Your Police, Now On Social Media

In a country that is rapidly adapting to the consumption and exchange of information in the digital space, law enforcement bodies are utilising social media platforms to overhaul their image and make meaningful connections with the citizens that they serve and protect.

Facebook is the new public interest circular and the police are using the social network to interact one-on-one with citizens, provide timely updates of important information and make themselves more approachable. Accessing a police officer to bring a serious issue to their attention or even to make a general query has never been easier or less intimidating; all you have to do is log onto Facebook and post on their page’s wall. The fact that citizen complaints and questions are up for the general public to see pushes the authorities and page administrators to respond quickly and efficiently to posts.

The traffic police of the major metros are early adopters of the initiative on Facebook. The Delhi Traffic Police page, with the highest number of 1,42,893 Likes, actively updates their page with lists of registration details of offending vehicles and information on traffic situations and movement across the city. The Bangalore Traffic Police page has a quality mix of informative driving tips, traffic updates and also answers to citizens’ concerns. They have a fan following of 47,931. Though lower ranked on the basis of number of page likes (25,638) the Kokatta Traffic Police page is probably the most interactive and citizen friendly. The page is full of personal responses, from the traffic officials, to concerns posted by citizens. They even take care of complaints against taxi drivers.

Bangalore City Police are the only Indian city police force to have a presence on Facebook. Their page comprises of tips and suggestions for personal safety, guidelines on what to do in a crisis, helpline numbers and interesting facts about the city police force. They also have recognition posts commending those officers who go beyond the call of duty and most importantly, they have Senior Police Officers addressing concerns and grievances that citizens post on their wall.

Aside from Facebook, the Bangalore Police also have a blog on which City Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji personally posts. B Dayananda, Joint Commissioner (Crime-East), who spearheaded the social media initiative, also blogs. He made a statement, in response to some users who suggested that they should be able to register complaints on Facebook, that the platform cannot be an alternative to police stations. 

Social media and a digital presence for the police cannot replace the process of physically going to a station to lodge a serious complaint, but it can and is bridging the gap between citizens and their law enforcers.

What Is A Search Warrant?

People’s homes and offices are private places and so the law requires any authority who wants to invade that privacy give concrete and legitimate reason to do so.

If the police wish to enter and conduct a search of a private residence or office then, they must first go before a magistrate and give credible reason for it. If the magistrate is convinced that there is validity in the police’s presented reasons, a court signed and sealed search warrant is issued by the magistrate.

The authority of a search warrant is very limited and it must detail the name and rank of the particular officer who is allowed to enter the place. 

Read: Procedure For Search

Organisation Structure Of The Police

Read: Police In India : Facts & Figures

Harnessing Youth Power

The future of a nation lies in the hands of the young – and very rightly so. Almost half of India’s population falls in the age bracket of 18-25, and it’s heartening that to see some able-minded youngsters emerge out of the woodworks and present a shining example to the rest of us.

Meet Rakhi Paliwal, who decided that politics was her calling at the age of twenty one, and wasted no time in contesting for the ward panch elections; is now the uparpanch of the Upli Odan panchayat. She also happens to be the youngest person to have been chosen for this position and is the first woman in her community to study law, a choice she made so that she can govern better.

One of her main goals was to build decent sanitation facilities in her region. She was perturbed by the fact that people, especially women, did not have access to basic sanitation facilities and had to defecate in the open. After approaching many government officials and getting no response, she finally managed to convince the Miraj group into building toilets, installing street lamps and maintenance of the streets.

As she says, “I am proud to be a woman; being a woman, I can bring out all women related issues and also influence women to participate in all developmental and governmental activities as active citizens to become equal to men.”

We have so much to learn from her example – she chooses to be a part of the system to rectify what’s wrong with it, and of course, there can be no better way than actually doing so. So, if she, a woman hailing from a region that is not very forthcoming to women taking the forefront, can be so involved, what stops you, a woman, from going out and voting?

Let her resolve inspire you to use your own, to go out and make a point by voting, and not just do it on your own, but do it collectively with other women!

Go ahead, and use the #PowerOf49!

