law of the country and therefore ultimately responsible tothe laws of the country. While it is part of the executive, its subordination to the judiciaryand responsibility towards the law of the country raise it above the scope of the executive

functions. While it is part of the judiciary, its position as a handmaid of the executive,spreads its role above the scope of the judiciary. Ergo, the police is a government agency that

performs functions both within and above the scope of the executive and judiciary as well as

the legislature. The police is a government agency that performs functions both within andabove the scope of the executive and judiciary as well as the legislature. The police is part ofall these wings of the government and subordinate of each to them while outgrow each of

them in professional discharge of its responsibilities. What is required is the realisation of

this sui generis position of the police and preparing itself mentally to discharge these cardinalresponsibilities in compatibility with the professional requirements.




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RAT-RACE AT TOP AFFECTS POLICING

The British were the forefathers of the unified Indian police. They created the reticulation

of the police force for India with their own designs and objects in sight. It was a force thatmet the needs of the time. In an age of rapid changes due to the opening up of new vistas and

dimensions to life by inventions and discoveries in science and technology, nothing remains

quiescent. The scope, design and objects of the Indian police underwent a basicmetamorphosis with the transfer of government to native hands. The process spawned a

synod wherein undemanding aspects of both the worlds survived to create a new policeculture. The distinguishing traits of the Indian police of the British vintage like objectivity,

apoliticism, commitment, discipline, quality and high standards were discarded as peregrineand irrelevant in the changed circumstances; and traditional Indian values like simplicity,

charity, wisdom, mutual respect, encraty and human qualities were distanced as Indian to the

police culture. The convenient factors of the old and new worlds were chosen to warp a new

world of police culture while demands on policing were at the crucial stage in the creantyears of national independence. The cabal was struck by the Indian police officers who

rapidly rose in their career overnight to fill the void, created by the resignations of their senior

British officers in the ancien regime on the eve of independence. The demand for creating anew work relationship with native political leaders was a historical opportunity to carve a

new police culture in free India. The incompetence of the then police impresarios, their

greed, parochial approach and self-interests spawned the wrong type of police culture. Theylaid mendacious praxis to those lower by bending laws and conscience to aggrate men inpower with the myopic object of promoting ain career and personal interests. The police

became a lithe tool in the hands of the power-brokers of free India. How can the police be

objective, honest, apolitical, committed and disciplined in such an atrophy and how can it

uphold the rule of law and justice in line with its professional edict in such a circumstance?

A fixation towards political masters at the cost of professional uprightness is the most

obvious manifestation of this organisational character of the police setup. The symptoms aredeeper at higher ranks and reach their saturation at the rank of the chiefs where political

selections are crucial in appointments to the levels. Except in rarest of the rare cases, every

police officer ascensively obtempers and goes sequacious to political masters as he comesnearer to the coveted selection post. Two distinct types can be marked in this approach. In

one, officers take to subordination to political leaders as a convenient policy from the verybeginning of their career, and as a policy, make themselves subject to the dictates of all

political leaders. The very concept of politics is sacrosanct to them and anybody in it

deserves their absolute obeisance. They find the germ of professional rectitude in meetingneeds of political masters and other political leaders. Any talk of professionalism in the

police ectogenesis to political relevance does not make sense to them. Every state in Indiahas a set of such police officers who are generally meek and very popular with politicians ofany colour and succeed in getting favourable postings which ever party comes to power. It is

not an accident that these officers often become intelligence chiefs and in most cases succeed

to retire as the chiefs of the concerned police organisations because of their easy proximity topoliticians and willing readiness to stoop to any level at the behests of their political masters.



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Politicians in power need such officers in jobs where lawless operations like tapping oftelephones and illegal operations are part of the game.

There is another set of officers who turn soft to politicians as they reach the stage of being

subjected to political scrutiny for being selected to coveted posts like the chief of theconcerned police set up. These officers are generally known as strict officers and hailed for

their professional uprightness and competence from the beginning of their career, which is

marked with erratic rises and falls on political whims. The public mark them as idealprofessionals. But changes appear in them as they approach the D-day of their career andthey become the best friends of political heads to corner selection posts with the zeal of a new

convert.

In an annual conference of police officers in a state police chief lambasted his ChiefMinister and Home Minister in his speech en face for denying him free hand in posting of

officers in professional interests. The officer next in seniority to the chief, whose selection as

the next police chief was to be decided soon rose to the occasion and against the decorum of a

professional meet, contradicted his chief to state that it was the prerogative of the ministersto post officers at their will. This shocked the assembled officers as he did that while he wasknown as a through professional and strict adherent to professional values and ethics. His

apostasy astounded the police officers attending the conference who trusted him to up holdthe values of his profession till the end.

It is a common practice in some states of India to change key officers of the policedepartment when a new dispensation takes over the rule. Changes in key position of thepolice department following changes in political rule are a common feature in most states.

This reflects how the political leadership of the country sees the professional loyalties of its

police. This credibility of the professional loyalty of the present Indian police isincredulously low even among the public. Political leadership believes that all those in police

are venal commodities, who can be win over by throwing loaves and fishes. It is convincedthat most in the police are loyal to one or the other political groups of the country and its

leaders and these factious loyalties within the police setup do make substantial differences to

its political fortunes. Ergo, the mad rush to place favourite police officers at key positionstout de suite of taking over the administration. Fractured loyalties of those in the police setup

are responsible for this triste affaire. It is natural for any to respond to the state of affair andmake hay while the sun shines. While political leaders play some police officers in deliciis and not others, they are only exploiting the Achilles’ heel of the organisation offered to

them on a platter and sharing the res gestae. The culprit here is the perverted loyalties of the

police. When the police play their priorities well by perspicuously defining their loyalties infavour of professional objectives of the police rather than myopically prevaricating to the

mire of personal loyalties against professional dignity, no more the political leadership finds

it feasible to keep its avizefull pernoctation over the police to play one against the other.While the police en semble are committed to their professional objectives, there is nothing to

the political leadership to choose from. What is termed as political interferences inplacements of police department is patently the making of the police by their gratuitous

personal loyalties and any blame on the political leadership on this count is assez bien uncalled and due to parablepsis.




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DEVALUATION OF PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES

The intelligence unit is the most abused section and its chief is the most willing loyal

subservient policeman available to political masters in most of the police forces of India.

Intelligence officers have a responsibility to their organisational objectives and they ought tobe loyal to it and work towards meeting the objectives. But, misplaced loyalties overturn the

scope of intelligence units everywhere in present Indian police. Intelligence units as a

consuetude are seen as the political handmaid of the ruling parties and their leaders. Theusefulness of the intelligence units as political tools is so pronounced in India that the unitsare ascensively brought under the direct control of the chief executive of the government

from its traditional field of the Home Department and as a consectary, intelligence chiefs are

accrescently becoming the prime advisers of the chief executive head and shoulder aboveeven the chief secretaries in states and the cabinet secretary in the centre. The out-of-turnimportance is a quid pro quo to the lengths to which these officers go and risk their personal

and career safety and honour in indulging in all types of illegalities to oblige the political

masters, lllegalities and unethical practices like telephone tapping and shadowing political

rivals of the ruling party leaders are only minor prevarications these loyal police officersindulge in to keep themselves on the right side of their political masters. Assessment ofpolitical trends and suitability of various candidates in different constituents during

elections and reporting of political and other activities of politicians within and outside andruling party are now wrongly seen as legitimate functions of intelligence units in Indian

police. The zeal of police officers to prove personal loyalty to the ruling political party and

its leaders often lead them even further. Though the loyalty of these police officers to theirpolitical masters foot the bill for any encomium, it sadly goes against all professional tenetsof any police organisation worth the name. But this is inconsequential to these police

officers. Professional interests lose all significance to them vis a vis loyalty to powerful per

procurationem self-promotions. Where loyalty to right ideals is a basic tenet of the policing,loyalty becomes a venal commodity to these police officers. The intelligence chief of a

particular state who was a favourite of the chief minister of the state and retained hisposition as the chief of the intelligence in additional charge even after promotion and posting

to a higher slot, led a huge contingent of intelligent officer and camped in Delhi for several

days to help his political masters manoeuvre for the Prime Ministership during the turbulentweeks of unstability after the general election of 1996. The tragedy of such a perverted

loyalty is the devaluation of the professional qualities of the policing apart from financialimplications of such operations and the block they create in legitimate government works.This is a fine example of sacrificing public interests at the altar of self-promotion of few

individuals.

Political leaders make best use of this Achilles’ heel in the police setup. How low police

officials at higher ranks stoop to be in good books of political masters can be seen in some

states by the concours among the two important pillers of the state police setup namely thestate intelligence chief and the Police Commissioner of the State Headquarters in front of the

state Chief Minister’s residence early every morning to have the first private audience of theChief Minister to themselves. This was a laughing matter in official circles some years back.

Though the hard work of these high profile police officers to rise everyday early in themorning to pay their obeisance and report to the chief executive of the state and their

sedulity to their work in hand have to be respected and appreciated, the issue is cannot they



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discharge these duties sans breaching the pride and dignity of their ranks and posts andwithout so obviously expressing their sequacious tendencies? After all, they have aresponsibility towards keeping the pride and dignity of their ranks and profession, if not of

their individuality.

SALVAGING OPERATION

The situation can be salvaged by clearing the cobwebs from the entrails of the Indianpolice. There is a catena of self-motivated officers in key positions in the police whounknowingly brought about the degringolade of the Indian police in the post-democratic era.

They corrupted the police atmosphere, set wrong precedences, encouraged self-indulgence,

pulled down its no-nonsense tough image and reduced it to its present cadaverousexistence. These elements should be side-lined to absorb men of probity to refurbish andrebuild the police setup. Only really capable impresarios can pull the Indian police out from

its present fix.





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fortnights or months, depending on the rank in the police hierarchy. It is years in the case ofthe constabulary. There are cases where vacancies of Head Constables and Assistant Sub-Inspectors or Sub-Inspectors are not filled up for several years, depriving the constabulary of

their de jure promotions. There are any number of instances of men in the constabulary

retiring without promotion non obstante their eligibility and seniority for the existingvacancies, which are not filled up from many years. Policing is a job performed mostly at

lower levels with decreasing involvement upto the level of Superintendent of Police. Beyond

that, it is tout court a supervisory task and in a police force with no supervision to speak of,higher ranks are just de trop. Any move to expand these ranks and any undue haste topromote to these levels cannot be called honest decisions in the functional or public interest.

Unfortunately, the Indian police is doing just that and there is none to put it back on the right

track.

DYNAMICS OF CORRUPTION

A fall-out of corruption in the police is build- up a dynamics which promotes the interests

of corrupt in the system at the cost of those who retained the pristine value ofprofessionalism. The flexible elements who can be menoeuvred to required moulds throughthe juste milieu of pelf and position are useful assets to people in key position to save their

kith and kins’ interests as and when they get involved in criminal proceedings. Suchcharacters in police are always cultivated and posted to key positions so that striking

compromises when situation warrants becomes easy. This strategy ends up in honest police

officers being sidelined and it promotes corruption. The dynamics while helps influentialindividuals to evade the long arm of law, harms the interests of the country, its police and therule of law. Police officers of plastic conscience are preferred to upright professionals to key

posts even in national level police agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the

Intelligence Bureau. Police officers known for professional approach are spurned anddistanced as inconvenient elements. In the situation, competence plays no role in preferences

while honesty, integrity and professional commitment play negative roles. A history ofbending backward on nonprofessional considerations always becomes a qualification in

obtaining preference to more sensitive jobs in important police organisations.

The first and foremost job to be done is to free the police from the unhealthy influence of

all hues by making it responsible to an independent authority with absolute power to takedecisions on matters pertaining to policing and police organisation. The authority should bea professional body with men of proven probity and quality as members, who have reached a

stage from where they need not sacrifice their convictions to appease those in power. A

working arrangement is to be devised by which the authority is responsible directly to thelegislature and functions as an independent authority like the judiciary, Comptroller and

Auditor General or Election Commissioner.

Creation of a high core group of people who are adept in assessing men and character

within the aforesaid police authority may help to create a feeling of confidence and jobsecurity and prod them into discharging their official duties fearlessly. This group which

oversees the work of police personnel from a distance should be made ultimately responsiblefor all career decisions. The responsibilities of officers in assessing the work of their

subordinates which forms the major embarrassment of the present Indian police must be




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limited to giving their opinion about performance to the core group; the expert core groupprocesses the opinion by its own research, expertise and discretion and takes responsibledecisions on its own. The group must be made responsible for development planning of the

police, work assessment, job analysis, recruitment and management of human resources,

Institution of such a core group to oversee the career development of police personnelwithout personal bias may bring revolutionary changes by committing the police to its work-

ethics and professional ends with due single mindedness.

The extant system of selecting the police chief is erratic at best and motivatedly amoral inthat it meets political ends of the rulers at worst. A conspicuous example is from a southern

state of India where a police officer who was sidelined in his career as an inefficient person

and degenerate habitual drunkard was given a fresh leash of lefe in career a I’improviste andposted as the chief of the state police in July 1980, after being promoted as the first DirectorGeneral of Police of the state to meet the political and personal ends of the new Chief

Minister of the state in new dispensation that came to power in the state in elections. Soon,

the state found itself engulfed in law and order problems, rise in incident of crimes,

indiscipline and discontent in the state police force and dangerous union activities by thepolice personnel. The new police Chief who was arranged to retire as IGP of the StateVigilance Commission before being awarded the coveted post of the state police chief was

known to attend office in inebriated condition and while away time in offence, doing nothing,However, political needs overshadow all such facts in selection to the posts of Police Chief.

This is a dangerous trend. Attempts of the Supreme Court of India in its recent order to

formulate a system for the selection of the chiefs of important police forces of the countrylike the CBI is a welcome measure at least in its intent and must spur steps to formulateprocedures of the selection of all key police posts to insulate the process from amoral and

very dangerous extraneous considerations. This is a must in the interests of the country.



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RIGHT ORIENTATION

IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Government service in a democracy is the service of the people by the people for thepeople within the reticulation of the rules and procedures in force. It is the core service of the

governance and implements the will of the people expressed through the collective political

leadership. It is the tool that really manages the country on the tapestry of the adopted policyby exercising all the wherewithal of a management tool-box like planning, organizing,

execution and control by its ubiquitous presence. Right orientation is sine qua non for theself-management through own representatives under the political leadership in the

government. People au naturel are unifocal in self-interests au fond . An orientation of theright kind to lift them in the direction of the larger interests of the largest part of the

population is the raison d’etre of any government service. It is this higher direction that

ideally differentiates those in government service from the hoi polloi. Reality is different in

the field. The reasons for that are as diverse as wrong orientation and wrong people in theservice.

OPTIONS

The choice is bifocal to redeem the situation: either select only the people of right

orientation of larger interests in heart or inculcate the right orientation by right training, rightpractices and right job culture on those who are selected. The process of selecting the peopleof right orientation to the behemoth of government service of Indian dimension is easier said

than done. The Indian institutions constituted for the purpose are too ill-equipped for the job

and too steeped in inefficiency, corruption and lack of positive approach for any perficient

performance even in responsibilities of far lesser magnitude. India has no alternative but to gofor the latter option of inculcating the right orientation.

The second option at best is a weak shadow of the first. Its tools are directed towardsattitudinal change. The tools are too weak for the immanent changes warranted even if

presumed that right training, right practices and right job culture to bring about the new

avatar exist at all. Human nature is too complex for such an easy metabasis. Right tools arebecoming ascensively far afar to find in the extant power-hungry milieu of the present

government service. The legacy of the colonial rule in power-centric governance continueseven after more than five decades of the independence. The prise of the power-orientation in

preference to service-orientation is accrescently going tenacious in government service.

Combined with the fact that lesser mortals are now joining the fray of the government servicecourtesy selection institutions nonpareil to the job, the situation can only be imagined. People

of all kinds join the service and indulge in all kinds of loots and sins. People accustomed tolong colonial rule are taking umbrage under the Karmic Law as the misdeeds in name ofgovernance by their own people are found to be the ineluctable reality of life. They take

epinosic satisfaction by the facts that the situation is worse in neighbouring and African

countries. We are taught to be patriotic and committed to the country and the governmentwhich sins against us. We are perorated with such inutile plangent phrases as ours is the




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biggest democracy in the world and we are a nuclear power ad manum to be a super power ofthe world that signify nothing to most Indians weighed down with misrule. Only rightorientation in government service can save the country from the entoilment and spread a new

entrainement in the people.

LARGER INTERESTS

The raison d’etre of the government service is its orientation towards larger interests en

face the extant tournure of the narrow interests critical to human nature. Larger interestsimply a sense of right and wrong, sensitivity to others’ sufferings and a genuine love for the

human kind. Even after presuming the exiguity of such noble qualities in the ambience

around, the standards existing in the extant Indian government service is far from satisfactoryand horrific tout court by any standards. It is just perversion drunk by the temulence ofpower. It is erratic to say the least. It is insulsity at best and perversion at the worst. It is

twisting rules and procedures to meet self-interests al piu. What is striking is the fact that it

has become the culture of the governance of free India. India has become free perchance to let

its government service to have a dissolute culture of its own choice sans interference ab

extra. This seems the ground reality of the last five decades of the Indian independence. Anexample illustrates assez bien the degringolade of the government service and those who man

it.

WRONG MODEL

A Mathematics lecturer from a college joined government service four decades back. His fastus from the sudden rise perforce cost him his seniority in preference to a junior during the

training. His unpopularity among the public got him an entry as “immature” in ACR. He got

an important posting on promotion where he betrayed gratuitous harshness that cost him thepost in less than a year to be posted to head a training institute.

This is where the crunch of running the government service comes to the fore and exposes

itself in puris naturalibus. A training institute is the first point of tryst of a recruit with his

future service and its head his true model to become. Hundreds of young recruits passed outas officers in the next three years from the institute with its head as a model binged in them.

Later, many a precious careers withered under the peise of the wrong model. The wrongorientations received during the training make inveterate and lasting impact that cannot beeasily deracinated. Wrong models unwanted other-where heading training institutions is the

first symptom of a grave malady the government service is suffering with.

The officer was denied decent postings promotion after promotion. He was sent on

deputation to head a middle sized state undertaking. His misconduct there led to a state-wide

agitation of its staff in 1985. Later, he was deputed to head the state prisons department. Hisstewardship there witnessed an unprecedented mafia gang war within the four walls of a

prison resulting in murder of an egregious inmate in 1995. An enquiry by the Home Secretaryarraigned the officer for serious lapses.



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MISCONCEPTION

The officer headed his department for five months before retirement. This is another post

where the fonctionnaire serves as a model to the subordinates. His appointment to the post

was opposed by some on the grounds of merit. This gave rise to two groups in his favour andagainst in the department. The new chief in excelsis in his career acted avec acharnement

against those belonging to the opposite camp by sending them to insignificant posts in god-

forsaken corners of the state. He, drunk in the fulgour of his new status, unreasonably actedon some others assuming the role of a soi disant motivation specialist and brought gratuitoussufferings to them. A naïve officer with complete fide et fiducia on the new chief sought

transfer back to the state capital to any of the umpteen vacant posts existing. The new chief

promised an immediate posting and consented for the subordinate going on leave pending thetransfer. Thereafter, the chief went on delaying the transfer by encouraging the pianissimosubordinate to extend the leave for the next four months until himself retired. The subordinate

au desespoir approached the State Chief Secretary only to find that the latter was advised by

the chief not to meet the subordinate. The Chief Secretary did just that. This speaks volumes

about present administration. The achilles’ heel lies in the mediocrity and the inability ofthose in higher levels of the government service in this star-stricken land to comprehend whatreally constitute administration and misconceive it as a show of ruthlessness and cruelty. The

justification of the chief for his queer and perverted conduct oblivious of the sufferings andagony caused was that he was doing all those things as a motivation specialist to help the

subordinate in his career! His preposterous motivation skills ens rationis was really a cloak to

his native sadism that cost the enfested subordinate his faculty of trusting anybody. This is acase of pure schadenfreude en pure perte.

SERVICE

The core of right orientation in government service is an understanding of the sufferings

of others and willingness to mitigate it through the accepted means of rules, laws andprocedures. Power is only the subsidiary of the process and comes to play as a tool in aid of

making service to the people possible. There is no place for fastus, show of power,

schadenfreude and playing with the lives of others in the scheme. It is humility and agemutlich sense of service to others that is fundamental to it. Any government manned by the

people without these essential ingredients is bound to be a heath of tyranny and face the wrathof the plebeian in rerum natura. That is why the manning of the government service warrantsutmost care and expertise in running the government. The edifice of the right governance

stands on the terra firma of the right orientation. The governance is just nonexistent or leads

to a welter of tyranny of the people in the skein of wrong orientations.

RIGHT PLACES

The right orientation can be either inborn or acquired. In absence of appropriate tools

to trace inborn orientations with certitude, only the process of acquiring the right orientationscan be depended upon. Right models have tremendous impact on the process as do wrong

models. It is the models and the precedents that determine and festinate the orientation of thefuture. Models in right places have tremendous impacts in enracing right orientations in the

body of the government service. Head of an institution that trains recruits exercises powerful





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VALUE SYSTEM

IN INDIAN BUREAUCRACY

The word ‘value’ from the French root valoir suggests a sense of worth as rising from the

innards of the conscience. The perception of a given value varies with the variae lectiones of

the amoebic milieu. The dependence of the value structure on milieu is the source of all thecorrida de toros of the human world. The value system of an individual and an organization

of which he consciously or by compulsion is a part are rarely identical. This basically is thesource of all human conflicts. This is more so in the present age of accrescent entoilment of

human activities. Nowhere in the extant world, the conflict of value systems is found asobvious as in the behemoth of the Indian bureaucracy. That is why people with a strong

conscience find themselves in cul-de-sac in government service unless they adapt personal

value structures to the needs of the bureaucracy that is mediocre at the best and criminal at the

worst.

CONTRARIOUS VALUES

The value system in bureaucracy is bifarious: inherent values and survival-oriented

values. The two facets of the same value system further metagrobolise the complexity of the

value system of the bureaucracy ab intra. Add apocryphal elements in the garb of valuesnatural to the Indian bureaucracy to the broth, the field is ready for all the dramas of thisworld.

A person’s locus standi in the affairs of his life is subject to his position in the mélange of

these often contrarious values at diverse ambiences. Adamantine commitment to a value hasno place here. Skeely manoeuvring of positions from time to time, unfortunately, decides the

success in life. If value is understood by its true definition, the extant formula of flexibility

for success is nothing but refutation of the concept of values per se. This is the ineluctablefact of life to which human activities have devolved themselves. An illustration suffices to

make the point clear.

A young officer in 1960s began his career in a South Indian state with commitment to the

high values of public service laced with strictness and discipline of very high order au naturel to his age and the nascent stage of his career. He was a terror to wrong-doers in 1970s as a

district level executive officer and proved very successful in his work. His unimpeachable

integrity as also no-nonsense mien rendered him unpopular among both subordinates andsuperiors. He was removed from his district posting in less than a year on the pressures of the

vested interests and never found a responsible posting sinsyne with a profile in officialrecords as immature inter alia. His failure lay in his individual value system not being attunedto what the bureaucracy expected of him.




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SURVIVAL INSTINCT

Being enervated by the developments and angst-ridden, he realized that he has no future

in the career with his own convictions and values. This turned him so much inward that he

became proficient in psychology and soon got doctorate in the subject. He did everything toreconcile his traits and nature to the imperatives of the bureaucratic values. He went out of his

way to please everybody and made it his habit. The changes found favour with none with the

aura popularis yet defying him and he went on losing mainstream postings as rose in rankand even remained without posting for nearly a year in 1990s at a very high rank on thesuspicion of gross negligence in discharge of duties leading to a serious disaster as a

consequence of his newly acquired traits of casualness. With the ablet, his nature saw the

affret of enthusiasm to please the political leadership of the state a toute force as heapproached the benchmark of the selection to the post of the head of the department. As thepopular perception continued to be against him as a candidate for the coveted post, the

energumen began to play the caste card with the political leadership a corps perdu. His

efforts to undermine the chances of a senior backfired as the latter after retirement as the head

of the department filed cases against the former succeeding him as the departmental chief.The point is that the officer succeeded in heading the department as the altaltissimo of hiscareer though for a short period by the surgery he performed on his persona, convictions and

innate values. Though flexibility paid, one wonders whether the quid pro quo was worth thesurgery and could not he be a person more in harmony with himself if he had continued with

his pristine value system avec acharnement . His predecessor is another example of the same

process but for that that after finding failures of the new values to provide the aex triplex heneeded, he took recourse back to his innate values and won court battles to head thedepartment.

CRISIS OF VALUES

The tragedy of the officer was that the process of the changes found him shedding awaytruly noble values innate to him. His integrity became a disaster in the process. His name as

the Managing Director of the state’s Tourist Development Corporation in 1980s was linked to

his young PA after he was noticed spending long hours with her under locked doors andirregularly elevating her to officer’s rank to the consternation of the entire staff that went on

state-wide strike against the Managing Director. He was also suspected of wrong-doings inpurchase of hundreds of cars by the Tourist Development Corporation to run as tourist cars.

It clearly is a case of honest besoin to adapt to the imperatives of the bureaucracy for

survival going awry. The attempts are justifiable on the grounds of the survival instinct basicto human nature, because the bureaucracy as it is has no value for anything extra muros. It

recognizes only its values and remains adamantine to anything ectogenesis. Therefore, the

choice for a principled officer is between an unsuccessful career for adhering to one’s ownvalues and convictions or quitting. Good jobs are difficult to come. Ergo, ordinary mortal’s

survival instincts lead to sacrifice his values and principles to adapt to the requirements of thebureaucracy at any cost to the self and its convictions. Everybody cannot be a saint. Thus the

need to adapt own values to the bureaucratic imperatives is ineluctable until Indianbureaucracy grows to be mature enough to accept and absorb higher values ab extra.



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XENOPHOBIA

A process of ossification has set-in in Indian bureaucracy in absence of real growth and

evolution after independence. The political leadership find the development to its advantage.

The bureaucracy found itself as fish out of water when its leading guides returned to Britainafter independence. Those who handled the higher bureaucracy sinsyne followed from where

the British left with their own mediocre interpretations of an ideal bureaucratic setup. The

result is the extant bureaucracy of India devoid of creativity, initiative, understanding and asense of public service. This reduced the definition of the public administration to mean useof rules and procedures to delay or obstruct decisions or actions just for the purpose of

proving existence. The new setup developed a queer xenophobia towards deviations from the

set patterns as a threat to the very existence of the bureaucracy. The mindset evolved to apernoctation against any fresh breeze ab extra and a tendency to deracinate any move to thatend in the bud itself. Nothing fresh can leak-in to such a bureaucracy a huis clos.

BUREAUCRATIC CULTURE

The indifference is limited to the values ectogenesis to the home-grown value system. Thethree factors that exercise true prise on Indian bureaucracy beyond the limits are caste

affiliations, political patronage and money power. They have become pollent values inter se.You can buy practically anything from the present Indian bureaucracy with them en arriere.

And you find what virtually is hell on the Earth without these factors to back you.

The bureaucracy of India in the last five decades has become a law to itself with an opus musivum of a ribald culture spreading tentacles of a reticulation of rights and wrongs beyond

the reach of any known precepts of decent human conduct. Here, power is the supreme deity

that absterges all sins, reasons and feelings. That naturally renders the rank in bureaucracy thehighest virtue and age, merit, character and human dignity eat dust in the milieu. Such a

bureaucracy is a perfect ground for the growth of all types of evils and human weaknesses.There was a Sanskrit scholar with moderate successes as a writer in a provincial language

holding a very senior post in the bureaucracy of a South Indian state. He held huge functions

for the release of his books by dignitaries including the state Chief Minister. A junior whobecame distinguished as a poet and as a writer decided to release his book through the

Governor of the state. The senior in the bureaucracy out of sheer jealousy spread canards andexercised his personal weight to ensure that the function was cancelled just twenty-four hoursbefore the release of the book by the Governor of the state. This is Indian bureaucracy after

independence in puris naturalibus.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

The cardinal question is why the Indian political leadership tolerated such anobstructionist bureaucracy for all these years. The reason is that the political leadership finds

itself comfortable with the ossified and unenlightened bureaucracy. There is no danger of anenlightened bureaucracy overshadowing it and taking all the limelight for positive

performances. On the other hand, an inert and unenlightened bureaucracy is a handy tool tobear the burdens of all failures. An ineffectual bureaucracy naturally brings higher stature to

the political leadership in public perception. It has become a fashion in India to blame the




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political leadership for all evils of the country. The true blame for the maelstrom the countryfinds itself with, must lay on the threshold of the crippled bureaucracy and its blotched valuesystem. Sine dubio, Indian political leadership now is more enlightened than its bureaucracy.

The edge of the bureaucracy seen in pre-independent era is no more evident now. The reason

is that the political leadership kept its doors open for fresh air and updated its value systemfrom time to time unlike the bureaucracy. While the bureaucracy rarely looks beyond the

edges of its desk and never outside the window, it is the political leadership that navigated

India through diverse innovative phases like NAM, mixed economy, socialistic pattern ofsociety, social control and now economic reforms. Even the recent Agra Summit to bringpeace to the South-Asia region is a fine example of an innovative political leadership.

An enlightened bureaucracy with a noble value structure is a great blessing to anycountry. Unfortunately, Indian bureaucracy at all levels flourish on the ruses like falling oneach other to lick the boots of the rich and powerful and bending double over to please the

political leadership or play the caste card. These ruses always payed a natura rei in the

ambience of the Indian bureaucracy after independence courtesy the tendency of the political

leadership to play the bureaucratic minions against each other. This prevented the evolutionof higher value system in Indian bureaucracy.

Every setup strictly has its own culture and value system. An individual perforcereconciles his personal values with that of an organization when he chooses to be its part. He

is required to sacrifice his own convictions and values in the service of the larger interests of

the organization. The predicament is perficiently brought out by William Butler Yeats in twolines of the poem, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” when the airman sings,

“ Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;”

Such a situation is common while organizational objectives and values take precedence overindividual objectives and values. The conundrum of such a reconciliation lies in resorting to

the adaptations while the organization as in Indian bureaucracy suffered degringolade in its

value structure en face the higher value structure of the individual. The ambience necessitatesthe individual lower himself to the lower world to fit-in for survival with the full knowledge

that he is becoming a lesser human being in the process. That is the true challenge on thefresh recruits to the government service in India who enter the services with starry eyes andtrue commitment to the public service inspired ab imo pectore and soon end-up perforce in

the quagmire of conflicting values.






