Much of the discourse in the election just past, especially in Uttar Pradesh, was about law and order: How the Uttar Pradesh Police was inefficient, how it operated below par and acted only when it wanted to or when it was ordered to. Added to this was the charge of politicisation of the force.
One of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s pet projects was modernisation of the police force, beginning with the way crime is reported. He launched a UP-100 system of emergency management in November 2016. The UP-100 service is a central contact centre, based in Lucknow to facilitate receiving information on emergencies related to crime, road accidents and other distress calls made through phone, text and email, among others, by ensuring round-the-clock operation. Police field services were envisaged to be provided through 3,200 GPS-enabled four-wheelers and 1,600 two-wheelers.
How much the new government will follow through is one issue. There are objective problems in policing UP. Data suggest congenital shortage, both of personnel and infrastructure support. The state needs police modernisation badly and needs to inject revenue to pay for this. If people, especially women, minorities and lower castes, don’t feel safe, it is hard to see how any government can claim to be credible. Restoring faith in law enforcement authorities is likely to be the biggest priority of the new government. It must begin with correcting the shortages.
