O P I N I O N S

Guest Column
Punjab Police didn’t lose direction overnight
Giving enhanced financial and administrative powers to the state DGP would immediately deliver results in improved policing. Since governments do bring in a person whom they trust, why not empower him to be able to run his show?
Sarabjit Singh
the Punjab Police has been in the news in the recent past for all the wrong reasons, whether it be excesses by them or attacks on them. For an organisation that has long had a reputation for courage and effective law enforcement, the sudden slide into ignominy seems puzzling and ominous.

Touchstones
It is spring, and art’s blooming too
One reason for the present effulgence in the art market is that it had registered a downward trend in the past two years. It would be a pity if the heady days of the early years of this millennium were never to return.
Ira Pande
Spring madness this year seems never-ending. Apart from the usual burst of music and concerts celebrating the horis, kajris and traditional spring songs, there are impressive art events, literary melas, lectures and seminars, and to say nothing of the IPL matches.

GROUND ZERO
Rahul Gandhi and the importance of being earnest
When Rahul pushed aside his written text and spoke extempore at the CII meet, it was apparent we were witness to a rare moment. He had finally stood up — now he must make himself be counted.
Raj Chengappa
When Rahul Gandhi, in his address at the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi last week, referred to his days as a student at Harvard University in 1991, I recalled an incident I had kept to myself. It was just coincidence that I was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard the same year as Rahul was an undergrad, but we never met on campus.

Guest Column
Punjab Police didn’t lose direction overnight
Giving enhanced financial and administrative powers to the state DGP would immediately deliver results in improved policing. Since governments do bring in a person whom they trust, why not empower him to be able to run his show?
Sarabjit Singh

the Punjab Police has been in the news in the recent past for all the wrong reasons, whether it be excesses by them or attacks on them. For an organisation that has long had a reputation for courage and effective law enforcement, the sudden slide into ignominy seems puzzling and ominous. However, the slide is not sudden; rather it has been happening over decades. It is only the recent showing of symptoms that has created the impression of a sudden degeneration.

For more than the past half century police malfunctioning has been attributed mainly to the colonial hangover by those outside the organisation, and to magisterial control — especially the control of the district magistrate — by the police itself. Both are simplistic explanations and give the parties concerned opportunity to indulge in self-pity. The fact is that the British left us a fairly sound and just administrative set-up, although it was for obvious reasons tailored to cater to their colonial interests.

The current state of the Punjab Police can be analysed in terms of certain key factors:

Recruitment: Earlier, the district superintendent of police (DSP) used to be responsible for recruiting the constabulary within laid down parameters, whereas assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), inspectors and deputy superintendents were recruited higher up in the hierarchy. Over the years, recruitment has been centralised, and recruitment boards have been set up at various levels, while the Punjab Public Service Commission recruits DSPs.

Though this is theoretically a more equitable and efficient method, it lends itself to centralised interference both from within the department and without, tempting the political powers to influence and vitiate the process. Also, recruitment of ASIs and inspectors ensures patronage at levels of entry where the damage is qualitatively higher. Fair, honest, equitable and transparent recruitment will go a long way in giving the people a force to be proud of.

Training: The training has basically been sound, but too much innovation and experimentation without proper study has both diluted the thrust of training and overloaded the trainees. Matters that should form part of refresher, advanced or specialised courses are included in the basic course. Refresher training has suffered drastically, as everyone tries to get excused from it through external pressure.

Discipline: Discipline has taken a hit by the use of the very same pressures that influence recruitment, as well as the wishy-washy attitude of seniors. Also poor knowledge of rules has attracted the odium of courts. Political and other pressures to let off recalcitrant policemen has undermined discipline. The Punjab Police Rules, which were designed for a civilian police, are also very mild in terms of punishment compared to the rules for the Central paramilitary forces. Officers are reluctant to express themselves strongly in the Annual Confidential Reports, which form the bedrock of the system of rewards and punishment.

Leadership: This has suffered due to a number of factors. Post-Independence, the vacuum caused by Partition and the exodus of British officers pushed many officers way above their level of competence. The year 1967 brought in emergency-commission armed forces officers found unsuitable for regular commission there.

The induction of officers at various levels during the period of terrorism during the ’80s was a condemnation of the higher leadership of the Punjab Police; but it also groomed junior and middle-level officers who subsequently showed their mettle outside Punjab as well, even in top jobs in J&K and Manipur. However, these outsiders also left lasting problems like ‘own rank and pay promotions’ (ORP) and ‘special police officers’ (SPOs) whose absorption in the force has been a problem.

The growth of awareness in the political class has also had an effect on the police leadership since long. Officers at all levels develop political linkages. If the top does not have a strong equation with the highest political brass, officers down the line start wielding their clout. It is only on ascending the top chair that they realise how this undermines the system. Politicians also cultivate their own coterie of officers with similarly devastating results. In fact, reaching the top is a continuous process of emasculation.

While the situation cannot be corrected in near future, what is possible is for the government to empower the Director General of Police to enable him to run his organisation efficiently. Enhanced financial and administrative powers would immediately deliver results. The DGP can then prioritise his finances so as to be able to give adequate thrust to modernisation and enforce his writ by being able to transfer superintendents of police and below. Since governments do bring in a person whom they trust, why not empower him to be able to run his show?