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model to the administration down the line. The bureaucracy of India is too hardboiled a unitfor such a quick change of colours. The reality is the other way round. The political leaderswho come to power have no alternative but go d’ accord with the demands of the bureaucracy

or perish. Politicians as they are, do adapt to their survival instincts and barter their visions

for possible quid pro quo in power. The bureaucracy in India really enjoys a commandingposition in the governance of the country.

WRONG ATTITUDES

The tragedy of India is that their position and importance is not amated by requisite

qualities, merit, passion and commitment for effective and good governance. The Indian

bureaucracy is seized with wrong attitudes and evils that waste it away ab intra. Competencehas become a disaster. Wrong people in wrong jobs is a serious malady enervating the publicadministration of the day. Political heads are wrongly blamed for the havoc. It is the

bureaucracy for its own parochial ends at the cost of the bureaucratic integrity and ideals that

invite the trouble and guide the political leadership in the evil path.

HUMAN ELEMENTS

The extant bureaucracy ensemble is marked by lack of human concerns and empathy forthe fellow men. Being as rigid as rules and procedures of which those in the bureaucracy are

custodians of is wrongly accepted as en regle for those in the bureaucracy. This has deprived

the elements of heart and compassion from the body of the bureaucracy. Initiatives, novelideas and creative pursuits are seen as the antithesis of the governance. This has deprived theelements of brain and intellect from the corpus of the public administrative system. The result

is a deadweight-bureaucracy weighing down on the live India and sucking it dry with evils

and misuse of the powers invested on it for governing and steering the country ahead.

INTEGRITY

India is an egregious forerunner in the world among countries most corrupt in public life.

The root cause of this grave malady is India’s corrupt governance pregnant with inefficiency,indifference and gross temulence of power devoid of human elements. Bureaucratic measures

have become synonymous in popular parlance and perception in India with foolhardydecisions and actions far removed from reality. Lack of accountability is the leitmotiv ofgovernance in India. This is a malengine consciously evolved ab intra to safeguard self-

interests. Power sans accountability rendered governance in India an evil per se.

INSENSITIVITY

The evils of governance need not always be directed only against outsiders. Inscienceknows no boundaries. Even those within may become cruel victims of its grossly unrealistic

and farcical decisions as in the case of a highly talented and multifaceted genius who joinedgovernment service in 1978. He was soon recognized for sheer brilliance and purity of

character as a diamond that can fit anywhere and as a peacock among the fowls. Soon therecognition itself turned a noose on his neck. It was assessed by the inscient bureaucracy that

his outstanding attributes might prevent him from becoming popular among the seniors and



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prevent him from reaching higher levels. A two-pronged strategy was devised. He was to beroughed-up and denied promotions to rub-off his superior qualities and the intimidating auratill the detrition by the sufferings forces him down to the ordinary level. Once the job is

accomplished, his lost seniority was to be restored a few years before retirement.

ATROCITIES

He was denied promotions following the meretricious career plan year after year till his junior colleagues became senior to him by two ranks. He was posted to most humiliatingposts and harassed endlessly. However, the process got caught in a skein as the infaust officer

refused to come down from his immanent and really superior qualities even after two decades

of immanity and sufferings while the bureaucracy refused to yield and give up its illegal andunconstitutional stance until the officer condescends to the mediocre levels. The refusal of theofficer to approach judiciary against the ill treatment for redressal and his resolve to depend

solely on his talents and character helped the establishment to persist with the preposterous

process a corps perdu. His morale remained en bon point and high throughout non obstante

serious humiliations and endless grief. He aequo animo sought refuge in other fields and wonnonpareil accolades from everybody by sheer talents. His tormentors tout de suite followedhim there too. The head of the State Intelligence who himself a small-time writer and

published a few books in a regional language used esoteric threats in 2000 on the publishersof the accurst officer to discourage them from publishing his books. The publishers who

already had published half a score books of the officer returned a contre coeur two

manuscripts of the officer in sheer desperation a natura rei expressing helplessness en face the police interferences.

TRANSPARENCY

Fanciful premises bordering madness tout court leading to irresponsible and eristic career

plans of that dimensions are possible only in governance utterly lacking in accountability andonly a sacred country like India can produce such gross grief, sufferings and humiliations eo

nomine noble intensions en pure perte. Lack of transparency makes such etourdi atrocities

possible and permits its practice for decades en pantoufles as in the case study.

PUBLIC CAUSE

The case is an eye-opener to how merit, talent and character of very high order meted out

by the mediocrity of the governance in the Indian milieu. Jealousy is common. Anybody

junior receiving limelight is seen with resentment and suspicion. The major achilles’ heel ofthe governance in India is its inability to understand others’ predicaments. Governance in

quiddity is safeguarding national interests and the welfare of the people. These factors

perforce involve empathy with the people and sensitivity to their interests. These are thespringboards of good governance. No governance worth the name can render meaningful

public service sans the spirit of building bridges to the hoi polloi in whose service it drawssustenance and what constitutes its raison d’ etre. Good governance must be built on the terra

firma of human concerns and sensitivity to others’ predicaments.




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ACCOUNTABILITY

Another requisite of good governance is accountability. It gives sanctity to power and

makes it meaningful and relevant in the scheme of governance. Power is a raw energy.

Accountability gives it sophistication and purpose. Governance sans accountability has thetendency of hijacking the country to the pit of evils that power breeds. Checks and

counterchecks serve the purpose of good governance by rendering itself to the litmus test of

accountability, ipso facto bringing in the elements of responsibility to the field of governance.In the ambience of civil servants functioning in the shadow of the political leadership, theformer mastered the art of evading accountability and responsibility. The successes boldened

them to the derring-does of larger dimensions. The recent US-64 debacle is the point. India

can ill-afford repeat performances of that dimension and must save from such disasters infuture through an uneluctable parameter of accountability that alone can dawn an era ofresponsible governance in the country.

OBJECTIVITY

A cardinal principle of good governance is objectivity and fair play. The governance aspublic administration is inevitably circumvented by pulls and counter-pulls of diverse kinds

to influence decisions and actions. The compulsions for yielding to either side are enormousand it reduce the governance to a mere play or dynamics of lobbyists and influence-pedlars. A

good governance must stand up to the pressures. This requires tremendous inner strength and

singular commitment to the public cause. It is easier said than done. However, thiscommitment is sine qua non for good governance. While accountability is an apparatus toprotect the governance from the indulgences of the fonctionnaire ab intra like greed,

irresponsibility and love for easy life, the shield of objectivity protects it from the ectogenous

onslaughts of pressures, temptations and threats. While accountability must evolve as anexternal mechanism ingrained in the body of the governance, objectivity is an inner faculty

either inborn or acquired as the fond of good governance.

IMBALANCES

Good governance should have its powers and responsibilities amated and evenly

distributed in the fabric of the governance. This ensures smooth governance d’ accord withthe principles of democracy. Another factor core to good governance is a balance of powersand responsibilities propped up with transparency in state affairs. Responsibilities sans

powers end up with failures in performance and powers non compris responsibilities breed

undue morgue and lead to harassment of the public. Governance sans transparency is at theroot of all evils and goes tout au contraire to the very rationale of the democracy. It can

neither be fair nor earn the trust of the people.

OPEN MIND

No governance is worth the salt without a passion for developmental and welfare

activities in national interests. The passion widens the horizons of the mind as against thatcircummured by isms of theoretical hang that can never provide a good and open governance.

A passion pure and clear for the welfare and development of the nation and its people by any



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means is a prerequisite for good governance. Only that keeps mind open for all developmentsworldwide and absorb really the best for the country.

VISION

The most basic requirement of any good governance is a vision, an ability to look ahead

to the future of the country with great expectations and endless possibilities in sidelines. This

is potential of evolving the governance to greater heights to herald an era of successes andprosperity. Visions carve paths to the future and prod the governance to navigate along thecourse. It provides a break from the quotidian plod in preference to innovative strides to fulfil

the vision. Governance sans vision is like building an edifice a tatons without a plan or

blueprint. It at best is a random erection. Vision gives direction and purpose to thegovernance. It gives a grandeur and a proportion to the process. No governance can be goodand complete without a vision to steer ahead and a true governance can be built only on the

terra firma of a vision. The old concept of a prosperous India is based on the vision of

“Rama Rajya”. The new concept of India coming of age is based on the vision of a world

power or a regional power in Asia. Once a vision of that dimension is en arriere to back, it iseasy to put the pluses and minuses to conceive a strategy towards the end. Otherwise,governance is nothing more than mechanical motions.

India in its long history saw governance of all kinds, proportions and dimensions and

survived through them. It saw the worst and the best in its 2500 years of recorded history. It,

like other old civilizations of the world, has worked as the crucible of various experiments ingovernance. The governance in India now is based on this long experience. It is the collectivewill for good governance that is lacking in India. The consequence is that the hoi polloi suffer

and the country fails to reach the height it is potential of. The besoin of the extant India is the

evolution of a collective will to have a good governance. People must pool their energies toforce a good governance for the country. Indeed the job is not easy and the resistance from

those in charge of the governance whose interests lie in the status quo is bound to be hard.But, this cannot be a reason to leave the matter of this dimension unattended as the fate of one

billion people depends on this development. Only such a collective will can devolve truly

good governance for the country.





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values of grace, integrity, humility, fairness and humane approach are increasingly at apremium. Reaching top by any means is the motto. The gestalt of the All India Services wasconceived and designed to overcome exactly this milieu. But, alas, it proved no match to the

sweeping sleight of the Indian talent.

Crisis of Material

The primacy of the katabasis necessarily goes to the crisis of material, it be in themembers of the All India Services or the selecting and recruiting agency for the services or

the governments that manage the services. Right people are not in right positions. None can

contend that a vast country like India does not have people of right fortitude, strength ofcharacter and creative talent who can withstand the lure of survival instinct at the cost of theirconscience, however bad be the milieu around. India does have people of such calibre in its

fold even now as it was always. The tragedy is that the agency charged with the sacred

responsibility of identifying such talents and selecting, in the deviant intelligence of its

equally mediocre human material that lacks creative depth, is failing the country by doing justthe opposite by filtering such talents away as incompatible with the present politicaldynamics and thereby perpetuating the rotten state of affairs in the country. What India needs

at this juncture are men and women who can stand for their conscience nec cupias nec

metuas.

Vicious Circle

Politics being the art of possible, it is to the credit of the Indian politicians that they did

job extraordinaire in taking full advantage of the pusillanimous All India Services of the

post-independent vintage in the last half century to promote the interests of their own, theirpolitical parties and the political field in general though at mammoth cost to the interests of

the country, its public morale and its people. The situation has spawned a vicious circle to theadvantage of the political masters wherein the All India Services are seized with a crisis of

confidence in the popular mind as far as its superior merit, integrity and competence are

concerned and in that further helped the politicians to corner the whilom superior services. Nostate or union territory now needs them. They prefer local talents. Those forced on them by

the Central government are sidelined to insignificant jobs unless there are special reasonsinvolving quid pro quo. The situation only can add to the parochial and regional sentiments inthe country and boost divisive tendencies rather than working as a unifying factor.

The All India Services are fast losing the sheen of their all India nature because of theinadequacies of the agency that makes selections to the services; there is undoubtedly wild

demand for superior merit, integrity, efficiency and excellence in running the country and the

rare virtues do prove the aex triplex of the services. No sane political leader can ignore theneed of such rare talents helping in running the country. Sadly, the All India Services not to

be that in free India.




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Strength of Character

Excellence and courage to stand up to conscience go together. It is these that made theAll India Services of the British vintage the steelframe of India. If anything, the extant All

India Services lack both. There is nothing like a steep fall. None know it better now than the

members of the All India Services. They must double bend to the dictates of criminal nuancesof their political masters for survival or face sidelining. Most condescend and rise to glorywhile a handful resist and perish. The situation needs strength of character kat’ exochem to

stand up and cleanse the system and can be met only by diligent selections and support by

men of true calibre. Sadly India is dearly lacking in this department.

Virtus post Numnos

Situation is extremely bad in public administration even in best of the states of India. Acut of 10% to the concerned minister from every fund released, it be for developmental works

or a special law and order programme, is a normal affair and treated as a legitimate cut. Itwould be followed with other cuts down the line. Any resistance is invitation to be shunted

out and sidelined as an inconvenient and problematic candidate. Either you connive in the

crime or perish. There is no third choice. It is the case with plump postings also. It is virtus

post numnos. Either you bribe and connive in criminal activities with those who count orwaste your entire career in insignificant posts. There is no other choice. Most in the extant All

India Services willingly oblige and see the glory of their career. They are in majority and call

themselves practical. But, practical at what cost? The trend grievously belies the very raison

d’etre of the All India Services.

How the situation can be saved and the tide reversed? The only way out is restoring the

All India Services to its whilom glory of excellence and strength of character. This involvesright selection. Excellence and strength of character once around, naturally rally efficiency

and integrity around and perforce compel political bosses to see reason and follow the rule of

law. Political leaders as zoon politikon, what really they are, are nothing if not chameleonic to

the milieu around as a professional compulsion. It is left to the senior civil servants at the AllIndia Services rank as a group to create right atmosphere as a model of the public service.

Political leaders have no option but to fit in to the frame. This is why once the All IndiaServices was called the steelframe of India. Indian constitution makers did provide a right

gestalt for that. It is left to us to infuse right character to the system before it is too late.



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NEED OF LEAN AND MEAN CIVIL SERVICES

Civil services are the pillars on which the gestalt of a nation stands and structure is

built. Pillars need strength and height to make an edifice stable and meaningful. So also arecivil services. Civil service is a mammoth plexus of complex interfaces spliced together to

facilitate the governance of the country pro bono publico. It is not a decorative piece of thepublic administration. It has to be purposive and focused and deliver goods efficiently

without proving a burden to the structure. It should be lean and mean and feracious.

Inefficient and bloated civil service only tends to be furacious.

Indian national leaders by 1947 had come to appreciate the advantages of having a highlyqualified and institutionalized administration in place a la the elite Indian Civil Service and

allied services of the colonial British Raj especially at a time when social tensions threatened

national unity and public order. Indian Constitution established the Indian Administrative

Service and other civil services to replace the colonial Indian Civil Service and allied servicesand ensure uniform and impartial standards of administration and promote effective

coordination in social and economic development.

Although the elite public services continue to command great prestige, their social statusdeclined in the decades after independence. India's crème de la crème are increasingly

attracted to private-sector employment where salaries are substantially higher. Public opinionof civil servants has also been lowered by popular perceptions that bureaucrats areunresponsive to public needs and corrupt. Corruption has become a growing problem as civil

servants have become subject to intense political pressures.

The Indian civil service system has followed the classical Weberian model and tendsto be conformist in the process of cooperating with the politicians. The public perceives the

Indian civil service system as the no-change agents. It lacks innovativeness, initiative,

empathy, and drive for change. The Government of India and its 25 provincial governmentsspend about 3.5% of the GDP on its civil servants. They employ about eight million in the

civil service, which is 50% of the employment provided in the organised sector.

The Fifth Pay Commission in its report submitted in January 1997 had suggested a

30% downsizing of the civil service across the board. According to the Ferrel Heady

configuration, the Indian civil service system has a majority-party responsiveness. The senseof mission held by it is a mixed bag of compliance, cooperation, policy-responsiveness,

constitutional responsiveness, and guidance. Though the configuration of Philip Morganidentifies the Indian civil service system as the principal agent of the state, some of the

characteristics of the patrimonial state still pervade the country and to that extent its civilservice system.

Vishnugupta of the Mauryan period authored a treatise known as Kautilya's

Arthashastra around 313 BC wherein he laid down the qualifications of the civil servants forappointment to the court. He opined therein that loyalty and sincerity should be the main




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qualifications in a person to be appointed as a civil servant and recommended a system ofchecks and balances in the appointment of civil servants covering clearance by the vigilancedepartment, a continuous watch on their performances and quotidian performance report to

the king on each key civil servant. The recommendations hold relevance even today after 23

centuries in a democratic setup. The civil service contrived by Akbar, the Great had welfareand a regulatory-orientation. The British model of the civil service in the earlier stage were

far away from the common people and never tried to mix with and impress upon the people.

They had least interest in the transformation of the Indian society. The British government setup the Indian civil service in 1911 to strengthen the British administration and its colonialbase in India. The independence of the country posed new challenges to the civil servants.

Welfare of the people and the internal peace and security became the prime tasks of the civil

services.

The onset of economic planning in India in 1951 with the First Five-Year Plan

enjoined on the Indian civil services the role of development administration covering theadministration of public enterprises, regulation of the private sector, formulation of socio-

economic and political policies, elimination of poverty, development of rural areas,

combating inflation, effective monetary management, reduction of gender gap, elimination ofsocial inequity inter alia. India encountered severe resource crunch in early 1980s that further

deepened by the end of the decade leading to a new economic policy in 1991 that saw a

rollback of the economic activities to liberalisation and privatisation at macro and microlevels in the changed global environment. While civil servants acted as personal servants of

rulers in ancient India, they became state servants in the medieval age and acquired thecomplexion of public servants in the British India. The ethos of the civil services changed todevelopment-orientation in 1950s and to a facilitator's role in the 1990s to meet the

challenges of the democratic needs of the teeming millions. The point here is that the civilservices is and has to be a nebulous body sans its own agenda, commitments and ideologies

in a democracy and function subordinate to the national needs and policy prioritized by the

political leaders. Indian civil services of the British vintage worked so and the civil servicesof the democratic vintage nolens volens must follow tout de suite. That is the democracy

India consciously opted for and obliged to follow.

In his letter dated October 15, 1948 to the Constituent Assembly, Vallabhbhai Patel,

the then Prime Minister opined, “…an efficient, disciplined and contented service assured ofits prospects as a result of diligent and honest work is a sine qua non of sound administrationunder a democratic regime even more than under an authoritarian rule. The service must beabove party and we should ensure that political considerations either in its recruitment or in

its discipline and control are reduced to the minimum, if not eliminated altogether.” These are

truly prophetic words relevant to the present India that penetrate the conundrums of its civilservice issues. The emphasis is on an efficient and neutral civil service. However, the

problem here is the undue extension of the concept to conceive two power-centers between

political policy-makers and civil service executives. Justice M.P.Thakkar while hearing aSpecial Leave Petition of a senior civil servant, Jagdish Chander Jetli in Supreme Court in

1988 observed inter alia, “The appointment of the Secretary to Government of India is not on

the basis of a competitive examination where a candidate who secures 99 per cent of markshas to be appointed. Even when a person appoints a cook or a watchman, he looks for a

person in whom he has faith. How can Government of India appoint any person as Secretary



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in whom it has no faith?” and the SLP was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The twocontrarious observations sum up the ground realities and the predicament of the civil servicesof India in a democratic milieu. It must maintain its integrity and independence, and en

attendant earn acceptability and faith of the political leadership. This calls for a tact and skill

kat exochem. A civil service sans that cadeau crumbles to be the handmaid of the politicalleadership for survival and sycophancy reaches new heights every passing day to the level of

suspending an acolyte from service for spelling wrongly the name of the daughter of the

materfamilias of the party in power while sending an invitation.

Struggle between survival and dignity is as old as human history is. Going for dignity andright values ignoring survival factors is not everybody’s staple. It takes tremendous inner

strength and resolve. It is this rare calibre that is the indigence of the extant civil services ofIndia. It is this rara avis that must constitute the pillars on which the plexus of the civilservices must rest. These powerful pillars perforce must be limited in number to avoid

degradation by mass mélange and absorption of anyone of some pull and money power andsafeguard standards in excelsis. Indeed the best does not come for peanuts. Whatever goes for

is far more worth of it. Secondly, a perficient, resourceful and workaholic lean civil services

replacing extant sedent and inefficient bulk of workforce certainly provide a solution to theevils of the administrative overhead apportioning the major part of the public expenditures of

the Government.

Efficient and small is always effective. Right selection and steadfast upkeep of high

standards are easier while size is small. A plexus of civil services built on this bedrock can dowonders to the country. What India needs now is a lean and mean civil services imbued withindustry, talent, honesty and commitment extraordinaire to its responsibilities. A beginning

can be made in creation of a new lean and mean superior service above the present IndianAdministrative Service with liberal perks and service benefits even after retirement to attract

the crème de la crème. A specially constituted board of professionals and experts free frompolitical obligations must handle selection and the management of the new Service. Its

selection and recruitment must be a multi-polar strategy devised with a passion to enroll the

best from whatever source, field or age group sans extraneous obligations like reservations inthis nonesuch Service. The guiding principle here is maximum yield out of maximal talent,

integrity, commitment, industry, and responsibilities en revanche of extraordinary benefits in

service and outside. Such a top-brass guiding administration by personal example at the helmprovides a new job culture down the stream and helps trimming the civil services as a body tobe a lean and mean force, again well compensated, running the administration of the country,

ipso facto drastically cutting down administrative and establishment expenditures on account

of the lean workforce while tremendously increasing its efficiency and perficient output. A

conventional assessment is that an efficient and hardworking workforce of 10% of the presentsize in India should conveniently be able to handle the affairs of the country better and more

effectively at a farthing of the present administrative overhead. This is what India needs now.

Insulation of the civil services from the temptations of money and power is a major

challenge. Making its members free from all major needs of life once they joined the service

would be the cheapest strategy open to achieve this telos. The lean civil services instituted forthe country should be made a highly contented and respected entity while its job and

responsibilities are made equally challenging and trying. This is a give and take policy with




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provisions for ruthless extraction of those who fail to stand up to the challenges in hand. Amajor need of such a civil services is absolutely professional recruitment and management ofthe services at all levels under the close purview of a professional body responsible to the

Chief Justice of the country. Even indirect political pull even from the highest levels in

recruitment or management perforce pollutes the civil services tout a fait. A clear bifurcationof the responsibilities of the political and administrative wings of the Government as policy

and decision makers and as advisors and executives is sine qua non for the advent of such a

refrain in running the Government. Any attempt at overstepping the other should be viewedas a serious violation of the code of Governmental procedures.

The suggestions made here are easier said than done. For one, it needs amendments to

the Constitution. For the other, politics being the art of possible, the political leadershipwould never compromise with any effort to make away flaccid civil services that has come toits prise from a hard struggle that is half-a-century long. Yet, this is the besoin India now

cries avec acharnement for.







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CORE ISSUE AND THE CORE OF INDIA’S

NATIONHOOD

The achilles’ heel of the present day politics is its unwillingness to comprehend reality infull force and devise strategies ex consequenti. It may often be an intentional demarche en

face an impossible situation to defer impending disasters or etourderie tout court in

comprehending the intricacies of the reality. In either case, the dimensions of an issue furtherentoil to an issue of higher complexities. It is what happened about Kashmir in the last fifty-

five years and continues to happen now.

IRRELEVANT ISSUES

The reality is that neither the history nor the religion nor the constitutional provisions northe will of the majority constitute a right to a region to be a part of this or that country in

politics either now or at any time in the past in any part of the world. Neither it can be now

for obvious reasons. History is a matter of flux en train. No point of time can be selected as areference point in the continuum of the sempiternal timeframe to decide the future of that

significance. Religion never gained currency anywhere in the world as a factor of nationhood.It is more so in the present enlightened world where religion as a factional entity is démodé in

public life. Constitutional provisions are temporal and subject to amendments. The will of the

people of a region in the vast tapestry of the nation is just irrelevant even in a democracy asfar as deciding the nationhood is concerned as otherwise every village in a country will turn

to an independent nation and sink the human race in a maelstrom of disorganisation.

KASHMIR AND THE PAST

India as a nation is a new concept. The concept has no root in history. Maurya, Gupta and

Moghal emperors inter alios ruled vast parts of the present India and regions outstretching upto Central Asia and present day Iran at various times before the advent of the British.

Kashmir was part of the empires and of smaller kingdoms under Punjab rulers at differenttimes. Pakistan was carved out of India as a political compulsion. The history does not

support either the claim of India or of Pakistan on Kashmir or the claim of some for theindependence of Kashmir.

RELIGION IS PASSE

India as a secular country is d’accord with the zeitgeist of the present enlightened world

with the people of all religions in symbiosis here. Seeing any issue through the glass ofreligion is tout au contraire to the very spirit India stands for. Islam being the raison d’etre of

Pakistan is its own albatross and does not give it any special claim on regions anywhere in the

world eo nomine. Further, religion being a factor of politics goes e contrario to the extantinternational spirit and rationale. It is so also about Kashmir.





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patently betrays the inexperience and lack of toughness in our political leadership of the timeand all of India’s troubles in Kashmir can be traced to this single bevue. India’s response toPakistan’s challenges in Kashmir throughout sinsyne was casual and disorganised and

diplomatic a fond unlike Pakistan’s concerted efforts beyond its means covering all strategic

needs required to stand up to India about Kashmir. Even its Afghan policy was Kashmir andIndia-centric. Its prime intelligence behemoth, the ISI with its committed cadres, was created

basically to counter India. India’s response to the ISI in form of the RAW with much larger

resources at disposal is yet to stand up to its counterpart in Pakistan either in efficiency,commitment or sheer performance. Kargil intrusion of 1999 is a clear indicator of thestrengths and efficiency of the ISI. The extent of the penetration of the ISI in India is yet to be

matched by the RAW in Pakistan. The single target of the Pakistan military build-up

including nuclear arsenal and missile technology is India. The commitment and spirit of thePakistan army against India is in no way amated by the fighting spirit of the Indian army.This is how Pakistan prepared itself against India in the last fifty-five years for the cause of

Kashmir. It left nothing to chance and succeeded in breeding and feeding anti-India campaign

in the valley of Kashmir. The repeated military takeovers in Pakistan represent the passion of

the Pakistan army to stall any compromise by its political leadership with India on theKashmir issue. It is how Pakistan prepared itself for the cause of Kashmir.

CORE OF NATIONHOOD

Pakistan believes that the agenda of the birth of its nationhood is incomplete without

Kashmir. Its military forces are fully en arriere of the cause. Unless Pakistan’s military mightis brought to the knees a toute force, its Kashmir adventures are unlikely to abate. Pakistan by

no stretch of imagination will settle for anything less than Kashmir tout a fait at its control asit has become a matter of national pride to the country en face India’s superior prowess. India

in its part condescend to anything less than as of now only at its own peril as yielding to

Pakistan in anyway about Kashmir now is nothing short of surrender in real polity. It will benothing short of the surrender of Pakistan in Bangladesh war. In this sense, Kashmir has

become the core of India’s nationhood while it certainly is a core issue to Pakistan.

CAUGHT IN A LOGJAM

With the ultimate positions of both India and Pakistan being defined with perspicacity andcertitude, what latitude can there be for any rapprochement between the two warring

neighbours? All the talks of settlements and summits are mere diplomatic platitudes meant tosatisfy the inner and outer constituencies of the respective countries. Both the countries know

fully well that nothing other than the present situation is possible except for minor

adjustments along the line of control as in Siachin glacier and such strategic points. In thecircumstances, Pakistan is trying its luck by appealing to the religious sentiments of the

Kashmiris to lure them away from India in one hand and resorting to terrorism in Kashmir bysupporting jehadi groups on the other hand in the hope that one day Kashmir perchance may

fall on its lap. It perforce will continue with the strategy unless it is mortally brought to itsknees and good senses.

The only solution to a problem of the nature of Kashmir’s in real polity is the use of force.

Pakistan knows it. India knows it. Pakistan also knows that it can never subdue India





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RELIGION IN POLITICS

“The introduction of religious passion into politics is the end of honest politics, and the

introduction of politics into religion is the prostitution of true religion.” said Lord QuintinMcGarel Hogg Hallsham. According to Benjamin Disraeli there is no act of treachery or

meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour; in

politics nothing is contemptible. It is in this context Mahatma Gandhi said that religion andpolitics are inextricably blended and their separation tantamounts to the separation of blood

and body and called politics without religion a dirty game. For, he also said in anotheroccasion, “Most religious men I’ve met are politicians in disguise, I however wear the guise

of a politician but am at heart a religious man”. He clearly contrasts here two facets of thereligion, religion as politics in disguise per contra religion at heart in politics. His contempt

for the former is obvious. He sees the latter face of the religion having ethical and spiritual

nuances a la religion of Emperor Ashoka in the state affairs as inexorably blended to a

healthy politics.

Poles Apart

According to Otto Von Bismarck, politics is the art of the possible. It imprimis is

opportunism and deception. It is hic et nunc and ergo ephemeral unlike religion which seeks

divinity and eternity through the principles of Rhadamanthine sittlichkeit and truth. Politics isselfish au fond while religion is love and sacrifice. Politics seeks power and excitement while

religion seeks peace and salvation. They are poles apart in their means and ends and thereforecan not bodily blend. However, they can certainly complement each other as the two faces of

basic human activities and enrich human life.

Worldwide Phenomenon

Jay Demerath, professor of sociology at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Karen

Straight, doing research there, in A Bridging of Faiths, co-authored by them in 1992(Princeton University Press), opine that about 1979 things began to change and religion took

on a new political importance. Since then, worldwide, the volatile-and often violent-combination of a religious state with religious politics is on the rise. The period in India saw

the rise of violent Sikh nationalist sentiments and later Hindu fundamentalism.

Deception and destruction are the two trusted hands of the body of the politics all along

its long history. It was politics at its best at deception that created Israel and politics at its

horrid at destruction that is devastating en revanche peace and security of the Middle East inthe last six decades. Israel like Pakistan came to existence from the emotional shemozzle of

the religion.

Religion Divides

The machtpolitik between the Western world represented by the USA and Britain and

the Muslim world epitomized by the Afghan war and the aggression on Iraq in 2003 deep




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down symbolizes the clash of Christian and Islam civilizations. Islam inherently is a fiery andaggressive religion with a political agenda imbued in its soul. It is an abnormal conflictwherein the political leaders of the West took on the extremist religious elements of the

Islam. Iraq is only an accidental mactation in the process. However, it is to the credit of the

top Christian religious leaders world over that they refused to involve themselves in thepolitical conflict and went to the extent of condemning the American brutality and initiatives.

It reflects their maturity and true religiosity.

Religion as politics is a world phenomenon these days. Buddhism is deeply rooted in thepolitics of Sri Lanka. The demand for a homeland in Ireland was based on the rift between

Protestants and Catholics in the Christianity. Muslim countries are deeply divided world over

on lines of their Sunni and Shia affiliations.

