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Growth turning
inclusive Withdrawing AFSPA |
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Nepal’s interest
in India
Time to promote
entrepreneurship
Mountains and
molehills
A culture of
integrity in police
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Withdrawing AFSPA
Any decision to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act ( AFSPA) from select areas in Jammu & Kashmir was unlikely to be uniformly hailed. Therefore, hours after the J & K Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, announced on Friday that the ‘draconian’ law would indeed be lifted from certain areas ‘within the next few days’, it came as no surprise when sections in the Defence Ministry as well as some of the political parties were quick to question the wisdom of such a commitment. While the separatists demanded that the protective provision be lifted from the entire state, sections in the armed forces pointed out that while the incidence of violence might have declined in the state, there had been no such decline in either infiltration or cross-border terrorism. Indeed, over 30 militants are said to have been killed in encounters during the last two months while Intelligence inputs speak of over 2,500 trained militants waiting in as many as 42 camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to infiltrate into the Valley. Others have expressed doubts whether the Chief Minister was authorised to make the sensitive declaration and whether such a declaration could at all be made by him. The issue is undoubtedly complex and delicate. AFSPA was first promulgated in 1958 and imposed on the North-Eastern states. It was extended to Jammu & Kashmir, excluding Ladakh and Kargil, much later in 1990. It allows the armed forces to open fire or otherwise use force on people suspected of militant activities; it permits the armed forces to enter any house or premises and carry out search operations; it authorises them to arrest without warrant anyone they feel is engaged in militant activities and, finally, it provides them immunity from legal proceedings. It has been argued that people in the Valley are opposed to the misuse of AFSPA in arresting, detaining or killing innocent civilians and its use or misuse by security agencies other than the Army. People have also pointed out the toll taken by the presence of the armed forces in the villages. A final decision will undoubtedly be taken jointly by the state government, the Home and the Defence ministries and, of course, the armed forces. But while the latter does seem to have serious reservations about even partial lifting of AFSPA from the state, the Chief Minister’s prescription is certainly worth experimenting with. |
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Nepal’s interest in India
Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s four-day visit to India that ended on Sunday may change the course of relations between the two neighbours. Though he came to New Delhi with the hope of getting $1 billion line of credit and went back home with only $250 million assistance, needed to rebuild infrastructure in the Himalayan nation, the warmth seen during the discussions between the two sides indicated a positive thinking in Kathmandu vis-à-vis New Delhi. The Nepalese leader tried to impress upon India’s political and business leaders that they should not look at new Nepal against the backdrop of what happened in the past. When Mr Bhattarai, a Maoist, says that a large section of the Maoist leaders in Nepal is expecting more from India than any other country in the region to help Kathmandu complete the peace process soon, there is no reason for New Delhi not to take it seriously. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assurance that India would assist Nepal in all possible ways can lead to a feeling in Kathmandu that India can come up to its expectations. Their relations can indeed be a model for other countries in South Asia. The bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement that the two countries have signed can go a long way in attracting private Indian investments to Nepal. Indians setting up industrial ventures in Nepal have been assured of adequate compensation in case they suffer losses owing to any kind of disturbance in the Himalayan country. One hopes the new government in Nepal is doing all it can to weaken the anti-India sentiment there. This is necessary to restore the confidence of Indian investors, who have earlier faced difficult times in Nepal. Besides this, Mr Bhattarai will have to honour his word by ensuring that Nepalese territory is not used to promote insurgency in India. Spurring economic activity in Nepal on a large scale is essential for establishing peace in the strife-torn country. And economic growth requires political stability. Therefore, the Nepalese government will have to speed up the process of constitution writing so that it can hope to have a democratically elected government next year. That will mean completion of the peace process.
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Compromise does not mean cowardice. — John F. Kennedy
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Time to promote entrepreneurship
Swami
Vivekananda in the 1890s inspired
Americans to rush out and buy books on India, or take up the study of
an Indian language. The world, India in particular, he pointed out in
his famous address, was bigger than what they thought. His prophetic
words were that someday they would hear a lot about India. That
someday is now. India is among the world’s biggest economies today.
It is also the world’s second fastest growing economy, integrating
with a rapid pace with the other economies that matter. It can
overtake the US and emerge as the second largest economy after China
by 2050 so far as the purchasing power parity is concerned. In fact,
India has the potential to supersede China, too, to become the top
economy after 2050, according to a report issued by Pricewaterhouse
Coopers. During the current economic crisis when the US and the rest
of the West are passing through difficult financial straits with
soaring oil prices, high inflation rates and slow economic growth,
India is sure to achieve an 8 per cent GDP growth rate, which is quite
encouraging, though it is less than what was projected earlier. It
is not without reason that the global attention today is fixed on
India and China, which offer considerable opportunities to investors.
