New criminal laws, terror in JK to be discussed at DGPs meet; PM to attend

Implementation of the three criminal laws enacted recently, activities of pro-Khalistani groups and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir are among the key issues to be discussed at a three-day conference of DGPs and IGPs in Jaipur beginning January 5, officials said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the country's top police officers before addressing them at a formal session while Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be present throughout the conference that will span several sessions.

Issues to be handled during the general elections, cyber crime, Maoists' problem, and inter-state police coordination are some of the other major topics expected to be discussed during the meeting, a Union Home Ministry official said.

 

About 250 officers in the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) will physically attend the conference at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur while more than 200 others are likely to participate virtually.

Many officers have been tasked with delivering presentations on specific subjects such as counterterrorism, online fraud, cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, activities of pro-Khalistani groups and Left wing extremism among others, the MHA official said.

There will be detailed deliberations on how to face all these emerging internal security challenges.

Modi will attend conference on January 6-7, his office said.

A statement by the Prime Minister's Office said another key agenda of the conference is deliberations on the road map for implementation of the new criminal laws.

Further, the conference will also deliberate on futuristic themes in policing and security like the challenges posed by new technologies such as AI, Deepfake etc. and ways to deal with them, it said.

The conference also provides an opportunity to identify tangible action points and monitor their progress, which is also presented before the prime minister every year.

The conference is the culmination of extensive deliberations involving police and intelligence officers from district, state and national levels on identified themes, the statement said.

Best practices from states and Union territories under each of the themes will be presented at the conference so that states can learn from each other, it said.

Since 2014, the prime minister has taken a keen interest in the DGP conference, it added.

Free flowing thematic discussions over breakfast, lunch and dinner have also been planned in this year's conference.

This will provide an opportunity to senior police officials to share their views and recommendations on key policing and internal security issues affecting the country to the prime minister.

Till 2013, the annual meet was held in New Delhi. The following year, after the Modi government came to power, it was decided to hold the event, organised by the MHA and the Intelligence Bureau, outside the national capital.

Accordingly, it was first held in Guwahati in 2014, Rann of Kutch in 2015, the National Police Academy in Hyderabad in 2016, the BSF Academy at Tekanpur in 2017, Pune in 2019.

In 2020, the meet was held virtually during the Covid pandemic and in hybrid mode in Lucknow in 2021. The conference was held in New Delhi in January 2023.

The number of business sessions and topics have increased significantly, with a focus on improving policing in the service of the people.

Before 2014, the deliberations largely focused on national security matters. Since 2014, these conferences have a twin focus on national security as well as core policing issues, including prevention and detection of crime, community policing, law and order and improving the police's image, among others, another official said.

Earlier, the conference was Delhi-centric with officers coming together only for the meet.

Residing on the same premises over two to three days has served to build a heightened sense of unity among officers of all cadres and organisations since 2014, the official added.

Direct interaction of the police's top brass with the head of government has resulted in a convergence of views on crucial challenges faced by the country and the emergence of doable recommendations, the official further said.

In the past few years, the topics have been selected after detailed discussions with the highest echelons of the police service.

Once selected, several interactions on presentations are held before committees of DGPs to encourage participation and incorporate ideas from the field and from younger officers.

As a result, all presentations are now broad-based, content-intensive and carry a set of cogent, actionable recommendations.

Since 2015, detailed follow-up of recommendations of past conferences has become the norm and is the topic of the first business session, attended by the prime minister and the home minister, the official said.

Recommendations are tracked closely by the conference secretariat, led by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of nodal officers in the states.

Decisions made in the past few conferences brought in significant policy changes, leading to improvement of policing, including setting higher standards for effective policing in rural and urban areas and improved methods of modern policing based on smart parameters, the official added.