A Talk with the Chairman of Transparency International, India

Dec 10.  I visited with the Chairman of Transparency International India today.  After attending the Anti-Corruption Day sponsored by the UN, I wanted meet with SP Bawa, the Chair. He is a former Indian Police Service official and spoke at the conference.  I asked him about the problems with the Indian police system.  He had been with the Delhi Police for a number of years.  India has an opportunity to reform law enforcement from both the top and bottom down.  The Indian Police Service are federal appointees who pass a civil service test.  They are then top officials in each state.  The constabulary are chosen in their own states.  The IPS move from post to post. 

He mentioned that one of the problems is that there is no consistency of vision for law enforcement to be a service to the public.  One IPS officer might institute a positive program only to have it disbanded when the next person comes along.  He mentioned that he instituted crossing guards at school and even trained older kids to serve as wardens at the crossings.  This is an absolute necessity since driving is so crazy.  But it went away when he left.  He thought that police needed more than the physical training and the proforma training on ethics and honesty.  It not in their minds to consider anything else but legal obligations.  They do not relate their appointments as part of a constitutional requirement to protect rights.  Article 21 states No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.  Article 21 states No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.  This has been interpreted to assure the right to live with human dignity, free from exploitation. 

 

Funding from the federal government is for tangibles, computers, software, new security equipment, but not for planning or training.

On a positive note, he believes in mission driven policing based on India’s constitution. He borrows from Karl Popper ideas: minimize hardship (create options), share hardship (be empathetic), do unto others—turn it around to do not do unto others what you would not want done to you.

After talking for awhile we then went to the Indian Institute for Public Administration.  It was hosting a training program for a govt contracted oil and gas agency on the 2005 Right to Information law.  More about that later.