Public Security and the Indian State

Public security discourse changes how public order has been traditionally viewed by states across the world. India, a country that attained independence from British colonialism in 1947 and has been democratising since, has faced the dilemma and challenges of preparing its security agencies, steeped in colonial culture and politicised since independence, to face the challenges of twenty first century. Organisational, criminal justice system and attitudianal issues dog the public security architecture in India. Since the Constitution of India has assigned the responsibility of public order to states, federal frictions to have arisen lately in dealing with security issues in the national domain such as terrorism and Maoism. The police and other public institutions responsible for the task must be braced up to meet the emerging challenges.