Police Procedurals

Noted strategic affairs analyst K. Subrahmanyam did not live long enough to see the government act on his vision of a ‘National Defence University’. It was on May 23 this year that the prime minister laid the foundation stone for the Indian National Defence University (INDU) in Gurgaon. When it finally begins operating, it will allow those from the armed forcers to focus on conflict-related issues in an academic setting instead of just the physical training required while in action on the field.  

This university comes at a time when several state governments are setting up universities to meet internal security challenges. First off the block was the Gujarat government that set up the Raksha Shakti University in 2009. It began offering undergraduate and post-graduate diplomas in police science and has since then added a BA programme in security management and a MA in criminology. This was followed by the Jodhpur-based Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice (SPUPSCJ), created by the Rajasthan government last year. The inaugural courses will begin this academic year. These include undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in social sciences and political science and a post-graduate degree in cyber security.

Mahendra Kumawat, vice-chancellor of the SPUPSCJ, says that the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh have contacted his institute for help in setting up similar specialised institutes. On the other hand, a central government proposal to set up a National Police University, originally put forth in 2007, has since then been dropped. Speaking at conference of DGPs and IGPs in 2009, PM Manmohan Singh had said that he would like the proposal for an NPU and a national university for law and order-related subjects to be “pursued more vigorously”. A year later, the proposal was shelved in favour of centres for research and studies in police-related subjects at existing institutions.

While these universities join an existing league of defence and strategic studies departments at various Indian institutions, they have a dedicated focus on internal security instead of foreign policy and warfare studies that have formed the core curriculum in the latter set. “With the number of wars coming down sharply, it is the management of internal security that has become more important. While I am not saying that wars are not going to happen at all, it is internal security threats such as Maoism in India that pose more of a challenge today,” says Kumawat. “We need new knowledge, innovative solutions and this can only happen in a university. As police officers, we are always busy running from one fire spot to the other,” adds the V-C, who has served as special secretary for internal security at the ministry of home affairs.

Most of the students who applied this year at both these universities intend to go on to join the police force and allied fields in the criminal justice system. Despite being in the formative stage, the programmes have received a good response from students­—while Raksha Shakti has received over a thousand applications for its 250 seats, the one in Jodhpur has also more than five applications for each of its 110 seats. “The requirement for well-trained personnel to meet both internal and external security challenges is constantly growing,” says Dhiraj Parekh, registrar of Raksha Shakti University. Hopefully, this will lead to less “danda” and more thinking.