Religion in India

The love and hate relationship between religion and politics is not new to India. Vedas

and Puranas have references to the corso in oodles. The mythological references to theconflict between Brahmanism and Kshatriyas as symbolized by the annihilation of the

Kshatriyas by Parasurama indubitably throw light on the age long struggle for supremacybetween religion represented by the Brahmanism and politics represented by the Kshatriyas

of the ancient India. Ultimately, religion accepted its limitations in the temporal world of

power and deceptions and yielded the field to politics while retaining its divine supremacy in

human affairs and activities. The concept of Raja Guru and Raja Rshis and the respect theycommanded from the king and the royalty spawned from this ausgleich.

Both Gouthama Buddha and Mahavir are rare cases of political personalities from theroyal family finding their solace in religion d’accord with the spiritual disposition of India.

Emperor Asoka was a rara avis of another kind who brought the soul of religion to thegovernance. The concept of Rama Rajya of Mahatma Gandhi is an extension of what

Emperor Asoka brought to bear on the administration.

Religion as Politics in India

Religion as politics in India began to take shape in a big way during the Muslim rule with

Jazia and other religious taxes, forcible conversions and other types of persecutions of non-Muslims under the state patronage. The Maratha and Vijayanagar empires are considered as

the Hindu reactions to the persecutions. Muslim zealots like Aurangzeb made his rule areligious cause. Portuguese in Goa followed the suit.

Serious political disturbances in Kashmir have religious emotions working en arriere. So

were whilom Punjab and the Operation Bluestar that led to the killing of Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi. India has political parties wedded to the cause of important religions of the

country. There is nothing wrong in that and the Indian Constitution no way bars them frompoliticking. What is reprehensible is the misuse of religion and religious passions to political

ends and the misuse of politics and political deceptions for selfish and nonreligious ends of

the religion.



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Anti-religious Politicking

Protection of one’s religion and culture is a sacred duty and a serious need of the hour.But, God by whatever name belongs to all and His abode in whatever form is sacred to all.

Dividing people and bloodletting in the name of religion is the worst form of anti-religious

politicking. Ignoring the soul of a religion to protect its criminal elements for political ends istantamount to violating and annihilating the religion. Pseudo-secularism is anther shape of the

misuse of religion in politics to gain power from the other extremity. Healthy politics shouldkeep both forms at arms-length. And religion should keep its sanctity by keeping away from

the unholy politics.

Swami Vivekananda considered religion as the core of politics. American President,

George Washington in his Farewell Address of September 17, 1796 said, “reason and

experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religiousprinciple”. The religion and politics relationship poses no threat to a country’s polity as long

as politics does not use religion and vice versa. Unfortunately this is not the case anywhere.This wisdom compelled the First Amendment of The Constitution of the United States of

America to lay down, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, orprohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Separating religion from politics and state affairs is not

tantamount to going anti-religious; it only means preventing the use of religious passions to

political ends and preventing the use of political deceptions to misuse the institutions of the

religion. The moral and spiritual face of the religion has nothing to do with the division.Indeed, ideally, as Mahatma Gandhi said, that face should be the blood of the body of the

politics; but religion not as politics in disguise, for it terminally poisons both the body of the

politics and the blood of the religion. Both do well to limit to their own realms and contributeto each other’s enrichment - politics wedded to the moral and spiritual views of the religion

and religion wedded to give emotional support to politics in its rightful process.




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CRISIS OF RIGHT LEADERSHIP IN INDIA

If leadership is the soul of democracy, right leadership is the soul of right democracy.Leadership is adjectives to the language of the democracy. It decides the nature and the

quality of the democracy. There can be right or wrong democracy depending on the natureand content of the leadership to carry the democracy forward. None can doubt the success of

the experiment of democracy in India. However, none can swear on the quality of the

democracy India has grown in its backyard. The problem lies in the quality of its leadership.

Leadership Culture

It is rather facile to contend that people in a democracy get the leadership they deserve.

It is specious in theory, but need not be necessarily true. Leadership of a country s’orienter

distinct from its people and perforce creates the leadership culture. It is true about the USA, it

is true about the success stories of democracy in European countries and it is true about India.Though sittlichkeit, patriotism and intellectual calibre of the people do have a bearing on such

matters, it is the leadership culture that mostly decides the nature of the leadership that

emerges. People are just prisoners of this pernicious limitation. Their will makes littledifference in a preordained setup and given system. India sadly lost in this vital departmentwhile building the edifice of its democracy.

Multidimensional Leadership

Leadership in a social milieu is necessarily multitudinous and multidimensional.

Political leadership is its only one dimension though most important one and in thatstatutorily incorporated to the body of a democratic institution. Six most important leadership

segments of a democratic milieu come from political, media, nongovernmental organisations,

and popular, intellectual and administrative fields in that order of effectiveness. Popularsegment covers miscellaneous fields including films, cricket, other sports, industries, scienceand research and similar professions. Leadership basically functions as creators of the public

opinion and ideally expected to lead from the front. These segments in a healthy democracy

spawn a mechanism of checks and counter-balances. USA showed it; major Europeancountries lived it. An egregious Watergate scandal pulling down the flamboyant presidency of

Richard Nixon can happen only in the USA. An organised evolution of a written constitution

leading to the establishment of a democratic institution under the very nose of the royalty can

take place only in a European country like Britain. These are examples of right leadershipevolving right democracy.



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India of the first half of the 20th century too showed right leadership in liberating thecountry from the foreign rule. It was the combined thrust of the Indian leadership in differentsegments like political, local media, nongovernmental organisations, popular fields,

intellectuals and patriotic elements in the administration working in tandem made

independence to India possible earlier than otherwise.

Leadership in Independent India

Independence made Indian leadership taste money, power and the luxuries of serving the

people and the endless possibilities its diverse permutations and combinations provide. Nothing is like a mammoth lure and nothing is like a gargantuan greed. Leadership in Indiaappeared like an endless foison of opportunities to rob and grab. Those who had the sinew

and mental sturdiness to exploit jumped to the wagon in streams and created a new set of

leadership for India at the cost of the ancien regime inspired by lofty ideals and guided by themotto of service. Corrupt and ruthless to the core, the new leadership easily cornered the

scrupulous old order in opportunistic political games of money, power and muscle gained in

the process. Leadership in the milieu became nothing more than a daring massive investment

for multifold returns, a pure commercial venture. Crime paid. Deception and flamboyancy

became sine qua non for leadership. That is why leadership became a dirty word in India.And Indians as they are, accepted the reality to the extent that they now think twice beforeaccepting anybody without the merit of a criminal past as their leader. It is more so in the

leader of the leaders segment of the politics. That is how Phoolan Devi or Pappu Yadavsucceed as leaders and Veerappans dream their glory in political leadership. Criminals

constitute the spine of the political leadership in states like Bihar and Uttara Pradesh.

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards he sets for himself. “Integrity is themost valuable and respected quality of leadership” says Brian Tracey. “The prime role of a

leader is to offer an example of courage and sacrifice” says Regis Debray. This is rarely to be

a case in the Indian leadership in whatever field. The reason is that the fall in the politicalleadership perforce percolated into lesser fields and binged their leaderships with similarmesquinerie and base pursuits. It is true of media, non-governmental bodies, intellectuals,

popular figures or administrators. Greed and pressures both worked in the process. Thoughsparks of freedom and true leadership surfaced from time to time in all these fields in the last

six decades, they are far in-between to a country of India’s size and diversity and mereisolated initiatives like fishes out of water and soon died down literally and figuratively. The

fallacy lies in apostasy, either for greed, or poor leadership material going for sensationalism

in selfish or commercial pursuit, or more accurately both reinforcing each other as models

from one generation to the other. However, true attempts at right leadership do exist here andthere in all fields and they are succeeding. This is important. This gives the hope of

regeneration in the future.




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Right Leadership

According to Dr.John C.Maxwell, a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and

shows the way. He is the guide and philosopher to those below him. A leader is thepersonification of trust to his followers. He is their hope and future. It is sin to let them down

to seek own ends. “A leader is a dealer in hope” said Napoleon Bonaparte. W.H.Auden says,“No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the success of those under

him.” Right leadership is integrity, conviction, sacrifice, commitment to people and values,and ability to blend with their dreams. Right leadership is ability to guide and lead people in

right path. Leaders are models to others. Self-seekers and criminals have no place in its

scheme. Commercial angle has nothing to do with it. Sensationalism, claptrap and partisanapproach never feed leadership qualities. Leadership qualities flourish in right values, rightdecisions and right actions. Concern to those below is its main mantra. All these key factors

of the right leadership are thrown to winds in India after independence.

The celebrated Chinese Philosopher of the 6th

century BC, Lao Tzu opines, “A leader isbest when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him,

worse when they despise him”. Leadership is service au fond and exposure comes only as aderivative. It is just the opposite in the extant Indian leadership where service is a front and

tool for exposures, self-aggrandizement, further boost upwards and attainment of selfish ends.

It is neither right leadership nor is it even leadership. It is a travesty of leadership. It ismaking fun of leadership. Indian leadership has degenerated to that at all fronts. It no way fit

in to the frame laid down by Harold J.Seymour for a true leader when he says, “Leaders arethe ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to

prosperity.” Extant variety of Indian leadership has neither a past nor a future and only has a

greedy present. Ca ira. No aberrations last in perpetuum. India eagerly awaits to prepon.



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RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIA

India is the land of spirituality. Love and pursuit of knowledge and higher values are

the essence of its nature. This foundation gives India a unique character and inner strengthunseen in the community of nations of the world and makes it a world leader in spiritual life.

The depth gained by this commands other nations of the world to see India with awe and

respect even in the extant commercial ambience of the present world. Its great sons likeGauthama Buddha, Mahavir, Ashoka and Mohandas Gandhi are unique gifts of India to the

world of sublime thoughts in practice. India could spawn such gems because the mien of lifehere supported them and their ideals. This was true upto the first half of the 20th century.

What followed was an apostasy from the radicate path.

The second half of the 20th century saw the caduac of gross commercialization of the

Indian mindset and consectaneous degringolade of its ingenerate higher values. The

contabescence is so endemic in its spread that all walks and strata of life in the country sawthe sweeping metabasis and the concomitant atrophy. Indian politics, bureaucracy, business,

professions, intellectuals, literature, media, art and cultural movements, and you name the

field, that saw the fall. A pusillanimous India at the aurora of its independence like fish out ofwater lost its soul in pursuit of the material carrion that was inebriating the world in the midst

of the prolate commercialization. It was a triste trade-off. It was a distressing relegation of

higher values and inner strength to oblivion. Developed countries became its ideal. Japan andUSA became its models. Wealth and power became its Gods. Rich and powerful became itsheartthrobs. India began to see the dream of becoming a world power. Multi-nationals and

stock exchanges became its peremptory saviors. Nothing is wrong in that per se. But at what

cost and for what end? A dead India was too occupied with the glorification of its carcass to

think of it.

The fall was ominous. It was of the people and their spirit. It was their ideals and their

values. It was their attitude and the focus of life. They forgot their legacy and its strengthsthat sustained them through all the convolutions of the history. They lost the pristine

adaptability that saw them move pari passu with the changing time while retaining the core

of their higher values. The Indian National Congress that held high the spiritual flambeau ofthe nation for nearly a century turned a corrupt and power-hungry body and swept away

principles that sustained it till then under the carpet of political expediency. Jana Sangh andits later avatar that came to existence to preserve Indian values and culture turned the most

visible icon of the Indian values and the leitmotiv of its spiritual lumiere, Shree Rama, into a

most hated name by its inhuman and unprincipled political misadventures.

India always stood for the cardinal values of truth, simplicity and a value basedsystem of life and always absorbed the zeitgeist within these parameters to enrich itself. Thehallmark of India is its confidence in itself and its values and it sustained it through all the

travails of its long history. It never lost its soul and never found the need to blindly mimic the

specious coups of the world around. It algate stood on its own feet and proved the strengths of




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its fundamentals even in worst scenarios. Extant India looks far from that proud and confidentIndia.

Present India’s democracy is a misnomer. It is a soulless process in the body of a

democratic form, or better, a feudal rule bought over by money, muscle and deceit. India isdeluding itself by calling itself as a great democracy of the world and dreaming to be a world

power. Compages do not make vibrating structures inter se. They require inner strengths as

their spine to stand erect to stand out in the world. Present India lacks that little potion that inthe past was India’s essence passim.

The malady is prolate. From politics to familial relationships, from bureaucratic

attitudes to intellectual manoeuvres and from commercial world to cultural fields, itsfootprints are deeply etched to emaciate the country ab intra. All higher values are thrown towinds in pursuit of specious material bonanza and the life has become a no-holds-barred utter

trade-off. The environment is poisoned, and isolated struggles to inhere to time-tested pristine

values are stifled to evanescence in midst of the reign of mesquinerie. The claves of the

changed attitude are shortcuts and reaching desired end by any means. This with theconcomitant degringolade of the leadership qualities of the democratic vintage spawned adangerous broth of fawn, deceit and muscle power. The pristine values like excellence,

patience, pride, grace and dignity are relegated as impotent to the dustbin of the history. Heroworship and opportunism became the ticket to clamber the ladder of the self-promotion in the

mien of the undermined merit. Money and power built a mutually serving vicious circle and

became inviolable ends and means of any meaningful life. Quantity overtook quality. Respectlost its halo. Crime paid. Corruption, protests and violence gained currency as the only toolsof success. ‘Grab and rob’ became the mantra of survival. Who could not rise to the levels

became misfits. This is extant India.

Ex-Prime Minister Charan Singh as the Chief Executive of the country once rightly

claimed that corruption imbues from above. It is true of all modes of corruption and decay ofstandards. Its manifestation in the fall of higher values in governance of India of the

democratic vintage shook the very foundation of the highly developed value system of the

country existing till then. Both ruling party and opposition parties found their salvation inwinning the next election non obstante means and found money, muscle power and garish

display of strength pay in the process. Indian public life restructured itself to these needssinsyne. Everything is forgotten in the pursuit of power, and governance became subservientto this end. With the fall in the ideals of the governance and the Government system, that in

the people was not far away. Instinct for survival preceded everything else. The trend

corroded confidence in higher nuances of the value system. Greedy politicians, self-seekingmedia, demoralized bureaucracy and hapless hoi polloi, all added to the mux. And India

prepared a poisonous broth in which it boils jusqu au bout unless it reverses the process by

sheer deux ex machina.

Indian culture is a sublime edifice of the best absorbed from all sources it came in contactwith and built on the foundation of the pollent values of simple, honest and healthy practices.

India always went for sound practices with both material and spiritual dimensions to it. Thetragedy of the present India is that it continued the process of the adoption sans the ingredient

of the adaptation to its rich heritage of spiritual and enduring values and practices. It has







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DEMOCRACY FOR WHOM?

Democracy in puris naturalibus is the rule of the powerful, by the powerful, for the

powerful. It is a concept popularised by the powerful of the West for their own advantages allover the world though the concept as a a priori theory as the rule by the people is based on

sound principles and noble intentions. The second chapter of the democracy namely

liberalisation is another instance of a noble concept based on the sound principle of freedynamics of human forces going awry as a policy of the powerful, by the powerful, for the

powerful. Again, the powerful of the West are found pushing through the agenda ofpopularising the concept a toute force as a state policy all over the world for their own

advantages. The result is that the world is increasingly becoming a haven for the rich andpowerful at the cost of the hoi polloi.

FAILED HOPE

India valiantly fought against foreign rule for more than a century with the hope of

bringing deliverance to the country and eutaxy for its people. The half-century of the

democracy sinsyne proved the mendacity of the hope and enthusiasm. The situation can bedescribed in following two stanzas of the poem, “To A Conscript Of 1940” by Herbert Read:

We think we gave in vain. The world was not renewed.There was hope in the homestead and anger in the streets

But the old world was restored and we returned

To the dreary field and workshop, and the immemorial feud

Of rich and poor. Our victory was our defeat.Power was retained where power had been misused

And youth was left to sweep away

The ashes that the fire had strewn beneath our feet.

EXPLOITERS

The only difference India saw in democracy is the shift in exploiters from the foreignrulers to the rich and powerful among the natives. While the foreign exploiters were

circumspect and scrupulous in their exploitations for the fear of the world opinion and their

native moral scruples, the native exploiters threw their conscia mens recti to the wind andturned ruthless in their greed and heartless in their exploitations of the poor and

unenlightened mass of the co-patriots. They have neither the moral scruples nor the fear ofthe world opinion. Nor the supremacy of the hoi polloi in a democracy fluster them. For, theirnative intelligence is too pollent to be caught by such foolish concepts. They learnt the tricks

of the trade assez bien early. They know how their side of the bread can be buttered and why

there is nothing on the face of the Earth including votes and status that they can’t purchasewith their money and power. That was the doom of India’s democracy and its people.




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BRITISH RULE

India under the British was not worse than the present India if not better. Those who lived

in both the ages speak una voce and hold testimonies for the irrefutable fact as far as common

man is concerned. Life was easy and quiet. There was a feeling of security everywhere. Theair was pregnant with a sense of morality and respect for higher values. The public life was

clean. There was no violence around except for the oragious political struggle. There was no

tourbillion of corruption as it is now. Merit always counted. Not every thing was venal as ofnow. Life always moved on expected lines and people could plan their life and future.

AN EVIL PROP

The degringolade of India subsequent to its democracy is often blamed on its populationexplosion in geometric progression and the accrescent complexity of the life pattern of the

present world. It is partially true. The complete truth lies in the plurisie of the evils of the

democracy that contributed to the descent as an evil prop to the rich and powerful.

UNFAIR JUDGEMENT

Elders who lived in both the era and independent and sagacious enough not to be clouded

by pseudo-idealism and concepts of foreign origin swear that the British really ruled India

well non obstante tremendous odds of the freedom struggle and the alien nature of their rule.The progress India saw during the period was immense and the country could move pari

passu with the world in the matter of progress and modernity. India saw large-scale

developments during the period in all fields including social, cultural and administrative

spheres courtesy the initiatives and the active encouragement of the British rulers.Disparaging the measures as moves of administrative convenience or as moves to strengthen

their prise over the country is a malengine tout court on the plebeian and a mal-propagandanatural to our native evil ingine to cover up our mal-administration in the democratic

ambience. Administrative convenience begetting precedence in the unending schedule of

priorities is a common administrative practice anywhere in the world. A major move likeintroduction of the railways in India in the 19 th century was misprised as a move to help

British entrepreneurs in India. Such an unfair reclame goes against the spirit of a balancedview and betrays our flair for tilted judgements. The priorities of the British administratorscertainly were more objective and accountable in administration en face what we encounter

by our own rulers now around: selfish to the core a fond .

DEMOCRATIC INDIA

India under democracy has become a playground of the rich and powerful and a field oftheir unethical manoeuvres and consectaneous mega scams. Yet, they are not satisfied with

the opportunities a la main. They found their opportunity in an extension of democracynamely liberalisation which is vigorously marketed these days by the Western powers to meet

their own interests. Thus, the powers of the West and the powerful of the country are now joining hands to further undermine the interests of the poor, weak and the ordinary. It will

lead to a situation where only strong become stronger and perforce weak, weaker. Democracy



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is not just freedom. It is the rule of the people comprising rich and poor, weak and strong,powerful and powerless, competent and incompetent, able and unable, hopeful and hopelessand the ordinary people. Democracy in its extant gestalt and liberalisation by its very concept

promote the interests of only the rich, strong, powerful, competent, able and hopeful few. It is

not democracy at all in true sense of the noble concept.

DEMOCRATIC RULERS

India of the democratic vintage has its rich and powerful either indulging in criminal actsor being in nexus with criminals to further promote their personal agenda of becoming richer

and more powerful. In the process, criminals are becoming real power-centres and criminality

is gaining in respectability in the country. This made life in the country unsafe and violence, adaily matter. Merit lost its primus. Personal competence has become secondary or tertiary tomoney and power in its ability to boost fortunes. Status and social position have become the

custodies of the rich and the powerful. Election as a democratic apparatus being money-

centric rendered money the centre for power. This brought money and power closer. Big

money being less than a dream sans resorting to illegal activities in the circumstances ofextant rules and laws rendered criminality prolate and commonplace in India and anineluctable ladder to gain power and position in the democratic government. This led to a

strange situation of lawmakers leading the gang of law-breakers to ensure power and positionin the next election. Can these rulers who perforce break their own laws provide honest

governance to the country? How can the country and its people depend on such democratic

rulers for their security and welfare? India is facing such a conundrum now.

FEUDAL NATURE

Democracy made India a feudal nation with innumerable political parties swearing againsteach other for the sake of political power. It made the country a divided house with each

faction going for the blood of the others and turning the country ensemble to a huge factiousvillage. Hatred and opposition have become the leitmotiv of the public life. Violence and

intrigues have become the accepted means of ascendancy. Democratic practices undermined

the foundation of peace, harmony and unity of the nation and weakened the fabric of themoral values and ethical practices in the public life of the nation. The crème de la crème of

the country opted out of the endless strife for power and position and politics became thedernier ressort of scoundrels in India as popular saying goes. What can be the character andmerits of the rule provided by such people at the helm? It is where democracy brought India

to.

REAL TRAGEDY

Democracy in India brought real changes to the rich, powerful and the political class atthe cost of its infima species. It removed all the hurdles from their path to become richer,

more powerful and establish political dynasties. British were too moral conscious to allowsuch things to happen during their rule. They maintained certain minimal values in public life

that ensured some degree of equal opportunity in all fields depending on merit. Democracyremoved the hurdle for the native rich and powerful and they found their deliverance in




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symbiosis and synergy. That is the tragedy of the democracy for the weak and the ordinary ofthe country.

SPECIAL PREMIUM

The advent of democracy is marked by accrescent tax burden on the people in the name of

developmental and welfare activities. The wealth so extracted was frittered away by

inefficiency, corruption or sheer wastage. The benefits meant for the people seldom reachedthem thanks to inefficiency, corruption and the pestilent middlemen who act as the conduitsof democracy. The toil of the people was looted as taxes to provide for the security and

luxuries of the soi disant aristocracy of the democratic vtntage who assumed special premium

for their own lives.

UNEQUAL COMPETITION

More and more prop of liberalisation is provided to democracy these days to make the

latter further pro-rich and powerful. That provides the upper strata of the society more elbow-space for manoeuvres and deceptions to put their money and power to better use and rendersthe poor and weak hors concours. Scams of the dimension of US-64 in the UTI are possible

only in such an ambience. Competition is the clavis of the concept of liberalisation.Competition among the unequal in a nation where nearly half of the population lives below

the poverty line and less than 1% can be credited to be rich and powerful is nothing more than

a mockery of the principle of an equitable society as well as of the vaulting intentions ofdemocratic principles like the rule of the common man and welfare of all.

DEMOCRATIC FOCUS

Liberalisation per se is not bad as is democracy. It is its concept of suum cuique as

opposed to the concept of social responsibility and the unjust practices that poison theatmosphere. It is a matter of focus of the democratic leadership at the helm of the governance.

Liberalisation as a policy is discussed in India for more than a decade now in the ambience of

protecting the interests of the lesser rich of the country from the competition of the more richof the world. The plebeian has no place in the scheme of things of a policy of that dimension.

This can’t happen in a true rule of the people, by the people, for the people where poor andweak constitute more than 95% of the people.

A CONSCIOUS POLICY

An ideal rule in quiddity is a rule pro bono publico that protects the interests of all

sections of the people including rich, poor and weak. But the policy initiatives for the

purposes have to be pro rata to the numerical strengths of the respective sections. It is not thecase in India’s democratic environment. Here, the rich and powerful rule the roost and the

state policy au mieux is directed to their protection as a conscious policy while the poor andpowerless are left to their own fate to meet both the ends. Because, it is the rich and powerful

who count in the democratic schemes of the country to keep power while the hapless poorand the weak can wait endlessly in the state priorities. This is Indian democracy.



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HUMAN NATURE

The achilles’ heel lies in the human nature of seeking power, wealth and opportunities

and those who possess it. Present Indian rulers are not a rebours to this nature nor those

others manning the peripherals of a democratic institution in India like the media and theintellectuals as opinion makers of the country. They save some exceptions tend to be

sensational-centric and prefer to move with the lee tide in lieu of going to the stark truths.

They are proved more prone to be affected by concerted propaganda and twisted rationale than the ordinary man. That is why an evil like unrestrained liberalisation is accepted as adeliverance by them una voce; that is why political leaders in India are glorified in magazines

and newspapers as great heroes sans consideration to their values, merit, performance and

ethical standing in public life. It is their power and status ex consequenti that count over themerits of great performers who are relegated to the inconspicuous corners of the pages. Thecommon man himself gives precedence to power and mammon over merit at his own cost.

That is the prise of money and power on the human kind tout a fait .

ELEMENTARY NEEDS

Democracy, sine dubio, is an ideal concept. The concept presupposes certain

elementary needs essential for the success of the concept in practice. Equality among themajority of the population leading to equal opportunities en principe is centric to the concept.

This is not the case in India. Ergo, the failure. Winston Churchill once said that democracy is

a bad form of government, but it is the best among the available. Coming from a politician ofthe democratic dispensation, the faire bonne mine should be taken with a pinch of salt. Isthere no deliverance to a poor nation like India and other nations of its ilk in Asia, Africa and

South America apart from democracy that does not behove to the diversities of their

populations?

What is the besoin of these nations is a system of government wherein around fortyselect people of sound attributes of heart and head as a team rule the country a la present day

cabinet and general assembly in one with another team of around forty responsible people

functioning as an accountability team to keep pernoctation over the governance with thepresent institution of the President mutatis mutandis responsible for both the teams. Both

teams function as permanent bodies with 25% of the teams retiring once in every three yearswithout an opportunity for reappointment and together on their own wisdom decide thereplacements ex quocunque capite for both the teams from the people of proven abilities,

integrity and character. The teams together structure the new teams ex mero motu once every

three years after each replacement of the 25% of the teams. The clavis of the new gestalt isselection of the right people of proven attributes of heart and head ex professo. The teams

together can remove a member of the either team ex concessis when proved indign for the

position and task. Indeed, the ebauche needs myriad details of immense intricacies to beefficacious. The effort is worth a try in the interests of a billion Indians.




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INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Infrastructure is a network of facilitating structures for a process, be it poverty eradication

programmes, economic growth process or any other programme of human endeavour. It is a

labyrinth of relevant and useful facilities created to enable human endeavour realize aprocess. Infrastructure is process relevant. The infrastructure needed in a rural area is

different from that needed in an urban area. They are different things crying for differentmeans. A Government is meant to go for general infrastructures required for all sectors and

ensure on priority benefits for maximum numbers. After all, salus populi suprema lex est .

Industrial Sector in deliciis

Democracy is feudal in reality involving stiff competitions between diverse sectors and

interest groups to gobble the res gestae available from the State. Power begets power andmoney begets money. So, it is powerful sectors that succeed and corner infrastructuredevelopment programmes of the State to their advantage when the State sleeps and forgets its

responsibilities. It is what is happening in recent India about the powerful industrial sector in

deliciis. Slogan oriented Indian media and pneumatic Indian economists are devoted tout a

fait to its shallow cause. The devotion has gone to the extent of a few publications recentlywarning some Indian cities to develop infrastructures to the satisfaction of the IT and other

industries, or else …….

Priorities in Infrastructure

Women in villages in India die during delivery for lack of motorable roads to take

them in time to taluq hospitals and women here walk miles for a pot of water. This is theextent of the lack of infrastructure in India. Infrastructure is essential. Basic needs andamenities of the plebeian should be its priority. Next in order come the needs of decent living

like good roads, bridges, effective communication system, uninterrupted power supply,decent health and education system and so on. Major projects like dams and irrigation

systems, mining and steel plants, railways and highways networks are also required to bring

about the general economic growth of the country. Commune bonum is its litmus test. Thedesirability of an infrastructure depends on who are its focus and how desperately is itneeded. A country has no right to waste its exiguous fund on exclusive prodigal schemes to

benefit a narrow sector like the industry under the fig leaf of the economic growth. The

perverted argument provided in support of the industry is that Indian industrial productsshould be made competitive in the world market and that economic growth itself functions as

an infrastructure for the well being of the common man and therefore all public expendituresfor the industry is justified as a vehicle of the economic growth. The argument is perforce

distal from the field reality in the ambience of the homo homini lupus. Industry is commerce

au fond. And therefore profit and self-indulgence is its ultimate stimuli. State protection to anuncompetitive industry at the cost of poor man’s advantages is a misplaced priority. Any

benefit accrues to the public from this is minor and irrelevant to the quantum of the publicexpenditure.



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Pampering the Industrial Sector

Often, exports and foreign exchanges, and employment opportunities are advanced asreasons for pampering the industrial sector at the cost of the common man. Foreign

exchanges basically serve big industries for imports and foreign tours and those who have

excess money to indulge in. India can earn more than adequate foreign exchanges to meet itsessential needs including in defence and science and research without pampering bigindustries and without undercutting the minimum needs of the plebian. And creating

eurhythmic employment opportunities by flooding the industrial sector with huge public

funds and special and costly favours is a myth created by intelligent industrialists, and naive

economists and media lacking in depth and blinded by serious myopia.

Economic Growth

Economic growth is necessary. It is basically future looking. Making India an

economic super power in 25 years is a noble dream. But, people come first and reality oftoday is more important than the dream of 25 years sinsyne. Tomorrow can wait, but not

today. Only those who suffer it can know the pain of poverty and want. It is sheer sin toignore their sufferings and divest funds that rightfully belong to their welfare to the accounts

of the well-to-do industrialists behind the deceptive and elusive slogans of economic superpower and the future prosperity. No Singapore, South Korea or China of the 21

st century

vintage can be built on the carcass of the suffering common man. Ameliorate his life

standards to a reasonable level and bring the economic growth through him. That is trueeconomic growth of a democratic milieu. That should be the policy of a democratic State.

Otherwise, it would not be different from that of the egregious Khmer Rogue regime of PolPot in1970s in Cambodia that tried to bring forcible Communist glory to that country over the

carcass of the Phnom Penh citizenry.

Taste of the Free Spoils

The argument is not at all against industries, economic growth or even infrastructures,

but about emphasis and priority. All those are necessary for the balanced growth and survival

of the country. The issue here is undue zeal and unintelligent championing of the cause of the

rich industries at the cost of the hoi polloi as India witnesses today.

