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Welcome settlement
India-B’desh highway |
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Elephants mowed down
How real is bio-terrorism threat?
Wish you eye flu!
The constabulary is the most visible face of the police administration. However, it never gets the attention it deserves. Even with regard to police reforms, the focus has been more on streamlining top positions at the level of the DGP and the SSP than on the
constabulary. Two senior IPS officers examine the issue to strengthen this pivotal unit.
Need to focus on police stations
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Welcome settlement
By doling out Rs 300-crore drought relief to paddy growers, the Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab has not only bought peace with the agitating farmers but also thwarted the Congress attempt to project it as anti-farmer. For the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) leadership, it is a face-saving deal to call off their five-day dharna on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Apparently, the BKU had gone on strike without getting its facts right. The Rs 800 crore Central grant the BKU was seeking for farmers was actually meant for the state power utility, Powercom. Some Congress leaders tried to fish in troubled waters but Mr Parkash Singh Badal has outsmarted them. For the farmers collectively, Rs 300 crore is a small amount which they will get in two years. Since farmers still do not get direct payments and many are without bank accounts they will be at the mercy of middlemen in getting their dues. There is no foolproof way of subsidy disbursal in Punjab or elsewhere in the country. The farmers’ leadership does not take up larger issues concerning agriculture and farmers. The government as well as the farmers need to debate whether growing paddy is in the over-all interest of the state, given the depleting water resources and a sharp fall in the water table. There has been a marked deterioration in rural education and health. The ill-equipped rural youth have no job opportunities and are turning to drugs in despair or migrating abroad. The excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is a growing threat to public health. The polluted river waters are spreading cancer and other diseases. Bad governance has bankrupted the treasury and made the government a helpless spectator when people suffer drought or floods. These are the issues farmers should take up if they expect public support. Frequently fighting over small issues and blocking road and rail traffic, in disregard of inconvenience to people, will jeopardise public support for their genuine problems. |
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India-B’desh highway
The green signal given by Bangladesh for launching work on a highway that will directly link Kolkata with India’s Northeast is a major development from various angles. The crucial highway project, passing through many Bangladesh cities, will be implemented along with some other schemes with $1 billion credit offered by India to Bangladesh. The transit facilities given to India will drastically reduce the distance between Kolkata and the northeastern states. This is bound to boost economic growth in India’s Northeast. Not only that, the highway passing through Bangladesh can lead to the revival of the Asian Highway idea for which an agreement was signed in November 2003. India had been trying to persuade Bangladesh for over five years to cooperate in the Kolkata-Bangladesh-Northeast highway project but in vein. The previous government in Dhaka, which was gripped by India-phobia, refused to accept the argument that the highway would bring economic gains to Bangladesh as much as to India. The situation changed with the formation of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed, known for championing the cause of improving India-Bangladesh relations for mutual good. The success on the major road project reflects the prevailing bonhomie between the two countries. Both India and Bangladesh can benefit a lot by promoting closer cooperation. Both need each other for faster economic growth. The new dawn in their relations will not only boost bilateral trade, but also create an atmosphere for correcting the balance of trade, which Bangladesh has been demanding for a long time. At present, India’s exports to Bangladesh are around $2.50 billion whereas the value of the imports is hardly $260 million. Once the two countries have an understanding that they will give precedence to economic gains under all circumstances, resolving their bilateral issues like river water sharing, power transmission and border-related problems will become easier. In such a situation, Bangladesh can also be persuaded to allow India to develop its massive natural gas resources. If Bangladesh wants to transform itself into a major regional economic hub, cooperation from India will be vital. |
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Elephants mowed down
