Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
By Dheeraj Fartode
Going to the basics of policing is the core principle of Pravin Dixit, the soft-spoken Director General of Police of Maharashtra. He does not raise his voice, not even his eye-brows, but speaks with a firmness that suits his position so well. The authenticity in his words makes all the difference. As is his wont, DGP Pravin Dixit wishes to go to the basics of various issues of policing -- from recording of First Information Report (FIR) to combating Naxalism. Over the years, he has evolved a novel approach to the issue of offering security to the citizens whose help he seeks in policing. Police force cannot act as an island in this vast society and it has to act in tandem with the larger society, he suggests through various statements during an exclusive interview with ‘The Hitavada’. Talking to him is not just pleasure, but also a great learning of many human values, modesty being the most critical. He carries no airs, but talks with a firmness that defies his
soft exteriors.
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| DGP Pravin Dixit |
Drawing upon his vast experience, Dixit has asked the police stations all over the state to use modern technology while recording FIRs. He wants the cops to video-record people as they narate their complaints. The reason is simple: Dixit is aware that many people lodge fake complaints and mislead the process of law. So, he has asked the police stations to take two precautions: One, to ask the complainants to write down complaints in their own handwriting; and two, videograph them as they narate their tale. This will help the cops create a tamper-proof and digitised evidence that would be useful in the courts of law. After recording the statement of the complainant, police will calculate ‘hash value’ of the recording, which would be produced in the court.
“After implementation of digital evidence gathering, chances of conviction will increase by 50%,” Dixit claims.
Naxalism: Tackling Naxalism is one of Dixit’s top priorities. Patrolling in the border area has been increased to prohibit Naxals’ entry into the State from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
“I conducted a meeting of senior officers this week and gave specific instructions to counter Naxalites,” he says. Cops have recovered huge amounts of explosives from Naxals this year, he adds with a sense of pride.
Dixit further says, speedy development works in Naxal-infested areas have discouraged youths from joining the outlaws. “We have specific inputs that new recruitment in Naxal groups has stopped. They have no reason to attract young blood as the Government is pushing developmental works at a fast pace in the Naxal-infested areas,” the enthusiastic DGP adds.
Stress on Technology: On the issue of preparations to make Smart City as a Safe City, Dixit says, the state police is adopting new technologies for minimum response time.
The recently launched mobile applications (Apps) are part of the preparations. They would make a critical difference to the cops’ response-time to incidents of crime, which would eventually reduce crime, he states.
Superiors as role models: Dixit faces many challenges as he heads one of the biggest police forces in the country. Making the force conduct itself in an ideal manner is one spiritual issue that he is busy tackling at present. In this task, he wishes to treat superior officers as role models for lower layers of the force. Having headed the Anti-Corruption Bureau as Director General for two years, he became aware of various nuances of this issue. To a specific query about corruption in the force, the DGP says, that it all depends on the officers, an imperciptible dark shade crossing his face, concern write large in his eyes.
Humility personified
Pravin Dixit, an IPS of 1977 batch, is an example of hard work and focused working. Passing SSC with 80% marks Dixit got attracted towards civil services after reading a newspaper article. That article turned his entire life and he decided to serve the nation through civil services. His relatives insisted him to go for medical but Dixit did not change his plan. He went to School of International Studies at Delhi for MA. While doing MA, Dixit also prepared for Civil Services exam. He used to get Rs 125 per month as scholarship. After spending on travelling, food and hostel fees, only Rs 10 would remain in his pocket. He overcame all the hurdles to pass Civil Services exam in the first attempt even before completing MA.
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