By Dr AP Maheshwari
A comprehensive survey proved beyond doubt that out of the 37 countries that perished during the world wars, external aggression was the cause of their destruction in only 09 of them, while for the rest, the collapse occurred due to weak internal security and poor policing. This was an eye opener and made world leaders and strategists sit up and rethink. When we scrutinize the situation in the Indian context, we find that we have witnessed not only weak policing systems but also sub-optimal border security grids. A deeper look shows that we have suffered due to inadequate technology and infrastructure, and also due to the quality of human resources and the level of integration with local human terrain. Besides the above, we find that there is a lack of an effective legal system accompanied by political interference and inadequacies in the administrative setup.
The formation of empowered verticals in Niti Aayog to look into Law & Security aspects is a welcome move. It will not only give a clear direction to the Indian Police system but also enable better planning and bring all stakeholders, policy strategists on one platform and mitigate weaknesses in critical areas. This could vary from border infrastructure to other capacity building initiatives, legal environment as well as the enforcement apparatus, correctional set up and so on. The charter of such a vertical within Niti Aayog would include a review and formulation of laws and policies, financial resources, appropriate technology as well as improvements in the current systems and their management.
However, it will not be out of place to recognise certain core issues that would need to be addressed for the desired results that we expect to achieve.
It has been a matter of concern among the top strategists and management circles, whether systemic changes alone would suffice to enable policemen to deliver results or whether cultural changes are equally important. The pendulum has swung towards the vectors that govern cultural consonance. In the police domain too, the debate hovers around ‘police reform versus policing reforms’.
I am more in favour of cultural alias professional responses, in other words, policing reforms. My understanding is based on following three core premises:
i. Policing is an essential component of the holistic justice system in a democratic set up that is pretty dynamic.
ii. People centric orientation with a deep scientific approach has to be the baseline.
iii. Autonomous response mechanisms with due acceptability need to be evolved which is more a leadership function than mere systemic interventions.
Besides working on formulation of robust laws and justice delivery systems, we need to recognise the technological and forensic driven chain of evidences as well as processes. Accordingly there is a need to focus on inter-woven values and the implicit work culture. In our context, it could also entail a fair democratic balance between the centre and the states that requires proper re-alignment from time to time.
Police work-culture needs a focus on evidence-based policing with a strong community interface at varied levels. This requires the forces to empowered to be service oriented backed up cogent capacity building. This may require modification in the recruitment parameters, induction process and training programs in addition to nurturing of a conducive work culture during service.
Decentralized autonomous units at different levels could be gradually configured in consonance with national, federal as well as local governance needs. A coordination mechanism would also be imperative to plug the gaps in case of contradictions and lack of desired level of confluence between various power vectors.
In a highly stratified society, as ours, which varies on economic, social, cultural as well as political influences, extremities need to be avoided and any sub-cultural response be mitigated. So much so, that the systems in place should prevent subversion of the process in place which defines the response by police forces.
The common man is still wary of going to the police. Adverse perception of police is not only reinforced through unwelcoming behaviour, but also the lack of professional skills coupled with unhealthy short cuts that have their undesirable demonstration effects.
Proxy war intrusions on internal security grid has shifted the whole focus to civil society turf. Hence, new capacity building in police systems as well as policing culture needs to be underscored. Since these paradigms are dynamic in nature, the need for contemporary research and development in true sense needs to be made the intrinsic part of functioning at each level.
Sensitization and active indulgence of the community needs to be ensured. Hence, community be integrated as a force multiplier for policing in terms of due surveillance and input channelization. The policing culture at cutting edge level needs to undergo a drastic transformation. Policing think-tanks should be promoted to fill in the gaps.
New capacity building shall also be needed in view of emerging threats. AI (artificial intelligence) facilitated neo cyber-domains, with growing virtual or augmented reality, may pose challenges that could emanate from the misuse by those equipped with ulterior motives. Environmental and climate change situations would also lead to a vicious cycle of conflicts that we have yet to anticipate with accuracy. Cognitive manipulations are also leading to situations of distress and radicalization that may perpetrate violence in different forms. These are some of the critical threats on the anvil, whereas, traditional threats of human & drug trafficking, terror funding, human terrain intrusions shall further get accentuated with passage of time.
The fine line differentiating internal security and policing is getting blurred. Patch-work and adhoc approach will not work. The requirement now is for a multi-talented and technology savvy police force on duty. The traditional induction and training formats need to undergo a change. Policing now has become a profession that requires interface with cyber, forensic as well as financial expertise besides the core legal domains. Even the law & order management or anti-terror operations have acquired different modus-operandi with induction of latest technologies.
To conclude, Internal security can no longer be viewed within the prism of defence of the territorial space. We must include the contemporary and emerging ideological, ethnic, economic, environmental challenges to the Nation. Polity, economy, environment and information are networked and interlinked to pose a web of existential threats to the Nation. Thus, there is a need to anticipate, prepare, pre-empt and build capabilities to deal with threats that are both predictable and unpredictable. Management of Internal security also requires continuous review and revision of our strategy in which all stakeholders including the government, political parties, security agencies, civil society, media etc. would have an important role to play.
Changes to improve our security and policing system need to be planned and implemented in phases. Upgrading human capabilities with intense and extensive training is vital. Let us start with collaborations, vertical as well as lateral, and build institutional capacities within the system over a period of time. This would be an exercise in perpetuity.
The author is former DG BPR&D/CRPF.
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