From working as an Executive Assistant to then CMD of Reliance Industries Ltd, Late Dhirubhai Ambani, to being on deputation to United Nations Mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina, IPS Varun Kapoor is a man with a plethora of experiences in different fields.
Ever willing and ever ready to go in new directions and take up challenging assignments, the1991-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer is a man of many talents and accomplishments. Speaking exclusively to Indian Masterminds, the officer talked about his experiences and achievements in his thirty years of service.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Kapoor has not only given his service to the nation but has also brought name to the nation by working as Deputy Training Coordinator, Gorazde Canton, and the Chief of Research during Mission HQ Sarajevo in United Nations Mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
His international experiences also include working as a Police Advisor in United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia and as Deputy Chief Scoping Mission – Ministry of External Affairs GOI Mission to Lesotho & Mozambique.
WITHIN THE COUNTRY
However, it was his service in the field of community policing and cyber security in the state of Madhya Pradesh that helped him to bring changes in the lives of people.
Currently posted as the ADGP, Rustamji Armed Police Training College, Indore, Mr. Kapoor began his journey in police service in the year 1991. Since then, he has been the SP of Dhar, Sehore, and Ratlam; DIG of Chhatarpur, Ratlam and Ujjain; ADG, Indore; IGP, Police Radio Training School; and ADGP, Narcotics, Indore.
“I have worked in assigned duties such as field policing, community policing, international policing, police training, etc. But other than that, I like to work in new fields and benefit people by working in areas which don’t fall under my direct responsibility, such as Narcotics, Encroachment, Traffic Management, Women Security, Suicide Prevention, Wildlife Conservation, etc,” he told Indian Masterminds.
CYBER SECURITY
A field that the officer takes a keen interest in is Cyber Security. To date, he has taken multiple initiatives to guard citizens against online fraud and to create more awareness about cybercrimes.
His initiatives include Black Ribbon Initiative for cyber security awareness among community members. Under this initiative, over 370,000 citizens were made aware in two hours long highly interactive 521 sessions across 28 Indian states and foreign countries including Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, United Kingdom, etc.
The Blue Palm initiative under which over 5000 cutting-edge level officers (SI-SP) of 20 state police forces; 6 different para-military forces and the Indian Army were trained in specialized courses in 12 modules. To date, 136 such courses have been organized.
Roaring Tiger initiative under which 34 special training workshops were conducted across the country for use of cyber technology for improving wildlife protection and solving wildlife crime where 1408 forest and other departmental officers from 14 states of the country participated.
Cyber Claw project is being coordinated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, which is being delivered across the country in six leading tiger reserves.
Project Cy-Cops to train school teachers in cyber security issues in detailed training sessions who will, in turn, train their students in the fundamentals of cyber security to make them better and safer netizens.
AWARDS
For his commendable work in Cyber Security and Awareness, Mr. Kapoor has been acknowledged with innumerable awards.
Some of the awards received by him in the last two years (2020-21) are:
Indian Humanitarian Award 2020 – Global Talk Education Foundation on 2nd October 2020
SKOCH Award – Order of Merit for Project ‘RED POPPY CAMPAIGN’ in 2020
SKOCH Award – Gold Standard Award for Project ‘CYBER CLAW’ in 2020
Centre for Research on Cyber Intelligence & Digital Forensics (DRCIDF) – National Cyber Award 2021.
These are but only a few (awards received by the officer in 2020-21) from the long list of awards received by him in his career till now. Indian Masterminds will keep updating the list as it grows longer in the years to come!