It was a train accident with a difference but as horrific as any when a goods train mowed down a herd of elephants last week in North Bengal. Seven Indian elephants, declared an endangered species, were killed in the shocking accident. While Railway officials were quick to point out that the site of the accident did not fall in the notified elephant corridor, forest officials were equally right in questioning why the accident could not be averted on a moonlit night, that too on the plains. While Railway officials have sought to give the benefit of doubt to the driver by claiming that the accident took place between two tea-gardens, outraged wild-life activists assert that tea plantations in Dooars could not have come in the way of the goods train driver in spotting the elephants, four of them adults, on the track. The “accident” caused sufficient outrage to prompt the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh, to issue a statement from New York. His ministry had repeatedly requested the Railways, the statement claimed, to maintain a speed limit of 25 kmph in the area. There are as many as 88 designated and notified corridors in the country to facilitate the migration of elephants, which are nomadic by nature. There is no doubt that had the goods train been slower, the death toll would have been lower. There are also reports that one of the female elephants had charged at the engine, prompting the driver to panic and accelerate. In the notified elephant corridors, trains are mandated to move slowly and keep whistling to ward off the herds. It is unfortunate that the Railways have not heeded the request so far. Little or no purpose will be served, however, by finger-pointing, registering a police case against the driver and petitioning to the Supreme Court for restraining the movement of trains in the area. All the agencies need to work out a solution and explore various options. The railway track, for example, could be fenced in the area to keep the herds away. It is a matter of concern because the number of elephants in the country is said to have dropped by as much as 50 per cent in the last 20 years. Threatened by poachers looking for ivory and human encroachment into their habitat, the majestic animals, said to be sagacious and closest to human intelligence, are left with no option but to keep moving. |
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If one plays good music, people don’t listen and if one plays bad music people don’t talk.
— Oscar Wilde |
How real is bio-terrorism threat?
Strategic thinkers worldwide have shifted their threat perception of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) - nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological - from state to non-state actors. Security establishments now believe that the danger from these weapons arises from terrorist organisations, especially those with international linkages and global aspirations like Al-Qaida and its affiliated extremist outfits. However, a group led by persons who headed the US 11/9 Commission has recently concluded that the danger of a terrorist strike using unconventional weapons has receded, and that "Despite Al-Qaida's long interest in acquiring chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, on the infrequent occasions that it or affiliated groups have tried to deploy crude versions of these weapons, their efforts have fizzled.” But they caution that the threat from Al-Qaida and similar extremist organisations has become “more complex and more diverse." Some part of their optimism arises from the success of US efforts in mopping up Al-Qaida’s global bases. It is confined now to a narrow belt between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and its capability to assemble weapons of mass destruction has been seriously eroded. Yet, niggling doubts continue. The likelihood of a bio-terrorist attack may seem remote. But can anyone be certain that it will not occur? Nobody predicted the attacks on the Twin Towers in Manhattan and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, using civilian airliners as weapons of mass destruction? This angst has increased with the march of technology. It was earlier believed that regulating the spread of dual-use biotechnology could be ensured by imposing stringent terms on the transfer of dangerous pathogens. Some 82 pathogens and biological toxins like anthrax and smallpox have been identified by the United States as posing a great risk to public health. Access to their cultures is either prohibited or strictly regulated. Elaborate procedures are in place to ensure that they are only made available to genuine researchers. But disease materials can now be manufactured using DNA synthesis. In theory, terrorists can now place an Internet order for the DNA sequence of a selected agent, and then use this sequence and synthetic biology to create or genetically modify it in a laboratory. Researchers are now able to design cells that do not exist in nature. In brief, these advances in technology, alongside lower equipment costs, allow amateur scientists to duplicate DNA sequences with machinery purchased online; it could be used for benign purposes in medicine, energy and agriculture, but it also enhances the malign capability to produce agents suitable for bio-terrorist attacks. The United States is leading the world in bio-defence strategies. It has organised its homeland defences around response forces and civil support teams. The emphasis is on decentralisation, adopting a joint federal-state approach, and assigning responsibilities down the hierarchical line. Response forces are being deployed in dispersed locations for enabling them to reach affected areas in less than 12 hours. Preventing or deterring a bio-terrorist attack is of critical importance, which requires intelligence capabilities to be strengthened and the research and industrial applications of biotechnology to be effectively regulated. A disturbing aspect