Entrepreneurs have opportunities for reaching out to millions of
customers with sufficient purchasing power. India has a unique
opportunity to emerge as a major global player in knowledge-based
services with a massive potential of its human resource. According to
one estimate, India has a 765-million-strong workforce (between 15 and
64 years) at all levels of education which comes to 17 per cent of the
world’s total working population. India is emerging as a superpower
with talented people in almost every area — literature, science and
engineering, business, etc — and is well positioned to capitalise on
this. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the skills and competence
of the workforce in the manufacturing, technical, managerial and
entrepreneurial areas. Of these, however, entrepreneurship and
innovation have to play the key role in the process of transformation
of the economy. There was a time when entrepreneurs with fire in
their belly had to move out of India to get a free rein. Aditya Birla
wandered all over South-East Asia, setting up companies and factories.
Laxmi Mittal had to settle abroad to grow into the world’s steel
king. Since 1991, however, with the introduction of economic reforms,
private entrepreneurship has blossomed in India. The country has
become a fertile ground for breeding entrepreneurs. The markets are
vibrant and capital can be easily arranged. Deregulation has thrown up
new opportunities for entrepreneurs. Although the entrepreneurial
scene in India is relatively new, the time has come when policy-makers
should recognise entrepreneurship and innovation as the key to
maintaining India’s economic competitiveness. Moreover, in these
times of economic slowdown when getting prestigious corporate jobs is
becoming difficult, promoting entrepreneurship among students can work
wonders. Entrepreneurs generate most of the new job opportunities in
market economies. Entrepreneurship enables people to envision their
future, a fundamental element in the drive for prosperity. It is
everyone’s responsibility — those in business, the government, the
academia and non-profit organisations — to create the context in
which people look for innovative solutions for human needs and
desires. As Andrew Hargadon says in his book, How Breakthroughs
Happen, "Entrepreneurs and innovators are no smarter, no more
courageous, tenacious, or rebellious than the rest of us. They are
simply connected." With the world’s population estimated to
cross nine billion during the current century, we must have a vibrant
entrepreneurial climate so that our children and grandchildren can
hope to live reasonably comfortably. The primary objective of higher
education is to foster research, produce skilled manpower and spread
knowledge to better serve the needs of society. No doubt, teaching and
research are intrinsically bound together, yet universities need to
produce students who have the capacity to emerge as entrepreneurs in
all walks of life. It is essential to increase the number of
risk-takers, who can easily take control of their lives. For this, our
universities must promote entrepreneurship aggressively. Risk
management should be introduced as a subject at the college level as
it is of great relevance to students. The situation they are faced
with is different from what the old generation had to confront.
Awareness about financial, market, credit, geopolitical and
environmental risk management will help them manage their lives
better. Today, most of the universities with already depleted
financial resources are expanding as far as their administration is
concerned, but not much attention is being paid to creating academic
resources. If our youth have to acquire a competitive edge in the
global market, we should not cripple our universities with resource
crunch. The government in collaboration with our universities will
have to create a fund for entrepreneurship and innovation to enable
them to produce well-groomed business leaders. Our universities must
have adequate infrastructure so that they are on a par with the best
in the world. These institutions should also have world-class research
and training facilities to promote innovative thinking. It is said
that entrepreneurship is something that exists in a world of its own;
this is a misunderstanding. This kind of thinking is against the very
spirit of entrepreneurship. A person who is enterprising in his
approach will flourish in any environment and will drive a positive
change wherever he or she may be. Academic-industry alliances have to
be strengthened. We have to find our own solutions to the problems
that come in the way of promoting excellence. We must learn from the
successes as well as mistakes of the West. Academic-industry alliances
have to be created in the areas of global significance such as energy,
health-care, life sciences and clean technologies. Entrepreneurship
and innovation in the 21st century are all about having an open mind
and being collaborative.n The writer is a Professor at the
University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
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Mountains and molehills It
was the maiden day of our new academic session in Sainik School, Amravati. To everyone’s relief, the whole class had been promoted. As seventh graders, we had inched up the ladder, with two classes as cushion to boss over. Sitting in the freshly constructed block, amidst din and the nose deep into the new textbooks, our homesickness had already vanished. The staff list displayed on the noticeboard had indicated only one change in respect of our class. For English, it was to be Mr Michael St John. We soon gathered that he was a fresh graduate, barely 22, and was due to join the following week. On Monday, we excitedly waited for the new English teacher. As Mr John entered the classroom, we were enamoured by his impressive personality and deportment. During introduction, he went over his early years, gave a snapshot of his family, including girlfriend, and details of home county, which was near London. He had represented college in football and rowing, besides being an experienced mountaineer. In less than an hour, we were totally at ease with our new teacher. However, Mr John’s accent and his preference to be addressed by first name, took some time to get used to.
