Net benefits for govt. agencies
Anil Kumar Boruah

Apart from the contemporary fad of announcing one's presence in the www, there are surprisingly little initiative shown by government agencies or by private enterprises to exploit the Net even at half its potential More often than not in our country a web-site sits there just doing nothing except that gives owner the feel of being fashionable . They are there simply because their respective owners think that they would look silly without being on the Net as is the contemporary wont, never having realized the negative impact of a site is not strategically designed. Because a comatose web-site with nothing but routine information or details of self aggrandizement costs them a great deal of lost visitors - people who come, see, get turned off by the platitude and go away never to come back.

Being online is much more than dishing out drab details that do not interest or entertain any one except the agency owing it. The content of the site must be compatible with the objective of the site owner, besides being unique in character to retain viewer's interest , or to stimulate his easy interaction .But what we see in practice is that most of the web-site particularly those of government agencies are not too sure of their objective and therefore start out without a well defined strategy which reduces the site to a dull bulletin, resulting in wasted efforts.

Having to waste the advantage of such a powerful medium is no less than a cardinal sin for any organization, particularly for those who often grumble about infractructural handicaps in reaching out to the people or to the focus groups.

At a time when one of the avowed priorities of any democratic government is transparency and free access to information for the public, the internet assumes a very cruicial role in terms of both reach and retrievability. It is particularly so to such areas as are relatively left behind in infrastructural adequacy for various reasons. Against this backdrop it is heartening to see initiative taken by the State Police in that direction with special focus on police-public interface. The web-site - www assampolice.org has as one of its content a public discussion forum where people can freely express their observations and opinion on matters relating to quality of policing, law and order situation, complaint's and evaluation etc. It augurs well that the particular content of the site has been drawing quite a handful of visitors some of them with frank and discerning observations within a short period of time. The palpable shift of focus of Assam Police towards improved police - public interface is a laudable initiative which was long overdue and in which the web-site may play the role of an important catalyst . The very fact that public is offered a forum to voice their frank opinion over matters relating to their own safety ,security and grievances is a very welcome departure from the familiar posture of menacing virulence, the Police have so long been identified with-much to the consternation of the people . If properly nourished over a period of time this may lead to very significant achievements in terms of police public symbiosis which is so much indispensable for either of the two in a liberal democracy . This is not to suggest that police-public symbiosis alone will it together eradicate crime from the society. On the contray, the stark reality is that a crime free society is an impossible dream. But in a civilized society crime can and must be contained to tolerable limits , and also crime as a phenomenon should be viewed in the social perspective, since the criminals are as much a part of our social firmaments as the rest . As such, policing becomes progressively onerous , adding newer dimensions to the problem. Unlike familiar patterns of social violence where the victim and the criminals are usually related in some way or the other, the targets of contemporary terrorism are chosen at random. The most effective bulwark, therefore, against modern terrorism is a healthy symbiosis between the public and the police, which provides the basis of social policing.

The traditional belief that the key to control of crime is the criminals justice system, must now be reviewed in the light of emerging social convolutions and the changing pattern of crime in the form of terrorism and white - colour offences. It obviously calls for more active participation of the members of the society .since every person is a potential victim of such violence . Needless to say that it is however mandatory for the police to perform the pivotal role in creating an environment of confidence for the public to come forth and supplement the efforts of the law enforcing agency.

The initiative of Assam Police to that direction - however humble may be for the present - is a positive move to which a section of the society is already seen to have offered their proactive response .It hardly needs to be emphasized that the people at large are thoroughly averse to any form of violence form whatever source, which is pretty much evident from some of the observations found in the discussion forum of the Police web-site. People have begun to realize at a great cost the futility of shedding innocent blood for an illusion pursued by a handful desperadoes who throw all qualms to the wind to justify their means of chasing an autistic dream. To illustrate the point a few quotes from the site will help. The public must rise to the occasion one writes Peace is not a commodity which can be packaged and sold for public consumption .It is a perception which grows as a result of our joint efforts. We want peace and we are loath to give it away because a handful few happen to hold our 'Sonor Asom to ransom.'

One only wishes that other agencies of the government also take cue from Assam Police to dispel public apprehensions about their activities and thereby bringing in transparency to their dealings . It is about time that our policy makers moult their hackneyed mindset for new ideals to take root, in keeping with the changing priorities before it is too late to retrieve themselves from the morass of obsolescence. This is not to mean though, that going digital alone would purge them of all their accumulated rusts and make them any sprightlier to rise to the occasion, unless they learn to read the writings on the wall and do some self introspection as to the chasm between what is excected of them and what they are actually delivering . Until then one can only keep one's fingers crossed and hope for the best , lest the map of Assam in world at last be replaced by a skull and cross bones, for all time to come.

TOP