With a bitter battle brewing between the Centre and several States on the creation of a National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), the Centre has highlighted the poor record of States in modernisation of police forces.
However, it has urged the States and the Ministry of Home Affairs to carry forward police modernisation, and urged them to fill the unfilled posts in State police forces, currently estimated at 25 per cent of the sanctioned total.
Addressing a conference of Chief Ministers on internal security, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said, “No system or structure can be better than the people who man it. The internal security structures of India are no exception. It is therefore important that we find ways and means of improving not just the number but also the quality of our police personnel.”
He hoped that the meeting will suggest new and innovative ways to address this issue and to make rapid progress in improving the conditions under which our personnel work. “If we are able to do so, we would be repaying in some measure the dedicated and loyal service of our police and defence personnel which have helped us to make our country safer,” he added.
Earlier, the Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, referred to the unfinished tasks in modernisation of Police Force Scheme.
He said, “The scheme was allocated Rs 1,111 crore in 2011-12, but we had to surrender Rs 311 crore because some States had large unspent balances.”
For the current year, there is provision of Rs 900 crore. He urged the States to address the deficiencies in the implementation of the scheme. This will help him in requesting the Finance Minister for more funds, he said.
Referring to the first ever compilation of data on police organisations in India as on January 1, 2011, the Home Minister said that there were only 100 civil police per lakh population. The vacancies in all ranks were over 5 lakh or about a quarter of the sanctioned strength.
States spent about Rs 50,000 crore on police in 2010-11, but that was only 4.76 per cent of the total budgeted expenditures of all States. Of this, only about Rs 700 crore was spent on training.
“The findings speak for themselves. The study is a wake up call for all of us and I would urge you (States) to take the corrective steps that are so urgently needed in order to enhance our capacity to meet the challenges,” Mr Chidambaram said.