During the fiscal year 2012-13, the first year of the current Plan, a total of Rs.2, 346.93 crore was provided for modernization of police force and during 2013-14, the second year of the ongoing Plan period, Rs.2, 725.66 crore allocated. For the current financial year 2014-15, the actual figure would be known when the new Government following the General Elections in April-May 2014 presents the regular Union Budget 2014-15 in July 2015.

Police and Public Order are a State subject in Entry 2 of List II of Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. As such, it is primary responsibility of State Governments to modernize their police forces. However, the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing a scheme for Modernisation of State Police Forces (MPF Scheme) to supplement the efforts of the State Governments in tackling emerging challenges to internal security in the form of home grown and cross border terrorism, insurgency, naxalism, urban policing and related security tasks.

The MPF Scheme that ended on March 31, 2012 has since been extended for a further period of five years to cover the current 12th Plan period to provide Central assistance to States for police modernization partly under Plan and partly under Non-Plan heads. The items required by the State police under Non-Plan expenditure are modern weapons, ammunition, vehicles, weapons, security related equipment, and training equipment, forensic science equipment and some other related equipment. Infrastructure projects like construction of police stations, outposts, police line building, houses for lower and upper subordinate police personnel, police training institutions and forensic science laboratories are funded under Plan head expenditure. The state wise allocation is worked out annually before commencement of each financial year.

No state is provided 100 per cent Central assistance under the MPF Scheme. For determining the Central assistance under Plan and Non-Plan heads, States are classified in to two categories of A and B. Category A States comprise Jammu & Kashmir and eight States in the North-East including Sikkim, which are required to contribute 10 per cent of their Action Plan and Category B States are required to contribute 40 per cent of their State Action Plan. All Central assistance is provided as grants-in-aid.

The MPF Scheme is intended to reduce the dependence of the State Governments on the Army and the Central Armed Forces to control internal security and law & order situations by equipping the State police forces adequately and strengthening the police infrastructure at the cutting edge level by secure police stations, training centres, police housing (residential), equipping the police stations with the required mobility, modern weaponry, communications equipment, forensic setup and related security wherewithal.

Under the scheme, States are required to prepare their Action Plans on their assessed requirements. Accordingly, Central funds are released to the States subject to furnishing of utilization certificates in respect of funds disbursed during the previous financial years. The State Governments are mandated to utilize the funds in the stipulated time frame. Such utilization and sanction of expenditure is also subject to the usual audit and review by the State and Central auditing agencies.

But whatever the scale of ongoing modernization of State police, unless the present public trust deficit in police is eliminated and police made responsive and accountable to the people, security scenario on the ground would not improve in our rule of law based system of democratic governance, where people are the real masters. Right now, police is the most corrupt entity of the state and at that a repressive as well as oppressive force. And never a friend of the people, a continuing agonies of our people!