The other day I met a top Home Ministry official at his North Block office and left much wiser at the end of it. It is not every day that you walk into an office of the sort I did - full of history and for the power conscious elite of the national capital - perhaps the one office that truly wields enormous and absolute power.
It was therefore a refreshing encounter with someone who really is the top cop - in many more ways than one. I began by asking him about what the agenda was. The reply stunned me. "It is the simple things that really matter", the officer told me.
Simply put, the new team at North Block, led by an erudite and seasoned minister like P. Chidambaram and home secretary GK Pillai is working on ensuring that bribery in police selection is stemmed. The premise is that once a youngster does not have to pay a bribe to be selected as a constable, he will have lesser incentive to recover it on the job.
The home ministry is also working on a new body that will ensure fixed tenures for all cops, at all levels. Within 60-odd days, the body will be up and running and initiate this reform in union terrritories. Officials hope that the states will adopt this practice, thereby providing security of tenure to those who are supposed to guard this massive country.
In a nutshell, here is what is in the works:
* Fixed tenure for all cops: UT's for sure and states also, provided they choose to adopt the central model.
* Much better coordination between agencies: This is a key agenda - make sure nothing escapes notice and act on actionable intelligence.
* Taking on the Naxals: A well-cooridnated putsch is in the offing.
There is much more, but it would better if I just give the link to Chidambaram's speech at the Conference of State Police Chiefs on September 14, 2009.
Read it at: http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=52610
Read the speech and I am sure you would agree that this is a first-rate statement of intent.
Can you ever imagine Shivraj Patil talking like this?
