Sujit Kumar Singh
At the time when the sky is falling over world in the name of coronavirus pandemic one must be surprised to see a Policewala standing on the road at Naka happily, delivering his or her services.When the whole world is locked inside the walls and everyone is rushing to take rescue of sanitizer and various other safety measures to survive, how a Policewala is delivering its duty, day and night without any fear?How that poor chap who was mostly known for his late response,delayed arrival and corrupt practices till now, turned into an avenger when the world needed him the most?At the time when entire world is collapsing how this Khaki group is surviving with very less resources and all its vulnerabilities?
Very recently I was going through social media and found lots of viral audio video clips which show the various heroic acts of this Khakee group like giving musical demo of proper hand washing, singing songs to educate public about the pandemic, offering food and distributing medicines to the needy section of the society, standing outside his/her own house to see family members from a safe distance etc. Moreover I had rendezvous with some news of the harassment of the violators of lockdown by this Khakiwala and various such type of other stories as well. This compelled me to think and analyse how this Policewala is surviving on the road amidst all the challenges with all his vulnerabilities.
As of now India has a total strength of 21,24,596 police personnel at the ratio of 102 police personnel per lack of population, against the sanctioned strength of 140 police personnel per lakh population of this nation. In this way India is still short of 0.5 million policemen as of now. As per the recommendations of United Nations, 222 police personnel per lakh of population shall be considered ideal for a nation. This way India has less than half Policemen available on ground as per the world standard, this makes Indian Police one of the most understaffed Police force in the world.
When we discuss about the expenditure on this force we find that on an average each state spends two to three percent of its annual budget on police, almost same or less amount of the union budget is spent on Central Police Forces by Central Government. As per the available data withComptroller and Auditor General of India and Bureau of Police Research and Development,the Police force is facing with the shortage of basic infrastructure and logistics like vehicles, protective gears, communication equipments and other basic facilities. The force is over burdened and and over exhausted with its duties and challenges. According to a 2018 survey of the Lokniti team of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), less than 25 % of Indians trust the Police highly as compared to the 55 % for army. Surprisingly still it is existing and still performing duties during this type of emergency i.e, worldwide pandemic. This forces me to think how this policewala is standing on the road so happily and performing its duty not so bad.
The very first reason comes to my mind is the hope .
The Policewala is hopeful of its better future.The colonial legacy has portrayed this force as a traitor Dandawala, corrupt etc. The force is carrying so many other negativetags since colonial era.It never came out of its images despite its hard-hitting efforts to raise great image among public.Surprisingly some Bollywood movies created lots of iconic characters of Police officers like Inspector Vijay in Janzeer and various other characters in movies like CID,Police Public,Police Officer, Khakee, Dabangg, Singham, Simba, Suryavanshi etc.These movies remained Highly successful but failed to change the overall perception of a Policeman on ground level. Surprisingly this is the first time in the history that the force got a god given opportunity to prove its worth by serving the humanity without any negative tag.
Till now workdone on the fronts of investigation, militancy, security, law and order are always criticized by one or the other quarters in the name of XYZ. It is also for the first time that making public safe by implementing lock down of the streets of town, cities and sealing the boundaries of villages is being applauded by one and all. The same Policewala which was criticized by one or other quarters for its action or inaction is now being appreciated for its positive role. The public is observing that the police is still standing there without being corrupt ,controversial , partial, or illogically harsh.This positive observation is giving a ray of hope to the entire Police Force , and they are more than ready to serve the nation and its people.The policeman standing on the ground is hopeful that his services will fetch the much-needed, long awaited and long pending recognition from the society and various other quarters of this nation.
Entire nation is watching how the police is behaving, do they hide themselves in the barracks or come on the front to tackle the challenge. They are expecting the same not so good Policewala to be a saviour of them by standing at Naka on the road. And by doing so the Policewala is not only rewriting its new role but also it is saving the faith, the hope, and the positivity of this entire nation.
Second factor is adjusting nature of this entire force.
As I have earlier told that the force is lacking lots of basic support system on ground since its formation, it is habitual of surviving with very less resources without much expectations .It is well known characteristic of Indian Police that whatever resources you have, the police will survive. During my Central deputation days in Paramilitary forces I have seen how the forces are surviving in the deep forests of Naxal affected areas with very less resources.The force remains well prepared to tackle any challenge without making any hue and cry about additional resources that is the beauty of this force.The state police is facing more challenges in terms of infrastructure and resources although the states have tried to uplift the level to its maximum, during the last one or two decades but then also this band of Daredevils are existing with half of the required resources on ground even now.
