Praveen Dixit
DGP, (Rtd)
I recall the values beneath the statecraft as explained in Valmiki Ramayan by Lord Ram. Thereafter, I propose to discuss essential changes urgently required to get rid from the colonial mind set in Bharat and ensure ease of living for the common person. Implementation of these changes would also ensure Bharat becomes a developed country much before 2047. I would confine my discussion to issues pertaining to law and order, anti-corruption measures and participation of community in promoting national security.
At the outset, let me recall, the concept of justice as explained in the form of dialogue by Lord Shri Ram to Bharat. This is available in Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand 100th Sarg. Some of these concepts are mentioned below:
Law & order: Need to ensure roads are kept clear from all types of protests at all times
On 6 Jan 2026, while rejecting the appeal for bail to Umar Khalid and Shajeel Imran for their role in riots in Delhi, a bench of Justices Arvind Kumar and N V Anjaria in their judgement observed a ‘terrorist act’ under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) extended to the disruption of essential supplies leading to economic insecurity and destabilisation of civic life even if violence was not committed in the process.
In a separate development, on 17th February, 2026 Delhi University’s Proctor issued order stating, “unrestricted public gathering” could escalate and affect law and order. It further stated that in the past, organisers often failed to control such protests, which escalated and spread widely, resulting in deterioration of law and order within the university campus.
A few months ago, when Jarange proposed to bring thousands of agitators in Mumbai in support of his demand for reservation for Maratha community, his advocates had furnished written undertaking to Bombay High Court stating they would keep all the roads free for vehicles and would not disrupt normal life in the city. However, things happened exactly opposite and when the High Court called for his explanation, he submitted, the persons who obstructed normal life were not his followers. Thus, the protest leaders do not take the responsibility for the escalation of the situation which takes unruly turn. This is true of every mass protest.
The root cause for this unruly situation goes back to colonial period and colonial mentality of non-cooperation to law enforcing agencies. During the freedom fight, M.K. Gandhi encouraged these practices against foreign rule as a weapon against insensitivities of British raj. However, after Bharat attained independence, any mass protest which disrupts normal economic and civil activities need to be curtailed. This may be achieved through suitable legal provisions, as well as political consensus among various political outfits as well as the public at large. No one has the right to block roads, railways and other economic activities saying they are doing these protests in peaceful manner.
Anti-corruption Laws
The fundamental reason, for recent revolts in the form of regime change in several countries surrounding Bharat in South Asia, as well as South East Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and other countries, was frustration among youth leading to anger and violent clashes against corrupt practices of the established governments. All the protestors were unanimous in one demand namely, corruption by government officers is not acceptable. According to the Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog global NGO Transparency International, Bharat ranks 91st in 182 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2025. The report published on 11th February 2026 stated,” Leaders must act to tackle abuse of power and the wider factors driving this decline, such as the roll-back of democratic checks and balances, and attacks on independent civil society. Anti-government protests in many parts of the world show that people are fed up with unaccountable leadership and are demanding reform. Common people are paying the price, as corruption leads to under-funded hospitals, unbuilt flood defences and blights the hopes and dreams of young people”.
Even though, there have been occasional amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act, it was enacted in the wake of shortages of supply of essential commodities in the wake of 2nd World War. This is basically a colonial hang over. Today, there is wide perception that unless the palms of concerned government officer are greased, no routine work is done. This is true of all government departments without exception. Mostly, it happens at the behest of senior officers. Earlier, it was attributed to low payments to government officers. However, even after sumptuous salary hikes by pay commissions, the corrupt practices have in fact escalated. The only reason is greed of government servants and lack of integrity and national character among them. Even after the accused are caught red-handed in traps, most of them are acquitted on flimsy grounds. A perception is gathering that even judicial officers who are expected to ensure highest integrity, are not free from corrupt practices. There is urgent need to overhaul the anti-corruption machinery including the laws to create deterrence and ensure swift action against the culprits including the seniors as well as political masters. When one looks at countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and many others, one finds that even Prime Ministers and Presidents are being jailed when their corrupt practices are unearthed. In Bharat, a trap case is heard by the court not before 10 to 12 years and cases of disproportionate assets are hardly taken up for hearing. Unless this menace of corruption is overcome in all sincerity, there would be economic expansion but the fruits of development would remain far away from the gullible common man.
