Cold Brass

So, to set things right, the home ministry brought in Kamal Kumar, a retired dgp and a veteran at writing reports, to look into the problem and come up with suggestions. After consultations in several cities across the country between July and October 2009, Kumar presented his report to the home minister with a key proposal that now has both IPS officers as well as the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) up in arms.

P. Chidambaram at a CRPF raising day celebration

Kumar has recommended that, to fill up the vacancies in the officer cadre,  the government should induct additional officers from the paramilitary forces, such as the CRPF and the BSF, through a limited competitive examination (LCE). This, Kumar reasoned, will ensure that a trained body of officers could be picked up on merit, be inducted into the IPS and posted in troubled districts as superintendents of police (SPs). Kumar recommended that 65 officers be inducted every year for at least seven years. If this worked, he opined, this could become a permanent feature and noted in the report that “it would be worthwhile to consider retaining the LCE as an additional source of recruitment to IPS, in the long-term too”.

Chidambaram was keen to implement the recommendations. But he ran into some strong and unexpected opposition. First, Prof D.P. Agrawal, the UPSC chairman, turned the proposal down. (Agrawal did not respond to several requests for a comment). Then, IPS officers too raised a series of objections through the Central IPS Officers Association, leaving the home ministry to try and fight a rearguard action and get the proposal back on track.

With Chidambaram keen on it, the scope for alternate ideas and suggestions in the home ministry has been reduced significantly. After the UPSC said no, the ministry dashed off the proposal to the prime minister’s office. But the PMO needed time to deliberate over the proposal, with its far-reaching consequences, and began an elaborate exercise to write to the chief ministers of all states and seek their opinion. In fact, U.K. Bansal, special secretary (internal security) and an IPS officer, told Outlook: “The PMO is now looking at the proposal and we are aware of the objections raised by the UPSC and the IPS officers association. We have sent a detailed reply to the UPSC and we will wait for feedback from the states.”

True, many security officials feel that there just aren’t enough SP-level officers manning sensitive districts. And officers of this rank are critical for effective policing. But was Kumar’s proposal making a bad situation worse? IPS officers involved in the elaborate consultation process certainly feel so. In fact, many of them feel none of their suggestions and recommendations have made their way into the report. “Some of us even sent in written suggestions but these were not incorporated,” a senior IPS officer told Outlook. Many felt Kumar had just put in his own ideas and used the consultation process as a cover to push his line through. “I have seen the report and none of what is in there was part of the deliberations or our suggestions,” says another senior officer.

In fact, the IPS officers and the UPSC had more substantial objections, ones that go beyond criticising the report’s methodology and are specific to the lateral entry through a special exam:

• The main objection is to the way the report has calculated the supposed vacancy. For instance, many efficient IPS officers are pushed to inconsequential posts while the districts are manned by pliable officers. “Ensure the service rules are strictly implemented and follow the Supreme Court’s directions on police reforms for a stable tenure of IPS officers in troubled districts and you will see this shortage disappear and we will have enough IPS officers in the SP ranks,” says an IPS officer involved with the consultation process (see box).
• The IPS Officers Central Association has also pointed out that paramilitary forces such as the BSF, CRPF and the CISF are already facing acute officers shortage. Taking away a big chunk of the officer cadre for the IPS through the LCE would lead to a qualitative and quantitative debacle in the parent forces. “If the best officers come here, then what happens to the paramilitary forces? What will happen to the quality of leadership there? A force like the CRPF is already heavily committed. Can they afford to lose more officers?” wonders a top cop.
• Large-scale recruitment of officers in a pyramidal structure like the IPS will lead to huge problems in promotion. A sudden glut of officers at the bottom will ensure that more officers retire without a promotion due to limited opportunities in the senior ranks. One officer points out: “It will mean that at least 50 per cent officers will go home without a promotion. That will be devastating for morale and will harm the IPS, which is already under a cloud.”
• Policing, many officers point out, is also a very specialised subject. Investigation of crimes forms a large part of it. Officers drawn from the CRPF or the CISF have no experience or training in this area. “Once an officer drawn through LCE finishes his tenure as the head of a troubled district, where will you post him?” asks another IPS officer. Adds a CBI officer: “A large number of CISF officers were inducted into the CBI a few years ago. We are still trying to retrain them for the (new) job.”
• It was also pointed out that paramilitary officers are primarily trained for lethal operations while policing needs a far more sensitive approach.

When contacted, Kumar dismissed these concerns and told Outlook that IPS officers were “reacting from a fear that the elite nature of the IPS will be destroyed”. The IPS officers association, on its part, has suggested solutions it claims will resolve the perceived shortage. Among the suggestions made by the association are the following:

• Officers from the paramilitary can be put on temporary deputation to troubled districts for operations.
• State police service officers should be promoted faster into the IPS.
• Induction at the National Police Academy through the UPSC should be augmented from the current 100 per batch to about 130 probationers every year.
• All redundant posts should be taken out of the cadre and officers posted to   spots where they are really needed.

Many argue that short-term problems don’t warrant permanent strucural changes such as those Kumar has suggested. They say his proposals, if  implemented, would end up rendering the police force even more ineffective than it currently is, affect office morale and prove unhealthy in the long run.