Political interface: I avoid the usual expression ‘political interference’ because this has been a two-way interface, with police officers being as responsible as the politicians for the interaction. However, the attempt by the political hierarchy to take over the functions of the police is ill advised. I refer to the realignment of constituencies with police stations, creating a supernumerary class of controllers with no answerability. Add to this the system of ‘halqa in-charge’ and the police supervisory levels have been effectively bypassed. This results in the misuse of power — which in the case of police is generally brutal — and in letting ‘one’s own criminals’ go scot free.

In the end, the key lies in choosing the DGP wisely, and then giving him the confidence and power to run his force.

The writer was DGP, Punjab, from 1999 to 2002.

Touchstones
It is spring, and art’s blooming too
One reason for the present effulgence in the art market is that it had registered a downward trend in the past two years. It would be a pity if the heady days of the early years of this millennium were never to return.
Ira Pande

Spring madness this year seems never-ending. Apart from the usual burst of music and concerts celebrating the horis, kajris and traditional spring songs, there are impressive art events, literary melas, lectures and seminars, and to say nothing of the IPL matches.

One of the Capital’s best-known art galleries, Vadhera, celebrates 25 years of its inception this year. To mark this, the gallery has mounted an impressive exhibition that brings together some of the country’s best-known artists. Another group show at Nature Morte has on display an eclectic collection, ranging from Jamini Roy and Souza’s works to some brilliant young artists. Photoink, an avant-garde gallery best known for its promotion of photography, offers another dazzling group show.

One reason for this extraordinary effulgence is that the art market had registered a distinct downward trend in the past two years. Possibly because of the financial crisis that hit the world, investors in India went back to ‘safe’ investments such as gold, diamonds and real estate. It would be a pity if the heady days of the early years of this millennium were never to return because it would impact the great talent that lies untapped among our young artists. Let us hope for their sakes that this is the beginning of a new phase.

Alliance Française arts festival, Bonjour India, brought a bit of France to India.

Alliance Française has just concluded its arts festival, Bonjour India, which celebrated Indian arts and brought a bit of France to India. The finale was a thrilling acrobatic ballet performed by what seemed like angels from heaven. Dressed in white and strewing goose feathers like snowflakes, these ethereal trapeze artists seemed to glide in space. It was enthralling and a unique experience. I only wish it had been televised to reach a larger audience.

Each year, around this time, Penguin hosts a Spring Fever mela at the India Habitat Centre and invites its authors to come and speak to readers. There are colourful displays of their latest titles and very stimulating readings as well. This year, Vikram Seth spoke on his Beastly Tales, re-issued recently and held the crowd spellbound. Equally exciting was a session with the effervescent Mira Nair, who spoke of her first film Salaam Bombay and the book that it has spawned. Watching the enthusiastic response this event receives from young people, I recommend that publishers start to look at hosting college and school events where they bring writers face-to-face with readers. There is nothing more exciting than meeting a writer you admire and being able to seek answers. It is an experience that stays with you for life and moulds your world view.

Azamgarh has long hogged news space for being the area where jihadi terrorists and killers live. How often we forget that one of the country’s most beloved Urdu poets, Kaifi Azmi, proudly adopted its shortened nomenclature as his pseudonym. Thanks to the efforts of an NGO involved in promoting India’s rural art heritage, we have been able to see some charming art traditions of this region. At the India International Centre’s Gandhi-King Plaza visitors can see the pottery and weaving skills that thrive in the villages in and around Azamgarh. Each evening, a concert of enchanting folk music from here brings the lilt of the purabiya anggayaki, which hallmarks the Banaras gharana. The sweetness of the voices and their artlessness is so refreshing against the studied ‘folkiness’ of the urban artists that I was delighted I went there.

And now to the apogee of spring madness: the IPL matches. I must be one of the few Indians completely indifferent to cricket. Perhaps because my entire family was cricket-mad turned me off permanently, but last year I got my comeuppance. I was to chair the jury for the DSC award, which is a handsome $50,000 given to the best work of fiction from the South Asia region that year. As jury members we had to wade through some 60 titles and since it is impossible to read all of them cover to cover in the stipulated time of six weeks or so, we devised a system where we made three piles: good, bad and maybe. Among the books submitted was one called Chinaman by a Sri Lankan writer I had never heard of. The blurb said it was a tale about a missing cricket player and I set it aside to read later. When I eventually got down to reading it, it was unputdownable. Not only was it a brilliant narrative, it was a detective novel, a requiem and sociological treatise all rolled into one. I put it down as my choice, and braced myself for a tough defence with the rest of the jury. One of them was an American who knew nothing of cricket, another who was a rare non-cricket-mad Englishman but the other two — a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi — were on my side. The book was our unanimous choice and Shehan Karunatilakan won the coveted prize.

There is a moral in this story somewhere and so, this time round, I have watched every match so far. Barring my reservations on the obscene opening extravaganza on the day that Kolkata mourned the senseless death of a young protester, I have to grudgingly admit that cricket has something to communicate. Not the least is that dragging politics into sport and banning Sri Lankan cricketers from playing in Chennai is just not cricket. For that reason alone, I will cheer every Sri Lankan player this year. I suggest you do too.