In News:

• While addressing the Chintan Shivir of state Home Ministers and police chiefs in Surajkund in Haryana, PM Modi floated the idea of ‘one nation, one police uniform.
• He urged states to consider a single uniform for police across the country with states at liberty to have their own number or insignia.

What’s in today’s article:

• Chintan Shivir – About, Chintan Shivir 2022
• One Nation, One Uniform for police – About, challenges
• News Summary

Chintan Shivir

• The Chintan Shivir of Home Ministers is an endeavour to provide a national perspective to policy formulation on internal security-related matters.
• The aim of the ‘chintan shivir’ is to prepare an action plan to implement ‘Vision 2047’ and ‘panch pran’ (five pledges).
  • Panch pran was announced by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech this year. It includes:
    • resolve of developed India by 2047; erase all traces of servitude; take pride in our legacy; Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat; fulfil all duties of responsible citizen
• The Shivir, in the spirit of cooperative federalism, will bring more synergy in planning and coordination between various stakeholders at the centre and state levels.

Chintan Shivir 2022

• The first-ever Chintan Shivir was held at Surajkund, Haryana on the 27th & 28 of October 2022. It was presided by Union Home Minister.
• Home Secretaries and Director General of Police (DGPs) of the States, Director Generals of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Central Police Organisations (CPOs) attended the Chintan Shivir.
• Key focus areas of the event were:
  • Development of eco-system for cyber-crime management,
  • modernising police forces,
  • increasing usage of information technology in the criminal justice system, land-border management and coastal security
• The aim of the conference was to facilitate national policy-making and better planning and coordination in the above-mentioned areas.

One Nation, One Uniform for police

• PM Modi, while addressing the Chintan Shivir, pitched the idea of “One Nation, One Uniform” for Indian police forces.
• This suggestion is in line with his broader attempt to introduce a uniform set of policies across the country.
  • In August, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers announced that it had implemented the “One Nation One Fertiliser” scheme.
  • The Government of India in August 2019 had introduced the “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme.
  • Other areas include - one nation, one mobility’ card; ‘one nation, one grid’ and a ‘one nation, one sign language
• PM Modi has also repeatedly suggested the implementation of “One Nation, One Election”, and adopting a single voter list for all polls.

Challenges

• Both ‘public order’ and the ‘police’ are placed in List II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
• In this circumstance, PM’s suggestion will be implemented only with the cooperations of the State Governments.
• While police personnel in India are often associated with the colour khaki, their uniforms do differ in varying degrees in different regions.
  • The Kolkata Police wear white uniforms.
  • Puducherry Police constables wear a bright red cap with their khaki uniforms.
  • Delhi Traffic Police personnel wear white and blue uniforms.
• State governments and even an individual force can decide the uniform their personnel wear.

News Summary: Key Highlights of PM Modi’s Speech

• UAPA an effective tool in fight against terror
  • Central laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) had given an impetus to the system in a decisive fight against terrorism.
• Both gun-totting and pen wielding Naxals need to be uprooted
• Emphasised on creating awareness against fake news
  • A small piece of fake news can challenge law and order and people must check facts before forwarding messages on social media.
  • There is need to educate people to think before forwarding anything, verify before believing it.
  • Also, people must be made aware of mechanisms to verify messages before forwarding them.
• Interconnectedness between the police of different states in order to improve the efficiency of the police and strengthen law and order
• Next 25 years will be for the creation of an 'amrit peedhi'
  • 'Amrit peedhi' will be created by imbibing the resolutions of 'Panch Pran'.
• Urged the states to upgrade their law and order systems with smart technological solutions developed via a common platform to ensure uniformity and intra-operability.
  • At the same time, he emphasised upon the state police to not lose focus on human intelligence.
• Development of the border and coastal areas
  • The central government is working on mission mode for development in the border and coastal areas to promote reverse migration.
  • This could help curb the smuggling of weapons and drugs in these regions.

Key assessments shared in the meeting

• Bihar and Jharkhand have become free from left-wing extremism;
• Peace in the northeast has seen AFSPA area reduced and 9,200 insurgents surrender over the past eight years.
• It was agreed that focus should be laid on cyber crime, improving conviction rates, narcotics, border security and using forensic science capabilities to achieve 90% conviction rate.
• States were urged to constantly and annually review goals and have a plan on where their internal security will be in 2047.