Tasked with maintaining law and order, the police’s difficult role has been rendered tougher due to political interference and neglect of reform
A police commando stands guard near the Red Fort in Delhi; (Photo: Getty)
A candid note prepared by Union home ministry after 2013, summarising the state of policing in independent India, stated: “Police reforms have been on the agenda of governments almost since independence, but…the police is seen as selectively efficient, unsympathetic to the underprivileged. It is further accused of politicisation and criminalisation. One needs to note that the basic framework for policing in India was made in 1861, with little changes thereafter, whereas society has undergone dramatic changes….”
LEAD ESSAY | Freedom@75 | A new tryst with destiny
In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court in September 2006 had directed all states and Union territories to bring in police reforms and implement measures to ensure that the police could function without political interference. Yet little action has been taken, while the political nature of the police forces has reached new heights, with police teams of different states clashing with each other.
A young policeman in Calcutta in the mid-1950s; (Photo: Getty Images)
Expenditure on the police has increased over 4,000 times since Independence, but most of the expenses are on salaries and maintenance. Even now, the Centre spends only two per cent of its total police budget on modernisation of the forces. Policing is a state subject, yet the states collectively spend only one per cent of their police expenditure on modernisation. With 21 per cent posts lying vacant, there is a marginal improvement in the number of police personnel for every 100,000 people—from 131 in 1951 to 194 now. The police in India certainly need political patronage—but of a different kind—to perform better: a big push in reforms and strengthening infrastructure.