But She Wont Vote

She will climb into a private empty bus, remembering the Delhi incident of December 2012, wondering why she couldn’t wait for another 30 minutes to board the train, which seemed safer. She scolded herself for being so impatient. Silently cursed the government for being so disinterested in making the city safer for women. So many women travel at night, right? And yet, here she is, a possible victim of someone else’s callousness.

Well then.

She stares at her salary slip, wondering why was 4 thousand rupees deducted from her salary. Taxes, they said. What taxes? Every day she travels by roads with potholes bigger than the craters on the moon; with street lights that worked only in the day time. She scoffs, nodding her head in resignation. She walks back to her chair, and makes a mental note of handing in her file returns so that she could reclaim the money that was rightfully hers. She scolded herself yet again, for being lazy about it.

Moving on.

She steps out of the rickshaw and the driver demands an additional amount. She gets into a verbal argument with him, demanding a reason to justify the amount that isn’t accounted for. The name-calling begins. The driver gets out of the rickshaw and pushes her away. Alarmed, she approaches the traffic policeman nearby to help her out. The traffic policeman tells her to ‘leave it’. Aghast, she pays the rickshaw driver the amount her demanded for, slowly walking away while muttering under her breath about how ‘unscrupulous and spineless’ everyone is getting these days.

Anyway.

She goes home, switches on the TV and a news channel comes on, where 6 different people are yelling at each other. She turns up the volume, wanting to hear every bit of this entertainment. She squints at the fine copy on the screen that indicates the topic of debate among the 6 panelists. The people are having heated arguments about the number of rape crimes increasing, and no one is really allowing the other person to even complete a sentence. She laughs at their ‘immaturity’ and Whatsapps her friend, Meena, to switch on the channel. Meena whatsapps back saying she has totally is doing the same thing. She laughs, goes to Twitter, and begins a #tag - #ThingsNewsChannelsSay. Her 10, 000 followers respond to it, and the #tag begins trending on Twitter. Everyone who is a celebrity is attacked with this #tag, politicians are made fun of. She joins in too, adding her two cents, secretly enjoying the attention. Meena calls. Yes, she will absolutely join Meena for a get-together with the girls.

It’s not like she has anything better to do anyway.

Hello Maam Have You Ever Voted

Jaagore went out and asked a number of women across every age group one simple question, ‘Hello Ma’am, have you ever voted?’

A very large majority responded ‘No’. What was surprising to learn is that most who did say ‘No’ usually followed up with a reason as to why they had not, even though they were not asked or prompted for one. The larger portion of women who responded ‘Yes’ were from the lower socio-economic strata and their vote was influenced by the men of their houses.

The following five responses best depict the varied types of women we interviewed and what a majority of their answers were:

Sheila Bidappa, 56, Executive – “ I’ve actually never voted. What difference is it going to make? Each party is as corrupt as the next so why bother?”

Laxmi, 31, Household help – “Yes I have voted. I vote when my husband tells me to and for whomever he says I should. At election time many politicians come and they give us money, provisions and last time I got a saree also but I always vote for the one my husband picks”

Neha Rebello, 27, Media Professional – “I went to vote at the last state elections because I was really fed up with all the nonsense laws being enforced in the city. I have a voter’s ID and I stood in line for an hour only to find out that my name wasn’t on the list. It’s so frustrating, the system is so chaotic that it didn’t let me vote and I don’t have the time or patience to bother to go stand at some government office and sort it out, so yea I guess I haven’t voted and probably won’t because trying to is such a pain”

Rinci Thomas, 38, Homemaker – “ No I have not voted. My husband does though, religiously. I think men are more concerned with politics and really, I’m not that interested in it.”

Saloni Mishra, 23, Masters Student – “ Yes I voted at the state elections this year. I felt like I had done my bit and I intend to vote as often and as diligently as I can in the future as well.”

These answers are from but a few women but are still concerning. There will always be excuses for not voting, they system will never be perfect and if we want government who are not corrupt then it is time we wake up and tae and interest in the politics of our country. 2014 needs to be the year that 49% of the India voter bloc come out and speaks up in full force, it needs to be the year that women vote.