Need for participation of community in national security
While addressing the nation on the eve of Republic Day 2026, Honourable President had underlined the need to have community participation in ensuring national security. She said,” The gap between the government and the general public is being continuously reduced. Emphasis is being placed on good governance based on mutual trust.” Policing essentially derives its strength from the consent it has from the roots in the society.
In maintenance and strengthening of internal security, police play pivotal role. Police can be effective when they win the trust of the people. There are different models to achieve this objective. According to classical theory, in India, police should do their job as directed by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and other Central and State laws enacted from time to time. As per this model, police should faithfully register offences as reported by the complainants, investigate the same and submit the charge-sheet to courts. In order to supervise effective supervision on police officers, the British colonial masters had created the scheme of District Superintendent of Police who was under the District Magistrate. In three major cities, namely Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, there were Commissioners of Police, who were bestowed the powers of the magistrates. This model suited the British rulers as the British wanted the police machinery to perpetuate the British Rule by suppressing the aspirations of the people and at the same time, ensure some façade of law and order, maintenance of laws, detection of crimes pertaining to life and property. In this scheme, police were the agents of the dictators and the role envisaged that the public remains fearful of the colonial masters and anyone speaking or acting contrary to continuation of British rule was dubbed as anti-national and hence necessarily had to be effectively neutralised. This model is in existence in most of the Commonwealth countries where the British regime prevailed. As long as the British ruled India, this model worked to their advantage. But this model started experiencing cracks as the freedom movement in the nature of peaceful mass struggle as well as violent actions by many freedom fighters kept on challenging and puncturing efficiency of the British rule. This model continued even after the British left in 1947 and there were very few changes. The system has now become overburdened and neither the police not the courts are in a position to tackle it to the satisfaction of the people. The net result is frequent break downs in law and order situation, phenomenal growth in traditional and modern criminal activities including terrorist activities, narco-terrorism, cybercrimes as well as economic offences. People continue to attack policemen frequently not only in serious law and order situation but even in simple law enforcement such as traffic duties. Frequently people complain that instead of promoting peace, police are favouring political masters and protecting their illegal activities. The situation acquires the nature of class conflict, when persons with economic and muscle power are able to violate the laws trampling the human rights of the ordinary people. In the process, a nexus has emerged among the politicians, criminals and law enforcing agencies, leaving the people to wonder who can bring change in the situation and promote peace and justice to the common people. In brief, police are working as force brigade and mostly a reactive force reacting after the critical situation or crime has taken place.
Analysis of this model and taking into account historical, social, legal, and economic situation in Bharat, we have to create a model which would address aspirations of Indians and meet the requirements of emerging Bharat. New Bharat is having demographic surplus; it is dominated by youth and is free from colonial biases. In new Bharat people including large number of women are socially committed and aspire to promote peace, tranquillity and law and order in their areas. There are many elderly people who are physically fit and intend to participate actively in promoting peace in their neighbourhood. Considering all these aspects, an innovative model was conceived called police Mitra scheme to promote peace and justice in the society in an innovative manner. The scheme was implemented effectively in Maharashtra. Details of the scheme are as under :
Esmon J. Milton in his book ‘Dimensions of Development: Perspectives and Strategies’ (Kumarian Press 1991) writes, “The formula (for service provision) is one of pragmatic pluralism in which the state establishes and enforces the rules, but at the level of operations, it performs as one of many actors participating in the production and provision of economic and social goods and services.” This principle is followed in many sectors such as controlling pandemic like Corona (Covid 19), where health workers from corporates, private sector as well as public sector joined hands in reducing the devastating impact of the virus. Similarly, in eliminating polio from the continent, several voluntary organisations, health workers, teachers and civil society forged their differences and have almost succeeded in eliminating this menace. In educational sector as well, many corporates, voluntary organisations, youth, international bodies have come forward to reduce child labour by ensuring universal education in India. The success stories of many other sectors can be also repeated to emphasise the point that when many actors along with government agencies participate, the chances of success are brighter.