here is the bio-defence work proceeding in the defence laboratories of the United States. It permits scientists to explore the creation and modification of disease agents with the ostensible purpose of improving the medical response to biological threats. Significantly, defence scientists were able to recreate the SARS virus in 2008 using synthetic biology. Earlier, the 1918 flu virus was reconstituted by scientists; the worldwide pandemic it had caused had killed an estimated 50 million people. In theory, bacterial agents like smallpox can also be created in a more virulent form. In fact, a new strain of mousepox has been synthesised in Australia. The leakage of these dangerous pathogens from defence laboratories, either by accident or malicious intent, adds a worrisome new dimension to the bio-terrorist threat, which cannot be shrugged away. An electronic vigil over laboratories conducting synthetic biology experiments is, therefore, a minimal requirement, besides maintaining strict access control, and conducting regular personnel reliability programmes. All these issues are of vital significance for India, with its pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries on the growth path. A diametrically opposite view obtains that increasing attention to the bio-terrorism threat risks inviting terrorist groups to evaluate its possibilities. Moreover, exaggerating the threat from synthetic pathogens might prevent new research like the engineering of microbes capable of digesting industrial waste or cleaning up oil spills or manufacturing bio-fuels. The sobering fact remains, however, that a bio-terrorist attack may have a low probability, but it remains a very high consequence event. The risk is not zero and the potential consequences are large. The heartening news is that industry worldwide is aware of the risks and appreciates that customer screening is necessary, and is willing to investigate orders for sensitive materials. Call it enlightened
self-interest. The writer is associated with the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi |
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Wish you eye flu!
KNOWING that I am a late riser, friends generally don’t call me early. But that day I was in for a surprise, as the call was from someone who generally doesn’t call me, even late during the day. Half in sleep, my hand drifted to the cell-phone, to read with my purpose-tuned eyes, when on the screen flashed a name I couldn’t believe. “All’s well, I wish!” I said when he started laughing. And a tad too loud at that, betraying his general disposition of routinely carrying a wooden face. Laboriously I snail-paced to reach a sitting posture, adjusting the pillow to support my back, when my friend’s laughter evolved into a kind of shrill-scream of Mr Kohli, as in ‘Bride and prejudice: From Amritsar to LA’. And then he became poetical reciting to me an Urdu couplet, “Har tarha ke jazbaat ka ailaan hain ankhen/Shabnam kabhi shola kabhi toofan hain ankhen! (Eyes proclaim emotions of all kinds/Eyes at times are dewdrops, fire or even a storm). Even without an encore, or a ‘wah-wah’ from me, he seemed to fly again on wings-of-poesy when I chipped in to enquire if everything was alright with him. “Three days at home, and enjoying!” and presto he began crooning again, “Jab se tere naina mere naino se lage re/Tab se deewana hua sab se begana hua...!” “What storm has hit you dear?” I asked a bit relaxed. “I have eye flu you see. Conjunctivitis you see!” He informed musically using ‘you see’ twice as if as a note to enhance effect and as if to convey Blind (sic) Milton’s approval of ‘those who stand and wait’. “But being not on leave, do they permit you to stay home?” I asked and refrained from embarrassing him saying, “—to relax and sing and be poetic!” “No, I went to office intentionally. He emphasised the last word and clarified, “lest they thought I was a shirker.” Seeing my red eyes, the boss said, “You seem to be having eye flu. Why not stay at home.” “No, I have no problem working in office. I told him with my tongue firmly in my cheek, when the boss kept insisting.” He said laughing again. “The boss said, I would spread the malaise and sought himself too to be excused!” he said. “It’s after centuries that I lay curled in the bed, with no eye-shy business to blink, except having them closed all the while, and calling up friends to do some gup-shup!” His boisterousness did not let him drop the receiver, which he generally is inclined to, and told me about one of his Muslim friends, who on Eid came to visit him, and insisted on hugging the festival way, about which he cautioned, proclaiming he had eye flu. “Arre chhodiye Sahab, gale miliye! And the next day, he reported on the phone that he had irritation in his eyes. Ha ha ha heeeeeeee!” my friend again guffawed. “So that is how one needs to laugh away one’s sorrows!” I had a dig at him when again he sniggered, “Ig-jaktly” a la Javed Jaffrey in “Salaam Namaste.” Then it was my turn to tell him to let me sleep, and hang up saying, “I wish you eye flu. Also a relapse. Don’t get well soon!” |
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The constabulary is the most visible face of the police administration. However, it never gets the attention it deserves. Even with regard to police reforms, the focus has been more on streamlining top positions at the level of the DGP and the SSP than on the constabulary. Two senior IPS officers examine the issue to strengthen this pivotal unit.
