Modi's cops learn to heed inner voice

AHMEDABAD: The scene is played out in the air-conditioned room of a posh commercial complex in the upmarket Panchvati area of Ahmedabad. A group of people are listening with rapt attention as a bespectacled man explains an uncomfortable bureaucratic dilemma. The speaker is a retired government officer-turned-HR expert.
The intrusion by this correspondent makes them uncomfortable, but they recover quickly.These are senior IPS officers of Gujarat, taking lessons to become ''karmayogis''.
Kept a well-guarded secret, this training is conducted by IL&FS Education and Technology Services (IETS) and is targeted at changing the attitudes of some 70,000 policemen. The firm claims six years of training experience in Gujarat.
Coming as it does after the police were blamed for inaction in the post-Godhra riots, there is immense speculation about this programme, though police officers taking it assure there is nothing ''saffron'' about it.
But nothing beyond that is let out. IETS vice-president Sanjay Joshi will not even tell you who the trainers are, except that they are “the best� among retired and in-service government functionaries and behavioural science and management experts.
He does not even say what kind of "attitudinal change" is expected after the training. Addl DG (training) Sabir S Khandwawala, a participant in the first such session for senior officers, says, "At least 150 policemen from the rank of DySP and below have been trained and are now training their subordinates in the Ahmedabad, Junagadh and Gandhinagar ranges."
According to Khandwawala, the sessions deal with sublime spiritual questions such as: "Who am I? Why am I here (in this department)? They help in communicating within the organisation and with the public."
However, of the dozen officers scheduled for the first session of the three-day ''Training of Trainers'' (ToT), only seven turned up. Those taking the three-day course include IG (Rajkot range) Rajan Priyadarshi, DIG (Ahmedabad range) AK Sharma and Kheda SP Shashikant Trivedi.
Some are expected to attend in the next batch headed by additional DG (police reforms and modernisation) RB Sreekumar. The batch includes officers like Karai police academy principal AI Saiyed, Rajkot commissioner Sanjay Srivastava and the SPs of Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Anand and Panchmahal districts.
As per the Rs 12.5-crore contract with IETS, five lakh government employees are to be trained as ''karmayogis'' — 70,000 are policemen.
"We do not charge any fee for the ToT courses but subsequent training costs Rs 250 per head," says Joshi.
Khandwawala swears by the programme and claims it has even reformed ''wife-abusing'' constables in far-flung areas.