DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
Jaipur, Jan 5
A three-day conference of DGPs and IGPs began here on Friday to discuss internal security issues such as cyber crime and counterterrorism challenges and the implementation of the recently enacted three criminal laws among others, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the country’s top police officers before addressing them at a formal session, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah is going to be present throughout the conference that will span several sessions.
Technology in policing, left-wing extremism, prison reforms, activities of pro-Khalistan groups and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir are other key issues to be discussed at the annual meeting, a Union Home Ministry official said.
About 250 officers in the ranks of Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) are physically attending the conference at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur, while more than 200 others are participating it virtually.
Many officers have been tasked with delivering presentations on specific subjects such as counterterrorism, online fraud, cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, activities of pro-Khalistan groups and left-wing extremism, the official said.
There will be detailed deliberations on how to face all these emerging internal security challenges.
Modi will attend the conference on January 6-7, his office said.
Further, the conference will also deliberate on futuristic themes in policing and security like the challenges posed by new technologies such as AI and deepfake, and ways to deal with them.
The conference also provides an opportunity to identify tangible action points and monitor their progress, which is also presented before the prime minister every year.
The conference is the culmination of extensive deliberations involving police and intelligence officers from district, state and national levels on identified themes, another official said.
Best practices from states and Union territories under each of the themes will be presented at the conference so that states can learn from each other.
Since 2014, the prime minister has taken a keen interest in the conference.
Free flowing thematic discussions over breakfast, lunch and dinner have also been planned in this year’s conference.
This will provide an opportunity to senior police officials to share their views and recommendations on key policing and internal security issues affecting the country to the prime minister.
Till 2013, the annual meet was held in New Delhi. The following year, after the Narendra Modi government assumed office, it was decided to hold the event, organised by the MHA and the Intelligence Bureau, across the country.
Accordingly, the conference was organised in Guwahati in 2014; Dhordo, Rann of Kutch in 2015; National Police Academy, Hyderabad in 2016; BSF Academy, Tekanpur in 2017; Kevadiya in 2018; IISER, Pune in 2019; at Police Headquarters, Lucknow in 2021; and at the National Agricultural Science Complex, Pusa, Delhi in 2023.
Continuing with this tradition, the conference is being organised in Jaipur this year.
The number of business sessions and topics have increased significantly, with a focus on improving policing in the service of the people.
Before 2014, the deliberations largely focused on national security matters. Since 2014, these conferences have a twin focus on national security as well as core policing issues, including prevention and detection of crime, community policing, law and order and improving the police’s image, among others, another official said.
Earlier, the conference was Delhi-centric with officers coming together only for the meet.
Residing on the same premises over two to three days has served to build a heightened sense of unity among officers of all cadres and organisations since 2014, the official added.
Direct interaction of the police’s top brass with the head of government has resulted in a convergence of views on crucial challenges faced by the country and the emergence of doable recommendations, the official further said.
In the past few years, the topics have been selected after detailed discussions with the highest echelons of the police service.
Once selected, several interactions on presentations are held before committees of DGPs 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 has become the norm and is the topic of the first business session, attended by the prime minister and the home minister, the official said.
Recommendations are tracked closely by the conference secretariat, led by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of nodal officers in the states.
Decisions made in the past few conferences brought in significant policy changes, leading to improvement of policing, including setting higher standards for effective policing in rural and urban areas and improved methods of modern policing based on smart parameters, the official added.
