Freedom of expression crucial in democracy, good policing must: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the most important thing in a democracy is a citizens independence and freedom of expression which is directly linked to good policing and this needs to be continuously improvedHe said beat constable deployed at the lowest level of the police system makes the biggest contribution towards making a democracy successful by protecting the common manDelivering the keynote speech during the 51st foundation day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development BPRampD the minister said democracy cannot be successful if law and order is not goodDemocracy is our nature this was our character even before independence and we accepted this after gaining freedom This is the nature of our people The biggest thing in a democracy is a persons independence and freedom of expression he saidWhen it comes to freedom of expression of a person it is directly linked to law and order he notedAlso ReadLathicharge on Haryana farmers akin to second Jallianwala Bagh Shiv SenaDemocracy is not just about voting for parties and forming a government this is just a part of the system What is the success or fruit of democracy The fruit is that 130 crore people of the country according to their capabilities and intelligence get to develop themselves and the country gets the benefit of this cumulative effect for its development Amit Shah saidHe emphasised that democracy cannot prosper if law and order in a country is not goodThis work is done by police and forces that guard our borders It is very important for a successful democracy that the security of a person is ensured The citizen should keep getting his legal rights in an uninterrupted manner A citizen should be able to discharge his duties as per the spirit of the constitution the Union minister statedAnd hence he said upgrading and improving police force is the work of BPRampDShah noted that the image of police at certain times is maligned by certain quartersI do not know why a campaign has been run to damage the image of police Some incidents are hyped and shown while good incidents are not popularised he saidThe home minister said while various other institutions like the parliament state assemblies judiciary election commission CAG and vigilance commission have made democracy successful the beat constable of police deserved a far greater appreciation in this contextNot because I am the home minister but I have had this thinking since my childhood that to make democracy successful the biggest contribution is of the beat constable he saidWithout reviving beat policing basic policing cannot be good and this has to be updated which requires technology upgradation and BPRampD needs to work on that the minister notedI want to say it again that the most difficult job in the government service is that of a policeman he reiteratedDuring all festivals whether it is Holi Deepwali or Eid policemen are on duty he saidThere are no fixed work hours neither a definite scope of work for a policeman I have seen that all this takes a toll on their health and there is no acknowledgement of these things the sacrifices made by police personnel is not mentioned much the minister ruedHe asked the BPRampD to give special focus and work on the image building of policeThe police should change their work style as per the challenge he said counting cyber attacks drone attacks narcotics smuggling fake currency and hawala rackets as the biggest challenges for the security establishmentFor all this you BPRampD should prepare our forces and also study the best practices across the globe he saidThe skills of the cops should be sharpened Shah saidThe minister also talked about reforms done by the Modi government and various steps taken to empower the law enforcement agenciesThe home ministry is doing a number of things to bring about radical changes in the IPC CrPC and the Evidence Act he saidInteraction has been held in this context with at least 14 states three UTs eight central police organisations six CAPFs and 7 NGOs and they have sent in their suggestionsThis is a work in progressthis is a big work he addedThe minister said his government has brought in necessary radical changes in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act FCRA to check funds sent to destabilise the countryAddressing officers and personnel from various central state and Union Territory police forces Shah said the next decade is going to be very important from the point of internal security as the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking giant leaps in becoming a strong nation and economy and we should not think that some forces will try to stop thisHe added that as many as 3700 armed cadres of various insurgent groups have surrendered with their weapons before the Union government in the last two yearsWhosoever will shun weapons we will take steps to bring them to the mainstream he saidThe minister finally asked the BPRampD a central government think tank to prepare the police 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