Insecurity of life and property in the capital is, apparently, on relentless rise. Every other day there are reports of burglaries, dacoities, rape, abductions and even of wanton killings. There have been strings of reports of chain-snatching in broad daylight. The dreaded "black bikes", a new phenomenon, has now emerged the helmeted riders of which make clean snatches of women's gold chains, or mobile phones and make a fast disappearing act. Simultaneously, there are regular reports of vehicle thefts. Clearly, the capital is increasingly becoming unsafe. The worry is if this is what is happening almost on a regular basis in the capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, with a sizable police presence, what would be happening in other towns, big or small, or in the rural fringes where presence of guardian of the law is seldom seen or felt. Perhaps, that is why Maoists in the forests on the fringes of the State and some bandits in the northern ravines have been operating for long with impunity.
The other horrifying scenario is that of chaotic traffic in urban concentrations. With a booming economy causing rapid change in vehicular demography, traffic has gone out of hand. Encroachments on the roads, lack of parking spaces and a lax administration - civic or police - has caused anarchy on the roads. Traffic police, never very effective at the best of times, has largely continued to remain so except in sporadic bursts. Add to it a lax licencing regime and one gets a lethal potion. No wonder, incidence of accidental deaths has rapidly climbed up. Leave alone the cities, the traffic on the highways is so appalling that a fatal accident claimed even a minister's life.
No police force worth its salt would ever allow such an environment of pervasive insecurity. There is no reason to believe that the MP Police is sitting on its haunches and doing nothing. Quite obviously, it is over-stretched and, naturally, spread pretty thinly all around. This, justifiably, is the refrain of most of the policemen - high or low - of the state. The population has risen exponentially and there has been seemingly limitless expansion of urban centres over the last few decades but the strength of policemen has not seen a corresponding rise. Then, over the years VIPs have multiplied appropriating for themselves greater police attention. True, the State cadre has numerous Directors General but all of them jointly preside over a force that, by and large, is numerically static and is unable to cope with the policing needs of the State.
That quantitatively the force suffers from inadequacy is proved by statistics published recently in a journal that brought out in broad relief the handicaps under which it has to function. While the UN recommended police-population ratio is 1:450, the national ratio works out to 1:699. Some of the states, like Bihar and UP, which have increasingly come under the shadow of Maoist violence or Jehadi terror, notch up far worse ratios - of 1:1267 and 1:1089, respectively. Madhya Pradesh is somewhat better off - with a ratio of 1:892 - yet well below the national average and nowhere near the ideal set by the UN.
What is noteworthy in this connection is that the UN recommended ratio, too, is largely for peace time. Living, as we are, through times of unmitigated violence, internal subversion and increasing criminality brought about by climbing unemployment and an ever-deepening rich-poor gap, our needs are different and more intense, requiring a far greater police presence than what is available to keep the state crime and violence-free.
The government is hell-bent on detaching the BIMARU tag attached to the State and is keen on its rapid development. The Chief Minister has even held a couple of global investors' meets. He has been going around inviting investments from all and sundry claiming that the State is, unlike others, peaceful. True, the State is not wracked by Maoist or jihadi violence, but criminality in it is showing a rising trend.
Sustained development can take place only in an atmosphere of peace and security. And, hence, an adequate police force - disciplined and trained, modernised and well armed - matching the state's requirements will be necessary, with annualised incremental reinforcements as the state gets developed. The Central as well as the local governments have made allocations for modernisation of the force for the next fiscal. It is, however, not clear whether the intention is only to equip the forces with modern gadgetry or to raise gradually, if not immediately, their numbers so as to achieve, at least, the UN-recommended police-population ratio. Hopefully, both aspects will be taken care of. What would also seem to be necessary is strengthening of all segments of the security establishment that deal with crime, such as investigation, prosecution and dispensation of justice. Prompt disposal of criminals to where they belong will only deter others from emulating them and messing up the state's crime profile.
Proloy Bagchi
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