NEW DELHI: In a novel move, about 8,000 jawans and officers of the Central Reserve Police Force have been put through intensive psychological tests at the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (NICFS) prior to their being inducted in the newly created anti-riot police Raid Action Force (RAF),
Over 60% of them are expected to be cleared for the elite force. The National Informatics Center is helping the NICFS to evaluate the answers. The Deputy Inspector General of CRPF, A.A.Siddiqui, said the force will be ready to be deployed by November end. The home ministry’s dead-line, however, is September end. He said an extension of two months has been sought from the ministry.
The preliminary assessment has come up with some revealing contracts, The heterogeneous CRPF is represented by jingoists at one extreme and unpatriotic men at the other extreme, If it as secular men, it also has those who are completely communal, Virencer Kumar, one of the crime psychologists who conducted the test feels 50 t0 60% of the personnel will pass the test.
Giving the details of the procedure, Kumar said two sets of questionnaires were prepared to test 24 dimensions of a candidate’s personality, The first set sought to test whether a person its impulsive Or practical, could take risks or is timid, is dogmatic or open-minded, The other set of questions was aimed at finding out if he candidly were patriotic, secular, and apolitical.
Kumar said the sets contained 270 questions and were termed in such a way that anyone trying to avoid a sensitive question or deliberately give wrong answers would not escape so easily, as the same question reappeared, only worded differently somewhere else.
Many senior commandant is resisted this election process, as they feared the cream will be taken away and they will be left to lead the rejected lot. But Siddiqi said they faced resistance only initially. The problem was sorted out, once commandants were assured they could retain key persons on their battalions. “We had a meeting with our officers in which we discussed the problem and the remedy to overcome it,” Siddiqi added.
The training will be geared to teaching methods of keeping the casualties to a minimum. The force will be equipped with rubber lathi, rubber bullets and the ubiquitous tear gas shells, Siddiqui said “we have to drive home the point the communal riots are not only a last and order problem. We cannot ignore the tension, the breakdown of faith and trust between two communities. RAF will be required to repair not only the physical damage, but restore the confidence of the people as well.”
The third part of the whole exercise indulges carrying out rescue operations, firefighting and rebuilding burnt houses. Jawans are being sent to severe training colleges where specialized training of rescue operations and fire fighting is imparted.
The RAF will be divided into 10 battalions, Each battalion will be stationed at places which are more prone to riots. Siddiqui said at least 40 persons will be recruited for each battalion from local areas to give local representation to the force, Their understanding of the topography will also help. “At present we have to depend on the local administration for our movement,” Siddiqui explained.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
