A police officer’s duty is not only limited to patrolling or catching criminals. It’s much more than that. An official can also go to lengths to motivate his people towards a goal that will benefit the nation.
One such officer is Mr. Vishal Chauhan, Superintendent of Police in Mokokchung, Nagaland who is inspiring numerous people through his radio talk shows where he shares success stories and interviews achievers to inspire others.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Chauhan, the officer of the 2014 batch shared his ideas and talked about his shows.
SPARK OF THE IDEA
The government’s ‘Police ki Pathshala’ came to a halt when the Covid19 lockdown hit the country. While everybody was staying indoors and had an ample amount of time in their hands, Mr. Chauhan decided to make use of radio – which is an important mode of communication in the North East – as a medium to connect with citizens without physically reaching out to them.
He wished to impart knowledge related to competitive exams, their preparation and strengthen the police-citizen relationship in the district.
“Because of Article 371 (A), the village constitution tries to solve crimes and thus proper justice is not served, at times. Therefore, we tied up with All India Radio to launch such programs. We formed a team comprising of senior officials and local citizens such as newspaper editors, radio presenters, women activists, etc., and created a list of places where we could take the video interviews and began with our work,” Mr. Chauhan told Indian Masterminds.
POLICE & THE CITIZEN – EMPOWERING IN UNISON
The officer aired his first program on 4th December 2020, wherein he imparted general awareness about the concept and idea of the program. By now, he has launched nine episodes beginning with explaining the concept of ‘policing’ and going on to interview achievers.
“We aired an entire episode on child-related issues because children are getting exposed to cyber-related crimes, now that all their classes and teachings are held online. We talked with the assistant director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy on the vulnerabilities in the system and more,” added Mr. Chauhan.
Furthermore, Mr. Chauhan interviewed a newly achieved AIR-133 ranked officer from Nagaland cadre about Civil Services preparation, who had achieved success without receiving coaching from urban centers. Similarly, he has interviewed a number of people including top officials.
FUTURE PLANS FOR THE PROGRAM
Now that India is coming out of the lockdown, and schools are reopening, Mr. Chauhan is planning to take the program in physical mode too. “Radio interviews will continue and now we are planning to go for massive in-school cyber-related awareness campaigns, wherein we will sensitize children about safe surfing and cyber hygiene,” Mr. Chauhan told Indian Masterminds.
Since village administration bears all the power in the district, the IPS officer will also impart a better sense of knowledge to the administration for a holistic judgment.
“Mokokchung can be divided into six different areas and using sports as a medium, the department will organize football tournaments in the areas through which, we will conduct sessions sensitizing people about policing and right judgments of problems.”
The sessions will also cover awareness about government as well as bank literacy and will be launched in April 2021 as a segment of the Police-Citizen program. Moreover, owing to the weak infrastructure of the place, Mr. Chauhan is also setting up a `library movement’ through which he would be able to provide appropriate books and study material to the local youth, to help them with their preparations.
It’s widely hoped that Mr. Chauhan’s initiatives will gradually uplift Mokokchung and bring it into mainstream.
