New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the 55th annual conference of DGPs and IGPs virtually and reviewed the action points of the previous conference. The conference was inaugurated by Home Minister Amit Shah here on Wednesday. Amit Shah emphasised that there should be zero tolerance against terrorism.
According to the Home Ministry, a review of internal security situation was presented to the Prime Minister and Home Minister and discussions were held to improve the overall security scenario with more people-friendly initiatives. This is the first time the conference, organised by Intelligence Bureau, is being held in virtual mode due to the COVID-19 situation.
Heads of various central para-military forces and state DGPs and IGPs participated in virtual mode from their respective states. Amit Shah paid his tributes to police martyrs and awarded the Indian Police Medal to 50 awardees. He congratulated them on their achievements.
The Home Minister also highlighted policy issues on national security and applauded the role of police as frontline warriors in crisis and disaster management. A session on various initiatives of security forces against Left Wing Extremism (LWE) was also held.
Achievements of DGsP/IGsP conferences since 2014
This year the DGP conference from 2nd December to 5th December is being held in virtual mode. PM Modi has given around 15 hours of his time to this conference. There has been a paradigm shift in the format, venue, topics covered, deliverables etc. in the DGsP/IGsP Conference since 2014. Focussed follow up has improved Police efficiency and functioning across the country. Some of the salient highlights and achievements of the Conference since 2014 is as follows.
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A. Since 2014, the Prime Minister has been attending all the business sessions during the entire Conference besides giving medals to the PPM awardees of Intelligence Bureau. This has given the opportunity for DGsP of States/UTs to have one-to-one interaction with Prime Minister resulting in the convergence of views on crucial challenges faced by the country and emergence of doable recommendations. Prior to 2014, the PM’s presence in DGsP/IGsP Conference was limited to PPM investiture ceremony and one address to the participants.
B. On the directions of the PM, the number of sessions/topics have increased significantly since 2014, with a focus on improving day to day policing in service of people. Besides discussing national security issues, the focus has also been given to improve policing on the ground and issues like community policing, law and order and Police image are deliberated during the conference.
C. A detailed action taken report on the recommendations of the previous conference is presented before the Prime Minister and UHM by the Conference Secretary. Recommendations are regularly followed by the Conference Secretariat along with help of Nodal officers of the States/UTs.
Personal monitoring by the PM has resulted in a marked improvement in the implementation of recommendations in the last few years from before. However, prior to 2014, there was little follow up in respect to the deliverables of previous Conferences.
D. For the first time, the venue of the conference was shifted outside Delhi in 2014. Since then, the Conference has been held in different parts of the country. Staying together of the VVIPs and delegates during the Conference and their joint participation in various engagements instilled espirit de corps and provided opportunity for informal interaction among them. Prior to 2014, the Conference was only held in Delhi.
This year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, first time Conference is being held virtually. Taking this opportunity, the participation of the officers from States/UTs have increased to make it more broad-based.
E. Stress on the scientific investigation: Since 2014, continuous stress has been given by the PM to encourage scientific investigation to improve the conviction rate in the country. During the 2019 DGsP/IGsP Conference, the PM emphasised the need for enhancing forensic capabilities of all state police to improve the investigation at the Police Station level. To achieve this objective, a broad road map has been prepared to improve the forensic and technical capabilities of Policemen on the ground.
To promote capacity building of Police personnel in the field of scientific investigation, the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) and Raksha Shakti University were established. All states have been encouraged to affiliate their training colleges/institutes as well as forensic laboratories with the above institutions to build scientific temper among police personnel.
F. The Prime Minister has always stressed to improve the Policing at the Police Station level. On his directions, work on the ranking of Police Stations on the scientifically developed performance matrix was initiated to bring improvement in the functioning of Police Station. Feedback of the public in respect of services at the Police Station was one of the most important criteria for assessment. This ranking has encouraged healthy competition among the State Police forces to improve their performance and public image.
Since 2017, top 10 Police Stations of the country are identified and declared at the Conference every year and top 3 PSs are felicitated. Due to regular monitoring by the Prime Minister, various community engagement and outreach programmes are frequently undertaken by Police forces across the states to improve Police-Public relationship and achieve public trust.
G. The Prime Minister has always stressed capacity building among the Police forces to tackle the growing menace of cybercrimes and ensuring cyber hygiene among all stakeholders. A Cyber Coordination Centre (CyCord) was formed to coordinate the cybercrime response of Centre and State Police forces. It has brought industry experts, academicians, cyber professionals and law enforcement officers on the same platform. Further, Cyber Safe portal, meant for synergising cyber financial crimes response of LEAs was launched. MHA also established I4C (National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal) to help LEAs reach out to cybercrime victims across the country.
H. A National Coordination Centre (NCORD), as well as a Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), were constituted by MHA comprising various stakeholders at Centre and State level for collection of actionable intelligence and coordinated action against the drug cartels and network operators of drug trafficking.
I. Left-wing extremism: The PM suggested for coordinated action and joint exercises by different States against LWE on inter-state borders, resulting in formation of a Joint Task Force (JTF) by MHA in LWE affected states.
The DGPs and IGPs conference is an annual affair where senior police officials of the states and the Centre meet and discuss issues of importance. About 250 officers in the rank of DGP and IGP from all states, union territories and central government are taking part in the four-day virtual meet.
The Modi government has been organising it outside the national capital since it came to power in 2014. The previous conferences were held in Guwahati, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, Hyderabad, Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Kevadia in Gujarat and Pune.
