HYDERABAD: A total of 149 officers, including 132 IPS trainees of the 73rd batch and 17 Foreign Officer Trainees, will take part in the Dikshant Parade to be held at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVP-NPA), Hyderabad, on Friday. The parade, which will be reviewed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, would be led by a woman officer Dr Darpan Ahluwalia. Dr Ahluwalia, who is the overall topper of the Basic Court Phase I Training, becomes the sixth woman topper in the history of the academy.
Briefing mediapersons at the academy on Wednesday, Director Atul Karwal said that the participation of women has increased in this batch with 20 per cent of the trainees being women. “This is a good sign as more women are coming forward to join the police force,” he said.
Initiative to sensitise cadets
During their 60-week-long rigorous training, greater emphasis was laid on attitude, behaviour, humility, as they make a person a better human being, and thereby a good officer, Karwal said. All throughout the training, they were put through continuous and concurrent evaluation course-wise, due to which the aspects where a particular trainee was lagging, was given additional attention through extra classes.
Unlike the modern education evaluation system, a mid-course correction was done for each candidate to improve their overall abilities.“We have also focussed on language, culture, heritage, history and sensitivities that require more attention from each candidate, based on the cadre in which they are born. This would help them in understanding the issues, cases, related documents,” said Karwal.
As a part of the Basic Course Training, the trainees were trained on indoor subjects which include various laws, and outdoor subjects, which include weapon training and firing, physical fitness and unarmed combat, among other things.
As a part of the field exposure, they were sent on attachment with Telangana Police’s Greyhounds for exposure in jungle operations. At the Central School of Weapons & Tactic (CSWT) of the Border Security Force, they were trained on all types of weapons and even on throwing hand grenades. They were also sent on attachment with the CRPF for exposure on left-wing extremism and election attachment during the recently held polls.
Trainees coached to be sharpshooters
More than 90 per cent of the 132 IPS trainees of the 73 RR batch are sharpshooters. They have been given hands-on training on various types of firearms such as handguns, shotguns and rifles.Expert shooters imparted training to the trainees on handling of weapons and firing. Director Atul Karwal said the trainees practised firing for three full days from 6 am to 7 pm. During these days, there was no limit on the ammunition given to them and by the end of three days, all trainees had become well-versed with the weapons. While the average score for firing is 107 out of 120 marks, more than 90 per cent of them have crossed this mark and are ‘certified sharpshooters’
Four for TS, Five for Andhra
For the Telangana cadre, Patil Kantilal Subhash of Maharashtra, Sirisetti Sankeeth of Telangana, Paritosh Pankaj of Bihar, all engineers, and Pooja Gupta of Delhi, a Pharmacy graduate, were assigned. For AP cadre, Jagadeesh Adahalli of Karnataka, Shafqat Amna of Bihar, Suneel Sheoran of Haryana, engineer from IIT Kanpur and Masters in Finance, Rahul Meena of Rajasthan, engineer from IIT Delhi, and Dheeraj Kunubilli of AP, engineer from IIT Madras, were assigned
Engineering grads rule roster
Among the probationers, 105 are men (80%) and 27 are women (20%). When age is compared, 69 trainees (52%) are in the age group of 25-28 years, and 60 of them (45%) are above 28 years, while three persons (2%) are below 25. Out of the total, 65% (86 trainees) have previous work experience and 35% (46) have no such experience. Candidates from engineering as background lead the group with 70% (92 trainees), followed by 10% (13) from Arts and 8% (11) from pure science background
Cadets to train in France, USA
The SVP-NPA will soon enter an MoU with France for training IPS trainees. A proposal to work together with the US Law Enforcement and Security Agencies for training IPS candidates is also on the cards, said Director Atul Karwal. The Ambassador of France, along with his team, had recently visited the academy and got to know the training modules. Discussions on training French trainees or officers in India are also being held. Things like training patterns, modules, best practices in policing for mutual benefit are being explored. “If the restrictions are relaxed and things go in the right direction, trainees of the 73 RR batch might visit France in two batches in 2022,” Karwal added. Talks with US agencies to train IPS trainees are also being held, he informed. The NPA is already training officers from Nepal, Bhutan, Mauritius and Maldives