DGPs' meet discusses Naxal violence, counter-terror action; PM Modi sits through entire session

Lucknow, Nov 20: Violence perpetrated by the Maoists, action against terror modules and cybercrime were some of the issues that figured prominently at a conference of DGPs, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday, officials said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the director generals of police (DGPs) of all the states and Union territories, the director generals (DGs) of central police organisations and 350 other senior police officers attended the second day of the three-day conference. "Took part in the DGP/IGP conference in Lucknow. This is an important forum in which we are having extensive deliberations on modernisation of our police set-up," Modi said in a tweet.

The prime minister sat through the deliberations in the entire session on Saturday, an official said. The conference discussed a wide range of issues, including cyber crime, counter-terrorism challenges, left-wing extremism and the emerging trends in narcotics trafficking, the official said. Since 2014, the prime minister has taken a keen interest in the conference of the DGPs.

Unlike the symbolic presence earlier, Modi makes it a point to attend all sessions of the conference and encourages free and informal discussions that provide an opportunity to top police officials to directly brief the prime minister on key policing and internal security issues affecting the country, another official said. The conference, organised by the Intelligence Bureau, is being held in a hybrid format. The DGPs of the states and other police organisations attended the conference physically here, while the remaining invitees participated virtually from 37 different locations across the country.

As envisioned by the prime minister, since 2014, the annual conference that used to be customarily organised in Delhi have been held outside the national capital with an exception in 2020, when it was held virtually. The conference was organised in Guwahati in 2014, in Dhordo, Rann of Kutch in 2015, at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad in 2016, at the BSF Academy in Tekanpur (Madhya Pradesh) in 2017, in Kevadiya (Gujarat) in 2018 and at the IISER in Pune in 2019. There has been considerable changes in the format, the topics covered and the deliverables at the meet since 2014.

The numbers of business sessions and topics have increased significantly with a focus on improving policing in the service of people. Before 2014, the deliberations largely focussed on national security matters. Since 2014, these conference has had a twin focus of national security as well as core policing issues, including prevention and detection of crime, community policing, law and order, improving the image of the police etc., a home ministry official said. Earlier, the conference was Delhi-centric with officers coming together only for the event. Residing on the same premises over a period of two-three days has served to build a heightened sense of unity amongst the officers of all cadres and organisations since 2014.

Direct interaction of the top brass of the police with the head of the government has resulted in a convergence of views on crucial challenges facing the country and the emergence of doable recommendations, the official said. Over the last few years, the topics were selected after detailed discussions with the highest echelons of the police service. Once selected, several interactions on presentations are held before the committees of DGs in order to encourage participation and incorporate ideas from the field and from younger officers. As a result, all presentations are now broad-based, content-intensive and carry a set of cogent, actionable recommendations.

Since 2015, detailed follow-up of recommendations of past conferences is the norm and is the topic of the first business session, which is attended by the prime minister and the home minister. Recommendations are tracked closely by the conference secretariat, led by the Intelligence Bureau with the help of the nodal officers of the states. The decisions taken in the last few conferences have led to significant policy changes, resulting in improvement of policing in the country, including setting higher standards for effective policing in rural and urban areas, and improved methods of modern policing, based on smart parameters. PTI