As the Gujarat elections took precedence over the annual police chiefs meet, which is held every year to discuss the latest internal security challenges, the country’s top police brass will now meet for the annual DGP conference in January next year.
The dates have been finalised after the home ministry waited for over a month to get the political leaders on board.
The conference, which is held in November each year, was postponed owing to the preoccupation of both the prime minister and home minister, sources said. Sources said that the 2017 DGP meet will now be held from January 7-9 next year.
The conference, organised by the Intelligence Bureau and addressed by the Prime Minister, holds utmost importance as it takes stock of the latest internal security challenges especially in theatres like Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, threats from terrorists outfits like ISIS, radicalisation, cross-border infiltration, coastal security and the law and order situation in various states and ways to deal with it. The meet will be held over two days and chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
This time, the meet is expected to flag latest cyber threats and challenges, increasing appeal of outfits like ISIS and growing threats from indoctrination and radicalisation; examine police reforms and focus on police modernisation and lay special emphasis on police training.
The conference is attended by DGP/IGP-rank personnel of all states, top brass of central paramilitary forces, home ministry officials and IB sleuths.
As per a tradition started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, the conference has moved to a venue outside Delhi every year since 2014, and this time, the meet will be held at the BSF Training Academy in Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh.
Interestingly, this academy produces indigenous tear gas shells, something that may be of interest to the police chiefs of different states visiting Tekanpur. The riots in Panchkula, the stone pelting in Kashmir and bandhs called by protesters witnessed in other states through the year saw the state police forces using nonlethal weapons to disperse the crowds.
Last year, the conference was held in the Rann of Kutch in the PM’s home state of Gujarat.