3 Reasons Why Delhi Must Vote

Fact check for Delhi - General Election 2014

• Over 12 million voters go to vote in Delhi on 10 April 2014.
• 150 candidates.
• 7,057,648 male and 5,657,785 female voters in Delhi.
• 839 who are voting under the category 'Others'.
• 11,763 polling stations.

Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev also said that "Delhi will break all voting records," as polling for seven Lok Sabha seats is on in the national capital.

Source: DNA

Delhi is high on election fever as it goes to vote on 10 April 2014. Let's look at top 3 reasons, among many others, for which Delhi is indebted to go and vote this summer.

8 Amazing Things About India's Voters

Every year in India, 25th January has been officially recognized as "National Voters' Day!" - a practice that was initiated in 2011 and has since encouraged voters to participate in democracy. Special focus has been given to encourage the youth to make use of their voting rights and to make universal adult suffrage a reality.

On this day, we bring to you some interesting facts about voting in India!

1. Our country now has 83 crore voters, almost two crore more than the participating voters in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The number of total voters is beyond the population of the whole of Europe put together.

2. Newly enrolled voters will now have to take a proud pledge that goes as follows: "We, the citizens of India, having abiding faith in democracy, hereby pledge to uphold the democratic traditions of our country and the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections, and to vote in every election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement."

3. They're also given a badge and a motivating slogan at the felicitation ceremony along with their EPIC- "Proud to be a voter – Ready to vote". By doing this, the youth are expected to derive a sense of citizenship, empowerment, pride and participation, inspiring them to exercise their franchise, when the occasion comes. Special campaigns are also being run to involve as many women as possible in the democratic mechanism.

4. 52 lakh young voters who had attained majority at the age of 18 in the year 2014, had registered as first time voters. This turned out to be the biggest empowerment of youth on a single day anywhere in the world. As of now in 2015, this number has more than doubled.

5. For the first time in India, the transgender community is being recognized and can vote under the categories - 'third sex' and 'others'. This comes as a feature that didn't exist previously. So far, 28,314 voters have registered as transgender.

6. 1952 sees India's first general election and lasted over two months. Instead of a voting on a ballot paper for each candidate, different colored ballot boxes were used.

7. 1957 saw the highest voting percentage in any general elections - a whopping 62.2%! In contrast, 1967 saw the lowest with only 33% casting their votes.

8. In the last 60 years of its existence, the Election Commission of India has conducted 15 General Elections to the Lok Sabha (House of the People) and 331 general elections to State Legislative Assemblies.

Source: Compiled from the Press Information Bureau and Reuters News Network.

4 Reasons You Should Vote

Ladies, if ensuring that your own safety and liberty is guaranteed, so that the future of your children is secured or the fact that it is your democratic duty to do so are not enough reason for you to go out and vote here are 4 more:

1. Because you have run out of excuses not to: you can no longer hide behind the ‘I don’t have a voter’s card’ or ‘I don’t know where to’ excuses anymore. Find out all you need to know about how and where here http://www.jaagore.com/site/vote/ . If you cant find what you need to know, remember you live in a digital age where any information in but one Google search away.
2. If you want to continue whining: we all love to complain about how nothing in India works right? It’s that one conversation you have had with almost everyone you know; complaining about the lack of infrastructure or corruption is an ice-breaker, its date night fill in the silence chatter. If you don’t vote you don’t get to complain, it’s as simple as that. Whereas if you do go out and vote and nothing happens or reform is taking too long then imagine how much whining you can legitimately indulge in!
3. The sense of pride: you know how you feel on Independence Day even if you are not truly patriotic? That sense of pride will also be felt when you vote. You will feel a surge of achievement, empowerment and civic duty. If nothing else, the indelible ink mark makes for a great new profile picture on your social profile.
4. Because you can: you don’t live in Saudi Arabia, Vatican City or in Lebanon without an elementary education. This is India, a country in which there has been no women’s suffragette movement because women were granted the right to vote on the 15th of August, 1947 at the exact same time that men were.

We have and have always had the right to vote, now it is time to use it and be part of the #PowerOf49