Within weeks we could feel the difference, vindicated by our all-round brilliant performance. Under Mr John’s tutelage, the Canoe Club took off and half a dozen boats were fabricated from the ‘knockdown’ kits. Canoe racing became a regular fixture and weekend hikes an addiction. To pump up our adrenaline, Mr John would whisper sneeringly, “Indians lack killer instinct!”
This was spark enough for us to fire on all burners. He took pains to develop each individual’s talent. An orchestra item with plates, spoons, empty jam cans as instruments, choreographed by Mr John, was a hit during the annual day function. Some of our activities were even covered in his county newspaper
In the classroom, English period was great fun. The classics like ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ were enacted, Mr John playing the lead roles. Discussions in the class were candid, covering a wide range of issues. Topic of British colonial rule was always a contentious one. Mr Shukla, the Hindi teacher, and Mr John became arch rivals. The two confronted each other head on. However, disengagement was always on a pleasant note. During the India-England cricket series, the atmosphere was highly charged. When Tiger Pataudi scored a double century, Mr John was literally made to eat a humble pie. Two years flew by, marking an end of our iconic teacher’s tenure. During the farewell speech, Mr John frankly confessed that his focus was always on developing the students’ attitude; honing language skills being secondary. His oft-reiterated mountaineering fundamentals — “through preparation and acclimatisation, not to force pace and respect for nature” —had universal application. Mr John was an ardent advocate of individualism and self effort. His pet single liner was “ones who climb with their own crooked legs stand taller atop a molehill, vis-`a-vis those who piggyback to perch on lofty mountain”. Currently, the school is amidst the golden jubilee celebrations. The values Mr John preached and practiced have stood the test of time; being as relevant today as these were half a century
back!
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A culture of integrity in police Policemen deliver to the public what they receive from their department. If there is openness and fairness within the department, if there is transparency and justice in postings, transfers and promotions, policemen will carry a high sense of justice and, in turn, this is what they will deliver to the citizens Public trust and legitimacy is vital for police functioning. The public demands a more exemplary conduct from police officers as from the very nature of their job of law enforcement they are bound by an exacting code. Police deviance not only hits the people who are already in distress and very often belong to a disadvantaged section, but is also very visible. Still every other day there are incidents reported that draw flak and derision from society, undoing all the hard work done by a large number of officers. Systemic issues
The solution to the problem of unethical practices in police has a much deeper undercurrent than just being a matter of enforcing discipline and strict supervision. First, a serious role conflict always exists in policing -- between the ideals of crime control and ideals of policing. While society tends to judge police performance based on the achievement of goals and outcomes, there are many limitations in our criminal justice system which hampers the efficient and effective functioning of the police. It is amazing that John Beam’s description in his Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian, of the investigative skills of the police of the pre-1861 era remains relevant even today: ‘Darogah’s powers of harassment were enormous; he would have a person indicted for harbouring a bad character, or failing to assist an officer in arresting a criminal. Obtaining witnesses presented no problems to the Darogah. They were splendid detectives. They were close the people and were themselves wily and unscrupulous enough to meet the criminal on his own ground. The ‘new’ police by contrast, after 1861, were quite inferior in detective ability. They were ‘over drilled’ and ‘over regulated’. They failed, until they learnt to use the extra-legal methods of the old police without being found out.’ This gives rise to the ‘noble cause corruption’ or unethical conduct not for personal gain but for the good of society. Examples of noble cause corruption are planting or fabricating evidence, lying on reports or in court, and generally abusing police authority to make a charge stick. This can often be how the officers cross the line towards abandoning their integrity. In Punjab itself as on 12/10/06 there were 462 police officers facing criminal writs, trials and investigations against them for allegations of acts of omission or commission performed during the period of terrorism in Punjab. Writs faced by officers include 2 ADGPs, 3 IGs, 2 DIGs & 12 SPs. There were court trials underway of CBI cases against 20 SPs, 21 DSPs, 57 Inspectors, 52 Sub- Inspectors, 53 Assistant Sub Inspectors, 42 Head Constables and 51 constables for this period. To add to the complexity of the situation are the core subculture beliefs of the police that: They are the only real crime fighters, no one else understands them, loyalties are to each other because everyone is out to get them, can't win the war against crime without bending rules and the public is unsupportive and too demanding. Confronted by the ethical issues, the response of the department has been strongly reactive rather than adopting a proactive strategy. As a result, the police service today is seen as a beleaguered institution which has lost a clear sense of direction.
