The Gurgaon Riots

Nitin correctly suggests that these horrific riots should be a trigger for broad labor reform.

Our concern, however, is with the conduct of the police. After much reflection, we believe the police has much to answer for. There's no excuse whatsoever for police lapses in professionalism, even in circumstances of extreme provocation (as they existed here). Society gives police the right to wield guns & batons; in exchange, we expect at least a minimum standard of professional conduct. Police losing their cool hardly meets this expectation.

There's, thus, a sound basis here for legislative challenges to the governing party in Haryana.

But, beyond all this lies a greater question. Why are police in India frequently so unprofessional and brutal in their tactics?

The answer, regretfully, lies with we, the people. We've rarely made good policing an issue in our elections.

In early 2004, this blogger had a chance to discuss manifesto issues with a leading parliamentarian assigned the task by his party. We noted that more Indians are victims of violence outside Kashmir everyday than are victims of terrorism there. Yet, India spends a ton more defending Kashmir than defending Indians elsewhere in the country.

This is not to say we disfavor the Kashmir investment. As our readers know, we have a very hardline position on that subject. But, we are also interested in what goes on elsewhere in India. Here, good people are terrified of criminals and, even worse, terrified of the police. This is absurd.

Now, this state of affairs is a natural consequence of our failure to invest in the police. Our police are deprived of resources, technology, training, moral support, political independence, and social respect. Is it any wonder the police are as brutal as they are?

Therefore, we gamely argued, law-and-order should be made a campaign issue with substantial new investments in upgrading our police infrastructure being the core proposal. Needless to say, we were ignored. As Gurgaon has abundantly made clear, India needs to reverse this famine if we are to avert future Gurgaons.