As constabulary is the visible face of the police, the recruitment process needs to be made more transparent, foolproof, standardised and objective. Merit should be the sole criterion for selection. The foot-soldier constable has to be available whenever needed — be it a law and order situation, crime against person or property committed, traffic management or even while performing other regulatory duties. Any mishandling of these tasks will make him appear thick-skinned, insensitive, ruthless, supercilious and despicable in the public eye. This writer had the opportunity to oversee the training in two Centrexs in the United Kingdom — one at Talli-Ho (Birmingham) and the other at Riton in Coventry. There the police jobs are divided into categories like general, detective, investigative, specialised, tactical and technical. In our system, we expect our constables to be masters of all trades. Training of these lower subordinates needs be on a ‘need-to-know’basis without the intricate laws, procedures, manuals and drills.
Reforms needed at
the grassroots n Constabulary does not take pride in their uniform. Train lower subordinates on a 'need-to-know basis' The outdoor training imparted to the lower subordinates, particularly the parades and drills, consume equal training hours as imparting acquisition of knowledge of laws and procedures. This is not a proper ratio. The British Police are trained only in areas which are strictly commensurate and in direct proportion to the demands of duty. For example, they may not be taught the ticklish aspects of ‘Relevancy of facts’, yet they can identify a happening in front of their eyes which they can definitely perceive is illegal, as it would flow from the common understanding of an ordinary citizen who is suitable and a little more trained in making his own assessment. The physical training having parameters of parades, drill, shooting, unarmed combat, crowd dispersal, etc. should form part of the tactical squads’ training while the knowledge of laws, rules, procedures, instructions, regulations, directions, etc should make better investigators and detectives. The recent incident of a constable having been murdered after he chased criminals is enough indication that he should have received adequate training in unarmed combat; it should only have been part of a tactical squad trained to chase, contain and attack. The constabulary is the interactive face of the police. The poorly trained lower subordinates seem to be failing in their duty to deliver and live up the people’s expectations. The time-tested Beat System of which the main protagonist and hero was the Beat Constable, allowed the police to keep an eye on the anti-social elements, smugglers, hoarders, black marketers, pickpockets, eve-teasers, molesters, thieves, burglars, thugs and even strangers. The recent detection of a car loaded with explosives reported from New York was the result of an eagle-eyed observation of the Beat Patrol Officer. Unfortunately, this system is no more followed in India. In the UK, there is the peer system where the ‘elder brother-younger brother’ concept of the buddies ensures professional growth in the junior partner and assured dependence on the elder one. When Best Practices is the keyword in all spheres of management these days, why should it elude the Indian police? Our constabulary does not take pride in their uniform because of the historically maligned image of the police. Senior officers can do more in leading by example and by being in the front. Conversely, there is less of motivation, crises of discipline and execution of dishonest intent. Hence, they are found wanting. For ills like misbehaviour with the general public and insubordination, the governments cannot be blamed. For, it is setting their own house in order by the seniors themselves. More than the government intervention, the police department is capable of stemming the rot. Maslow’s Theory of the Hierarchy of Needs is more relevant today. Besides the physical needs, those attributable to socialising, rising in one’s own esteem, healthcare and safety needs are of paramount importance if we want to instill confidence in the rank and file. The Barracks System of housing the police personnel in the police units has miserably failed. Nowadays, policemen want to stay with their families and children. The system of police officer on duty round the clock is no more practical and the shift system has become imperative. While theft and burglary generally take place during the night, traffic violations take place during the day. Cyber frauds are specific to cities and ‘murders for honour’ are resorted to mostly in rural pockets. Hence, we need to identify specific crimes (time, area, demography, topography and rural and urban-specific) and make policemen specialised in tackling them. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) need to be laid down to address such tasks. The policemen need to be more people-friendly, having good etiquette and a pleasant and ever-willing-to-help disposition. Owing to the country’s diverse demographic and cultural parameters, adequate precaution needs to be taken to appreciate each citizen’s right to be treated equally. What is needed today is zero tolerance for acts like custodial deaths, rape, misbehaviour, corruption and highhandedness while policemen deserve suitable rewards for exemplary acts of gallantry, public service, detection and investigation and winning the people’s hearts. The writer is the Inspector-General of Police, CID, Haryana |