Broad concrete roads, flyovers, uninterrupted power supply, efficient energy network, and

excellent communication systems are welcome as pro bono publico initiatives. But, whenthey come as facilitators of rich industries, parameters of the projects are adapted to the needs

of the latter at prohibitive costs to the public exchequer. The infrastructures, industriesdemand and got include acres of prime lands in and around metropolitan cities at ludicrously

low throw away prices for non-operational and often ostentatious purposes, special taxexemptions running for multiple crores of rupees, exclusive cyber or electronic or similar

industry oriented parks with ultra modern facilities, concessional bank loans, specially

constructed access roads to their headquarters and so runs the endless list. Some state Chief

Ministers easily obliged them in oodles for their own personal, party and political reasons andlost next elections. L’ appetit vient en mangeant. As the industries got the taste of the free

spoils from the Government, their greed grew and recently went to the extent of threatening




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the Governments of shifting to other states if their further demands were not met. Bondedmedia also added its mite to this silly threat. So goes the game in this maledict India.

What India needs are a holistic approach to its infrastructure developments rather than

lopsided favours to the powerful and their cronies who cry wolf under misleading claims andslogans. A nation belongs to all and must serve the interests of all sections of the people

including the rich and the poor, and the industrialists and the farmers and protect who are

weak and powerless. In the circumstances of exiguous resources crunch, a fair policy ofeurhythmic division of what is available is called for. This cardinal need is algate forgotten inIndia, and Palman qui meruit ferat with the active support of influential cronies in right

places - politicians, bureaucrats, economists and media here. And the common man is a tragic

loser in this triste game. The State policy should be people oriented in a democracy and itmust endeavour to enrich their life. All growths including economic growth must emanatefrom this foundation. Only such growths endure and make the country prosperous. No foreign

exchanges and exports, no palatial glass edifices of industrial houses, no seven-figure salaries

for a few, no wanton gambling in shares and stocks inter se really make India an economic

giant. Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China from Asia and European countries and theUSA built their economic edifices on the bedrock of its people’s general prosperity andstrengths. A few Everests do not make India a highland. Going for flowers at the cost of roots

is a negative trend fuelled by shallow understanding of the issues. Infrastructure being thesoul of any development, right focus on its priorities is what India needs now and sine qua

non for its onward march.



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IN PURSUT OF EXCELLENCE

Excellence stands for quality in excelsis unlike the quantity of the commercial and the

material morass though excellence in no way represents the antithesis of the mass commercial

ventures. It basically is an attitude reinforced with focused and dedicated strivings forperfection. It is the katabasis of this attitude and passion in everyday life en face the race with

time in the milieu of manipulative competitions of commercial edge that makes life less

dignus in the world we live in. Excellence gives value to life.

Excellence is a measure of the height scaled in achievement. Only the bests can reach that

height. Excellence signifies a superior human worth. Its disappearance suggests mediocrity

encompassing all walks of life and complacency engrossing it.

WHAT IS EXCELLENCE?

According to Booker T. Washington, “Excellence is to do a common thing in anuncommon way”. Perry Paxton says, “Existence is in the details. Give attention to the details

and excellence will come”. But, the credit of the most promising peroration on the nature of

excellence must go to Sun-Tzu (Wu), a Chinese military strategist (535 BC – 228 BC) whenhe figuratively declares in his celebrated book, der Unsterbliche, The Art of War, “supremeexcellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” Excellence is an

edge over and something extra in value addition. It is the positive outcome of persistent and

relentless focus of talent over time to rise above the mediocrity and make a rare break in

standards. It is not easy to come. Focused talent, persistent hard work, infrangible spirit,endless patience and consistent passion for excellence as the inviolable hallmarks constitute

the bedrock of the process of excellence. Excellence is an outcome of superior spirit.

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Superior spirits autograph their works

with excellence. It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity. Excellence is the gradual

result of always striving to do better. Vera incessu patuit dea. Excellence is the outer dazzleof the inner lumiere. It needs to be cultivated; it needs to be imbued and perfected by endless

endeavour. It is not for feeble minded and broken spirits. Excellence comes only out ofexcellence.

MOTHER OF ALL BREAKTHROUGHS

Excellence is the mother of all breakthroughs. It is the tool that takes life to its limits toopen up a new vista of possibilities and constitutes the building blocks of the history of thehuman evolution, it be in science, technology, research, politics, governance, professions,

arts, trade, commerce, industry, war strategies or big or small performances of individuals or

groups or nations. It is the abracadabra of the forward thrust of the human evolution. Thepresent technological advancements of the West, the past philosophical supremacy of the East




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and India, the present competitive edge of Japan, South Korea and China in industrial outputand Singapore in public administration in the East, stunning achievements of the USA in thefield of space research, the superb works of the Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge Universities

in the field of education and research, the watch industry of Switzerland, each is nonasuch

paragon of supreme excellence in human endeavour and accomplishment.

India too had and has its share of excellence. It’s Vedas and Sanskrit language, its

Buddhism as a religion, its Nalanda University as a centre of learning, its progress inastronomy, mathematics and other fields of science are classical examples of supremeexcellence of the ancien regime. It can boast attempts at excellence in certain fields even in

this dark age of moral degradation and pure commercialization of the human spirit; Indian

Institutes of Technology, a few institutions like the Missionaries of Charity, a handful ofnational and regional newspapers and journals inter alia showed commendable commitmenttowards excellence contranatant to the reigning zeitgeist namely commercialism and

sensational moorings and withstood its temptations.

PASSION FOR EXCELLENCE

Excellence is not easy to come. It is limited by umpteen obstacles immanent to human

nature like greed, complacency, and commercial tendencies, manipulative competition,corrupt practices, parochial indulgences, lure of quick returns and primarily, the chaltha hai

mindset that distract focus away from excellence. Lack of passion for excellence is the

underlying cause. Also, the ambience of poverty and survival instinct, the pulls and pressuresof the democratic politics and the race with time of the extant commercial world add to theproblem. After all, necessitas non habet legem. Survival is the foremost instinct. It is true for

all, it be artists, politicians, professionals, industrialists or a plebeian. In a commercial world

where time is money, the brooding leisure needed for the pursuit and appreciation ofexcellence and perfection is hard to come and perforce seen in a milieu lacking in passion for

excellence as a waste of precious time and opportunity. It is true of India and most of thedeveloping countries of the world.

Indeed, wider competitions ensued from the liberalisation and globalization do renderexcellence sine qua non for survival in the open market. The need of competing in the

ambience of the welt geist of excellence is bound to have salubrious impact on the passion forexcellence in the Indian mindset. It is a saving grace of the globalization in disguise.

THREE DIMENSIONAL

Excellence is three-dimensional; while ultimate performance is its exoteric face, it is

the value system and the thoughts and the planning that go for the chevisance that really lay

the foundation for the excellence. A performance, however brilliant be, does not constituteexcellence per se. Right sittlichkeit holds its own place in the scheme. Coming to the national

scene, committed economic reforms covering liberalisation, privatization and globalizationfor the economic growth of the country are great. But, the efforts with all its intellectual

content en arriere can never apportion the title of excellence until the measure takes thehardships of the hoi polloi in the process and the needs of the time in to account and decide.

After all, it is salus populi suprema lex est. It is so also with the Hindutva and the need of



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protecting the religion and its culture from the onslaught of the time. Any thoughtlessmeasure at the cost of the humanity at large and the rightful processes of other institutions isbound to be counterproductive. Such things have nothing to do with excellence. In history,

brilliant military strategy and organizational skills and superb leadership qualities of Adolph

Hitler only led him to doom because his historic accomplishments for Germany had pervertedvalues of revenge, aggression and spine-chilling holocaust as its bedrock and he lost a rare

historical opportunity of bringing about unparalleled organizational and leadership excellence

into being, because of his tragically negative objects and emotions. So also the extant USA byits aggression on Iraq. India relegated excellence to oblivion under its self-rule. Evenconstitutional bodies created to promote excellence in government services have become rule

and procedure enforcing bodies in native hands rather than going proactive to promote

excellence. It is a triste affaire.

The noblest search is the search for excellence. Laborare est orare wherever there is

search for excellence. Charles C.Krulack says, “Excellence just doesn’t happen; it must be

forged, tested and used – it must be woven in to the very fabric of our soul until it becomes

our nature”. Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. Samuel Johnson(1709 – 1784) preconises, “Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labourof a life time; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price”. Excellence is in brass tacks;

excellence is in wholeness; excellence is there in the interdependence between the brass tacksand the wholeness. Excellence is in cause and excellence is in accomplishment; excellence is

there in the values those inspire the acts. Excellence is a life long mission of a committed soul

and an attainment of a steadfast spirit. Perhaps keeping this truth in mind, John W. Gardner(1912 –2002), a US official and a writer proclaimed in his work on Excellence, “Some peoplehave greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them”. Such a rara

avis is excellence to pursue and achieve.




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RECENT TRENDS IN ECONOMIC CRIMES

I begin this paper with the exordium of the article, “Investigation of Economic

Crimes” from my recent book on policing, “Policing the Police” published in 2000 (NPALibrary 001 Accession No. 65724 & 65725) wherein discussing the impact of liberalisation

on Indian economy and economic crimes, I said, “With the liberalisation, the aboideau ofscams and financial irregularities is thrown open and the Indian financial market is flooded

with all conceivable kinds of frauds, shady transactions and corrupt practices. As long

shadows of mixed economy receded from the four-decade-old sky of the Indian republic in1990s, the Indian economy is sweltering under the heat of economic crimes. Not thateconomic crimes are new to human generation or India; small fraudulent dealings were born

with man and bound to continue as part of his nature till the imbalance of supply andconsumption haunts his existence. What manifested are organised frauds to loot the public itsmoney by clever use of the financial environment and the innocence of the hoi polloi; ill-

conceived financial rules and laws and slack financial practices and procedures evidently

failed to carry the weight of the liberalised economy. The people who were inured toprotected economy and state control cannot easily adapt to liberalised economy where all

sorts of worms and creatures creep, waiting to make best use of the laissez-faire. Rules andlaws being not tightened to meet the challenges of the liberal atmosphere, unscrupulous

elements have a field day in playing with the public money either to intentionally defraud orexperiment in risky projects. The plans are always mega-schemes running for hundreds or

thousands of crores of rupees of the gullible public. Corruption in government and public life

ease the process. Bribes play key roles in keeping rules, laws and regulatory authorities

shut.”

Edwin H. Sutherland, renowned American criminologist in his propaedeutic of white-

collar crimes in his celebrated ouvrage “Crime and Business” preconises the special nature ofthe crimes when he says, “ Since the crimes are generally violations of trust, they create and

extend feelings of distrust. Leadership against white-collar crime is generally lacking, sincemost leaders come from the upper socioeconomic class and since the persons in this class

who do not participate in white-collar crimes are generally reluctant to attack other membersof their own class.” Economic crimes as another facet of the white-collar crimes with its

nonasuch etat in the caste hierarchy of crimes transcend the lesser crimes in gestalt and

content as its raison d’etre in the tapestry of the civil society and ipso facto grow ectogenesis

to the normal reach of the societal leadership including the law-enforcing agencies. It is atragedy of the criminal justice system.

DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF ECONOMIC CRIMES

For E.H.Sutherland, white-collar crime is a violation of trust. His view emerges fromhis definition of the white-collar crime as a violation of criminal law by a person of the upper

socioeconomic class in the course of his occupational activities. The trend of economic

crimes has seen sea-change since the ancien regime with more and more such violationsbeing committed for the res gestae by individuals or organized groups with or without inside



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cooperation and raisonne exploitation of the weaknesses of the extant financial laws andprocedures, the financial institutions and the people who man them. In the maelstrom,economic crimes can be defined simply as fraudulent financial transactions for financial gain.

Popular realms of economic crimes these days include political and policy-makingsector, government sector, financial sector, commerce and industry sector and individual

entrepreneurs and cover events and activities like deposits fraud, shares and securities fraud,

company regulations violation, fraud concerning government funds, counterfeit, import andexport fraud, foreign exchange violation, telemarketing fraud, patent infringement, copyrightviolation and piracy, tax evasion, smuggling, hoarding and black-marketing, adulteration,

drug-trafficking, insurance fraud, money laundering, high-sea fraud, telecom and electricity

fraud, computer manipulation, internet fraud, land deals fraud, bribery, cheating, breach oftrust and unauthorized commission to name just a farthing of what actually exist andaccrescently expand with the ingenuity of the persons involved. Some of them like deposits

fraud, company regulations violation, fraud concerning government funds, import and export

fraud, foreign exchange violation, tax evasion, smuggling, hoarding and black-marketing,

adulteration, drug-trafficking, insurance fraud, high-sea fraud, bribery, breach of trust andunauthorized commission are d’ accord with the definition by Sutherland as committed in thecourse of occupational activities, while others like telecom and electricity fraud, cheating,

patent infringements, copyright violations and piracy and counterfeit are ectogenesis.Commission of these crimes in gargantuan scale sponte sua by individuals and organised

groups extra-muros to the occupational activities with or without the cooperation of the

invisus insiders constitutes the recent trend in economic crimes. Shares and securities fraud,counterfeit cheques, telemarketing fraud, software piracy and patent infringement, softwarecopyright violation, computer manipulation, Internet fraud and land deals fraud in mammoth

scale are relatively recent trend in the field. High sea fraud, insurance fraud and money

laundering also continue to be periculous threats to the economic security of the country.

RECENT TRENDS

The flagitious security scam of 1992 involving Rs 8000 crores as the avant coureur

stirred the national conscience to the issue of the economic security and showed how facilelyit can be periclitated by the unscrupulous large-scale inside trading and fraudulent stock

manipulation. The supercherie run the corso from the late Harshad Mehta case of 1992 to theban on the high-profile fund manager, Samir Arora from the capital markets by the SEBI in

2003 on the charge of inside trading in securities. Why the security scam of 1992 failed toshut the aboideau in the Indian security market in the last eleven years and why even

successful and high profile fund managers like Samir Arora prefer to resign their lucrative

jobs in companies like Alliance Capital Mutual Fund and resort to such violations? Theobvious answer is that the exposures are just the prevarications from the zeitgeist and neither

the concerned regulations are stringent enough nor the regulating agencies like the Securitiesand Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the people

manning them in their aidos are competent to cleanse the capital market and protect theinterests of the investors. Jucta est alea. The occasional exposures are just eyewashes. Such

frauds are bound to squeeze Indian economy in years ahead.




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Another facet of the incompetence of the regulating agencies in the capital market isthe malengine of floating apocryphal companies to fleece the public in crores by offeringshares and disappearing after defrauding the public. There are hundreds of such flagrant cases

reported in1990s with almost none booked for the falsi crimen.

Another serious fraud of recent origin is the use of counterfeit cheques. The use of

stolen cheques and writing cheques on accounts either closed or having insufficient fund to

defraud is a vieux jeu in the business world. The computer revolution has added a newdimension to it. Often software that can produce legitimate checks is used to generatecounterfeit checks with fictitious names and account numbers to defraud in business dealings.

Counterfeit is anadyomene in a different sancy these days in the shape of fake stamps scam of

mammoth scale run in interstate level with a highly organized plexus. Telemarketing isanother genre of fraud that is in rise that involves the so called boiler rooms or thetelemarketing company promoting sales of worthless goods through phone solicitation by

promising customers riches and gifts that never come. This form of fraud is already having

pollent foothold in big cities of India. Another fraud is floating teakwood or such plantation

companies those mobilize funds from the public with the pollicitation of distribution of thegain pro rata only to disappear before the climacteric approaches. However, prompt responsefrom the law-enforcing agencies perficiently controlled the menace and the defalcation of this

shape is in degringolade sinsyne. The episode marks that prompt response from the law-enforcing agencies do have desired effect on the spread of the economic crimes.

Copyright violations and piracy are major threats to the book publishing, cinema andaudio and videocassette industries. Patent infringements are the crimes those threaten newproducts. The computer revolution has brought software to the ambit of such threats apart

from functioning as a facilitator of fraud and economic crimes by other means also.

Fraudulent interference with the software or programmes used for financial transactions is aconvenient tool to defraud companies and establishments in crores in a single stretch or di

grado in grado and do away with all evidence to the act. Lack of proper understanding of theintricacies of the computer and its software and absence of due pernoctation at higher levels

contribute for such frauds being ascensive. A byproduct of the computer revolution is the

Internet fraud that has diverse gestalt and international ramifications. Innovative Internetsolicitation to part with money for goods, schemes or services of fraudulent edge is the staple

of such frauds. Another aspect of the Internet fraud involves tampering with others’ financialor establishment accounts by breaking into their passwords and copying digital signatures toillegally siphon funds or other valuables to own account. Innovative works of the hackers

help the process.

A very disturbing fraud these days, concerns prime government or private lands in the

heart of big cities left unattended for various reasons. The quiddity of the rite de passage here

is the study of the system for weaknesses. Innovative tregetours expiscate in poor laws,procedural loopholes, lack of coordination among and incompetence of concerned

government departments like the city development authority, the city corporation, electricityand water supply bodies and the land registration office, and the greed or indifference of the

people who man the government bodies an opportunity to gobble prime lands worth ofseveral crores of rupees. The ichnography involves obtaining false power of attorney of the

true owner of the land by impersonation from an unvigilant or greedy notary and selling the



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land using it. In some other cases, the tricksters raise buildings on such unattended lands afterpaying land taxes for those lands and obtaining sanction for the building plan from theengineering wing of the city corporation with the help of the tax records as proof of their

ownership of the lands. Such gross anomalies are possible only because of the lack of

coordination, defective procedures and sheer lethargy, incompetence and greed in thegovernment bodies. The swindlers here secundum artem exploit the gross weaknesses and

failures of the government bodies to make colossal gains for themselves. The res gestae

involved in such frauds and the ease of the method render it a potential mode of the economiccrime of the future.

High-sea fraud involving disappearance of the whole ship or its cargo or carrying false

cargo and financial or insurance claims on the basis of mendacious documents may becomeassez bien a popular means in days ahead to become rich a pas de geant because such crimesseldom draw the avizefull attention of the public and the fraud is limited to the concerned

cloistered circles. Insurance fraud on the other hand will re-emerge to the center-stage in the

ambience of the privatization of the insurance sector and its consequent proliferation. Money

laundering is the cleanser of all economic crimes and the means of salvation to economiccriminals; ergo, it is jus naturale that it re-emerges in various avatars from time to time.Hawala transactions will continue to exist in different shapes and forms. The secrecy code of

the Swiss banks provides the requisite refuge to the ill-gotten money of the swindlers amongpoliticians, senior government officials, industrialists, businessmen and enterprising

individuals.

Export and import fraud of the recent origin involves false declaration of the countryof the origin to evade anti-dumping duties in addition to over-invoicing of exports to

fraudulently avail export incentives.

Cheating, breach of trust and embezzlement are common economic crimes all over the

world. A survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an accounting firm and WilmerCutler & Pickering, a law firm as reported in the New York Times of July 13, 2003 states that

more than a third of the American firms surveyed in the last two years were found to be the

victims of one or the other kind of economic crimes like asset misappropriation andembezzlement. The survey also suspected doubtful financial disclosures by more than half of

the companies surveyed. It is the case in India too. The external auditors tend to take refugeunder the plea that they audit only the documents provided to them by the companies andsweep inconvenient facts under the carpet for quid pro quo. The dictum, fraus est celare

fraudem, is conveniently forgotten. It is on record that almost no auditor is dealt till now for

professional apostasy in independent India and the organization responsible to oversee theauditors condones the professional betrayal and becomes a partaker in the irregularity as per

the dictum, chi tace confessa.

NATURE OF RECENT TRENDS

A careful study of the recent trends in the economic crimes brings out interesting

factors common to most of them. The most striking of them is the growth of the economiccrimes usaque ad nauseam to the status of an entrepreneurship both in terms of respectability

a la its description by Sutherland and concomitant responsibility, its sheer volume, interstate




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or international spread, highly organized operational plexus, hi-tech tools employed, highlyefficient division of labour with minions at the cutting-edge level as front operators farremoved from the main characters and the brain behind the operation at concentric circles,

resourceful big actors en arriere, detailed planning, study and probouleusis prior to the

operation, professional touch to the whole operation and high risks and high profits involved.

The recent economic frauds are high-money soigné scams running to multiple crores.

The materfamilias of all the scams of modern India namely the security scam of 1992involved Rs 8000 crores while the recent fake stamp scam allegedly involves Rs 80,000crores. The Indian Bank scam of the 1990s involved Rs 1300 crores while the fodder scam of

Bihar ran to Rs 1500 crores. Other major scams of lesser volume are the Bihar bitumen

scandal of Rs 350 crores, Bofors scandal of Rs 64 crores, HDW submarine scandal of Rs 64crores, Bihar medical bills scandal of Rs 60 crores, ayurved scam of Rs 32 crores, telecomscam of Rs 6 crores inter alia. However, the leading role in such embezzlements must go to

the banking sector that gobbled public money to the tune of Rs 1,20,000 crores in three years

with the euphemism of non-performing assets or bad loans that in most cases are advances

paid to well-to-do favourites for consideration with the understanding that the clause of thenon-performing assets take care of that.

An important aspect of the modern economic frauds is that the brain behind theoperation who normally are the people of procerity remains incognito and far removed from

the cutting-edge operations by several levels and ensures that the law-enforcing agencies

never reach him under any circumstance and there remains no evidence against him a la modethe Mafia and its leader, Al Capone. This holds good for all recent major scams and theveracity of the person identified in them as the el patron should be taken cum grano salis.

These crimes au fond are well-plexured conspiracies.

These economic crimes are marked by callida junctura. The cooperation of right

people inside and outside the target institution is bought a grands frais for use at right time.This brings much needed aex triplex to the process and adds to the plexus of the operation

and brings the elements of corruption to the process. Extra muros entrepreneurs mastermind

these frauds as opus reticulatum after detailed study of the weaknesses and failures of thelaws, procedures, institutions and the men concerned and right and adequate preparations.

Free market economy in a poor, unenlightened and developing country like India islike spreading delicious foods around a person dying of hunger with injunctions to open the

dishes only after performing an impossible feat. Imagine the consequences. In a country like

India where easy life and chaltha hai mindset are the bedrock of life and hard work andcommitment are anathema, where merit and brilliance are looked down upon, where

character, discipline and integrity are belittled as the dernier ressort of weaklings, where

criminals, swindlers and murderers become popular political leaders, where democratic votesare hostages to the riches you throw away, where the hapless hoi polloi is the prisoner of the

vagaries of the arriviste along the ladder across the political spectrum, where imported ismsrule the mindset in lieu of the genuine and holistic welfare-interests to meet the besoin of the

plebeian and the country, where mediocrity and dishonesty reign supreme and theadministration and the law-enforcing agencies crawl before the criminal political masters and

the mesquin and lowly higherups lest their career interests are harmed, the free market







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being followed in India. Actually, exactly the opposite is true in India. Only those politiciansand bureaucrats who have disposable black money a gogo can afford to buy high publicpositions in India. Others are mercilessly sidelined as nonconformists or even discredited or

destroyed as dangerous outsiders in the big business of bribery. Media and its lack of depth

and insight add to the maelstrom while it presumes and glorifies those in key posts as the rarepersonification of noble virtues and merit while truth is that those posts are invariably

cornered these days by those who can afford to illegally pay for that either by kind or other

means and therefore grossly corrupt in the world of transfer business. It is not uncommon tomedia to add its mite to the charges of the vested interests against and question appointmentof the senior most officer to the top post of a Government department on the ground that the

officer never held charge of a key executive post till then. Media in India is yet to grow to

appreciate the point that the denial of venal key posts in spite of seniority in the extant milieuof transfer business per se vouches to the probity and noncorruptibility of the concernedofficer. That is how corruption has flourished in the system.

Endless delays common in India in the conduct of departmental inquiry, investigation

and prosecution help corruption to flourish. Delay provides a cover of respectability for the

guilty.

The significance of corruption as a factor that adversely affects the growth of acountry is being increasingly recognized. Corruption, in the words of Indira Gandhi, is a

world phenomenon. It exists in developed countries too. Corruption is institutionalised as a

part of the democratic process in the USA as lobbying and public relations activities and thecountry prides in its mushrooming lobbying and public relations firms with major foreigngovernments inter alios as its clients. The firms are nothing but mammoth business houses

indulging in legal corruption. This nohow justifies corruption otherwhere. Indian corruptionhas special characteristics that make it far more damaging than corruption in other parts of the

world.

First, people in India being poor and largely dependent on the Government for decentliving and even survival, and limited by its excessive laws, rules, regulations and largess in

almost all activities of life with high rates of taxation on every conceivable items and

services, corruption literally sucks life out of their existence unlike those in developed

countries whose dependence on the Government is relatively not so deep and prolate. Thisrenders corruption in India an extremely dangerous phenomenon with terminal consequences

on the culture, value system and the quality and the content of the life of the people.

Second, corruption in India flows down from above. Corruption at the top affects keydecisions and policies with sweeping implications while core decisions in developed

countries are taken on merit through transparent competition.

Third, the wealth accumulated by corrupt means in India as black money of the

parallel economy has the habit of disappearing out to safe havens abroad unlike western

countries where capital made out of corruption is generally ploughed back into domestic

production and investment. Thus, the proceeds of corruption while help to finance business indeveloped countries, it just adds to foreign accounts in India.




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Fourth, corruption in India as a general rule leads to promotion and not to prison. It isparticularly so about powerful officials hand in glove with the ruling party and those whohave money and influence to buy justice and ruling party stalwarts in contrast to developed

countries where in a system and process of accountability even top leaders are investigated

and prosecuted. The most frustrating aspect of corruption in India is that the corrupt are toopowerful to go through such an honest process of accountability as causa sine qua non of

their ill-gotten wealth and power.

Fifth, corruption in India is a process against some of the poorest in the world and

against half a billion poor people who are below the poverty line while that in developed

countries it is mostly against people with per capita incomes above twenty thousands dollars.

While corruption anywhere is reprehensible, it is a political dynamite when the majority ofthe population cannot meet their basic needs and a few make fortunes through corruption as

in India and other poor countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Corruption there leads to

massive deprivation of basic needs and extreme income inequalities. Ergo, combatingcorruption in the milieu of poverty is not only punishing corrupt politicians and bureaucrats,

but more important, saving human lives.

Corruption was born with the human being and its history is as long and as varied as

the history of the mankind itself. Kautilya refers to the invincibility of corruption in publiclife and the Government of the time in his magnum opus Arthashaastra. Corruption is a

shortcut to wealth and one’s goals and relegation of rightful means to oblivion in preference

to ends at the earliest. It is a problem of attitude that highlights selfish ends in preference tohigher values and ideals that define noble and dignified life, and pollutes the environment.Corruption is potent of growing exponently by poisoning the environment to the extent of

forcing the noncorruptible to fall in line to survive. The milieu compels the society to acceptcorruption as a means of livelihood imprimis and as a means of accomplishments later. The

situation reaches a climacteric while governing system of the country accepts corruption as away of public life and its leading lights pollute the public life by openly resorting it for short

time gains. India has already reached the stage and nothing can save a country from the

atrophy save a complete overhaul by the forces of probity, perhaps vi et armis.

Corruption is the product of man’s natural greed and contempt for rightful means and

constitutes the bedrock of his natural disposition. Therefore, any dream to wipe off corruptionfrom the face of the Earth is too idealistic to be realistic. Corruption perforce dies only with

the humankind. What can be done and attempted to is its suppression and creating an

environment wherein it becomes less lucrative and more dangerous than it is now. The deedwarrants mobilisation of the increasingly depleting forces of integrity and probity in highplaces in Government and public life to fight the environment favourable to corruption. It is

easier said than done. The temptation of the easy money is too pollent to breakthrough its

plexure. Indian political system being what it has grown to be in licentious India of the post-independent vintage does not easily let the easy provenance of ill-gotten wealth to slip from

its proprietorial grip. So also is the demoralised and easy-laid bureaucracy of the free India.

The evil nexus of the two forces need to be breached to loosen the taut prise of corruption on

the public life of India. Till then, meaningful amendments to the Constitution, criminal Actsand Rules to make corruption dangerous and less lucrative like decheance of the wealth

gained through corruption, institution of Lok Pal machinery to try corruption at highest



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levels, making such anti-corruption bodies really powerful bodies with extra-ordinary powersand unperstringed independence to tackle corruption cases of any kind and doing away withnotorious provisions like Single Directives to protect higher echelons of the administration

from the corruption charges while it is people in those positions itself are the true

springboards of corruption in India are bound to remain empty slogans for the public platformto fool the public and resisted by those who count a tout prix while it comes to the crunch. It

is left to those outside the circle to mobilise forces and fight the evils that one day definitely

destroy India.

If kingship is a single-point exploitation, democracy is a licence for countlessexploitations of who are weaker and more helpless and corruption is the engine that runs the

process of the exploitation. The extent of corruption is a clear indicium of the degree ofexploitation afoot in a given democracy. A democracy is meaningful only when it isexpropriated from the evil of exploitation. In other words, corruption as an indicator of

exploitation in a country stands for negation of the democratic values of a democracy. Untilcorruption is extirpated from the face of the democracy of a country and unless India does it

piu mosso brilliant and enlightened youngsters like Saket Rajan falling out of the mainstream

of the national life to join rebellious anti-exploitation organisations like the Naxal Movementand sacrificing their precious life to police bullets as occurred in Chikmagalur district of

Karnataka on 6th of February is unavoidable. India can be a true democracy only when it

succeeds in bringing corruption in its public life under control.




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INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES IN POLICING

Indian Police of the post-independent vintage is deeply mired in the maelstrom ofinaptitude and unprofessional indulgences non obstinate rare exceptions. It is impaled in the

skein of self-seeking objectives and amblyopia. Motivation is the first disaster in the process.Excellence suffers in the ambience. Those in police in India are familiar with this mephitis.

But, sadly as unenlightened as they are, they think that they are doing a service to the policeby denying the reality. Such people have not realized the fact that a sound reconstruction

presupposes demolition. Unfortunately, these people are perpetuating the glissade of the

Indian police.

Talks of innovative techniques presupposes a sound foundation. In the situation of a

crumbling foundation as in India Police, talks of innovative techniques appear rather

cosmetic. The singular panpharmacon convenance for the malady of the India Police ispacked in just two words: MOTIVATION and PROFESSIONALISM. Bring it, all other matters

including organizational restructuring, administrative skills, control mechanisms, long termperspectives, accountability, efficiency, innovative techniques, cost effectiveness, creative

input, response time etc inter se fall in line. Anything done sans the two attributes as thebackbones of the gestalt is an operose labour of carrying to a bottomless avernus. As

motivation and professionalism constitute independent subjects for exhaustive deliberations

inter se and beyond the scope of the extant paper, I attempt a brachypterous propaedeutic on

what innovative techniques are en regle for the India Police within the given limitations.