While there is no hesitation in taking help from all sectors in addressing these societal requirements, how it is that the same principle is rejected in maintaining peace and providing justice which is crucial for development. There is an element of distrust against your own citizens. The colonial powers have trained the police officers to suspect every one as criminal, everyone is considered as a person who is cheat and is going to take disadvantage if he is associated with maintenance of law and order, which is considered as symbol of State authority and sovereignty. This is a typical thinking in a dictatorship such as British Raj in India. On the other hand, in U.K. itself, every citizen is believed to be working for promoting the Royal interests. British police have no hesitation in confiding with the British neighbours even confidential information to track activities of a criminal or a terrorist.
In the light of above-mentioned theoretical background, when I worked as Commissioner of Police, Nagpur City from 2008 to 2010, I made an experiment by launching this scheme in the city for improving police public relations and thereby implement innovative way of promoting peace and justice. . Every police station was encouraged to actively involve local adult persons of all age groups from all religions, castes, and languages, male as well as females to join hands with police in various duties. List of volunteers was prepared and the same was scrutinised to weed out who may be having any criminal background. Training programs were organised for these volunteers in various subjects including preventing rumours, isolating suspicious objects which may contain a bomb, identifying missing children at bus stands and railway station, helping lonely senior citizens, identifying strangers who may be loitering in any area with ulterior motives, assisting children who are in conflict with law (juveniles), traffic duties at peak hours in areas near schools and colleges. They were trained in managing huge fares, religious immersion processions, public meetings, regulating vehicle movement at crowded places and markets besides making public announcements. Whenever police were doing patrolling, the local volunteers accompanied them and boosted their morale as well as enhanced their striking capacity. The youth who participated in these duties actively were given a certificate of participation in promoting peace and justice. This proved very helpful to them when they appeared for any interview for a job to establish their credibility. Apart from generating enthusiasm, the net result was bridging the communication gap between the local police officers and the public at large. This also effectively reduced the intra-society clashes on several matters. The street level crimes reduced by more than fifteen per cent. In many serious crimes, these volunteers helped police actively in tracking the criminals by providing accurate information. Most importantly, these volunteers played a crucial role in educating the people about preventive measures in safeguarding their household property, their children, as well as in new areas such as cyber security, economic offences and bank frauds. In fact, these volunteers were acting as ‘ambassadors’ of peace and justice in an innovative manner.
The scheme is completely different from vigilantism. In vigilantism, vigilantes act independently. As against the same, in the scheme under discussion, police volunteers known as police Mitra performed various tasks only under strict guidance and supervision of policemen. They did not do any duty independently. This ensured that no untoward incidents take place in the name of police Mitra and no one working as police Mitra misbehaves or takes disadvantage of his/her association with law enforcing agencies.
It needs to be emphasised that this model also ensured that the complaints of non-registration of various offenses at police stations almost disappeared as the police volunteers were almost always present in police station or nearby areas when any complainant came to police station. Moreover, even serious incidents such as destroying of dead body after murder which were not reported came to light, because of the police Mitra who acted as whistle blowers. Similarly, incidents of corruption also reduced as the police working became more transparent. Significant fallout was that there were no complaints of use of third degree by policemen from any police station. Not even a single incident of custodial death was reported during these two years and hence there was no need to punish any policeman for dereliction of duty on account of these serious lapses. Hardly any law-and-order situation developed. Moreover, as cities keep on growing rapidly in distant places, police stations are not increased in the same speed. However, presence of police Mitra in these areas ensured that criminals were under constant watch. It also helped in reducing the threat of terrorist activities, which grow in areas where there is no police presence. Significantly, incidents of radicalisation among the youth were reported immediately and the victims of radicalisation were restored to normalcy within no time.