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Need to focus on police stations THE police station is the basic unit of police administration in a district. It is the lowest but most visible stratum of the police system. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, all crime has to be recorded at the police station and all preventive, investigative and law and order work is done from there. In police-related matters, people first come to the police station or the
thana. Thus, the best way to measure the effectiveness of the police in the performance of their functions is by evaluating the efficiency of the thana. As the thana is the smallest unit of the police organisation, its state is representative of the situation of the entire police organisation. According to the National Police Commission, a police station is the most important unit of the police administration. For the bulk of citizens in our country, whether located in a city or town or in a village, it is the only predominant point of contact of the state with the people. It is at the level of police station that the people are in touch with the police and vice versa. People come to the police station with their grievances/ complaints against persons known or unknown, from whom they have suffered or apprehend injury or harm to their person or property. The people’s expectations from the police can only be fulfilled if they are satisfied with the integrity, professionalism, fortitude, impartiality and promptness in the services rendered by the jurisdictional police station. The fulfillment of the organisational goals of the police department gets tested at the level of the police station. Therefore, any reform to strengthen policing, either in urban or rural areas, must deal with the organisation, location and working of the police station. The workload of the policemen has increased manifold leading to management problems at the police station level. The list of duties is also increasing day by day. This adversely affects the performance of police station regarding the basic work of crime investigation. The people’s expectations are also very high. Behavioral changes have not properly crept in, resulting in bad public image. Though the increasing crime and law and order problems with routine duties of police have increased the workload in police stations, there is no corresponding increase in the manpower. In all, there were 12,591 police stations in the country in 2006. The ratio of Assistant Sub-Inspector and above to constable and head constable is 1:7. The total cognisable crime was 51,02,460 in 2006. The total arrests of persons in cognisable crime in the country were 26,53,683. Though more crime cases are to be investigated, there are no adequate officers. This is affecting the quality of investigation, detection and conviction. Detection requires continuous investigation which is generally not possible because of many other duties which the Station House Officer (SHO) or investigating officer has to perform with investigation. The SHOs’ tenure is very short. There are many vacancies of police station staff in every state. Ultimately, this affects the working of the police station. While there is need for more manpower in police stations, the existing sanctioned strength is also not being fully utilised. The police stations need to be managed properly because their inefficient management can lead to chaos in society. It can result in the collapse of all socio-economic activities. With increasing population and law and order problems, it has become very essential to raise the strength of the policemen in every police station from the abysmally low national average of 126 to per 1,00,000 population. This figure also needs to be seen with its further bifurcation between the Central paramilitary forces and state armed police forces which are included within this figure. The Central or state paramilitary forces do not directly cater to the needs of day-to-day policing managed by the police stations. Since Police is a State subject under the Constitution, the norms and standardisations for the police station staffing do not get the desired focus from the Union Government. This results in disproportionate allocations as far as the state police and the Central police forces are concerned. Within the federal structure of governance, the isolation of Police as a State subject complicates the mandates of the Union Home Ministry. The crucial resources earmarked for internal security with the Centre may result in the disproportionate distribution of assets within this head. This ultimately may prove disadvantageous to the staffing and resource allocation to the police station, which happens to be the most important venue of the police-public interface. The writer is Asst. Inspector-General of Police (Training), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh |
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WHAT ails the police? The malady is not difficult to diagnose. If the police has to deliver and measure up to the expectations, a lot needs to be done to recruit the right candidates with suitable reforms in the recruitment process, training, posting and welfare programmes.