Page 57 - EducationWorld January 2021

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Police Academy graduates: governed by Police Act, 1861
University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur ing in criminology, criminal justice or police administra-
(Rajasthan) in an essay in November 2018. tion is necessary. To qualify as a class-I IPS officer, college
Earlier, the Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Re- graduates need to pass the civil services exam conducted by
form (2000) and Second Administrative Reforms Com- the Union Public Service Commission. Eligibility to write
mission (2016) castigated entry-level qualifications and this exam is a three-year bachelor’s degree in any stream.
training of constables as grossly inadequate. They recom- Subsequently, the objective (multiple choice questions) pre-
mended raising the qualification for entry into the civil liminary exam consists of one subject taken at the graduate
police to higher secondary upwards graduates. They also level and general studies. Those who qualify are eligible to
recommended that constables and police personnel of all write the subjective mains exam based on questions related
ranks should receive intensive soft skills training (commu- to Indian geography, history, politics, environment and so-
nication, counseling and leadership) since they are required cial sciences and opt to join the IPS.
to interact with the public on a daily basis. Another option to become a police officer in India is to
Significantly, one of the principal recommendations of pass the state-level police service exam (SPS) conducted
the Padmanabhaiah Committee was to replace the Police by the State Public Service Commission (SPSC) or the Staff
Act, 1861 with new legislation. But this recommendation is Service Commission (SSC) for induction into the state
pending implementation which means post-independence police force. Subsequently after recruitment, training pri-
India’s police personnel are governed by rules and regula- marily rests with state governments (barring Delhi). In the
tions prescribed by the British 160 years ago. However, it states, the police force is usually headed by an IPS officer
should be borne in mind that under Article 246 of the Con- trained at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy for
stitution, maintenance of law and order, i.e, police admin- Administration, Mussoorie and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Pa-
istration, is a state subject with state governments required tel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. Lower-level of-
to frame the rules and regulations that govern the police ficials and constables are trained in state police academies.
within their jurisdictions. The country’s two police universities apart, the Union
The upshot is that minimal education qualifications — home ministry has recently approved the establishment of
minimum height, weight and eyesight — are required of a National Police University. However, at the lower level,
constables inducted into the police in all states. Even for the which constitutes the majority of the police force in every
officer’s cadre of the Indian Police Service (IPS), no ground- state, most recruits are uneducated, poorly trained in mod-

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