KHAKI BLUES

Tasked with maintaining law and order, the police’s difficult role has been rendered tougher due to political interference and neglect of reform

- Kaushik Deka

A candid note prepared by Union home ministry after 2013, summarising the state of policing in independent India, stated: “Police reforms have been on the agenda of governments almost since independence, but...the police is seen as selectively efficient, unsympathetic to the underprivileged. It is further accused of politicisation and criminalisation. One needs to note that the basic framework for policing in India was made in 1861, with little changes thereafter, whereas society has undergone dramatic changes....”