1) CREATION OF A DISTINCT DETECTIVE CADRE :

Policing of the ancien regime was basically identified with crime investigations. Even

now, popular perception of the Police is associated with CRIME INVESTIGATION. The image ofthe Police is largely dependent on the standard of the performance of its investigators. The

pandemic tragedy of the present Indian Police is that the investigation ingredient of the

policing is accrescently palliated by apparently more important policing pressures. Theprevarication is a major factor in the degringolade of the police and policing standards in

India postliminary to independence.

Indian police can cover the achilles’ heel by carrying out a separate detective cadre

upto the rank of Inspectors with recruitment and training processes more suo conforming to

the needs of the detective cadre. The cadre should be treated as a distinct entity for thepurpose of seniority and promotions. Inspectors from the detective and general streams have

to be absorbed to higher ranks on the basis of seniority cum merit with a clear advantage of

one or two years to the detective cadre so that the best brains are illaqueated to the fold.

Periodical in-service training and tests in investigation skills have to be an essentialingredient of the cadre management and conditional to gain eligibility for promotion at every



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level. The demarche may revert Indian police to its pristine gloria in the vital expanse of thecrime investigation.

Creation of the distinct detective cadre ncessiates perforce the creation of investigation

centres parallel to the police stations in the process of the division of policing responsibilitiesat the grassroot levels.

2) POLICE STATIONS AS GRASSROOT POLICE SYSTEM:

A system is a functionally independent unit of mutually dependent entities thatconstitute the whole with or without an amblical chord connecting to the materfamilias for

sustenance. Extant police stations can hardly be a system as per this definition. Policestations as of now are dependent on ectogenous factors for its functions leading to dilation ofeffectiveness and professionalism. On the other hand, police stations as an ideal system mustinfuse credibility and compel public co-operation.

The police Inspector in charge of a police station in the new system must have a legal

Inspector trained in law and a panel of local representatives as statutory aides. For this, thepolice department must create a new cadre of legal officers trained in law to staff the police

stations and senior police offices. On the other hand, the district police superintendents mustprepare a panel of two or three law-abiding and distinguished nonpolitical locals of his choice

for each police station under him as democratic representatives. All major decisions and

actions of a police station must originate only after formal discussion between the police

inspector, the legal Inspector and any one from the statutory panel of the locals and onmajority decision among the three in writing as a statutory requirement. The process helps

the democratisation of the policing at the grassroot level consectary to the zeitgeist sans the

negative aspects of the democratic process. The opus musivum brings the advantage of acollective decision and a touch of legal expertise and local-sense to the policing decisions and

actions. The systemic change may take away the apollyon of corruption immanent in the

ancien regime and also oppilate it too. Indeed, much depends upon the avizefull selection of

the locals by the district police superintendent. After all, he is responsible au fond for theperficient policing in his district.

Two techniques that constitute the bedrock for transforming Indian police to an efficient

outfit in the absence of motivation and professionalism at higher levels are touched uponhere. The Indian police must learn to live with the cul de sac of such an absence and

consectaneous maelstrom and adapt as it is well-nigh impossibel to breach complacency.Ergo, if anything, it must be at lower levels. And the grassroot level is the most ideal

candidate to take something pro bono publico. Hence, a couple of isagogic techniques that I

think innovative to restructure policing and police administration at the grassroot level are

dealt in brachys here. If the new fangled techniques are imprimis incorpsed assez bien inIndian police system, I obsign that that contabescent Indian police is bound to experience

considerable face-lift.




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REVAMPING THE INVESTIGATION MACHINERY

Indian Constitution makes Criminal Justice System a Rhadamanthine steelframe of therule of law when it preconises in Article 20(1), “No person shall be convicted of any offence

except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an

offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted underthe law in force at the time of the commission of the offence”. A common place looking but

potent instrument in theory that keeps out faith, public opinion or even sittlichkeit beyond thepurview of the nation’s Criminal Justice System and proclaims the rule of law as its sole life

and blood and making all equal before the law irrespective of one’s status, standing and rankin the society. However, the realities in the field as it developed today are entirely different

from what was perceived then by the fathers of the Indian Constitution at a milieu of different

value system. The democratic political dynamics of India since independence took a direction

entirely different from the popular expectations and thus the need of corrections perforce.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

Amod Kanth, DGP, who was sacked by the Government from the post of the Police Chiefof Goa on 25 November on the ground that the DGP did not obey the Government’s written

orders reacted by stating that the police are the agents of law and he did not believe in loyaltyto anyone, but strongly believed in the performance of duties in terms of constitutional, legal

and people-oriented parameters. Kudos to his noble ideas and values. I too had championed

that cause of the profession and perhaps the first to bring out the ideal in concrete ideas in

1990s. However, the conundrum lies in the lengths to which the Indian Constitution movesand prepares for those paradigmatic roles for its police in its body and gestalt.

Police and policing for the Indian Constitution are nothing more than the subject mattersof Legislative Powers as enshrined in the Lists of its Seventh Schedule under Article 246,

ipso facto rendering it within the constitutional limits subordinate to the control andsupervision of the political bosses in power and their policies and programmes. Sadly, Indian

Constitution does not recognise their professional ideals, values and conscience, and theirsingular role as the custodians of the rule of law. They are circumscribed by the political will

to which they are subordinate. All the extant ills of this maledict country emanate from this

sole provenance. This is a serious matter as far as investigation of crimes is concerned.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Criminal investigation as the bedrock of the prosecution, judicial proceedings and

postliminary penal servitude forms the seed of the criminal justice system. Crime prevention

activities being pneumatic and nebulous as what it is, it is criminal investigation thatconstitutes the spine of the crime administration anywhere in the world. Right investigation of

crimes is the soul of fair societal living and the foundation of the fair and secure living.



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The Indian Constitution rests the control and supervision of the premiere investigationagency of the country, the Central Bureau of Investigation, in the hands of the politicalleadership of the Union Government and the police and the offences against the State Laws in

the hands of the political leadership of the State Government by keeping the subject matters

in respective Lists of the Seventh Schedule under Article246. This sine dubio provides a keyand decisive role to the political leadership in power in the investigation of crimes and

renders the police mere professional tools of the political decision makers. Considering the

growth of the political culture of the country in the last six decades and the need of absolutefairness and objectivity in the process of the criminal investigation, better deal for criminalinvestigation in the gestalt of the Indian Constitution is certainly called for. This is sine qua

non for the survival of the nation as well as for the health of its political and public life.

POLITICAL COMPULSIONS

Shibu Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief, who was the Coal and Mines minister inthe UPA government quit the Cabinet on July 24 in face of vociferous demand by the BJP

and its NDA allies for his resignation after a Jharkhand court issued a non-bailable warrantagainst him in a 20-year-old case relating to the 1975 Chirudih massacre during the agitation

for a separate Jharkhand state, only to be reinducted to the Union Cabinet on November27 asthe minister of Coal after the Opposition was cornered by its own act of going all out in

support of the Kanchi Shankaracharya, Shri Jayendra Saraswati while the latter was arrested

by the Tamilnad police on November 11 on the charges of conspiracy for the murder of a

whilom devotee of the Kanchi Mutt, Shankararaman. The episode makes it crystal clear howpolitical parties treat investigation of even serious cases of murder as their political pawns to

checkmate the opponents. Criminality is a non-issue in Indian political parlance and criminals

accrescently proved to be the pillars of India’s democracy. They constitute the spine of theIndian politics. No Government is possible and complete without their participation. Criminal

investigation becomes a farce if left to the mercy of these people, which it has alreadybecome in the last half century in India.

POLITICS IS FOR POWER

Politics is for power. Power in democracy does not come for free. Il faut de l’ argent in

politics. No sensible person can squander his hard earned money in political gambles. That is

how corruption enters politics a la derobee. Peter Ustinov said, “Corruption is nature’s wayof restoring our faith in democracy”. It is dangerously radicated in the extant political system

of India so much that politics sans corruption has become unimaginable. As back as in 1971,when the then Union Finance Minister, Y.B.Chavan approached the then Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi with a proposal for demonetisations to curb corruption, the only curt responsefrom the Prime Minister was a question, “Chavanji, are no more elections to be fought by the

Congress Party?” That reveals the political compulsions within which a politician must

operate.

The grab is more serious lower down the level. Every MLA or MP counts in the survival

game of the politics. The choice is between power interests and national interests. Almost

always it is the survival instinct and the lure of power that prevails true to the very definitionof the politics. People’s representatives are allowed to auction postings within their




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constituencies to influence the administration in their favour or to enable them to pool thefund to face the next election as a quid pro quo for their continued support to the ChiefExecutive of the Government and his survival. This is a vicious circle of political

compulsions outgrown in the Indian variety of the democracy. No investigation machinery

can remain fair and objective in such an ambience. Political system in India has just notmatured for the enlightened leadership of the criminal justice system.

POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY

Criminal investigation in India has become a matter of political expediency. State

political leadership decides about the permission to the CBI to investigate a case depending

on its own vulnerability and interests in the case. Whether it is in states or in the Centre,criminal cases are taken for investigation, the pace of the investigation is decided, arrests are

made, bails and post-arrest treatments are decided, and even the quality of the investigationare regulated according to the needs of the politicians in power. Important investigations

continuing for decades and even dying in rerum natura following political needs are no moreexceptions in India.

The way out to resile the criminal investigation machinery to its normal fairness,

objectivity and the framework of the rule of law is to institute a constitutional body forcriminal investigation called the Indian Investigation Authority in the Centre and subordinateAuthorities in the states by due constitutional amendments a la the judiciary with autarchy to

guide the process of the investigations from the scratch to the end sans immunity to anyexcept perhaps to the President of the country. Indeed the process necessitates a specialised

cadre of investigators responsible only to the Investigation Authority with a senior SupremeCourt judge as its constitutional head and senior police and civil service officers of proven

integrity selected by the Authority in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme

Court as members in constitutional posts and responsible only to the Chief Justice of theSupreme Court and the President of the country. This may considerably relieve the

investigation machinery of the country from the epinosic political compulsions and bringfairness, objectivity and the framework of the rule of law so essential for the rightful process

of any investigation back to its frame.



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COORDINATED APPROACH TO

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Justice begotten at a cost is justice lost. Justice is a natural right. It is the sine qua non

and the raison d’etre of the social grouping. Justice in a social environment has to be asnatural as sleep or oxygen to a living being. Free and fair justice is the leges legum of the

human rights. The proficiency of the judicial administration system has to be assayed withthis litmus test and its role in the system has to be judged by its contributions to this goal of

the judicial administration system.

Justice in its basic sense necessitates an integral vision. Justice abstracted from itsenvironment, past, present, future, diverse issues, dramatis personae and related events

cannot be justice in the true sense of the word. Justice in parts is no justice that lasts. Justiceinvolves delving deep down to the heart of an issue and delivering justice in reference to all

related issues and matters to the rightful entitlement of all. This presupposes a passion for

objectivity and justness and above all, selflessness in the arbitrators of justice as well as inthose who are in the service of the administration of justice.

JUDICIARY AND THE POLICE

Effectiveness of police lies in its ability in making justice an easily and cheaply

dispensable commodity. Police are the first line of the means of dispensing justice. Courtscome to the scene only in far later stage for restricted number of cases. For the hoi polloi,

police is the first and the only easy defence against injustices. Most cases of disputes nevercross the thresholds of the police stations. Police do act as arbitrators of justice in criminal

as well as civil cases in exercise of the wide spectrum of responsibilities of crime

investigations, investigations, maintenance of law, enforcement of order, preventive measures

and security duties. They enjoy a key position in the administration of justice. A good policecertainly symbolise effective administration of justice more than courts and prosecution

department together do. That is why a sound police system is conditio sine qua non for the

health and progress of the country and its tenuous social fabric.

The position of the police as the enforcer of the laws of the country gives it an edge in the

judicial system of the country in enforcement of laws, preventive measures and investigation

of crimes and provides it a strategic relationship with the dispenser of laws namely the judiciary. Though the judiciary has absolutely no say in the organisational matters of the

police force, it, if it so desires and have adequate resources to do it, can have absolute control

over the police functions as the police au fond is the enforcer of laws and the judiciary is the

interpreter and dispenser of the laws and the synergy between the two functions perforceimplies absolute subordination of the police functions to the judicial review. However, this

may not be the case in practice for several reasons. One is the concept of judicial restraint.

Another is the constraints within which the judiciary functions. The other is thedisinclination of the judiciary to interfere with the executive functions of the police unless




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circumstances compel it to do so to discharge its cardinal responsibility of upholding the ruleof law and justice in the country.

In the spectrum of the state administration, the police enjoys or suffers a rather polemic

position defying many principles of the statecraft like the insulation of legislature, executiveand judiciary in the machinery of the state governance or the compatibility between the

constitutional rights invested with the importance enjoyed by a government organisation in

the state administration. The police organisation on the other hand is the best example of theunity of state administration, of the synergy of various organs of the state governance. It, as

an enforcer of laws, investigator of crimes and an apparatus of state security, share a lever

with all the pockets of the statecraft and acts as the spinal chord of the government by

coordinating the functions of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in establishingthe rule of law. Its bonds with the executive and the judiciary are equally strong and act as apowerful link between the two powerful wings of the government. It is a string that binds

disparate wings and organs of the government together and gives it a sense of oneness andbelonging while itself remains en arriere. This explains the sine qua non of the police in

state administration while denying it a ranking place, as a governing body sui juris like many

other organs of the state administration. The police as a government agency represent the

driving force of the executive and the controlling device of the judiciary. It is the workingmuscle of the government. It represents the law of the country and therefore ultimately

responsible to the laws of the country. While it is a part of the executive, its subordination to

the judiciary and responsibility towards the law of the country raise it above the scope of theexecutive functions. While it is a part of the judiciary, its position as a handmaid of the

executive, spreads its role above the scope of the judiciary. Ergo, the police is a governmentagency that performs functions both within and above the scope of the executive and

judiciary as well as the legislature. The police is a part of all these wings of the government

and subordinate of each to them while outgrow each of them in professional discharge of itsresponsibilities au reste. What is required is the realisation of this sui generis position of the

police and preparing itself mentally to discharge these cardinal responsibilities in

compatibility with the professional requirements.

UNITY OF PURPOSE IN INDIAN POLICE

In the current system of policing in India, police stations and district police units form

clavis of the administration. Some of the functions discharged at these levels have concurrent jurisdiction with some special units at state and national levels. Crime investigation inspecial circumstances can be taken over from the district police administration by the state

CID or the CBI at the national level. The police in the state are devised as an independentunit. In a vast country like India, policing being shared between myraid independent units

with no perspicaciously defined mechanism of concinnity, the problem occurs of coordinationand the unity of purpose in tackling crimes. Except for the sense of national unity there is

nothing common among these units to appropinquate the gauntlets with a common cause.

Even the common Indian Police Service is unable to bring about a unit of purpose to policing

throughout India. This gives an impression of fragmentation in the Indian police. A

fragmented police cannot turn out work in full-stream owing to the waste by leakage in theprocess of co-ordination between the fragmented parts. India must consider devising a



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pollent unitary police administration at the centre with full control over subordinate state andunion terrotory police setups. This would avoid coordination problems and help policing byallogamy to be more purposeful in tackling challenges from the national perspective. It also

makes available larger resources from the national level for policing apart from strengthening

the sense of belonging to one police. This is the conditio sine qua non for the perficientpolicing of the future.

CRIMINAL LAWS

A few glaring anomalies and some erroneous provisions more suo in the extant criminal

laws of India improvise for the easy escapades of criminals from the clutches of law and the

harassment of innocent persons by the law enforcing authorities. The psellisms of thecriminal law have to be plugged imprimis if crime administration has to be effective in Indiaand command a semblance of respect and confidence of the public.

The police or judicial officer under whose custody a person is kept under detention should

be made responsible by name for the latter’s timely release with a provision that if detentionexceeds the period provided by law, it will make the concerned officer liable for proceedingsfor unlawful detention sans the privilege of exemptions ingenerate to the actions performed in

official colour.

CRIMINAL LAW BOARD

India requires the constitution of a statutory Criminal Law Board as an advisory body toliaise between the criminal justice setup and the union law ministry regarding criminal laws

to facilitate glib process of the criminal justice system. The board, as a permanent body, may

have senior most officers of the central government from home and law ministries, police andprosecution departments, distinguished humanists and senior advocates of the Supreme Court

as members with the union home minister as its chairman. It must undertake propaedeutic of

the need of changes in criminal laws from time to time. The board may meet every quarter ora year and discuss extant criminal laws and their shortcomings in the light of representations

received from officers in the field from the police and prosecution departments and make

proposals for requisite changes in criminal laws e ra nata.

HUMAN RIGHTS CELLS

Institution of human rights cells in each district and metropolitan city as advisory

conseil to the police of the region with local human rights champions as its members to drawattention to specific instances of inhuman conduct by subordinate officers would meet the

needs to keep the police on pernoctation against excesses. The human rights cells should be adynamic part of the police administration in the regions and its observations should set in

motion a process of verification and peremptory action. Though subjecting police to the

scrutiny of an outside setup may appear a retrograde measure, it may help the assuefaction of

the policing methods to human comports and saves the establishment from the charges of

violation of human rights




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STRUCTUAL CHANGES

The first and foremost job to do to bring back the police on rails as a fair dealer in the

process of the criminal justice system is to extricate the police from the epinosic influence of

all hues by making it responsible to an independent Authority with absolute powers to takedecisions on matters of policing and criminal investigation. The Authority should be a

professional body of men and women of proven probity and competence as members, who

reached a stage from where they need not sacrifice their convictions to appease those inpower and standout in foro conscientiae. A working arrangement is to be devised by whichthe Authority becomes responsible directly to the legislature and functions independently a la

the judiciary, the Central Vigilance Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General or the

Chief Election Commissioner.

Creation of a Core Group of people adept in assessing men and character within the

aforesaid Police Authority helps to create a feeling of confidence and job security in policeand prod to discharge the duties of crime investigation fearlessly. This Group that oversees

the work of police personnel from a distance should be ultimately responsible for all career

decisions in the police force. The responsibility of senior officers in assessing the work of the

subordinates that forms the major embarrassment of the present Indian police dispensation asthe infima species of the kind in the world must be limited to giving opinion about the

performance of their subordinates to the Core Group; the expert Core Group must process the

opinion by its own research, expertise and discretion and take responsible decision on its ownresearch, expertise and discretion and take responsible decision on its own. The Group must

be made responsible for all development plans of the police, work assessment, job analyses,recruitment and management of human resources etc. Institution of such a Core Group to

oversee the career development of police personnel without personal bias may bring

revolutionary changes in the police by committing it to its work ethics and professional telos with single mindedness to bring in objectivity and fairness to the process of the crime

investigation from the vile prise of those in power and rich and powerful enough to dictate

terms to the police.

PROSECUTION

The weakest link in the chain of the criminal justice system in India ironically is the

cardinal factor of the system namely the prosecution that actually heads and guides thecriminal justice process in countries like the United States of America. The prosecution as theinterface between the investigating agency and the judiciary and between the investigation

and the law is run in India by minor government departments with all the malaises andmalfeasances common to such setups like indifference, inefficiency, complacency,

casualness, corruption and lack of professionalism and competitive edge. Prosecution iscardinal to criminal justice process and professionalism and competitive edge constitute the

summum bonum of the process as it makes investigation relevant to the judiciary and

judiciary meaningful to the investigation to emphasise that crime never pays and criminality

never succeeds. While investigation involves indagation of facts and adjudication involves

interpretation of laws, prosecution is involved in the hard creativity and commitment ofrendering the facts d’ accord with the right interpretation as facilitator of the criminal justice



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system. In this sense, prosecution is the syndesis of the process and needs really high-calibreperformance to make the criminal justice system a success. It needs social sensitivity andcommitment of the highest order and competitive edge to fight out the rich and powerful

criminals with the best defence lawyers and creative edge in the service of the truth and

justice. It is easier said than possible in a government setup of the Indian mindset.

An efficacious criminal justice system calls for a sound prosecution mechanism that is

flexible enough to draw the best talents from the open market and reward strictly by

chevisance. The investigating agencies at various levels should have the liberty to pick thebest legal talents in the field as prosecutors for a fixed tenure like five years on a contract to

try their cases at attractive emoluments. The fear of outsiders on contract in government

setups is meaningless in the triste ambience of the profligate insiders of the independentIndia. The selection of the right prosecutor cannot be left to any individual at any rankbecause of the prolate fall in moral standards of the country. Each district police unit and state

and central investigating agencies must have a statutory prosecutor selection committee

constituted of the principal district Judge or his representative as the chairman, the Deputy

Commissioner of the district, the president of the district Bar Council and a representativeformally appointed by the Deputy Commissioner from the local Human Rights organizationor any public service organization as the members and the district police chief as the member-

secretary for each district, High Court or Supreme Court Chief Justice or his representative asthe chairman, Chief Secretary of the state or the Cabinet Secretary, the president of the High

Court or the Supreme Court Bar Council and the head of the Human Rights Commission as

the members and the chief of the investigating agency as the secretary-member for the stateand the central investigating agencies for the selection of right prosecutors from the best legaltalents in the field for quantum meruit based on performance for fixed tenures on contract as

deemed fit from time to time. The high nature of the selection committee behoves to the high

importance of the right prosecutors at all levels for the success en semble of the criminal justice system and the concomitant peace, security and prosperity of the country and its

people.

PRISONS

The place of prisons in the plexus of the criminal justice system is sine qua non in that it

is the guardian of all the condemned persons and the fate of their families and dependants.Their responsibilities therefore are unenviable. This is especially so in the circumstances thatcriminals are not born, but made by the circumstances and the insensitivities of the society

and the society that has spawned criminals out of them because of its failures has a

responsibility towards them to reform and accommodate them. Sadly, extant prison setups inIndia as government departments as hubs of inefficiency, indifference and corruption largely

lack sensitivity to the gargantuan task. The sensitivity of the task as the custodians of the

periculous criminals including security threats further escalates the problem. Powerful andrich criminals of whatever category living in prisons en prince is common knowledge in this

deus avertat country. There are myriad cases of dangerous criminals running their criminalgangs extra muros from the precincts of the prisons and even committing murders and

sabotages with the patronage of the corrupt prison officials. Such a prison administrationundermines the very purpose of the criminal justice system.




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Indian prison administration needs overhauling a fond without the edifice of its structurebeing disturbed. How about a Prisons Management Board for each prison with the head of theprison as its member-secretary and the head of the prisons department as the chairman with

the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district, the district police chief and the district

medical officer and two representatives from the local human rights and social serviceorganizations appointed by the Deputy Commissioner as members running the administration

and statutorily being responsible for the performance of the prison? It shall deracinate all

extant evils of the prison administration and free the hapless prisoners from all theirgratuitous inhuman sufferings and the rich and powerful among them from being a princelyretreat and a haven of safety and security to hide from the revenge of the opposite groups.

The heart of the responsibilities of the criminal justice system is cleansing the societyby bringing criminals to book. Investigation is the prime tool available for this end. Humanrights, justice and equitability before the law make up the essence of the privileges man

enjoys in the social setup. The organisations entrusted with the responsibility of protecting

the rights and doing justice to all with the equitable process of the criminal justice system en

semble are doing a disservice to the professions and humanity if failed in their cardinalresponsibility for want of coordination and synergy in approach.



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THE CORE OF POLICE PROBLEMS

A Country begets the Police it deserves. The Police is the creation of the society it

polices. It inherits its values, culture, practices and aspirations from the society to which it

belongs. The ambience defines the nature of the Police, the country begets. In this sense,

India got a Police system it deserves with all its perversions like corruption, brutality,criminality, inefficiency, and indeed mediocrity. Nothing more can be expected from the fall

of value system India suffered after independence. The prime attributes of the Indian Policesystem of the post-independent vintage are lack of motivation, lack of professional

commitment, devastating job culture and the ineffective training system. With the lure ofmoney and the abuse of power as the center of the Indian psyche and appointments and

promotions even at highest levels turning to be arbitrary after independence, both talent and

government institutions withered in the heath. Indian Police system is one of the majorcasualties of the apollyon. Right people are crucial for police and policing. Character

constitutes the spine of a Police setup. Police is the real power in the field and constitutes the

strength of both the executive and the political system. As an instrument of power, it can be a

double-edged weapon; a cornucopia of safety, security and peace while good, and absolutelydemoniac while bad. This festinated the aggravation of the situation. All problems of the

extant Police system in India flow from this single fact; all talks other than these basic causeslike inadequate resources, unscrupulous politicians, legal and political constraints, growing

crime rate, inadequate manpower, fractured organisation etc are either sheermisrepresentations to evade responsibility or just manifestations of the basic causes projected

above.

The lever de rideau here is the issue why and who. It is easy to blame unscrupulouspoliticians, the hors la lai, powerful and rich criminals, the lure of money , the constraints of

democracy, legal hurdles, fragile system, fractured organisation, professional constraints,

accrescently complex and violent society, rise in crime rate, increasing work pressure and hi-tech crimes. These factors represent the circumstances in which Police is called to work onand show results. They constitute the raison d’etre of the Police and do not constitute

execuses for inefficiency, nonperformance and failures. The challenge is to accept the reality

and show results. The burden is on those at the top-wrung of the Police. It is their failures toadequately plan, organise, execute and control that toppled the Indian Police of the

democratic vintage from its high pedastal. Their lack of foresight and vision, lack of

brilliance and foremost of all, the love of the UPSC of the mediocrity and its certain

degringolade from seventies as a responsible public institution committed to merit andcharacter, combined with the unsavoury rat-race among officials to reach the top-wrung, andconsequent race to double-bend before the politcal bosses and the rich and the powerful who

count, tore the fabric of the Indian Police to shreds after independence .

It is a rebours for the political bosses and the rich and the powerful to turn blind

eye to the willing devotion and race of the Police top-brass to please and gratify. After-all,Gandhis and Buddhas are not born everyday. They perforce take the advantage of thesituation and help their acolytes out of turn as a quid pro quo. The blame for this sorry state

of affair squarely lies on the Police and those who select and recruit such less than sound




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character to the Police. The nexus extends even to the rich and powerful and the hors la lai who count. How the criminals as el patron can be policed by these weaklings and law andorder maintained?

It is preposterous to lay the blame on lack of resources or neglect of the Police by theexecutive or the paucity of manpower. The truth is that the Police is over-indulged in India

by the Law-and-Order-sensitive political and bureaucratic machinery as far as sparse

resources of this poor country is concerned. Our Police leaders conduct like spoilt children.Most of the resources made available are squandered and siphoned away to non-operationaland non-professional extravaganza or just wasted on unrealistic and foolhardy programmes a

grands frais, resulting in no or miniscule returns.

Another mendacity of the stock is the clamour about shortage of manpower en face ascensive crime rate and policing responsibilities. Again, it is an attitudinal problem.

Effective policing never depends on numbers, more so in extant hi-tech age. It is quality,

planning, secrecy and surprise that really constitute the bedrock of effective policing. Show

of strength is never a forte of good and perficient policing. The truth is that the wastage ofhuman resources and man-power is phenomenal in Indian Police and criminal in proportion.

Police leadership is meant to face the reality, assess it, plan with foresight and vision andaccordingly remould the system and the organisation. It must set the lead by right job culture.

It is here that Police leadership failed. No political boss or executive head from outside can

do the job for him for the simple reason that policing is an extremely specialised job and nooutsider can have a keek to the intricacies of the Police and policing job.

Problems and challenges are natural in any setup. It is left to the Police leadership to

address them. The problems au fond in Police are lack of motivation, wrong job culture,absence of professional commitment and poor training en arriere of every other problem and

issue. While this achilles’ heel is prevalent in Indian Police cap-a-pie, naturally the issue tobe addressed is who to bell the cat. Only public opinion and public pressures can bring about

the apotropaic change. But, Police is too a thick-skinned beast to respond to such opinions

and pressures. This is the crux of the problem. Right recruitment and sound training alonecan save Indian Police from its avernus by fine turning a healthy job culture.

The extant police ensemble is marked by lack of human concerns and empathy for thefellow men. This has deprived the elements of heart and compassion from the body of the

bureaucracy. Initiatives, novel ideas and creative pursuits are seen as the antithesis of the

police. This has deprived the elements of brain and intellect from the corpus of the policesystem. The result is a deadweight-police weighing down on the live India and sucking it dry

with evils and misuse of the powers invested on it for governing and steering the country

ahead.

India is an egregious forerunner in the world among countries most corrupt in public life.

The root cause of this grave malady is India’s corrupt governance pregnant with inefficiency,

indifference and gross temulence of power devoid of human elements. Police measures havebecome synonymous in popular parlance and perception in India with foolhardy decisions



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and actions far removed from reality. Lack of accountability is the leitmotiv of governance inIndia. This is a malengine consciously evolved ab intra to safeguard self-interests. Powersans accountability rendered police in India an evil per se.

The evils of policing need not always be directed only against outsiders. Inscience knowsno boundaries. Even those within may become cruel victims of its grossly unrealistic and

farcical decisions as in the case of a highly talented and multifaceted genius who joined

service in a Southern Indian state in 1978. He was soon recognized for sheer brilliance andpurity of character as a diamond that can fit anywhere and as a peacock among the fowls.Soon the recognition itself turned a noose on his neck. It was assessed by the inscient

bureaucracy that his outstanding attributes might prevent him from becoming popular

among the seniors and prevent him from reaching higher levels. A two-pronged strategy wasdevised. He was to be roughed-up and denied promotions to rub-off his superior qualities andthe intimidating aura till the detrition by the sufferings forces him down to the ordinary level.

Once the job is accomplished, his lost seniority was to be restored a few years before

retirement.

He was denied promotions with the connivance of the UPSC following the meretriciouscareer plan year after year till his junior colleagues became senior to him by two ranks. He

was posted to most humiliating posts and harassed endlessly. However, the process gotcaught in a skein as the infaust officer refused to come down from his immanent and really

superior qualities even after two decades of immanity and sufferings while the bureaucracy

refused to yield and give up its illegal and unconstitutional stance until the officercondescends to the mediocre levels. The refusal of the officer to approach judiciary againstthe ill treatment for redressal and his resolve to depend solely on his talents and character

helped the establishment to persist with the preposterous process. His morale remained high

throughout non obstante serious humiliations and endless grief. He sought refuge in otherfields and won nonpareil accolades from everybody by sheer talents. His tormentors followed

him there too. The head of the State Intelligence who himself a small-time writer andpublished a few books in a regional language used esoteric threats in 2000 on the publishers

of the accurst officer to discourage them from publishing his books. The publishers who

already had published half a score books of the officer returned two manuscripts of the officerin sheer desperation expressing helplessness en face the police interferences. The release of

one of his books of academic interests by the State Governor in 2000 was ensured stalled inthe last minute.

