PICTURE PERFECT POLICE By SHANTONU SEN

Director Generals of State Police and Chiefs of all Central Police organizations  held their annual conference on 29th and 30th November 2014 at Gauhati.  The Prime Minister’s Speech on the final day was awaited with some expectation as it was his first such occasion. His  picture of the police of his dreams has been revealed.

On the morning of the 1st December 2014 news paper reports mentioned  his concept of SMART Police , his remarks, at some length , on  the negative picture of the Indian Police that Bollywood is prone to paint. He even  suggested a delegation meeting movie moghuls to put an end to it. Some parts of the media also mentioned  his observations on the martyrdom of 33000 police men since independence  and why their deeds are not part of police training syllabus. He laid stress on under cover policing  and the importance on intelligence work of Police.  Good intelligence will mean less  use of strong arm methods by the police,  he said   He visualized all police stations having their web sites.  People would watch them to search  for  acts of justice and grace performed each day by the particular police station.  He was convinced that police performs many good deeds each day. Since then  some observers have taken swipes at the ideas he expressed.  Karan Thapar  on Head Lines Today hosted a channel discussion where he himself disparaged the concept of SMART  Police  as being a  just an off the cuff, yet another,  aside  the PM makes with no intention to build on  them   or even have  plans to do so when he is making them. He encouraged the panel to agree with him.  The panel , finally  concluded that  the P M has not spelt out any   road map  for a future SMART Police with the minute that though he did not immediately disappoint  he  has  only postponed it !

Our Prime Minister has shown to all and sundry that he wants a different India. He has spoken of changes he wants  List them and  find he  has many.  Some of them are on; black money ; clean India; make in India;  skilled labour;  zero bank account;   youth  trained and skilled  to flood  the West; rural health insurance;  nicotine ban, at least, nearly so; clean Ganga Jamuna. To this list  add a picture of  perfect police and  the SMART Police.

What is   the  Police  that  PM  desires ?  His  police will be  strict, sensitive, modern, mobile, alert, accountable, reliable, responsible , techno savvy and trained. All qualities    compressed in  the acronym SMART. The concept is dreams,  yet undreamt,  assuming reality.  A police that will deliver on the intelligence front, a police that will learn from the mistakes of its martyred colleagues and a police that will have people looking at web sites installed in the police stations for its  good deed of the day.

Not every thing is falling into place. Apart from the panel discussion  there are other   jarring responses to our PM ‘s  vision of a future India. His dreams  are   facing  reality checks. It has started in small doses. One has  only  to read the blogs in our national morning papers.

“ Those who only stand and wait also serve” wrote Lord Tennyson when he was  blind. Massive numbers , surely, are at   one with  P M ‘S vision of India. As of now sheer inertia blinds them into mute  entities.  None of his visions  is likely to  see much  progress if   left only  to his Cabinet colleagues. No one of them  has had any dream to match the P M in the area of  his  responsibility And the bureaucracy? When has it dreamt for others? It is these millions  who “ stand and wait” who can help him to approximate his goals.  He has to find a way to energize them. India  stands and waits  for Prime Minister Modi to   serve .

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