Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the people’s perception of uniformed personnel in the country has undergone a change in recent times. The earlier notion of internal security was based on instilling fear among the masses for keeping peace for the colonial masters but it has now transformed and people get the assurance of help when they see uniformed personnel today, PM Modi said.
The PM was delivering the first convocation address at the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) in Gandhinagar and dedicated a building of RRU to the nation. Modi, who is on a two-day visit to his home state Gujarat from March 11, took out a roadshow from Dehgam town in Gandhinagar to RRU campus. This is the second such roadshow of the Prime Minister in the last 2 days. Later in the day, the PM is likely to participate in yet another roadshow in Ahmedabad before inaugurating the Khel Mahakhumbh sporting event.
“Post-independence, there was a need of reforms in the country’s security apparatus. A perception was developed that we have to be careful of the uniformed personnel. But it has transformed now. When people see uniformed personnel now, they get the assurance of help,” the Prime Minister said while citing the humane work by the police personnel during the Covid-19 pandemic like giving food and medicines to the people.
He also said today’s policing requires skills like negotiating and other soft skills that are needed to function in a democratic scenario.The Prime Minister highlighted the role of the first batch of any such institute in taking the vision of the institution forward. He noted the contribution of old pharmacy college in Gujarat to turn the state in to a leader in pharmaceutical field. The L M College of Pharmacy in Ahmedabad, hailed as one of the oldest and foremost pharma institutes of the country, was set up in 1947 by Ahmedabad Education Trust.
He said that Gandhinagar has many firsts to its credit in the country including the National Law University, Rashtriya Raksha University and the Forensic Science University.
Drawing comparisons with institutes like the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad, established in 1961, that has led to the creation of a robust MBA education system in the country, the Prime Minister said RRU is emerging as a landmark institution in the country. “Never make the mistake of treating this as police university. This is a Raksha university that takes care of the security of the country in its entirety.” He reiterated importance of disciplines like mob and crowd psychology, negotiations, nutrition and technology,” PM Modi said.
RRU was set up to meet the need for high quality trained manpower in various wings of policing, criminal justice and correctional administration. Government set up a national police university named Rashtriya Raksha University by upgrading the Raksha Shakti University which was established by the Gujarat government in 2010. The university, which is an Institution of National Importance, commenced its operations from October 1, 2020. The University aims to develop synergies with the private sector by leveraging knowledge and resources from the industry and would also set up Centres of Excellence in various fields relating to police and security.