Integrity framework
For the Indian Police today there is an urgent need to regain public trust and the strategies towards achieving this need to be given serious consideration. Therefore, a holistic approach for developing an integrity framework that considers all the three dimensions - the environment; the organisation; and personal characteristics, values and behaviour of the individuals involved in the process can address the problem. Police service is all about values. The department needs to own up a set of core values that are inspirational, after developing them through a collective exercise within the police organisation. Having done so, monitoring and control mechanisms should be put in place to oversee the conduct of the individuals and the department as a whole, in relation to these core values, cherishing them above competencies. Within the organisation, there is need to address both the structural issues and the culture issues. This would include the recruitment of only those individuals who are aligned to the core values, training that inculcates desired values and a rewards and recognition programme that provides incentives to live out the core values. The standardisation of key services and procedures can ensure adherence to policies, practices and behaviours that reflect the core values. The role of authentic leadership, that is centre of gravity in sustaining and developing a culture of integrity, and reaction to critical incidents are crucial to the integrity framework. Finally, the constitution of an ‘ethic committee’ in police departments in states would help in implementing measures, identifying areas to reduce corruption and coordination and partnership with outside agencies. An expert ethics policy body for the police at the national level would be useful for advice and guidance on complex ethical dilemmas and to disseminate best practices in this area to the states.
Intrinsic motivation
The policing paradox suggests that the discretionary power tends to be the maximum at the bottom of the hierarchy in the police department. This is where patrol officers apply laws, policies and regulations and make discretionary choices away from the scrutiny of the supervisors and mostly away from the reach of accountability measures. Therefore, to promote a culture of integrity, there is also need to consider methodologies that use the power of employee commitment, organisational culture, peer norms and values to shape behaviour and build motivation in the police force. The emerging field of Positive Organisational Behaviour suggests that the police force need to build in a culture of trust, respect and principle-based working, to create an environment where the officers and men can be inspired. The process of change from the culture of mistrust and manipulation to one of trust, friendship and respect can transform the police department from a micro-managed high-control, autocratic environment to a place of high involvement, empowerment and rapid response to citizens. As a matter of straightforward and simple principle, the policemen would deliver to the public what they ‘receive from the department’. If there is openness and fairness within the department, there is transparency and justice in the postings, transfers and promotions, the policemen will carry a high sense of justice. In turn, this is what they will deliver to the citizens. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the selection of Station House Officers, Senior Superintends of Police and other field officers is done on merit in a transparent manner.
Practices abroad
In the South African police important selections for those in charge of police stations and the districts are done on the basis of open process in assessment centres to determine the competency levels of officers under consideration. The South African Police Service‘s Assessment Centre can be described as a multi-method, multi-trait technique. Essentially, it is a series of individual and group exercises in which a number of candidates participate while being observed by several observers. The exercises are simulations of managerial tasks designed to test various managerial skills. The
Selection process for senior officers is spread over two consecutive days. At the time of recruitment in the Royal Mounted Canadian Police core values are well advertised and people apply for employment there because they subscribe to these values. To verify their authenticity they can be subjected to polygraph testing and conscientious testing. At the time of being confronted with these tests, 30% of candidates opt out. In the Singapore Police Force the core values are first instilled in the officers during their induction programme and translated into the desired behaviour through policies and programmes and practices. The rewards and recognition programme then provides the incentives to live out the core values. Finally, the standardisation of key services and procedures ensures adherence to policies, practices and behaviours that reflect the core values. Given the complexity of the problem of police integrity the Hong Kong Police adopted a holistic four-pronged approach to address the issue of police integrity in 1996. The prongs are: Education and training; minimising opportunities for malfeasance; Police and Independent Commission Against Corruption partnership and co-operation; and discipline. A series of specific measures in 1996 included an anti-smoking campaign, station fitness rooms, stress management publications and training and anti-gambling publicity. The strategy’s success could be judged from the figures: in 1974 some 47% of corruption complaints in Hong Kong were against the police compared with 13% by 2002. Considering the ethical conduct as an essential requirement, several police departments like the Canadian and Dutch have officers as Ethics Commissioners. The Hong Kong police has an Anti-Corruption Steering Committee chaired by a Senior Assistant Commissioner. The committee is not just concerned with corruption but also with the related issues of integrity and ethics. Australia has an integrity framework in place to promote and foster such culture in the organisation and have the Office of Professional Responsibility and Professional Integrity. When the overall effectiveness of the police in terms of crime control is under consideration it needs to be stressed that being at the first line of contact, the police may determine who enters the criminal justice system but they do not influence the eventual outcomes. By addressing the challenges of ethical conduct and decision-making in a proactive manner, a culture of integrity can be developed and sustained in the police departments in India. And the police service can present itself to the outside world as a professional institution with credible practices, values and beliefs. The writer, an IG Railways in Punjab, is a former Director, Punjab Police Academy. He is also the author of "Policing: Reinvention Strategies in a Marketing Framework"
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Public
trust and legitimacy is vital for police functioning. The public
demands a more exemplary conduct from police officers as from the very
nature of their job of law enforcement they are bound by an exacting
code. Police deviance not only hits the people who are already in
distress and very often belong to a disadvantaged section, but is also
very visible.
