THE image of the uniformed police in India, the largest democracy in the world, is increasingly becoming synonymous with repression rather than protection from injustice. The police are construed as a tool of the ruling classes, an arm of the state meant to protect the interests of the ruling classes; the use of force is part of its mandate. If the law is meant to be equal as given in our constitutional democracy, why is there such discrepancy in its application and less respect for it in the eyes of the public? A greater sophisticationin methods used by law-implementing agencies does not necessarily lead to a greater sensitivity among police personnel in dealing with people.
The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR) 2019, jointly authored by Common Cause and the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, looks at some of these issues in the context of the Indian police system. It follows up on its report of 2018 by exploring new dimensions of the conditions of police work through the lenses of both police personnel and their family members.
While the first report was about the attitudes of people towards the police and the disproportionate presence of undertrials from Scheduled Castes (S.Cs), Scheduled Tribes (S.Ts) and sections of the minorities, the second SPIR is about the working conditions of the police, their attitudes towards the public and how their approach is affected by the lack of specific training (on how to deal with people). Most of the training, the report found, was reserved for the upper strata of the police force. Of the police personnel interviewed, only about 6 per cent who belonged to the lower rung of the hierarchy had received any training at all. Despite a positive correlation between the presence of women police personnel and the reporting of crimes against women, the fact remains that women constitute a meagre 7.28 per cent of the total police force.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
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Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
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New worries
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No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
