C’garh adjudged second position in India Justice Report-2020

 

 

 

Chhattisgarh has been adjudged second position after Karnataka in the India Justice Report-2020, the second edition of the India Justice Report (IJR), a joint venture of Tata Trusts and few other social organisations. The ranking is based on quantitative measurements of budgets, human resources, infrastructure, workload, diversity, etc in Police, Judiciary, Prisons and Legal Aid in 18 large and medium sized states with a population of over 1 crore and 7 small states. Police, often the first points of entry into the criminal justice system, have in recent times assumed a much larger role. From custodians of law and order to one of the frontline service providers during the pandemic, the police’s role has been far-reaching. In major shifts, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh jumped five and eight spots respectively to come in First and Second, followed by Odisha (seventh to third).

 

Andhra Pradesh (fifth to fourth) and Tamil Nadu (first to fifth) were the only large and mid-sized states to have remained in the top five. Punjab (third to twelfth) and Maharashtra (fourth to thirteenth) saw the largest upsets, mainly due to poor utilisation of the Modernisation Fund and five year trends in which officer and constable vacancies increased, and the increase in average spend on police trailed the increase in the overall state spend. In the previous year’s India Justice Report-2019, Chhattisgarh had adjudged 10th position and this year it jumped 8 ranks to achieve the Second position. Despite its limited resources, Chhattisgarh has fared exemplarily in comparison to several major states including Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, etc. The reforms and programmes initiated by the Chhattisgarh Police since the last two years has played a significant role in catapulting it to second position.

 

Programmes like Spandan, Samadhan, Khushiyon ka Shukravar, Samarpan, etc have generated good responses between the police and general public. As per the India Justice Report, it has been revealed that the Chhattisgarh police spends Rs 1,080 per person on its police force, while it spends Rs 5,805 per person during training of police personnel. There is a police station for every 63,213 persons in rural areas and for every 95,974 persons in urban areas, which is missing in many major states. As per the report, all public utilities mentioned in the portal of Chhattisgarh police have been found as per set standard, which include registration of complaints and making available FIR copies. It was found that in many major states, there is no police portal. It also fared well in comparison to other states in modernisation, women staff, budget, vacancy, training, technology and other basic amenities.