Fanciful premises bordering madness tout court leading to irresponsible and eristic career

plans of that dimensions are possible only in governance utterly lacking in accountability andonly a sacred country like India can produce such gross grief, sufferings and humiliations eo

nomine noble intensions. Lack of transparency makes such atrocities possible and permits its

practice for decades as in the case study.

The annual assessment of men and officers in the police has become a travesty of what itused to be or meant to be. In no way, under the present circumstances, does an ACR reflect

an officer’s qualities or capabilities. It is believed that the department would be far better offwithout this pernicious evaluation process that breeds corruption and bias. What

characterises the ACR today is a distinct lack of objectivity; it has become a means to




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personal ends, a medium for the advancement of individual interests and even settlement ofpersonal scores. Servility is its inevitable consequence and it would not be immoderate to saythat eliminating the ACR altogether would be certainly a step forward.

If policing is to be effective in the years ahead, specialisation is crucial. I suggest threedistinct police services with separate recruitment and training: (1) Regulatory police or

uniformed police in charge of law and order and other regulatory duties; (2) Mainstay police

in charge of crime investigation and prevention and security and intelligence operation; (3)Social police in charge of prevention and investigation of all social offences andimplementation of social legislation. All three wings should have their own individual

organisations up to the district level with independent Superintendents and staff as required,

functioning in tandem in much the same way as the Army, Navy and Air Force. At the apex,could be a specially constituted body called the State Police Authority with the chiefs of allthree wings as members and the Chief Secretary as chairman.

All the present maladies emanate from the politicians who are only concerned with

winning the next elections. Until the organisation is extricated from the grip of politicians, itcannot hope to rise above the mediocre level, either in proficiency or in character. Suchmediocrity is wont to percolate downwards in a democratic setup.

An All India Police Authority accountable only to the President of India at the national

level with the regional Police Boards in States as independent bodies should be created. The

Authority must be headed by a Supreme Court Judge with the Union Home Secretary and theCabinet Secretary as members and the senior most police officer of the country as themember-secretary. The regional Police Boards must have a High Court Judge at the helm

with the Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary as members and the State Police Chief as

member-secretary. The arrangement will bring to an end interference of any kind in policeaffairs, thus enabling the personnel to function in an independent atmosphere. These

measures complete with the overhaul of the UPSC to bring back all the former gloria ofcommitment to merit and character may dawn a new era in Indian public life.



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TRAINING STRATEGY TO AFFECT BEHAVIOURAL

AND

ATTITUDINAL CHANGE IN THE POLICE PERSONNEL

I begin the paper with the first paragraph of the article, ‘NEED OF ATTITUDINALCHANGE IN INDIAN POLICE’ from my book “POLICING THE POLICE”, published in

2000. There I said, “The major problem that confronts extant police is its attitude to work,responsibilities, profession, organization, government and the public. It is confounded about

its goals, objectives, loyalties, professional ethos, job culture, procedures and practices that

carry it forward in the field in attending professional duties. In the wilderness of undefinedroads, Indian police grope for perspicacious directions to reach professional ends. Popular

phrases like maintenance of order, enforcement of law, prevention of crime, investigation of

offences, protection of security interests etc are too generic terms to carry any meaning and

significance during the process of actual policing. Perficient policing is possible only in theambience of well-rounded and clearly defined specific guidelines for action that helpmoulding professional attitude in the organization. Police develop wrong attitudes in its

absence by erroneous interpretation of the situation around. This is what happens to Indian

police now: wrong attitudes and concomitant confusion about performing legitimate duties.”

Professional ideals of police are rooted in the terra firma of the rule of law, justice,

order and the security of the country and its citizens. Police organization is basically

responsible to the constitution of the country and the government constituted and the lawsenacted in accordance with the constitution. Police lose its relevance to the country when its

professional attitude goes against the cardinal ideals of the profession. The challenge of apolice organization lies in moulding professional attitude as required by the ideals of the

profession. Wrong attitudes inveterate in extant practices and procedures of policing areshaped by self-interests, misconceptions, ignorance and tendency to pursue easy and shortcut

methods: they are hard to be broken and survive under most odds. Only efficient, honest and

highly motivated leadership alone can crack the etui encompassing it. Once it is done,building a new set of right professional attitudes is relatively a simpler job to a committed

leadership. Basic to these efforts is a realization among the top brass about what constitute

right and wrong attitudes. The crux of the problem of Indian police lies here. It is distressing

to note that the top leadership of post-independent Indian police is responsible for theprevarication of the organization from its professional attitude of absolute commitment to

public order and safety, justice and rule of law to easy and shortcut avenues of selfishinterests. The change percolated downwards. In the rush of Indians replacing the British to

sensitive government positions on the eve of independence, men of inadequate caliber andmerit occupied key government posts. This happened in police as in other government

departments. The result was corrosion in leadership qualities, traits of excellence and high

personal merits, so essential to run public and national affairs at the top. It was during this

period that Indian police lost its track in professional policing and exposed itself to the luxuryof dancing to the easy and soft tunes of convenience by yielding to pressures of political and




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other vested interests. Policing powers served as a tool of maximizing self-interests andpersonal comforts at the cost of professional policing. In the process, the country sufferedand police lost its face.

WRONG ATTITUDES APLENTY

A profession like police naturally has its own goals, objectives and ideals to pursue.

They get clouded in the smog of practical turn-arounds in the field and ultimately lose theiredge in the spin of attitudinal aberrations. The consequence is clashes of loyalties, adoptionof immodest vectors in policing, the issue of excesses and inactions, tendency to bend rules

and laws to achieve perceived ends in the hour of need of upholding the rule of law, urge to

cash-in on the ignorance and weaknesses of the ignorant people around and indulgences inunprofessional works in the name of discharging legitimate police duties. Performance ofany profession depends upon three factors: professional ideals, job culture and actual

practices and procedures. Job culture is spawned of constant interaction of professional

ideals and actual practices and procedures in the field. Though basically is a product of the

past, it considerably affects the future performance of an organization. Practices andprocedures being the primary vehicle of attitude, they help moulding job culture a la immanent attitude in the job. The result is a pollent hold of attitude in deciding the direction

of an organisation. A profession loses its raison d’etre while attitude in the job prevaricatesfrom professional ideals.

People caught in the web of criminal laws deserve sympathy and kindness until theyare proved guilty beyond doubts. They need to be treated with gentleness and courtesy thatbehoves to interpersonal relationship in a civilised society while the process of investigation

continues with all efficiency and ruthless exactitude. Police as investigator is not invested

with powers to punish for the crimes committed. Fair chance to persons under investigationto prove their innocence goes a long way in unearthing truth and solving crimes justly. This

has to be the attitude of the police during crime investigation. Truth and justice have to betheir goal. Indian police lack the maturity and poise.

A serious Achilles’ heel of Indian police is its perverted attitude towards rules and laws.Bending rules and laws to suit self-interests is one dimension of the spiel. Another dimension

is its blind application sans sense of proportion and discreetness while self-interest is not anissue. It is seen in enforcing laws and maintaining order. Police forget that rules and laws are just tools in the larger cause of peace and order of the society and sadly handle laws for law’s

sake. Rules and laws are invested on police like weapons as the dernier ressort while all

other avenues are shut. Discreetness is their constraint. Objectives are primary. Rules andlaws must follow them only as tools to that end. The realisation is rarely found in the present

police. It operates laws for law’s sake by relegating organisational objectives to oblivion.

Professional objectives suffer and police become an object of detestation consequential to thisperverted attitude. Mechanical enforcement of gratuitous rules and laws constrict the

freedom of people for no specific purpose and weaves an unnecessary web of constraintsaround them for nobody’s good. The attitude is fatal to fair and professional policing

practices and needs to be corrected on priority to make application of rules and laws need-based in reaching professional targets.



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Another field where police need to change its attitude is its contempt for human values.Policing is just an instrument to the cause of protecting human values. Police oblivious tothis fact, subject human values to immane policing methods in the name of policing. Third

degree methods are the point. Malfeasances do not behove to the cause of human values.

Means are as important as ends in policing. Pursuing unjust means for the cause of justice isthe spiel of the Frankenstein, the story of an offspring eating its creator. Inviolable

commitment to human values and rights is the foundation of good policing. Human touch is

sine qua non for professional policing. Human concern is the raison d’etre of good policing.The shift in attitude needs to be from blind and blanket policing for the policing’s sake todiscreet and enlightened policing to reach professional objectives. The shift has to be from the

use of policing powers to maximise professional goals. The shift must see police taking risks

in the interests of the profession and doing intelligent policing rather than indulging inmanoeuvres of personal security. The process warrants massive exercise in attitudinalchange.

AFFECTING ATTITUDINAL CHANGE

Forcing police away from vicious practices and procedures and undesirable job

culture through the attitudinal change is an arduous and time-consuming exercise even forexperts in the field. The exercise has to be a multi-pronged attack on inveterate

misconceptions and wrong notions in extant policing by extensive exposures to talks,

discussions, seminars, briefings, studies, researches and in-service training involving analysesof policing, its ideals, objectives, methods, means and ends, social relevances, pressures,policing environment, psychological aspects of policing etc. The exercise has to be intended

to provoke police personnel to think about their profession without dogma and arrive at

desirable conclusions about professional policing and impress them on the ingredients ofgood policing by constant exposure. A few ideal cases as models have tremendous impact on

the cause of creating right attitudes. Studies and researches on policing and policing methodsprovide a sound foundation to these exercises. A police organisation interested in improving

its quality and performance cannot go without sound study centres and research projects on

the issues of policing. These attempts provide both inputs and insight to the behaviouralpattern of the police in field under different situations and stress patterns as differentiated

from what are desired. They bring both gestalts to contrast in terms of their perficiency,professional needs and relevance to the environment of policing to affect attitudinal change inright direction by way of conviction. The immediate need is inducing doubts about the

soundness of existing attitudes to encourage discussion on the topic. Deliberate guiding

through structured mental exercises to desirable end forms the latter part of the task. Indeed,the whole exercise has to be planned and executed in detail by highly efficient leadership in

the police. The conundrum is who behoves to handle the highly responsible job while the

leadership of the police itself is mired in wrong attitudes to the job of policing.

RIGHT RECRUITMENT

Character is nascitur, non fit. Sound character is the materfamilias of right attitudes.

The principium of right training strategy is the realization that character and attitudes cannot




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be created. Character is an immanent element. Any discussion on right training strategy sansdiscussion on right recruitment is like building an edifice on sand-bed, like watering a deadplant, an exercise in futility, an intellectual wanze. Right training is nothing more than

perficient seedling of a seed or precocious flowering of a blossom. It is more so in issues of

character, attitude and behavior, the three being entwined into one with character spawningattitude and attitude in its turn defining the behavior. This brings us to the intricate issues of

character and character building. The triste state d’ affaire of the Indian police of the post-

independent vintage and its degringolade after independence can be attributed tout a fait tothis single factor: lack of character. That is recruitment of wrong people, recruitment ofpeople lacking in character, integrity, honesty, human sensibilities, service motive and

Rhadamanthine attributes.

The corner stone of any perficient training strategy is right recruitment. The emphasisshould be on sound character reflecting on integrity, human sensibilities and service motive.

This necessitates creation of a character profile of each applicant imprimis in the process of

selection and recruitment. Once character is in place, other needs follow by the fundamentum

relationis and secondary to the need hierarchy enface crucial character in professionalpolicing. Ability to envision and see things in broader perspective also needs to be tested forfinal selection.

Indeed, practical problems are mind-boggling if not impossible to manage. First of all,

drawing the character profile of eligible applicants is easier said than done. It calls for

complete overhauling of the extant selection procedures and evolution of psychologicalprocesses as the prime mechanism of the selection in place of present highlight on answeringabilities. Competence of the present psychological processes in drawing right character

profile is another issue. And the ever-presence interference of political and influential lobbies

and the greed of the selectors at all levels are the grave hurdles for this process to beferacious.

WARMING-UP PROCESS

The period of initiation is the most important and impressionable period in the career-life of fresh recruits to the police department. The process of warming-up is based on the

psychological needs of human nature. New entrants must be handled with utmost care to givethem confidence and a feeling of belonging at the incipient stage itself. A sense ofconfidence and belonging to the organisation and an ingenerate love and respect for the

higher–ups are the substruction on which discipline grows. Efforts to inculcate disicipline in

a void are like waiting for rain from the autumn sky. Indian police impresarios failed tounderstand such finer nuances of administration when they copied the system of the British

Indian police. And so we now have a police system where discipline is insisted on

subordinates sans the conditions requisite for the discipline. The recruits, who enter the foldwith open sensibilities and high expectations, wither after braving for a while the brusque and

insensitive conduct of their higher ranks. These recruits continue thereafter to be constantenemies of the higher ranks and the department for which they must continue to work for the

next three to four decades. A police department constituted of such members, thanks to theshabby approach of the insensitive higher ranks in this most impressioanble period of the

former’s carrier-life cannot turn out eximious work. It is a tragedy that India neither spawned



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a police force of its ain superior values nor copied the police force of the British vintage in itsentirety with its finer points, but cultivated instead a burlesque of the rough and mediocreaspects of both.

ACADEMIC TRAINING

It is euphemistic to nuncupate extant Indian police training cap-a-pie as a maelstrom. It is

in utter disarray and directionless. Emphasis is on information, which is not a big deal in thisage of Internet and competitive marketing of all kinds of information. What is required isblossoming the potential right character, attitudes and requisite skills. This is the field where

complete overhauling of the training system is called for. Save the constabulary for which

spoon-feeding of the rudimentary criminal laws are must, otherwhere wanze the precioustraining period on basics while prime issues like character building and behavioral andattitudinal evolutions remain untouched is criminal offence per se. What is required is laying

a sound foundation for character building as a powerful base for passions for righteous

policing, and motivating the young recruits in that direction. This aspect is completely

forgotten in Indian police training now.

Basic police training course at all levels should begin with exclusive exposure in the first

month to the sine qua non of sound character, integrity, honesty, humility, human sensibilitiesand the Rhadamanthine attributes as the springboard of the right attitudes in policing.

Policemen as the custodians of the rules and laws of the country and the agents of the public

sittlichkeit in uniform how stand out from the public must be deeply etched on the youngminds to guide them all through their career and light their path with the flambeau ofrighteousness thus lighted. The need of right public relations and image building in perficient

policing cannot be over-emphasised at this stage of the adsorption of the young recruit to the

fold of the police setup. The young recruits should be impressed on the importance of meansin achieving targets and how malfeasance leads to utter disaster in the end. And also how

right policing stands on the bedrock of the human rights.

The subjects to be covered during this period of one month at all levels should cover in-

depth study of human values and their philosophic foundations, policing philosophy,objectives and ideals of right policing, the locus standi of the police and policing in a

democratic setup and the requisites of adjustments with the political and other leaderships andthe degrees to which the police should maintain its own space and balance, the place of rulesand laws in the overall scheme of the criminal justice system of the country and the shortfalls,

the supremacy of the constitution of the country, the true meaning of the loyalty and its

extensions in a democratic setup, the field realities of the less than perfect society with whichpolice constantly remains engaged in performing its duties and how to maintain an

adjustment mechanism in diverse situations in the overall interests of the peace and security

of the society. The period must cover also diverse case studies from the field about thesuccess stories of right character and attitudes in policing and analyses of the inner dynamics

therein. Indeed, these are intangible topics lacking suitable textbooks for police studies at alllevels now. It means earnest measures towards writing of suitable textbooks to this end for

various levels must find priority.




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While the first month of the academic training exclusively covered the character andattitudinal issues, the remaining period of nine months too should have the subject covered inaddition to conventional police subjects. The telos is to build characters that approach

policing nec cupias, nec metuas. Here too, case studies from the field about success stories of

right character and attitudes must find priority.

Other measures during the academic training at all levels must cover recognition and

ample rewards for development of right character and attitudes even to the exclusion of talentand technical skills in the training scheme, and right people as the models in the training staffunlike now when it is only unwanted mediocre stuffs are fed to the police training institutions

at all levels. Excellent initiatives can do the tricks. There is an instant of a police officer in a

police training academy whilom a few years since for a batch of PSI recruit traineesrubbishing his allotted law classes and in place briefing on practical tricks from his fieldexperience about making maximum at the earliest to recoup the bribe paid for obtaining their

recruitments. This is ovem lupo committere.

FIELD TRAINING

Field training is the phase at which an entrant truly comes in contact with the true policing

and begins to form his own impression about police and policing in the field. There are anynumber of instances in police department senior police officers at the eve of their retirementrecalling with fondness the contribution of a PC or HC they came in contact at this phase of

their career and actually trained them in the intricacies of policing in the field in drawing theroad map of their whole career. This is just to map out the significance of this phase of one’s

career in policing. A wrong trainer at this stage, and a career wanze. Ergo, it is of paramountimportance that only right people in the field should be carefully selected and nominated to

assist and train probationers. Any wrong choice will result in irreparable casualties and

should be avoided with maximum caution. This principle should be applied to trainers even athigher levels including the district Superintendents.

In addition, the district Superintendent should be made statutorily responsible for

imparting right and effective training particularly forming right attitudes in those under hischarge with mandatory provision for his performance in this regard figuring in his Annual

Performance Reports. There should be provisions for removal from service at this stage of theprobationary period for failing to develop right attitudes and character even after repeated

detailed warnings, indeed with checks and counterchecks in place to avoid misuses.

INSERVICE TRAINING

Repeated exposures to the need of sound character and right attitudes do help in instilling

the qualities. A refresher course of five days on character building and right attitudes in policetraining institutes should be made statutorily mandatory once in every five years at all levels

up to the ranks of IGPs. In addition, every promotion up to this rank should be provisionaluntil the concerned official passes a written test on character building and right attitudes

conducted by the concerned police training institute.



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RESEARCH ON RIGHT POLICE ATTITUDES

Higher police training institutes should take up research projects on right police attitudes

on priority on a continuous basis by partaking the services of both eligible police officers and

nonpolice academics from the relevant fields. Every higher police training institute of thecountry should have an exclusive department for research and producing text books on

character and attitudes in relevance to police and policing.

JOB CULTURE

Learning is a continuous process. It is so in police and policing also. All advantages of the

right recruitment, right academic training in police training institutes and right field trainingface serious reif if field realities become inconducive to the ideals. Field realities with theirpositive and negative elements truly constitute the nidus of the attitudes one is compelled to

adopt and adapt. Therefore, field realities of the policing warrant utmost attention in the

process of breeding right attitudes in the service. It is only through the right job culture that

the police environment in the tide of high morale turns the leaf and policing s’orienter tobuild up a set of right attitudes among its personnel.

It is the sacred responsibility of the top brass of the police to ensure that right means getsprecedence over achieving targets somehow. Shortcut methods at the cost of right means

should be discouraged. Exitus acta probat should not be the only and ultimate motto of the

policing. Right attitude should be amply rewarded in the usual course of the policing. Further,a culture of senior officers briefing their juniors on the need of right character and attitudes inevery possible opportunity should be created in the organisation. Repeated stresses do have

their own impact particularly in a disciplined organisation like the police.

It is just the opposite of what is prolate in Indian police these days. Wrong values are

encouraged. Corrupt and caste-ridden elements see vaulting spots. ‘Yes, Minister’ tregetourswin the rat-race. Corruption is swept under the carpet on the specious claim that there is a

separate organisation to deal with the matter and it is none of the responsibility of the

organisation to keep itself clean. For, if one resorts to the cleansing process, he is certain to beunceremoniously kicked out by the political leadership. The situation has reached such a rien

ne va plus pass in India that it is often visioned that if an fonctionnaire is overlooked forpromotion or transferred to an undesirable post, more than often he is surmised and hailed asa four-square and outstanding person and those who corner desirable posts are looked down

upon as part of the coprophagous rot. It is a grave vicious circle. There is no point in

discussing right attitude unless this pythogenic vicious circle is broken.

Problem of attitude basically is a problem felt at higher wrung in top brass of the force. The

stiff hierarchical order and command-obedience pattern of functioning make the lower wrungirrelevant in matters of job attitude. Those down the ladder are loyal followers and obedient

operators in the path and policy laid above them. Their attitudes change shape from case tocase to meet the demands trickle from above. When the demand is to let out a rich and

powerful criminal with royal honours, those down the level do just that with vengeance; whenthe demand from above is to frame an innocent man and obtain his confession by subjecting

to torture, they just do that with dedication for the sake of a well-earned pat of their




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omniscient superiors. It is again a question of ill-conceived job culture and attitudes, whichneed to be corrected, as it is tangible to the standards of policing as all organisational mattersare. The primary target of attitudinal change is the higher wrung and the top brass. Others

follow and fall to place. The key lies in the realisation that something is wrong in the present

mode of policing. Demolition is the beginning of the construction. Once the realisation ofwrong dawns upon, reconstruction becomes possible. Police being an extrovert and action-

oriented outfit, self-analyses and inward-looking tendencies do not come easily. While things

go wrong, introversion becomes sine qua non for healthy growth. This is what is required inIndian police now.



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EVOLUTION OF NORMS

FOR MANPOWER AND LOGISTICS REQUIREMENTS

AT POLICE STATION, SUB-DIVISION AND DISTRICT

LEVELS

Greek verb ‘logistikos’ meaning compute or calculate, and French verb ‘loger ’ meaning

lodge are the roots of the English noun ‘logistics’, meaning supply of supportive attributeslike manpower, transport, communication reticulation, weapons systems and other facilitators

in any operation as planned in advance, and accurately trace the true nature of an effectivelogistics in terms of computed and calculated planning, and lodging or infixing the supportive

tools as calculated and planned in advance to be lodged at right time, place and occasion tomeet the needs of the operation for efficient performance and results, ipso facto investing

logistics and its execution a managerial edge. Logistics and logistics support imprimis aremanagerial tools built on the bedrock of the management techniques. Logistics au fond is

perficient material management run with an edge of precise time management and efficient

space management, made possible with right foresight, creative vision, incisive planning and

accurate execution. Evolution of norms for logistics in police organisations is byword for thedesire for the application of management principles to policing and police organisations. It

represents induction of the faculty of ratiocination to the field of policing and police

organisations. It is a visionary step and prognosticates the aurora of the scientific age inpolice organisations. Logistics norms differ only in details from the Police Station level to thesub-division level to district level while rest on the same bedrock of broad managerial

techniques.

PRIME VECTORS

Both Police Station and District Police Administration are the pillars of the policing

structure of India with sub-divisions providing the links between the two. Sub-divisionsderive their sustenance and draw manpower and logistics from the Police Stations, ergo

strong and efficient Police Stations mean strong sub-divisions. In exceptional cases, sub-divisions can always depend upon the strength of the district police force. Sub-divisions as

such do not have independent existence apart from the Police Stations under them and thedistrict police administration that guides and controls them. Therefore, discussion on the

logistics requirements of the Police Stations and the district police administration inter se

covers sub-divisions too.

Police Stations and district police administrations as the basic structures of the policing,

need to be pollent units capable of independently tackling crimes, security and law and order

issues from their own provenances, so that higher units are free to focus on larger issues ofcountrywide dimensions sans distractions. For this to happen, the Police Stations have to be

full-fledged units as far as their manpower and logistics requirements are concerned withoutthe need of asking and waiting for the help extra muros. A sense of autarchy and autarky is




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basic here. The change brings pride to the unit and boosts morale bringing in high motivationand inculcating lofty purpose to the job of policing. The end result will be quality and oftencompetitive performance of very high order in policing which sadly is a mere dream in the

extant policing structure of India.

Police Station setup of present India grievously falls short in logistics and infrastructure

support whether it is in manpower, transport, communication network, weapon systems or

financial powers. Though district police administrations are in far better position than thePolice Stations in all compartments en face respective requirements, they too are far from anideal position in respect of their requirements. While Police Stations must look to the district

police administration for help for manpower and logistics support for every uncommon

situation, the district police administration in turn looks to the state headquarters for elbowspace. Even begging other government departments for transport and other infrastructurefacilities is not unheard of. This is not an ideal situation by any stretch of imagination to any

police setup and should stop.

ARMED POLICE UNITS

Both Police Stations and district police administrations should become self-contained

units in respect of manpower, transport facilities, communication reticulatum, weaponry andother logistics requirements. Every Police Station should convert into a nidus of police

functions under an officer of the rank of Police Inspector assisted by scores of Sub-Inspectors

in charge of different policing functions like crime, traffic, headquarters, intelligence, law andorder and armed police. Every Police Station must have a unit of its own armed reserve undera PSI that provides men also for extraneous duties like guards, courts, summons, orderly

services apart from being the striking force. The armed police units of the district police

administration need to be strengthened in most districts and properly trained.

INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

Both Police Station and district police administration setups as far as intelligence

gathering is concerned is in extremely poor shape uniformly in most states of India, save afew like Jammu and Kashmir where the need of self-preservation perforce dictated terms to

strengthen the intelligence apparatus. Intelligence is the bedrock of effective policing and sinequa non for professional policing. Intelligence gathering and analyses apparatchik is the principium among the core logistics supports that makes difference to the quality of the

policing process in both the Police Station and district police administration levels. Districts

do have structures to handle both the crime and law and order intelligence, though poorlyequipped and seldom made use of, while the same in the Police Station levels is almost

nonexistent. Intelligence gathering apparatchik needs to be strengthened at both the levels to

enrich policing process with relevant intelligence. An officer of the rank of PSI with adequatestaff in a Police Station should be in exclusive charge of collecting both the crime and law

and order intelligence to strengthen the hands of the officer heading the Police Station.



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MINI POLICE COMMISSIONERATES

Police Stations as centres of policing functions must work as mini police

commissionerates sans magisterial powers and treated as such in importance and powers.

Trust begets trust and trust sprouts responsibility. Once Police Stations revive respectabilityand importance on par with that of the British vintage, they may regain their whilom aureole

at no time. This is so also with the district police administrations. Indeed, there are the issues

of corruption and misuse of powers that are beyond the scope of this discussion and it sufficesto state that appropriate checks and counterchecks should be in place to counter sucheventualities.

NIDUS OF POLICE FUNCTIONS

Pollent Police Stations as the centers of police functions justifies fewer police stations

around and irrationalise the present donnert trend among the top-brass of crying wolf for

creating more and more police stations at every possible opportunity and howling hoarse for

many more to create ‘gulli-gulli police station’ situation with most of them weak andincapable of independent existence and just meant as mere show-pieces for the publicconsumption and adding to the welter in jurisdictional and other complications. The epinosic

response is owing to the copycat mindset so prolate among the Indian police leadership of thepost-independent vintage. Quantity is an irrelevant concept in the extant age of hi-tech world,

and transport and communication explosions render the world increasingly smaller every

passing day. What is required is quality. The stress must be on resourcefulness and responsetime. Fewer Police Stations, each a nidus of the police functions at strategic locations andself-dependent in its manpower and other logistic requirements of transport, communication,

weaponry and related facilitators is the need of the hour. Control room oriented policing with

shortened response time are capable to tackle any kind of police emergencies andcontingencies within a given area. District police administrations must function as the

custodian and provider of special techniques, high-tech gadgets and higher counseling andguidance to the benefits of the Police Stations apart from its extant conventional duties.

CONTROL ROOMS

This brings the issue of control room oriented policing that suits best in urban areas tothe fore. Shift systems round the clock and response time are the key factors in such apolicing system. Logistics support becomes the crucial issue in the control room oriented

policing system as the effectiveness of the system depends tout a fait on effective logistics

designs, planning and management in place. Police Stations fully self-dependent inmanpower and other logistics supports like transport, communication, weaponry and other

facilitators alone can handle control rooms successfully for perficient policing. Such a system

presupposes committed manpower working on round the clock shifts and requiring highmorale. High morale in turn depends on job satisfaction and right job culture that are built on

perfect man management practices. All these issues need to be tackled one after the other forefficient policing. Indian police of present days is a far cry from those objectives.




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MANPOWER

In a country bogged down with endemic unemployment, and steeped in cheap labour,

manpower should not be a problem though eurhythmic quality production may often become

an issue. No discussion on manpower is complete without the factors of morale, motivation,competence, discipline and commitment are taken into account. No analysis on logistics is

complete without the production factor of the manpower is assessed.

SHIFT SYSTEM

Policing being a round the clock responsibility, a three-shift system is sine qua non in a grass-

root policing unit like the Police Station. And unlike now, the system must be statutorilydefined and duly moulded and rounded off for effective functioning with clear-cut division oflabour in place. Lack of this clarity and arbitrary day-to-day allotment of duties on one’s own

fancies by lower ranks in the Police Stations is the radicis of all the maelstrom in man

management noticed in police stations these days resulting in low and inefficient turn-out of

work. A well-defined shift system and purposeful man management policy directed towardshigh motivation and morale should work as the nostrum to the malady.

EFFICIENT MAN MANAGEMENT

Sound incentive schemes based on the innards of the human psyche and latest

managerial techniques and committed leadership models can do the tricks to maximize theoutput with the minimum input and save the criminal wastages in manpower that are commonfeatures of the present man management in Indian police, where a few islands of manpower

are over-worked while most wanze precious man-hours without productive output. Any step

to break this epinosic trend will save Indian police from gargantuan manpower wastages. Thisaspect needs priority.

