New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did some plain speaking before the country's top police brass on Saturday in telling that capacity of the police to tackle inter-community relations has weakened and grass root intelligence collection system had "languished in some places".
Singh underlined at an annual conference of state directors general and inspectors general of police which was also attended by seniormost intelligence officers, the security threats faced by India including increase in communal incidents, cyber threat and danger of infiltration of terrorists from land and sea.
Voicing concern over the revival of ethnic disturbances in the northeast, he said the capacity of the administrative set-up to check such deterioration seems to have weakened.
"The erosion in inter-community relations is something that should worry us all. The capacity of the administrative set-up to check such deterioration seems to have weakened.
This would be true of the police administration as well. "There is, therefore, a case for re-orienting our police forces to effectively track the sentiments of the people and inter-community tensions as they rise," he said at the concluding day of a three-day conference organised by the Intelligence Bureau.
Calling for marginalising of "overtly intolerant and aggressive" elements of the society before deterioration of situation, Singh urged them to make advance identification of potential trouble makers, timely use of preventive sections of the law, besides seeking cooperation of the community for maintaining peace.
"It is particularly important to obtain assistance of saner elements of the society to marginalise those who are overtly intolerant and aggressive.
Stressing on the role of beat constable, Singh said "We must train our police personnel to develop these soft skills. The grassroots information and intelligence collection systems that have traditionally been a part of policing have languished in some places.
"The role of a vigilant and effective beat constable can be vital in detecting communal tensions. I hope you would pay adequate attention to these aspects of policing," the Prime Minister said.
Though Singh did not name any terror outfit at the meeting organised by Intelligence Bureau, ten terrorist of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba outfit had used sea route to infiltrate and attack Mumbai in November 2008 that left over 160 people dead.
On terror threats in the hinterland, the Prime Minister said, "We are still in the process of developing capabilities to take pre-emptive action in respect of terrorist threats.
"Realignment of operational approaches, training of police personnel and more effective collaboration among states and between States and the Centre should form part of our overall strategy of dealing with the menace of terrorism," Singh said.
Talking about the increased use of social media and misuse of Internet, he said the government was working on a robust cyber security structure which addresses threat management and mitigation, assurance and certification, specially building capacity and enhancing research.
"Our country's vulnerability to cyber crime is escalating as our economy and critical infrastructure become increasingly reliant on interdependent computer networks and the Internet.
"Large-scale computer attacks on our critical infrastructure and economy can have potentially devastating results," he said.
He also called for devising a strategy to counter the propaganda carried out in social networking sites and said while working on a plan to counter it, a careful examination needs to be done that it does not infringe on the rights of freedom of expression of the people.
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