HYDERABAD: “It is not only the 130 crore human beings, but also the 32 lakh sqkm of land and also the managing of the 15,000 km-long borders for which you are responsible,” said National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, while addressing the IPS probationers of the 73rd batch during the Dikshant Parade at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad on Friday.
“Your responsibilities will include not only policing for which you have been trained well, but it will extend (beyond it). You are not only required to enforce the rule of law in the civil society but you are also supposed to maintain the order across the length and breadth of this country,” he said.
An alumnus of SVPNPA, Doval said that the essence of democracy doesn’t lie in the ballot box, it lies in the laws made by the people who are elected through those ballot boxes. “You are the one who enforces those laws. Laws are not as good as they are made, laws are as good as they are implemented and executed and the service that the people are able to get out of it. If you fail to enforce them in the letter and spirit in which they were made, they are as bad or as good as they were made.”
So, the success of democracy and enforcement of the laws given by the people through their elected representatives lies in the efficiency, commitment, values, attitude and performance on the ground of the police forces, he said. “Their implementation is more important than their legislation. No nation can be built if the rule of law has failed. People cannot feel safe and secure if law enforcers are weak, corrupt and partisan. I found that many of these values were enshrined in the oath you just took. Enforce the law with that spirit,” Doval advised.
Urging the officers to think about the future and find their solutions in the present, Doval said, “Reforms are learning from the past and not making the same mistakes. I want the younger generations to not only be thinking of reforms, that is you will not commit the mistakes that I did. You’ve got to be transformative and bring about the change in the force and in your capabilities, keeping in view the coming challenges.”
He also urged the officers to never forget their duty to the Indian Constitution. “You are for India and India is for you. Every other identity gets subsumed in this Indian identity. The interest of India should be supreme. The Constitution of India, the values and traditions (are) what we represent.”
Earlier, after reviewing the parade commanded by Dr Darpan Ahluwalia, Director Atul Karwal presented the training report. A total of 149 officers, including 132 IPS trainees and 17 Foreign Officer Trainees, took part in the parade.