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| Law and order is the very basis of a civilized society. The police are or are supposed to be the custodians of law and order. There is of course a lot wrong with the police in the country and in Goa. Over the years, the police force at all levels has become heavily politicized. The police force has tended to behave like the private army of the political establishment in power rather than custodians of law and order and protectors of the lives and property of the ordinary citizen. But even so the police remains an institution whose independence needs to be protected and safeguarded. Which is why we are agitated, concerned, alarmed about the manner in which the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has overnight, got rid of the Director General of police, Amod Kanth. By the simple expedient of eliminating the post of the Director General of Police. The ostensible argument being that a small place like Goa does not require a police officer of the rank of DGP. And by the same token, it does not need two deputy Inspector General of Police and would be more than adequate. It is true that the administration in Goa is top heavy. There are many districts in the country with twice the population of Goa which are run by a district collector. Or at the most an officer of the rank of divisional commissioner. There are very few states in the country who have as many officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian police Service that Goa has. Even in respect of other central government services, Goa has an overload. For almost four decades after liberation, the forests in Goa were overseen by a conservator of forests. Now Goa has a Chief Conservator of Forests who makes no secret of his hostility to trees. Indeed, at a recent party Pandey very proudly told me that, unlike others, he was not a hypocrite and that he believed that trees over the age of 60 had only timber value. By which logic of course, humans over the age of 60 would have little or no value. But if we extend the logic of Manohar Parrikar that Goa is a small state and does not require IPS and IAS officers of senior vintage, this should extend to the political executive also. Goa then should ideally have just three ministers. If you extend the logic to its most absurd corollary, Goa perhaps can do without a Chief Minister. It can be run by just one minister. Either the Minister for Tourism or the Minister for Town and Country Planning, both of whom any case believe they are as powerful as or more powerful than the Chief Minister. If we are to downsize, we should downsize all the way. But the marching orders served on Kanth are not about downsizing. It is the most blatant case of undermining any lingering respect or regard the citizens may have for the police. Amod Kanth has not been given the marching orders because he was perceived as inefficient. On the contrary, he has a formidable reputation. Never mind he has not been very effective in Goa. Perhaps the truth is he has not been allowed to be effective. Indeed there is overwhelming evidence that Amod Kanth has been given the marching orders because, unlike the many spineless jellyfish who have held the positions of Inspector General of Police and Director General of Police, Amod Kanth began displaying some spine. Amod Kanth, obviously paying for his act of defiance the most recent being his decision to reverse the orders of the Home Department relieving the senior DIG Randhawa of the charge of the critical Crime Branch. The marching orders to Amod Kanth and to Randhawa are a deliberate attempt to emasculate the police and make them totally subservient to the will of the political executive. Or more specifically of the Chief Minister. This amounts to not just undermining the police force but a display of utter and total contempt for the checks and balances built into the Constitution. It is a throwback to the days of the feudal zamindar who believed that everyone should do their bidding, right or wrong. We only hope that the officers of the central services, particularly the Indian administration and the IPS who were once considered the steel frame will put up at least a show of protest against this humiliation of a senior respected police officer. MOG ASSUM RAJAN NARAYAN
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