Encouraged by this spirit found among the citizens, for innovative ways to maintain peace in innovative manner and promote justice, when I took over as Director General of Police (DGP), in 2015, I decided to implement the scheme of Police Mitra in Maharashtra leaving Mumbai city. Initially training was organised for senior officers and Police Inspectors to explain them the salient features of the scheme. This was welcome by one and all. Within no time more than two hundred thousand ladies and gents belonging to various age groups, from all religions, came forward to be volunteers to work with police free of cost. They were provided a cap with inscription as police Mitra and an arm band when they came forward to work with police. The response was tremendous from almost all places. Strict watch was kept on these volunteers to ensure no misuse is made by anyone. No identity cards were issued to anyone to avoid any wrong use of the same. Throughout the year, there were no incidents or complaints against anybody who worked as Police Mitra. In the state as well, the incidents of assault against vulnerable sections including members of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe reduced by more than ten per cent. Incidents of street crimes including chain snatching, robberies, reduced drastically. Over all the objective of preventing crime as well as maintaining the law and order was achieved very well when the cooperation of people was sought. Several Muslim youths who were radicalised and were about to join the ISIS, could be retrieved and returned to normalcy. The parents of these youth were thankful to police for saving these youngsters from sure death. The best part of the scheme was that it was driven following directions given from state headquarters, and fine-tuned by station house officers with local requirements. In coastal areas, these police Mitra worked for coastal security to guard against smuggling of weapons across the seas. In rural areas, they did patrol to prevent armed robberies. In city areas, they worked to promote communal harmony, regulate traffic, managing huge mobs on special occasions such as Eid, Muharram and Lord Ganapathi celebrations and Navratri festivals which witnessed crowds that were difficult to be controlled only by using policemen. Moreover, these police Mitra were available day and night as per the requirement of local police station. They did not ask for any leave, or any monetary compensation. They were highly motivated people interested in promoting national security. These police Mitra took active part in educating the public at large on behalf of the police in promoting measures such as cyber security, preventing economic offenses, preserving property, security of children, elderly citizens and other vulnerable sections and strengthening security of women. They prepared short videos, drew cartoons, wrote scripts, poems and uploaded these on YouTube and other social media. They organised debates for youth, and participated in street level short dramas to promote measures to reduce conflicts. They came forward in preparing apps to facilitate quick response in times of emergency. They implemented an app to track stolen vehicles. These measures helped police on concentrating on their core activities such as investigation and presenting the evidence before courts, while police Mitra performed the role of assisting police in peripheral activities. The net result was that the police public relations were at the best throughout, when the scheme was implemented. Details of the scheme were presented to Hon. Prime Minister and Hon. Home Minister of India during the annual conference of Directors General of Police (Ds. G. P.) held at Runn of Kutch in 2015.The same was appreciated.
Limitation of the scheme is that the scheme can continue only if senior police officers show interest in the same. The scheme is entirely dependent on how the senior officers consider it. If the senior officer is not in favour of it, the scheme is ill fated. The local people keep on requesting for continuation of the scheme, but it doesn’t get activated, if senior officers are reluctant. Otherwise, the scheme does not involve any amendments to existing laws and does not have any financial implications to the treasury. Junior officers at various places have continued to implement the scheme individually but there is a need to have support from the senior officers as well as from the government. The scheme would be sustainable when it is continued for a long period under the able supervision of senior police officers. If the government of India or any state government desires, it can launch the same as it is most desirable in winning the confidence of the people and absolutely imperative in creation of modern democratic India. States such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Railway Police are reportedly implementing it. The scheme has the potential to satisfy aspirations of the people effectively and promises that people and police together can ensure peace and promote development with active participation of all stake holders. There is no better way of improving police public relations than implementation of the above model in India. This change in attitude of senior police officers is the most important software to usher police reforms in the direction of pro-people policies. The scheme needs to be made part of the police training programs at all levels.
I would like to conclude by mentioning the need to have a combined study by all concerned to address the problems being faced by the common man. I am sure that would result that would lead us to a peaceful and developed Bharat.
