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| September 2009 Issue |
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Push against the Wall
A case for the CRPF cadre officers
By Ghazala Wahab |
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The annual rendezvous of the Prime Minister with the state chief ministers ended with a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. While there was a clamour for police reforms, not much attention was paid to the reforms in the only force that beefs up the police numbers: the CRPF.
When the CRPF was raised, terrorism was an alien concept in India. Its primary role was that was an additional police force to control situations which needed larger man-power. For instance, riots, hence CRPF’s primary orientation in terms of mind-set, training and equipment was towards riot-control. There was not much of a difference between the police and the CRPF. However, once CRPF’s role changed and it was designated as the primary counter-insurgency force, it started evolving more like a Paramilitary, in terms of mind-set, training, weapon systems and so on. Consequently, it started to think and look less like a police force.
Since these changes were happening, the recruitment process of the force also underwent a change, which in turn led to the intake of better qualified people as officers. This qualitative difference in the officer cadre now implies greater aspirations, enthusiasm and initiative on the part of its personnel. At the ground level, little distinguishes young CRPF officers from their counterparts in other armed services.
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And whatever may be the difference, it is not something that cannot be bridged by better training. Perhaps, overtime, CRPF would not remain the service of the last resort for the courageous young men who today, probably join the force because they could not make it to the armed forces or the Indian Police Service.
The important question, however, is: is the CRPF really the dream service for young, ambitious officers? The answer is no.
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And this has nothing to do with the hardships that the CRPF personnel have to go through, or risks involved in counter-insurgency or anti-Naxal operations. It has to do with the government’s attitude, which conceptualised the force as an inferior organisation and continues to perpetuate that mindset. This is the reason, irrespective of his brilliance a cadre officer of the CRPF can only rise to a certain hierarchy and not beyond that. When you join a service with an unbreakable glass ceiling over your head, what attitude or initiative you bring to your job is anybody’s guess.
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[Full Column] |
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