Guwahati, Nov 30 (PTI) Pitching for ‘SMART’ policing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said intelligence gathering is the most vital aspect of the security essentials of the country which must honour its police martyrs and ensure welfare of police personnel.
The Prime Minister stressed that security of the nation does not depend on arms but on intelligence gathering.
Quoting Chanakya, the Prime Minister said, “Security of a nation does not depend on arms, how much arms are there or on the number of people using them. But depends more on intelligence gathering”.
“If intellegence gathering is strong than arms, armed men and use of arms do not become primary.Intelligence gathering is the most vital aspect of the security essentials. The nation which has the best intelligence is the strongest”, Modi said at the 49th annual conference of DGPs hosted by the Intelligence Bureau.
The Prime Minister said he wanted a force which takes care of the country’s law and order in an efficient manner.
“By ‘SMART’ policing, I mean S for strict but sensitive, M for modern and mobile, A for alert and accountable, R for reliable and responsive and T for techno-savvy and trained”, Modi said.
The police force should inculcate these values to ensure best policing which will go a long way in bringing about a new awakening and consciousness, improve its image and work culture, he said.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the need to honour the 33,000 police personnel martyred in the country after Independence as “this was not a small thing.They sacrificed for the country and the citizens security and peace. Their sacrifice while on duty should not go unrecognised”.
“The question of citizens knowing the police men’s sacrifice does not arise.The police itself does not know who these martyrs are”, Modi pointed out.
A task force has to be formed for a protocol to ensure that the force takes full responsibility of conducting last rites of martyrs with full honour as “they had died on duty for the safety and security of the common man”, the Prime Minister said.
“Besides, each state has a police academy where recruits are trained and in their syllabus it should be mandatory to include a book on the life of those police men killed on duty in their state and the courage they showed. This will inspire them”, Modi said.
“There should be a new official government book where the new generation of police will have to study about these martyrs–their lives and sacrifice and every year a new updated edition should be brought out”, he said.
The Prime Minister also called for bringing out an e- book in every state on these martyrs in the state language as well as the national languages and “this may seem to be a small gesture but will be an immense inspiration”.
Pointing out that many of the state police departments have annual cultural programmes, particularly Mumbai Police with the participation of film personalities, Modi asked them to “bring out a souvenir on the life story of the sacrifices of the police personnel of that state.They should never die whether or not they exist bodily”.
Underscoring the importance on police welfare, he said, “Policemen’s life is full of tension as they put their life at risk. Unless we ensure that there is peace and stability in their family, they cannot give their full to society and do their duty properly”.
“It is the responsibility of the government to set up a systematic programme to ensure certain welfare schemes to ease their lives like health checkup, their children’s education and their housing, particularly for those at the lower level”, he said.
“Our priority should be to bring change in a scientific manner”, he said.