An important feature of the efficient man management is best utilization of the available

manpower talents. Indian police of the post-independent vintage is notoriously profligate in

frittering away and even curbing precious human talents that land on its lap by its goodfortune. An example is that of a brilliant police officer from an Indian state who made name

as a poet, an intellectual and an original thinker on police and policing subjects with scores ofpublished books on poetry and policing subjects to his credit and a popular writer on policesubjects on all major English newspapers, and well-known for his immaculate conduct and

foursquare character, being persistently and consistently harassed gratuitously for decades,

denied promotion for more than twenty-one years without offering a reason in the ambienceof no reasons existing, often denied facilities normal even for his posts and repeatedly forced

to work in the rank of Superintendent of Police under his far less talented and far less upright

juniors from his own batch now in the rank of IGPs. Such atrocities are possible in Indianpolice these days. Reason for the reductio ad absurdum of the man management in Indian

police of the present vintage to this scale is just jealousy and fear among the higher-ups ofbeing overshadowed by his superior talents. His fault lies in the denial to approach the court

of law in propugnation of own interests in spite of promptings from well-meaning seniors andhis preposterous pride in deciding that what are his, must come by themselves sans

promptings from any quarters and philosophizing che sara, sara. He continues in the plight



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even now without promotions. This is an example of the criminal wastage of human talentsapart from cruelty and crimes involved. Just thinking how best and to what advantages anefficient organisation would have made use of his talents by providing right incentives rather

than curbing and crushing his normal opportunities makes this example of negative norms of

the Indian police an eye opener. Such perversions and prevarications of the man managementnorms of epinosic dimensions must stop. It is a different story that he did not wither away like

most in similar situations and made big name and brilliantly succeeded in other avenues. It is

true that true talents cannot be hidden and even villainy of the top brass of the police haslimits in curbing and crushing the talents of the fonctionnaire lower down. This is the brighterside of the spiel.

PRECIOUS MAN POWER

Every employee in any efficient organisation is a precious asset. This is not because

labour comes at enormous cost, but because of the presence of innate potentialities in every

person and its mammoth utility were they are adequately tapped. The problem lies in the need

and competence to extract the potentialities and talents. Police organisation has a long tail ofhierarchy of seniors after seniors. The billion-dollar question is whether this long tail ofseniority of the police department has any relevance as far as leadership and leadership

qualities are concerned. The answer is a big “no”. Present Indian police is least botheredabout the need of sound leadership and leadership qualities in its body as far as seniority goes

and sadly leadership and seniority are synonymous in its diction. That must stop and the

organisation must constitute per se a climacteric norm to enable the resorgimento of theIndian police to draw it out of its present chilling hiems.

None realises the importance of every single human hand available as the USA does,

and the care taken and the investment made on each hand in American armed forces arelegendary. India and Indian police though cannot fully follow the American ideal because of

its financial constraints and other reasons, the model sine dubio deserves avizefullconsideration to aemule as a vaulting norm adapted to Indian milieu. Human being a natura

rei is potential of extending and shrinking to any scope created for him. This is so also in

work environment. A man or woman treated as lowly and dispensable as it is in theconstabulary and other lowly ranks of the Indian police, shrinks au naturel to adjust to the

space created for him, and expands and extends to be der Unsterbliche ubermensch if he orshe is provided for and treated as such. Indian police lacks this insight to the human psycheand pays heavily in terms of human cost for the grave incompetence. How fast Indian police

realises this fault, so good it is pour-soi.

Maximum output out of minimum resources is the motto here. Maximum output

should be the norms of manpower management in Indian police at all levels rather than going

for blind increase in manpower strength at every possible occasion. High morale, highmotivation and job contentment, high professional pride, adequate rights and responsibilities,

reasonably sound infrastructure and logistics support are the claves for productive andperficient policing and make difference to the quality of the policing whether it is in Police

Station levels or district police administration levels. This brings the issue of logistics supportto the fore.




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LOGISTICS SUPPORT

Logistics and infrastructure supports are the core of effective policing and also serve

as the multiplier of manpower. Transport and communication logistics are the eyes and ears

of the perficient policing. In the age of hi-tech crimes and criminals, high-level logisticssupport is sine qua non for the policing to be successful. Right logistics support has four

dimensions or factors to be useful and effective in policing: quantity factor, quality factor,

relevancy factor and time factor. Quantity factor covers availability of adequate logisticssupport; quality factor covers availability of latest and hi-tech logistics support; relevancyfactor covers the need of logistics support being relevant to the needs of the policing; and

time factor refers to the availability of the logistics support at right occasion and time.

Inadequacy in any of these factors certain to affect the quality of the policing and needsforemost attention of the police leadership to keep the police and policing in top gear.

In Indian situation, the principium of the four factors namely the quantity factor itself

often is a major hurdle because of financial constraints and other problems though recent rise

in terrorism alerted the bureaucratic and political leadership to awaken to this problem andmake more and more logistics support available to police de grado in grado. But, the qualityfactor continues to be a major pain in the spine. Criminals are often found in India better

equipped than the police as far as hi-tech gadgets and even crucial intelligence are concerned.Indian police lacks adequate organizational strength and expertise to keep up dated to the

research explosions in the world market in hi-tech gadgets in transport, communication,

information and weaponry systems. This shortfall needs to be attended on priority if PoliceStations and district police administrations to be effective in defeating crime and criminals intheir own games. Whatever done at present in this field are sporadic attempts sans systemic

efforts. This lacuna needs to be rectified.

Relevance and time factors are logistic maneuvers tout court involving human

assessments and decision making in the process of the policing and depends assez bien onhuman excellence involved and requires improved human qualities. That comes by practice,

skill, training, commitment and mature leadership. These factors also need close attention in

efforts to give quality policing to the country.

MAINTENANCE

Any talk on logistics is incomplete without a discussion on maintenance, which is the

weakest link in the mindset of the Indian psyche. Maintenance inherently is the byproduct of

a disciplined mind that is anathema to the Indian psyche. Naturally Indian police ispathetically poor in maintenance aspect of whatever it does. One factor responsible for this

perilous assuetude is the cost factor involved. The second factor that brings about this neglect

of the maintenance structure in the organisation is the lack of appreciation of the need of themaintenance in running an organisation and carrying out its operations. This achilles’ heel of

the Indian psyche holds its sway in police organisations also. Sound maintenance of thelogistics infrastructures and other assets is sine qua non for sound policing and perhaps gets

precedence in importance over acquiring new gadgets and assets. A sound police organisation just ne obliviscaris this crucial need that considerably contributes to the success of police

operations.



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FINANCIAL POWERS

Police Stations as the nidus of police functions with considerable manpower and huge

logistics support means in its possession and responsible for their maintenance perforce need

considerable financial powers for themselves so that they can look after themselves withoutwaiting for sanctions from above. This investment also boosts the confidence and self-

reliance of the Police Stations as independent units apart from bringing respectability and

accountability to them unlike now. The advantage here is both physical and psychologicaland needs priority attention.

STRATEGIC LOCATION

It be a Police Station, district police administration or any other police unit, itseffective functioning depends very much on small details like its location and building also.

They have to be located at a place decided upon after careful study of the issues involved and

operational facility and convenience considered not only for the easy access to the public, but

also for more crucial strategic reasons of operational considerations like facile movements,easy logistics support, access to hi-tech equipments, easy access to key manpower assets,convenience for secret operations et cetera. This important factor is often ignored in Indian

police and it is common to find a Police Station situated in a locality outside its jurisdiction inurban areas and district police administration being located in an unplanned shabby rented

building in a busy and strategically unsound locality. Easy availability often guides such

decisions in Indian police. Such casual approaches in such key decisions should stop andproper norms should be laid to bring order in such key decisions and avoid concomitantmishaps.

Norms are mere standards, or more precisely, standard customs to be set or evolved.Indian police as defined and structured by the British administration more than a century back

served the British administration and its objectives in a far less complex milieu appreciablyfor nearly a century and later. But, in a situation of panta rhei, the antianus reticulation is

ascensively becoming unfit and incompetent to the changing trends of the crime and

criminality and may become entirely irrelevant to the changed complexities of crime andcriminality if immediate corrective steps are not taken and new norms are evolved and set for

the posterity. In a donnert police structure steeped in blinkers and mental inaction, the veryidea of evolving fresh norms for manpower and logistics is a highly welcome initiative anddeserves hearty plaudite.




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VISION FOR ‘POLICE 2010’ AND ‘POLICE 2020’

The most basic requirement of any good governance is a vision, an ability to look ahead

to the future of the country with great expectations and endless possibilities in sidelines. This

is potential of evolving the governance to greater heights to herald an era of successes andprosperity. Visions carve paths to the future and prod the governance to navigate along the

couloir . It provides a break from the quotidian plod in preference to innovative strides tofulfill the vision. Governance sans vision is like building an edifice a tatons without a plan or

blueprint. It at best is a random erection. Vision gives direction and purpose to thegovernance. It gives grandeur and a proportion to the process. No governance can be good

and complete without a vision to steer ahead, and true governance can be built only on the

terra firma of a vision. The old concept of a prosperous India is based on the vision of“Rama-Rajya”. The new concept of India coming of age is based on the vision of a world

power or a regional power in Asia. Once a vision of that dimension is contrived to back, it is

easy to put the pluses and minuses to conceive a strategy towards the end. Otherwise,

governance is nothing more than a mechanical motion.

Shree A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the hon’ble President of India is quoted in Introduction tothe “Report of the Committee on India Vision” prepared by the Planning Commission in

December 2002 as saying, ‘A vision is not a project report or a plan target. It is anarticulation of the desired end results in broader terms.’ The same report in Conclusion

enumerates Nine Nodal points of Indian Prosperity, which as adapted and edited to the police

and policing of the 2020 vintage, can be summed up ut infra:

1. PEACE, SECURITY & NATIONAL UNITY – Physical security both from external and

internal threats—strong national defence, domestic law enforcement and social harmony.

2. PRODUCTIVITY SECURITY – A vibrant and highly productive policing sector that can

ensure national security, generate stability, stimulate peace, and produce a safe and

confident social fabric.

3. JOBS FOR ALL – A departmental commitment to ensure the right of all police

personnel to be employed round the year in policing according to his merit

competence and skill.

4. KNOWLEDGE – An environment of cent per cent expertise in policing activities all

over the world including latest policing techniques, latest police technologies,

organizational and administrative updates from all over the world, law reforms and

related matters by training and exposures to maximum police personnel.

5. HEALTH – Care towards physical well-being of all citizens.

6. TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE – Continuous expansion of the physical

infrastructure for rapid low-cost transportation and communication that is required for

effective policing competitiveness and policing aides. Application of computers to

improve access to knowledge and information, and increase in the speed, efficiency and






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Corresponding to the increase in the global population from 6.3 billion in 2006 toestimated 6.7 billion in 2010 and 7.5 billion in 2020, India which is home to 1/6 of thehumanity is expected to have its population rise from 1.1 billion in 2006 to 1.18 billion in

2010 and 1.35 billion in 2020 ipso facto figuring to 1.6% population growth per annum.

Police being the custodian of peace, security and national unity in the environment willhave larger challenges and responsibilities to shoulder and endure, necessitating

appropriate measures to stand up to the problems and do better.

GLOBALISATION

With further shrinking and diminishing of the globe to a global hamlet in the next fifteenyears thanks to advancements in the fields of transport and communication, the magnitude ofpolicing also becomes globalised with its own advantages and disadvantages. The shift

certainly renders policing a trans-border phenomenon touching humanity tout ensemble.

With crimes and criminality essorant and accrescently transcending national borders, policing

no more will remain an intra-border affair by 2020 and cooperation between the police in theinternational arena in the common interests of the rule of law and justice will become the

condition sine qua non by then. Extradition and exchange of criminal intelligence will

become centric to effective policing processes.

It is not only transport and communication that render the globe smaller to an aldea and

contributes to bring global dimension to the criminality. Computer and Internet revolutionadded another dimension to the issue along with global economic enterprises and their globalreticulations adding their own contributions to the ascensive criminal tendencies and their

global spread. Cyber crime is gaining its own currency in the police parlance with its

reverberations felt in countries across the world. It will be trans-border cooperation or perishfor the profession of policing in the milieu of the globalisation. Terrorism as an international

phenomenon against humanity will bring the need of watching and addressing trans-bordercrimes into sharp focus even to the exclusion of common intra-border crimes in priorities.

TECHNOLOGY EXPLOSIONS

Technology is a powerful vehicle of the successful policing and constitutes the spine ofeffective policing. This is one factor that renders change inevitable for policing to update

itself to keep au courant with the latest technological developments affecting police andpolicing as aides either in criminal or policing activities. Technology explosions touching

policing activities either as carriers of the policing activities or as policing techniquesoccurred in recent past are bound to continue with accrescent pace in coming years and the

technology advancements in related fields in the next five or fifteen years will be

considerable, calling for suitable updating by the police. Again it is ‘remain fit or perish’ forthe police. Au reste, it is left to the vision of the top brass how to meet the gauntlets and make

best out of the vicissitudes. If police fails here, criminals, anti-social elements and the hors la

loi will take advantage of the situation and gain upper hand in this field to be the ultimate

apollyon of the policing concept as the saviour of the innocent and law-abiding citizens. It isan issue of whom among the police and criminals take better advantage of the open market of






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will be the major concern of the police in 2020.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DYNAMICS

Factors like social inequities, conflicts arising out of the conversion of the traditionalstratified society to egalitarian society, religious extremism, interstate territorial disputes,

racial and linguistic violence and radical politics of the Maoist Communist Party variety will

continue to plague the police of both 2010 and 2020 and keep them on their toes if notfurther add to their problems. India-Pakistan conflict may also continue to plague thecountry in form of internal instability prompted by ISI and such external agencies. In spite of

terrorism prompted by external elements and extremist activities from disgruntled internal

elements, police is expected to maintain the Indian social fabric intact, and this will be amajor challenge to the police by 2020.

TARGETS FOR THE POLICE

Peace, security and national unity are the pillars on which the edifice of the police isconstructed. Social justice and removal of the injustices from the face of the society are its

prime objectives. Crime prevention measures, crime investigation, enforcement of the laws ofthe country, security measures, regulating and establishing order in the public life for the

commune bonum are the tools of the police to accomplish these objectives. Police is duty-

bound to perform these objectives and bring about a sense of safety and security among thepeople, and a sense of unity without disturbing the social fabric of the country and without

offending basic human rights. People look to the police for their safety and security. Thecountry looks to the police as an esemplastic factor in the process of the nationhood. And the

society looks to the police for protecting their interests and basic human rights from vested

interests. In the accrescently complex society of the 2020, these cardinal contraplexobjectives of the police will continue to eat up to its vitals unless sound police alferez finds a

balance and guides policing in aurea mediocritas.

Indian police of the 2020 vintage with that of 2010 in a transition to the end will come onpar with the police of the advanced western countries and the weltgeist in schemes for the

protection and safety of the weak, feeble and exploited sections of the society. Novel andrevolutionary schemes for the protection of children, women, elderly citizens, weaker

sections and helpless foreigners from the exploitation will find favour with the Indian policein the next five to fifteen years.

ELDERLY CITIZENS

Elderly citizens of the age 65 years or more will rise to 76 millions strength in 2020 from58 millions in 2010 and 51 millions in 2006. This section of the society that is weak and

incapable of looking after itself needs priority attention to averruncate exploitations of theirage-related infirmities in a society in which their children because of prolate migrations to

foreign countries or other parts of the country for job-related or other encheasons assurgentlyleave them to their own fate unattended. The elder citizens are found targets of specific

crimes and exploitations by unscrupulous elements, and police worth the name should have



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special programmes for their safety and well-being. Police of advanced countries includingthe United States of America have special schemes and programmes for the safety andprotection of this section of the society. Indian police is yet to catch up with the zeitgeist

though scattered attempts are felt here and there. But, concrete measures in this direction are

yet to shape up. Indian police must see awakening itself to this aspect of its responsibility bythe year 2020.

CHILDREN, WOMEN, FOREIGNERS

All weaker sections of the society need special attention of the police with specific

schemes for protection after avizefull study of crimes and criminal tendencies in the field and

adoption of a protection machinery most suited to the situation. Just having schemes do notmake any difference. There should be will to earnestly execute them and bring safety andprotection from exploitation to all the sections of the society to bring in overall atmosphere of

peace, security and freedom from exploitation in the country in cause of its policing

objectives. Indian police certainly will rise to this professional commitment by 2020.

Child labour is a crime as well as a social dilemma in a country where for many a squaremeal is a luxury. Though India has myriad Acts meant for the protection of the weaker

sections of the society like children, women, SCs & STs, and bonded labourers, often theirenforcements are found lacking in will to execute and sometimes steeped in social problems.

The confusions and incertitudes in enforcing social legislations are likely to be overcome

with the coming of age by the police by 2020 to meet the overall objectives to bring about anatmosphere of peace, security, stability and national unity to the country without disturbingthe social fabric of the country.

In the ambience of globalization, safety and security needs of the foreigners also warrantpriority attention. Incidence of rape and extortion of foreigners is increasingly becoming a

common phenomenon in India these days. Indian police leaders will find themselves hand-tied by 2020 to attend this menace in the interests of their own country.

VISION FOR THE INDIAN POLICE

CRIME INVESTIGATION

Investigation is an area Indian police needs to improve considerably. Key to publicconfidence in police investigation is a conviction rate of a minimum of 51% so that there can

be a claim that majority of the hors la loi goes behind the bar. But, it is a far cry from thereality in any police organisation including the Central Police Organisations in India for any

category of crime. That means conviction for a crime is an exception rather than a rule in

India and crime goes unpunished. This reality must change if police is to be relevant to the

future crime situation of the country in 2020.




361

Another important field where Indian police needs change of its image is completinginvestigation within a time-bound frame of three months, or better, less. Justice delayed is justice denied. Time is a crucial factor in bringing a culprit to the justice. Period that goes

unpunished after a crime a la money borrowed incrementally adds to the free life of the

criminal at others’ expenses. It is not seldom in Indian situation to see convictions comingafter the death of the criminal, or after the criminal fully made use of the res gestae, thereby

rendering Indian criminal justice system and its conviction an ironical farce. This should stop

if Indian police has any passion and commitment for justice and crime investigation process.It is another vision of the police 2020.

These are not something impossible objectives to be achieved in the next five or fifteen

years. Political will and committed police leadership at the helm can easily achieve thesetargets. And fifteen years is not too short a period to accomplish these crucial feats. After all,vision of India in 2020 is predicated on the belief that human resources are the most

important determinants of overall development, and it is here that the Indian police needs to

focus to achieve these targets. Indeed minor amendments to the criminal laws of the country after

convincing the political leadership and procedural updates with an iron hand should be able tobring about these changes. It is a vision a portee for accomplishment by 2010, if not by 2010 orearlier.

COMMUNITY POLICING

Policing ideally is a job performed for the people, through the people, with police acting just as catalysts in the process. Police as the specialists in the field initiate and guide the

volunteers from the public pro bono publico. They provide information and expertise input

in the process. The function of the police in policing in a democratic milieu is just that of analferez; a friend, guide and philosopher. Secondly, the crucible of policing in precipitating

justice needs to be transparent, and accountable to the public. This need can be met only byinvolving the public in the process of the policing. Thirdly, no police organisation however

mammoth and powerful it be, can do full justice to its work without the cooperation of thepublic. Ergo, true policing needs to be community policing-centric. This aspect also covers

counseling and consultation aspects at crucial levels. Community policing lightens the

quotidian burden of the policing to the police, so that the latter can focus on macro aspects of

the policing touching national interests and international angle.

PROFESSIONALISM

A major handicap of the extant Indian police is the infusion of nonprofessional decisions

to the mould of professional decisions of the policing whether it is in service matters like

postings and transfers or policing processes like investigations and enforcement of rules and

laws. All the present maladies emanate from the politicians who are only concerned withwinning of the next elections. The paramount need of the future police is a professional image

tout au contraire to present image as a handmaid of rich and powerful. What is required is aperspicacious definition of police duties and responsibilities and entrusting the force to

perform the duties under the avizefull eyes of the constitution without the distractions of

interferences ab extra. The police should have free hand to tackle and solve issues cropping



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up during the process of policing with concomitant responsibility for any failures squarelylying on its shoulders.

Until the organisation is extricated from the grip of politicians practicing machtpolitic, it

cannot hope to rise above mediocrity either in proficiency or in character. Such mediocrity iswont to percolate downwards in a democratic setup. Lack of character among the noumenal

police leadership actually brought the police forces in India to its knees before the political

leadership of the democratic vintage where more often than not, politicians bear the majorshare of the criminal activities of the country. This is a triste affaire for both the country andits police. The situation is slipping from bad to worse ad nauseum. Indeed these are mauvais

moment for the Indian police. But, no bad days are a jamais and the tide should change. After

all, post tenebris spero lucem. It is a desperate vision that the bad days in the annals of theIndian police will be over by 2020 and Indian police will come clean under sound policeleadership and right political leadership by that time. This can be achieved by the creation of

the Policing Authority at the helm of the policing affairs of the country.

An All India Police Authority accountable only to the President of India at the nationallevel with the regional Police Boards in States as independent bodies need to be created tooversee and take major decisions pertaining to policing and service matters including

assessment of performances and transfers more suo. A Supreme Court Judge must head theAuthority with the Union Home Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary as members and the

senior most police officer of the country as the member-secretary. The regional Police

Boards must have a High Court Judge at the helm with the Home Secretary and the ChiefSecretary as members and the State Police Chief as member-secretary. The facticite willbring to an end interference of any kind in police affairs, thus enabling the personnel to

function in an independent atmosphere. These measures complete with the overhaul of the

UPSC will oppilate the glissade and bring back all the former gloria of commitment to meritand character to the police. This vision though appears a dreamer’s dream because of the

exercise of machtpolitic and political unwillingness to give up its extant prise on the police,2020 is far away to dismiss such a miracle outright as apocryphal. No labefactation in a

national life continues in perpetuum. This vision as the enfants perdus of resurgence and the

pollicitation of the revival of the Indian police is must for all those who have police interestsin their hearts.

SPECCIALISATIONS

If policing is to be effective in the years ahead, specialisation is crucial. The year 2020must see three distinct police services with separate recruitment and training: (1) Regulatory

police or uniformed police in charge of law and order and other regulatory duties; (2)Mainstay police in charge of crime investigation and prevention and security and intelligence

operation; (3) Social police in charge of prevention and investigation of all social offences

and implementation of social legislation. All three wings should have their own individualorganisations up to the district level with independent Superintendents and staff as required,

functioning in tandem in much the same way as the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Thevision can be brought to reality by committed police leadership to bring true professionalism




363

in discharge of the policing responsibilities and enhance the public confidence in thecompetence of the force by 2020 or earlier.

POLICE RUN ON MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Police will do well to formulate actions and operations in line with the latest management

principles and practices following the welt geist . The force by 2020 should be able either toconstitute an efficient gestalt of management experts to advice or hire a management

consultation firm for guidance. At any rate, the police organisation of the 2020 should be afar smaller unit than now, manned by highly committed and capable officers who are paid

and looked after well by the government.

The last three decades have seen tremendous expansion in the police force. For lack of an

organisational plan and the foresight to assess future demands, haphazard growth hasresulted. Organisational sensibilities such as workload, unit of control, accountability

functional conveniences, span of control and information flow are never given the attention

they need building an organisation. As a result, while a few posts in the police are

overburdened with work, there are many which have no work or accountability. The lopsidedgrowth of the organisation has spawned acute likes and dislikes for various positions.

Naturally, probity and objectivity are sacrificed in favour of survival and protection of careerinterests. Corruption is rampant. This may not be the sole reason for the falling standards of

policing. Yet, it is a major cause. By 2020, police administration should be able to see thevestigial retrorsum from the prolate conspurcation.

Rationalisation of the police structure to bring about a balance among the various posts in

the same rank would certainly help to ameliorate the situation. It would also help to eliminatethe wastage of government funds on unnecessary posts. Creation of such posts to

accommodate unwanted elements cannot be tolerated in a serious department like the police.

A systemic growth plan for balanced expansion is what is called for, if the department is tomeet the tasks ahead.

LEAN AND MEAN FORCE

The piece de resistance of the policing by 2020 will be perficient performance withminimal visible presence. This means a far more professional organisation than now. This

means far more skilled policing than now. This means better management of the policeorganisation, better equipped force, men of higher calibre and devotion to work and more

contented people manning the police hierarchy.

The police of the 2020 will be required to shed its idée fixe for the show of strength in

place of efficient policing. The stress in future will be on lean and fit policing. The structural

deformity of the chorisis and overweight caused by redundant posts, undefined jobs, lack of

accountability, epinosic equation of rights and responsibilities, top-heavy structure, erratic

span of control, demotivating factors, nonprofessional ambience and uninspiring leadershipmust become a matter of the past by the year 2020 with the police going perforce competitive



PRAVEEN KUMAR

364

en face gargantuan challenges from criminals posing threat to the raison d’etre of the policeand its relevance to the extant society.

RESPONSE TIME

The key to the success of the police is its response time, the speed with which it responds

to the gauntlets of the crime. Where time is a precious commodity and a difference of acouple of seconds make the difference of success and failure of a police operation, persistent

efforts to shorten response time will get the priority in excelsis. The thrust of the police

administration of the next fifteen years must be directed to bettering the response time asspeed will be the mainstay of crimes and criminals of the coming age. Short response time

implies improved communication and transport network and highly motivated humanresources, ever ready to handle challenges. Outmoded communication and transport facilities

in disrepair conditions most of the time have no relevance there and casual manpower israther passe in that ambience. Coming years must see the police force in the finest fettle in

terms of orgtanisation, manpower and equipments and the force becoming a highly organised

and efficient limb of the state apparatus.

GOOD GOVERNANCE

India in its long history saw governance of all kinds, proportions and dimensions and

survived through them. It saw the worst and the best in its 2500 years of recorded history. It,like other old civilizations of the world, has worked as the crucible of various experiments in

governance. The governance and policing in India now is based on this long experience. It isthe collective will for good governance that is lacking in India. The consequence is that the

hoi polloi suffer and the country fails to reach the height it is potential of. The besoin of theextant India is the evolution of a collective will to have good governance. People must pool

their energies to force good governance for the country. Indeed the job is not easy and the

resistance from those in charge of the governance whose interests lie in the status quo isbound to be hard. But, this cannot be an encheason to leave the matter of this dimension

unattended as the fate of one billion people depends on this development. Only such a

collective will can devolve truly good governance and policing for the country.

Creation of a self-contained police machinery in place of the present mere nuts and bolts

of the administration is the cardinal need ahead. The nasty political and bureaucraticinterferences in professional policing have done no good to the country and its police in the

last six decades. Insulating the police from the vice prise of the ectogenetic pressures andinfluences needs to become a reality in fifteen years since, should the police have relevance in

the governance of the country. This is possible only by the metamorphosis of the police to an

independent body with goals and objectives perspicuously defined and laid down. The new

police have to be responsible only to the constitution through a suitable machinery of checksand counterchecks exercised by constitutional bodies manned by people of proven track-

record in matters of integrity, competence and other mental attributes and chosen fromacademic, bureaucratic and political fields as well as public life. The change may bring a

semblance of justice and fairplay to administration and ipso facto infuse a value system to

the Indian public life and bring the fear of god to force strict adherence to probity and the ruleof law in public life. India has no alternative to this metamorphosis should the country




365

survive the moral crisis and degringolade of the national spirit, it witnessed sinceindependence.



