Khaki : The evergreen flavour :: Recruiting 2000 cops
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 19, 2012 -

Employment News.

This is what the Imphal based newspapers looked like on December 18, 2012, with the decision of the Cabinet to recruit 2000 police Constables occupying prime space.

Khaki has gradually come to denote a status symbol and without a doubt it has been the evergreen flavour of the Government for years and not without reasons.

The question is does the State really need 2000 more cops to make policing more efficient, especially at a time when the financial position of the Government is weak ?

Size does matter, no doubt, but in many other ways too it could mean excess adipose and the decision of the State Cabinet to recruit 2000 more police Constables does not inspire much confidence, as far as making policing more effective is concerned.

View this against the recent massive drive to recruit Village Defence Force personnel and the hollowness of it all rings out loud and clear.

It is hard, even impossible to prove, but there are reasons why price tags for any post during recruitment drives are bandied about.

Something which everyone knows is true but then again something which is difficult to officially prove and herein lies the slip between the stated intention behind the proposed recruitment drive and the unstated but known motive.

Can the people expect better policing after the 2000 police Constables are recruited or will the status quo remain ?

Hard to tell but if the past is any indication, there is not much reason to be positive.

Governance or for that matter, effective policing or making the State Police Department more efficient need not necessarily depend on its size. But has this really mattered to the people helming the affairs of the State ?

Police modernisation drive is an agenda that has occupied the top most priority of the State Government in the last few years.

Yet going by the manner in which the police have been caught on the wrong foot, everytime a crime is committed, there is nothing to show at the ground reality that this modernisation drive has in any way helped in streamlining the performance of the State Police Department.

A number of high profile cases remain unsolved and this should underline the argument that the police modernisation drive is a dud.

Add the presence of over 50,000 troops of the Army, the Assam Rifles, CRPF and other para-military forces and it should be enough indication that the State has enough resources at its hand to deal with the issue of militancy.

Or is the decision to recruit the proposed 2000 police Constables based on something else, other than countering the insurgency movement ?

Increasing the number of police personnel in the hill districts is the ground which has been forwarded for the Cabinet decision to launch the recruitment drive, but the question of greater import here is, has any thought been given to the policy of posting and transfer of police personnel ?

Has any thought been given to the personnel deployed for VIP security ?

Do all the VIPs really need all the security personnel detailed for their personal protection ?

Increasing the strength of the police will not necessarily translate into better policing is the moot point, but acknowledging such a basic point will obviously not work to the advantage of the 12 Wise Ones, who come under the nomenclature Council of Ministers or Cabinet.