This makes the entire force to adjust with the existing situation. As a result you find that a Police man or a Police woman is standing at Naka with very less equipments and facilities.The same Naka which was infamous for wrong practices by policemen is almost abandoned by the public, there is not even a secured Sentry post or proper water and sanitation facilities but still Policewaala is standing there, beating the hard sun, heat ,cold or heavy rainfall .
The third factor is the practical experience of this force.
Beyond the world of formal training and proper guidance the police force has gained a greater workable and practical experience to tackle the situation.This experience consists of various workable desi Jugaad, police – public coordination, trust of the locality , social and personal interaction with the society and unique local ised acceptable working system. Adedicated officer standing on the road knows how to survive.His personal experience makes him to take certain measures for his safety and security. For example during the lockdown period various Policemen used to take various preventive steps, available locally for covid 19, that includes homeopathic medicines, Ayurvedic medicines, preventive allopathic drugs etc. That made them to survives during this pandemic. I admit that mistakes happen,despite whole world of experience Indian Police has lost various young officers in this fight, but we shall have to take it as a but natural thing ,after all we are human and perfection is still the most desirable goal for us. With all the pros and cons ,a less educated,ill equipped Policehwala is standing at the nakaat the end of the day.It is a classic case study of survival of a humanbeing by the basic instinct in the extreme situation.
Fourth factor is the support of Government and public.
Despite a plethora of criticism of the force from various quarters the force still enjoys a great support of the Government and the public. Timely recognition of good work and getting rewarded for this by the seniors always inspires the Poicewala to keep standing at the naka and discharge its legitimate duties properly.At the same time appreciation of public through social media is the new charm a Policewala craves for.An ideal example for this is the strory of ASI Harjeet Singh of Punjab Police. His one palm was chopped off by a religious hardlinerin the line of COVID 19 duty. But soon after that the Punjab Govt,and Punjab Police intervened,the officer got his palm attached through surgery at PGI Chandigarh within hours. He was provided with all the assistance from Govt. And the department . Besides, he was garnered with huge public appreciations and great solidarity, recognition at national level. This support , solidarity and recognition will make him to stand again on the road at Naka again.
International, National and regional media, (print & electronic ), represent the opinion of public. Their positive response always encourages the standing Policewala to work more effectively. Recently Media has lauded the role of all the corona warriors includingthe Indian Police,that has set the tone. Any agency which is involved with public concerns shall aspire to grab positive media attention, and the Police is not an exception to this. At the same time he knows that any laxity on the part of his duty shall attract a bad media portrayal, a self declared media trial shall start and he will have to answer many questions. So in an effort of passing continuous media trial that police wala keeps on standing on the road at Naka.
Fifth and the last factor is the humanity.
Everyone has to perform when humanity comes under threat. Before being one Policewala and any other thing we are human first and we have to sacrifice everything when humanity is in danger. The Policewala knows that if he fails in delivering his duties he will also get destroyed along with the others. This pandemic is claiming lives at very large level, it will knock every door of this world ,so better to stand on the road at Naka lest it is too late.
I admit and understand that the standing Policewala must be tired,over worked,improperly dressed, not so courteous,not very alert and at times very rude too. But as an educated person when you analyse you will come to know the importance of this standing Policewala. At one hand it depicts the apathy of the system,less sincerity towards civil issues, less priority to internal security and undermining the issues of law and order but at the other hand it represents the presence of our Own Government,faith of public and power of the common man. Whatever reason may be, but the good thing is that the Policewla is standing against all the odds, although it was his duty and he was supposed to do this, his presence on the road is the signature of success of this system.
Final words
Probably we underestimated the presence and role of that Policewala since ages. In a post modern world where we arecontinuously focussing on quantum physics, Nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and various otherultra modern concepts a Policewala with a traditional Lathi and old aged weaponry and equipment’s looks like a thing of ancient era.According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India has the worlds third biggest spending on defence now i.e. 71 billion dollars, more than 6% of its entire budget.That made us to keep on being busy with discussing strategies of future world and warfare only, undermining internal security and its stakeholders. But unfortunately in the sharp contrast to our discussions of the future a worldwide pandemic knocked our doors and proved us absolutely clueless, vulnerable and under prepared. And to ensure the safety of this humankind the same underprivileged Khakiwala had to stand on the road at naka with all its very own susceptibilities and vulnerabilities.
(The author is an IPS officer, posted as DIG Udhampur Reasi Range)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