INDEX

A

Abduction 115, 209, 211, 251 Abdul 355 Academic 57, 190, 226, 302, 338, 344, 345,

346, 364 Administrations 348, 349, 350, 353 Africa 11, 37, 308, 323 African 199, 268 Agenda 156, 168, 173, 285, 288, 292, 295,

304, 306 Agra 275

Agricultural 120 Akali 10, 169 Allahabad 174 America 37, 296, 308, 323, 333, 360 American 156, 157, 295, 296, 315, 318, 352 Andhra 25, 251 Antemortal 116 Anti-corruption 321, 324 Anti-dumping 318 Anti-exploitation 324 Anti-hijack 183

Anti-india 292 Anti-insurgency 85, 86 Anti-sikh 25, 43, 85, 249 Anti-social 178, 179, 189, 239, 357 Anticipatory 204, 206 Antiinsurgency 85 Apocryphal 145, 158, 185, 216, 246, 249,

272, 317, 362 Apolitical 13, 47, 159, 261 Apoliticism 12, 261 Aptitude 32, 45, 110, 111, 157, 162 Aristocracy 198, 307 Arm-twisting 38 Arthashaastra 323 Arunachal 79, 119 Ashoka 294, 300 Asia 1, 11, 37, 280, 290, 308, 311, 323, 355 Asphyxia 116 Assam 95, 136, 219, 220, 251, 252 Assassination 8, 77, 84, 86 Atmosphere 3, 4, 5, 21, 32, 39, 44, 61, 62,

76, 82, 85, 92, 101, 103, 106, 146, 152,179, 192, 213, 239, 240, 243, 247, 264,

283, 307, 315, 339, 360, 362 Atom 249 Atrocities 79, 115, 119, 209, 211, 278, 338,

351 Atrophy 26, 29, 45, 61, 67, 68, 125, 139,

157, 161, 174, 185, 192, 202, 261, 300,323

Audit 193, 196, 247, 258, 318 Authorities 38, 46, 54, 84, 103, 142, 158,

192, 205, 258, 259, 315, 329, 332 Authority 5, 12, 15, 16, 21, 22, 28, 35, 36,

39, 41, 42, 56, 64, 69, 70, 71, 75, 81, 93,103, 144, 173, 178, 190, 198, 205, 241,254, 258, 259, 266, 317, 329, 333, 339,362

Avatar 75, 105, 106, 123, 142, 156, 211, 268,300

Avatars 187, 318 Ayurved 319

B

Babbar 84, 85Balkanisation 250Balkanise 120Balzac 215Bangalore 24, 34, 71, 169, 184, 216, 217,

221Bangladesh 45, 157, 185, 292Benami 321Benjamin 294Bhajan 85

Bharatiya 217, 243Bhutan 45, 157Bifocal 268Bifurcation 258, 287Bihar 125, 126, 161, 174, 184, 190, 197, 219,

221, 235, 252, 276, 298, 319Birmingham 251Bitumen 319BJP 328Black-marketing 30, 316Blackmail 75, 90Blanket-policing 140Bloodhounds 12Bluestar 295Bofors 43, 230, 249, 276, 319Bollywood 217Bomb 84, 86, 216Bombay 184, 196, 216, 217, 252Bombs 85, 249, 289Bonaparte 299BPRD 167Brahmanism 295Brass 13, 37, 43, 50, 76, 92, 173, 265, 314,

340, 346, 347, 352, 357Bribery 15, 43, 230, 231, 316, 322Bribes 68, 192, 315, 321Britain 45, 106, 156, 259, 274, 294, 297British 1, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24, 57, 58, 62, 69,

104, 105, 106, 107, 138, 156, 178, 182,199, 201, 261, 274, 281, 283, 284, 285,



290, 305, 306, 340, 343, 344, 350, 354Bsf 167, 170Buddha 295, 300Buddhas 336Buddhism 295, 313Build-up 112, 113, 114, 132, 292Buildup 8, 110, 224, 259Bureaucracy 1, 2, 29, 138, 175, 245, 272,

273, 274, 275, 277, 278, 300, 301, 302,323, 337, 338

Bureaucrats 25, 138, 215, 240, 284, 311,321, 322, 323

Burma 45, 157Businessmen 19, 216, 252, 318

C

Cabal 75, 77, 90, 99, 204, 261Cabals 3, 63, 257Calcutta 189, 252Cambodia 310Cambridge 313Camorin 119Canada 84, 85Canards 274

Capabilities 20, 100, 111, 338Capacities 172Capital 53, 54, 130, 148, 196, 218, 244, 270,

316, 317, 322Career-ladder 248Career-life 178, 343Career-promotion 90, 135Caste 17, 106, 198, 200, 207, 208, 273, 274,

275, 315Caste-ridden 346Castes 200, 207, 208, 209Cauvery 24Cbi 41, 42, 43, 44, 69, 81, 82, 83, 123, 124,

125, 139, 167, 168, 197, 230, 243, 252,267, 329, 331

Center-stage 318Centre-stage 2, 42, 186, 212, 226, 228Centrestage 182, 207, 246Chaidambaram 192Chambal 95, 96, 136, 190Chandigarh 84Chandraswamy 249Charan 301

Chauvinism 212Chavanji 328Chawi 243China 302, 310, 311, 313Chinese 299, 312Chopra 1Christian 295

Christianity 295Churchill 120, 281, 308IA 45, 46, 156, 158, 170CIB 43CID 123, 125, 252, 331CISF 167Citizenry 93, 134, 136, 228, 310Civilizations 280, 295, 364Clandestine 45, 46, 156, 157, 158, 159, 183,

185Climacteric 221, 317, 323, 352Co-operation 162, 224, 326Co-ordination 252, 331, 356Cobwebs 5, 31, 264Cohibition 153, 163Cold-blooded 102, 219, 229, 251

Command-obedience 5, 13, 141, 346Commercialisation 61Commercialization 300, 302, 313Communication 34, 37, 98, 112, 128, 145,

164, 183, 190, 215, 216, 221, 224, 225,289, 309, 310, 348, 349, 350, 353, 355,357, 358, 364

Compensation 79, 113, 124, 179, 201, 202,203, 208

Compensations 120, 143, 204, 205Competition 167, 307, 313, 322

Competitions 111, 177, 309, 312, 313Complacency 1, 84, 85, 133, 150, 164, 265,

312, 313, 326, 333Computerisation 34Conceptualization 239Consciousness 46, 157, 183Constituencies 27, 292, 329Constitution 4, 24, 41, 42, 44, 59, 81, 82,

100, 108, 109, 137, 182, 193, 195, 200,201, 205, 207, 208, 224, 226, 231, 233,234, 253, 283, 284, 287, 291, 295, 296,297, 323, 327, 328, 332, 340, 344, 361,364

Constitutional 79, 119, 200, 209, 226, 234,235, 238, 250, 260, 284, 290, 291, 314,327, 329, 331, 364

Construction 54, 141, 217, 347Consumption 63, 192, 315, 350Contradictions 1, 55, 56, 123, 143, 144, 156Controversial 153, 163Coordination 8, 55, 145, 167, 168, 169, 170,

171, 185, 194, 215, 252, 284, 317, 318,331, 332, 335

Cooridnation 185Copyright 316, 317Cornucopia 200, 203, 336Corrupt 1, 2, 20, 29, 30, 35, 37, 51, 64, 67,

68, 70, 76, 77, 97, 101, 111, 124, 132,162, 174, 175, 185, 188, 190, 192, 196,197, 228, 242, 266, 271, 277, 284, 298,



300, 313, 315, 321, 322, 323, 334, 337,346

Cosmetic 325Cosmopolitan 26Counter-espionage 156Counter-productive 80, 155Counterchecks 226, 279, 345, 350, 364Counterproductive 314Courtesies 54, 127, 147, 148, 246Crime-free 32, 221, 244Crime-infested 221Crime-prevention 49Criminalisation 25, 74, 81, 96, 249Criminality 73, 87, 93, 101, 102, 134, 190,

203, 302, 306, 328, 333, 336, 354, 357Criminalization 240, 243

Criminologist 315Crosspolitical 231Crossroads 3, 14CRPF 167Crucible 11, 167, 223, 280, 361, 364Cultural 61, 119, 300, 301, 305Culture 1, 3, 12, 13, 33, 37, 38, 49, 51, 52,

55, 61, 85, 137, 140, 141, 143, 148, 167,170, 172, 173, 182, 211, 213, 221, 228,229, 249, 261, 265, 268, 269, 271, 274,275, 286, 296, 297, 300, 301, 314, 322,

328, 336, 337, 340, 341, 342, 346, 347,350

CVC 321Cyber 310, 357

D

Dacoities 171Dacoits 95, 136, 190Dacoity 18, 101, 220, 244Dacoity-infested 241Dagdi 243Dalits 184Davangere 76Dawood 216, 217, 243Decentralise 194Deception 294, 298, 302Deceptions 295, 296, 307Decision 16, 38, 43, 46, 59, 71, 74, 77, 82,

89, 138, 150, 195, 229, 242, 276, 287,326, 328, 333, 353

Decision-making 276, 356Decisions 11, 15, 16, 38, 42, 43, 54, 55, 71,

74, 80, 82, 89, 121, 124, 128, 142, 143,145, 147, 149, 158, 185, 224, 229, 231,239, 240, 245, 258, 259, 265, 266, 267,274, 276, 277, 279, 299, 322, 326, 333,337, 338, 354, 361, 362

Dehumanisation 154Democracies 61Democracy 2, 5, 11, 12, 18, 22, 26, 38, 45,

46, 61, 62, 69, 79, 80, 99, 104, 120, 121,157, 158, 162, 182, 187, 192, 233, 234,235, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 250,268, 269, 271, 276, 279, 285, 290, 297,301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308,309, 311, 324, 328, 329, 336, 358

Demoralised 323Demotivating 225, 363Demotivation 177Detection 13, 26, 172, 182, 183, 184, 220,

221, 224Devaluation 263Dharwad 101

Dholewas 84Diginity 54, 191Diplomacy 250, 251Discipline 5, 11, 12, 13, 15, 23, 50, 65, 74,

80, 88, 110, 121, 138, 143, 146, 159, 165,174, 178, 187, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197,261, 272, 285, 289, 319, 343, 351

Discontentment 177Discord 170Discrimination 200, 202, 208, 209, 212Discriminations 207, 208

Disicipline 178, 343Disproportionate 230DNA 358Draupadi 211Drug-trafficking 316Duties 1, 15, 16, 20, 21, 26, 28, 35, 40, 41,

48, 51, 64, 65, 68, 71, 81, 100, 102, 123,124, 125, 127, 130, 137, 143, 144, 146,147, 152, 156, 175, 179, 182, 183, 188,205, 208, 223, 224, 227, 232, 241, 245,247, 249, 264, 266, 273, 318, 327, 330,333, 339, 340, 341, 344, 349, 350, 351,361, 362

Duty-bound 207, 209, 359Dynasties 306

E

E-governance 358E-policing 358Economics 107, 358

Economies 1Economy 30, 45, 67, 94, 135, 157, 192, 197,

275, 315, 316, 319, 320, 321, 322Edgar 41, 81, 123Effectiveness 32, 52, 96, 110, 150, 163, 172,

178, 202, 223, 232, 244, 245, 297, 325,326, 330, 350



Efficacious 79, 120, 206, 219, 308, 334Efficiency 5, 15, 23, 25, 46, 47, 50, 55, 57,

59, 62, 64, 104, 105, 106, 109, 110, 129,130, 133, 139, 145, 146, 148, 149, 157,159, 172, 179, 183, 215, 220, 224, 281,282, 283, 286, 292, 325, 341, 355

Election 15, 28, 71, 74, 89, 91, 97, 99, 134,250, 263, 266, 301, 302, 306, 321, 329,333

Elections 21, 27, 74, 88, 89, 97, 126, 161,239, 263, 267, 310, 328, 339, 361

Electorate 74, 75, 89, 90, 96, 190England 62, 124, 240English 145, 172, 348, 351Ethic 69Ethics 3, 12, 13, 69, 73, 87, 258, 262, 265,

333Ethnical 61Europe 85European 297, 311Evolution 183, 219, 241, 265, 274, 275, 280,

297, 312, 343, 348, 356, 364Evolutions 344Extra-judicial 216Extremism 359Extremist 255, 295, 359Extremists 8, 9, 171

Far-East 216FBI 41, 81, 123, 124Federal 41, 123Finance 58, 79, 85, 192, 193, 196, 322, 328Financial 15, 79, 96, 120, 179, 192, 193, 194,

195, 196, 197, 263, 288, 315, 316, 317,318, 320, 349, 352, 353, 354

Fingerprints 34, 358Foreign 38, 45, 46, 57, 62, 80, 93, 105, 107,

113, 121, 128, 134, 145, 157, 158, 194,216, 217, 250, 251, 281, 293, 298, 304,305, 310, 311, 316, 321, 322, 359

Foreigners 359, 360Forensic 116Frauds 184, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 315,

316, 317, 318, 319Fraudulent 50, 192, 193, 315, 316, 317Frustration 12, 58, 108, 198, 199, 233Frustrations 32, 152, 188, 198, 220Fundamentalism 294Fundamentals 301

G

Gadag 102Gambling 19, 30, 49, 68, 91, 134, 215, 311Gameplan 139, 231Gameplans 72, 231

Gandhi 8, 9, 86, 123, 169, 212, 294, 295,296, 300, 322, 328

Gandhian 45, 157Gandhis 336Gang-lords 189Gang-wars 189Gangsers 218Gangster 217, 218Gangsters 243Gangwar 53, 148Gangwars 217, 218Gauthama 300Gawli 217, 243GDP 284, 321, 358Geographical 61, 113, 119Geometric 166, 305

Germany 45, 156, 302, 314Glacier 292Globalisation 302, 356, 357Globalization 313, 360Godfather 65, 131Godfathers 175Godman 249Goldsmith 18, 19, 102Gouthama 295Gupta 79, 119, 290

H

Harassment 31, 43, 117, 147, 153, 154, 163,203, 235, 252, 279, 332

Harbouring 43, 125, 216Hardworking 286Haryana 84Hawala 25, 28, 43, 139, 215, 249, 318HBT 220HDW 319Hi-tech 47, 159, 160, 163, 216, 220, 221,

224, 225, 239, 319, 336, 337, 350, 353,354, 358

Hierarchy 20, 35, 38, 74, 88, 100, 128, 148,152, 167, 223, 225, 226, 266, 288, 315,343, 352, 363

High-money 220, 319High-power 15, 35, 112High-sea 316, 318High-stake 187High-tech 183, 350

Himalayas 119Hindus 84Hindutva 313Holocaust 314Homicide 102, 116, 118, 210, 213Hoover’s 81Humanise 151, 152, 153, 179



Humiliation 59, 77, 101, 115, 152, 240Humiliations 31, 53, 63, 77, 108, 127, 146,

211, 278, 338Hyderabad 291

I

IAS 106IB 167Ichnography 317IDBI 196Idealism 291Ill-conceived 141, 159, 192, 315, 347Illegalities 38, 218, 263

Illegitimate 18, 67, 68, 101Image-building 154Immoral 37, 64, 77, 115, 175, 191, 210, 212,

245Immunity 148, 150, 329India-Pakistan 359Indira 9, 86, 123, 212, 295, 322, 328Indo-Pak 85Indonesia 1Industrialists 252, 310, 311, 313, 318Industries 235, 297, 309, 310, 317

Industry 46, 93, 134, 286, 309, 310, 312,313, 316

Influence-pedlars 27, 279Infrastructure 33, 34, 185, 192, 215, 309,

311, 349, 352, 353, 355Infrastructures 151, 164, 215, 309, 310, 353Insubordination 181Insurgency 85Inter-organisational 168, 169Inter-services 46, 85Interdepartmental 224Interdependance 173Interference 11, 12, 15, 21, 27, 28, 45, 51,

53, 70, 92, 103, 125, 269, 317, 339, 343,362

Interferences 59, 69, 109, 125, 127, 146,148, 157, 224, 226, 245, 254, 259, 262,278, 338, 361, 364

International 7, 34, 37, 45, 84, 85, 104, 156,157, 183, 196, 219, 250, 251, 252, 253,254, 290, 317, 319, 321, 357, 361

Interpersonal 187, 203, 341Intra-organisational 168

Investigation 4, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30,32, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49,51, 52, 54, 62, 68, 69, 70, 75, 81, 82, 92,102, 113, 115, 116, 117, 118, 123, 124,125, 132, 137, 139, 143, 152, 161, 163,164, 172, 182, 184, 185, 192, 193, 194,195, 196, 197, 204, 209, 210, 213, 217,

220, 223, 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230,231, 243, 246, 249, 252, 254, 259, 266,315, 321, 322, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329,330, 331, 333, 335, 339, 340, 341, 359,360, 361, 362

Investigations 38, 42, 86, 117, 124, 125,174, 184, 194, 230, 232, 246, 325, 329,330, 361

Investment 96, 97, 217, 221, 298, 322, 352,354

Investments 67, 195, 217IPC 117IPS 36, 54, 101Iran 290Iraq 294, 295, 314Ireland 295

Irish 275ISI 46, 85, 158, 216, 292, 359Islam 290, 295Israel 45, 46, 156, 158, 294Italy 124ITBP 167ITC 196

J

Jadeja 243 Jagdish 285 Jain-hawala 230 Jaipur 243 Jaipuria 221 Japan 124, 300, 302, 311, 313 Jawaharlal 291 Jayalalitha 230, 276 Jayendra 328 Jean-paul 199 Jeevan 67 Jharkhand 328 JKLF 251 JMM 230 JNN 43 Job-culture 3, 61 Johan 199 Johnson 314 Journalists 67 Judgement 13, 20, 51, 59, 100, 131, 147,

227, 236, 281, 305 Judgements 31, 63, 77, 188, 235, 236, 237,

256, 305 Judical 70 Justfication 156 Justification 13, 30, 52, 68, 190, 224, 270,

291 Justifications 52, 229



K

Kalam 355Kanchi 328Kannada 7Kanyakumari 79Karachi 216Karakoram 79Kargil 292Karmic 268Karnataka 1, 7, 8, 18, 25, 49, 58, 68, 71, 76,

101, 102, 123, 169, 170, 188, 191, 220,324

Karnataka-tamilnad 170

Karunanidhi 29, 276Kashmir 37, 39, 45, 95, 96, 136, 138, 157,

167, 169, 171, 184, 219, 250, 253, 290,291, 292, 293, 295, 349

Kautilya 323KCF 85Kennedy 158Kerala 167Khalistan 84, 85Khalsa 84, 85Khedda 229

Khmer 310Kidnap 75, 220, 221, 251Kidnap-drama 250, 251Konanakunte 8Koppal 102Korea 124, 310, 311, 313Krishnamachari 58KRS 7Kshatriyas 295Kuppuswamy 198, 200Kutch 79, 119

L

Labour 138, 177, 201, 202, 203, 209, 223,243, 255, 314, 319, 325, 351, 352, 360

Labourer 198Labourers 360Laissez-faire 192, 315Lakhubhai 43, 125, 230Landlords 74, 89

Law-breakers 13, 56, 110, 144, 169, 175,306

Law-enforcers 39, 40, 143, 173, 253Lawbreakers 169, 228Lawless 40, 174, 190, 262Lawlessness 24, 40, 49, 50, 172, 173, 184,

190, 231

Legacy 57, 268, 281, 300Legilsations 163, 201Legilslature 233Legislation 21, 67, 102, 115, 198, 199, 339,

362Legislations 115, 118, 153, 154, 163, 199,

200, 201, 205, 211, 213, 224, 235, 253,360

Legislature-executive 237Legislatures 223, 224Legitimacy 35, 152, 154, 163Leitmotiv 205, 241, 277, 300, 306, 338Liberalisation 61, 192, 285, 304, 305, 306,

307, 308, 313, 315Life-style 145, 163Line-system 151, 177

Loyal 12, 24, 27, 28, 46, 69, 73, 87, 141, 144,158, 216, 262, 263, 346

Loyalties 26, 27, 28, 29, 47, 70, 125, 137,160, 161, 215, 262, 263, 340, 341

Loyalty 12, 13, 17, 24, 26, 27, 28, 46, 51, 56,69, 70, 144, 216, 227, 240, 262, 263, 284,327, 344

Ludhiana 84, 85

M

Machtpolitik 294Macro-plan 9Madhavan 43Mafia 25, 43, 53, 68, 125, 148, 190, 217, 218,

244, 251, 252, 269, 319Mafioso 216, 217, 218, 219Mahabharata 211Maharaja 291Maharastra 243Mahatma 86, 294, 295, 296Mahavir 295, 300Maheshwara 233Mal-administration 305Mal-propaganda 305Maladies 21, 77, 99, 103, 125, 161, 164, 207,

243, 339, 361Maladjustment 74, 88, 189Maladministration 127, 145, 146Malady 1, 11, 26, 49, 50, 65, 95, 128, 136,

149, 155, 165, 184, 202, 203, 205, 207,209, 244, 269, 277, 301, 325, 337, 351

Malaise 43, 96, 128, 143, 149, 248Malaises 243, 333Mammon 308Mamools 49Man-days 145Man-hours 351Man-management 148



Mangalasutra 101Mankelkar 198Manu 200Maoist 359Maratha 295Martyrdom 85Maslow’s 288Massachusetts 294Master-axle 62Materfamilias 286, 319, 326, 342Mathematics 269, 313Maurya 79, 290Maxwell 299Mcgregor 179McGregor’s 128, 148Mechanism 2, 37, 51, 97, 105, 162, 168, 175,

176, 185, 199, 202, 204, 228, 230, 252,279, 297, 331, 334, 343, 344

Mechanisms 7, 142, 152, 185, 202, 325Media 43, 47, 85, 159, 184, 185, 194, 238,

239, 240, 242, 243, 244, 276, 297, 298,300, 301, 302, 308, 309, 310, 311, 322

Mega-fraud 220Mega-frauds 194Mega-schemes 192, 315Misappropriation 25, 147, 318Misconception 270

Misconceptions 27, 137, 140, 340, 342Misdemeanour 185Misfit 74, 76Mismanagement 281Mob 110, 120, 186, 188Modernisation 7, 17, 23, 33, 34, 185Moghal 290Money-centric 306Money-power 29, 70Monogamy 201Motivation 15, 29, 47, 55, 70, 71, 113, 144,

145, 146, 152, 154, 159, 162, 174, 177,215, 226, 246, 270, 288, 289, 325, 326,336, 337, 349, 351, 352

Mourya 119Mulla 174Multi-nationals 300Multi-polar 286Muslim 96, 294, 295Mysore 7Mythology 233

N

Nagapur 243Nalanda 313Napoleon 299Nation-building 281

Nationalism 302Nationhood 290, 291, 292, 293, 359Navy 21, 103, 339, 362Naxalism 95, 136Naxalites 10, 37, 169, 184NCC 255NCD 196NDA 276, 328Nepal 45, 157Netherland 215Newspaper 49, 145Night-vision 225Night-watch 34Nitrogen 358Nixon 297Non-bailable 328

Non-cooperation 19North-East 77, 171, 219NPA 167, 315NSA 46, 158, 159, 243

O

Odd-job 64, 97, 231Odd-job-man 226

Opportunism 105, 294, 301Orderly 26, 128, 145, 151, 152, 171, 177,

186, 349Ossification 274Ostracisation 152Over-invoicing 318Overhaul 110, 151, 165, 170, 224, 323, 339,

362Oxford 313Oxygen 145, 227, 330

P

Pakistan 37, 45, 46, 47, 84, 85, 157, 158,159, 216, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294

Panjwar 85Pappu 298Paramilitary 62, 169Parasurama 295Parliament 59, 109, 190, 234, 235Parmjit 85

Partition 233Pathak 43, 125, 230Patrimonial 284Patriotic 97, 268, 298Patronage 23, 30, 66, 73, 75, 90, 91, 97, 134,

136, 188, 189, 190, 231, 249, 274, 295,321, 334



Patrons 72, 91, 134, 231Pawns 328Peace-keeper 150Peacock 277, 338Peanuts 286Philippines 1Philosophies 1Philosophy 45, 157, 344Phoolan 190, 298Police-public 255Policies 12, 46, 47, 58, 79, 80, 96, 98, 120,

121, 158, 159, 224, 276, 285, 322, 327Polictical 139Policy-makers 285Politicial 162, 250Politician-master 75, 92

Politicians 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28,41, 42, 43, 50, 65, 67, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76,82, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97,99, 102, 103, 125, 134, 135, 136, 138,139, 161, 168, 174, 175, 183, 215, 216,230, 231, 240, 244, 249, 250, 252, 257,261, 262, 263, 276, 277, 282, 284, 294,301, 311, 313, 318, 321, 322, 323, 329,336, 339, 361, 362

Politicisation 76, 90, 135, 249Politicking 70, 233, 257, 295, 296

Politique 251Polygamy 200Popularity 8, 97Population 32, 49, 85, 98, 165, 208, 209,

268, 305, 307, 308, 323, 356, 357Portuguese 295Power-brokers 13, 18, 29, 70, 75, 97, 261Power-centers 285Power-centre 7Power-centres 188, 306Power-game 233Power-games 75, 90Power-hungry 268, 300Powerplay 37, 250Pricewaterhouse 318Proactive 81, 233, 314Productivity 355Professionalism 4, 30, 31, 41, 50, 57, 64, 65,

69, 81, 90, 105, 106, 132, 135, 138, 153,163, 164, 165, 170, 239, 261, 266, 325,326, 333, 361, 362

Prohibition 117, 201, 202, 210Proliferation 93, 94, 134, 135, 136, 163, 249,

318Protestants 295Protocols 62Prototypal 256Pseudo-idealism 305Pseudo-secularism 296Punjab 37, 39, 84, 85, 95, 136, 138, 171,

174, 184, 219, 221, 229, 250, 252, 253,290, 295

Puranas 295

Q

Quorum 44, 82

R

Racial 61, 359Radicalism 234

Railways 305, 309Rajasthan 84Rajiv 8, 86, 169Rama-rajya 355Ramayana 211Rat-race 67, 261, 336, 346Raw 45, 112, 135, 157, 167, 279, 292Rbi 193, 196, 316Reactionaries 198, 200Reconstruction 1, 22, 24, 62, 78, 141, 198,

300, 325, 347

Regulation 12, 182, 285Regulations 62, 93, 134, 181, 182, 192, 193,

194, 195, 196, 316, 322Rehabilitation 190, 203, 204, 208Religion 9, 119, 207, 290, 294, 295, 296,

313, 314Religions 61, 84, 207, 290, 295Reorganisation 25, 109, 160Research 8, 9, 27, 45, 59, 62, 71, 85, 112,

113, 141, 157, 165, 168, 185, 219, 267,294, 297, 310, 312, 313, 333, 342, 346,353

Reservation 57, 79, 80, 108, 120, 121, 122Reservations 79, 106, 119, 120, 209, 212,

286Resources 7, 8, 15, 30, 33, 45, 47, 55, 61, 62,

71, 73, 87, 88, 110, 113, 143, 145, 146,147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 157, 158, 159,162, 164, 165, 168, 177, 181, 185, 190,221, 223, 225, 241, 246, 252, 256, 259,267, 291, 292, 293, 311, 330, 332, 333,336, 337, 352, 361, 364

Restoration 85

Restructure 326Resurgence 362Resurrection 171Revolution 37, 198, 317, 357Righteousness 4, 73, 87, 95, 136, 344



S

Sabotage 7, 8, 110, 156, 169, 170, 232, 254,255

Sabotages 334Safe-houses 221Samir 316Samuel 314Sanskrit 274, 313Saraswati 328Satellite 47, 159Satellites 183Scam 43, 192, 193, 196, 197, 230, 235, 316,

317, 319Scams 192, 193, 195, 197, 305, 307, 315,

319Scandal 43, 65, 125, 131, 297, 319Scandals 124, 125, 193, 217, 245Scapegoat 11, 54Schadenfreude 270Sebi 193, 196, 316Secularism 45, 157Sekhar 28Sekhon 85Self-management 268Self-policing 172, 173, 174, 176

Self-promotion 248, 263, 301, 302Seniority 5, 59, 82, 262, 266, 269, 278, 322,

325, 338, 352Sensationalism 298, 299Sensibilities 33, 85, 127, 144, 147, 178, 239,

343, 344, 363Sensitivities 112, 125, 144, 224, 243Sensitization 205, 206, 212Shankaracharya 328Shankararaman 328Shivani 243Siachin 292Sikhs 84, 85Singapore 242, 302, 310, 311, 313Socialism 302Socioeconomic 285, 315Sophocles 230Southern 24, 63, 65, 77, 108, 130, 221, 247,

267, 338Sovereign 45, 61, 156, 207Sovereignty 26Soviet 45, 156, 158Specialisation 20, 35, 102, 154, 163, 206,

339, 362Specialisiation 162Srilanka 136Statute 82, 187Statutory 43, 44, 82, 208, 253, 321, 326, 332,

334Steel-frame 119, 120, 121

Steel-nerves 252Steelframe 104, 281, 283, 327Streamline 99, 182, 204Street-hoodlums 219Strictures 230Structure 3, 7, 31, 32, 33, 37, 54, 80, 106,

120, 121, 162, 167, 174, 177, 198, 225,241, 272, 275, 281, 284, 308, 335, 348,349, 353, 354, 363

Stuartpuram 101Surgeon 151, 245, 246, 247Surgeons 245, 246, 247, 248Surgeries 246Surgery 245, 273Sutherland 315, 316, 318Swami 296

Switzerland 313Sycophancy 13, 265, 286, 302Sycophants 3, 12Symbion 68, 186, 259Symbiosis 91, 134, 168, 173, 193, 202, 290,

307Symptoms 49, 116, 118, 125, 161, 184, 202,

203, 205, 207, 213, 261Syndicate 91, 134, 136, 189, 215, 224Syndicates 17, 75, 91, 92, 98, 134, 136, 158,

189, 190, 215, 216, 243, 244

Syndrome 40, 138, 139Synergy 94, 135, 164, 168, 193, 196, 245,

250, 254, 259, 260, 307, 330, 331, 335Sysptomatic 69Systemic 223, 326, 353, 363

T

Talents 4, 15, 57, 58, 80, 108, 121, 177, 278,282, 334, 338, 351, 352

Tamilnad 170, 188, 191, 230, 328 Tanwar 230 Technique 216, 219, 249 Techniques 7, 16, 18, 20, 33, 34, 45, 100,

150, 153, 154, 156, 165, 184, 190, 325,326, 348, 350, 351, 355, 357, 358

Technologies 355, 358 Technology 12, 46, 158, 162, 183, 225, 261,

289, 292, 312, 313, 355, 357, 358 Tehelka 276 Telecommunications 43

Tendencies 13, 49, 61, 76, 93, 132, 134, 141,143, 147, 151, 173, 179, 186, 190, 221,251, 264, 282, 313, 347, 357, 358, 360

Tendency 13, 20, 26, 38, 47, 94, 95, 100,105, 116, 121, 131, 136, 137, 138, 160,168, 195, 226, 259, 274, 275, 279, 340,341



Thackeray 243 Thakkar 285 Theory 1, 199, 224, 297, 304, 327 Top-brass 137, 141, 185, 229, 286, 336, 350 Top-secret 254 Toynbee 199 Transformation 118, 150, 162, 213, 223,

226, 241, 285 Triplex 191, 273, 282, 319 Troika 18, 94, 97, 99, 135 Tyranny 3, 12, 69, 199, 204, 208, 270 Tzu 299

U

Unconstitutional 276, 278, 338Undemocratic 276Under-utilisation 256Undercover 8, 9, 112, 113Underground 90, 99, 135Underprivileged 79Unemployment 7, 128, 149, 351Unethical 263, 305Unlawful 153, 173, 175, 196, 253, 332Unprofessional 49, 59, 137, 325, 341

Unresponsive 88, 284Untouchability 79, 119, 200, 202, 203, 207Uprightness 63, 188, 248, 261, 262USA 84, 85, 294, 297, 300, 302, 303, 311,

313, 314, 322, 352Ustinov 328

V

Vallabhbhai 285 Values 12, 23, 32, 45, 49, 51, 54, 62, 65, 68,

70, 73, 82, 87, 95, 104, 105, 107, 127,130, 132, 136, 140, 147, 150, 157, 166,172, 177, 178, 182, 184, 198, 200, 203,210, 215, 228, 246, 247, 261, 262, 272,273, 274, 275, 281, 282, 286, 299, 300,301, 302, 305, 306, 308, 314, 323, 324,327, 336, 342, 344, 346, 356

Veerappan 170, 191, 220 Venkatesh 24 Vice-dens 215

Vijayanagar 295 Vishnu 233 Vishnugupta 284 Vision 51, 74, 89, 183, 227, 280, 302, 330,

336, 337, 348, 355, 356, 357, 358, 360,361, 362

Visionary 348, 358

Visions 277, 280, 355 Vivekananda 296 Vohra 25, 249

W

Wadhawa 85 Warming-up 178, 343 Wars 45, 67, 157 Wartime 255 Washington 296, 312 Wassam 85 Watchdog 22, 62, 64, 258 Watchdogs 22, 64, 73

Watchman 285 Watchmen 97 Watergate 297 Watermark 212 Wavelength 171 Weaponry 98, 112, 113, 221, 224, 349, 350,

353 Weapons 34, 40, 51, 111, 140, 183, 187,

188, 190, 208, 228, 246, 247, 341, 348 Weberian 284 Welfare 79, 97, 110, 119, 120, 121, 163, 180,

198, 205, 278, 279, 285, 306, 307, 310 Wherewithal 11, 150, 152, 154, 177, 254,

268 Wherewithals 153 White-collar 249, 315 Womanhood 212, 246 Womenfolk 246 Work-culture 3, 61 Work-ethic 61 Work-ethics 71, 267 Work-pressure 178, 184 Work-pressures 178, 224 Workforce 286 Workload 23, 33, 363 Workloads 20, 100 World-class 47, 159

X

X-ray 225Xenophobia 274

Y

Yadav 298 Yardstick 64



Yardsticks 236 Youngsters 13, 324 Youths 85, 128, 149, 220, 221

Z

Zafarwal 85Zealots 7, 295Zeist 224Zeitgeist 162, 290, 300, 313, 316, 326, 360Zoetic 198



Documents

Policing the Police 2 Ed