Annual Ranking of Police Stations

The Ministry of Home Affairs recently released the annual ranking of police Stations in India. The annual ranking is being done since 2015.

Key highlights of the ranking

• Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district of Manipur was ranked as the best performing police station in the country.
• The All Women Police Station of Suramangalam in Salem city of Tamilnadu was ranked second in the list
• Kharsangh police station of Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh ranked third.

What are the top 10 Police stations listed in the ranking?

The Other seven top police stations were from Jhilimili of Chhattisgarh, Sanguem of Goa, Kalighat of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Pakyong of Sikkim, Kanth of Uttar Pradesh, Khanvel of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Jammikutna Town Police Station of Telangana.

About the ranking

There are more than 16,671 police Stations in the country. The top 10 Police stations are shortlisted based on various performance parameters such as crime against women, weaker section, property offences. In 2020, the Government of India had introduced 3 new parameters namely unidentified found person, missing persons and unidentified dead bodies.

What are the issues related to functioning of police?

The sanctioned police strength is 181 police per lakh persons. However, this was 137 in 2016. This overburdens the police force. Currently in India there is a requirement of 5.5 lakh police personnel. This means that around 24% of sanctioned police strength is vacant.

On the other hand, the United Nations recommended standard is 222 police per lakh persons. This clearly says that an average police man in India has enormous workload that negatively affects his efficiency and performance.

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General reports there are shortages in weaponry with state police forces. For instance, the report says that West Bengal and Rajasthan had shortages of 71% and 75% weaponry respectively. Also, the funds allocated to modernization of infrastructure in police stations are not utilised to the fullest.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020