Arunachal Pradesh’s first IPS officer and a super cop with a big heart, Mr. Robin Hibu recently celebrated his birthday and received the most special birthday gift there could be, when he was awarded the ‘Ati Utkrisht Seva Padak’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 1. Incidentally, the date is also the birthday of this much-loved cop.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Hibu talked about how he made the capital of the country – where he is currently posted- a ‘much safer and prosperous place for North Eastern Indians.
MAKING DELHI SAFE FOR ‘HAPLESS’ NORTH EASTERNS
Conferred with several national and international accolades, Robin Hibu stood against all odds, making Delhi a “much-safer capital” for the people of the region.
In 2016, he founded a non-profit organization called ‘Helping Hands’, to address distress calls from students, youth, and women from the North-East region suffering exploitation at the hands of employers and middlemen. It includes a network of professionals such as lawyers, chartered accountants, government servants, and ordinary citizens whose aim is to assist the North Easterners in distress.
“I gave best of my life for Delhi, had slogged focus for the improvement of Delhi Police, and went out of the way. I hammered out-of-box ideas, toiled for years without leave, and in some years, I even begged for hapless NE folks for distress assistance which fructified into reality projects today,” Mr. Hibu told Indian Masterminds.
TOILING FOR HIS PEOPLE
From the very beginning, Mr. Hibu has been toiling hard and completing herculean tasks to give his people a better life.
He has made sure that land is allocated for NE Police Unit. For this, he lobbied and sanctioned Rs. 2400 lakhs from Women & Child Ministry for NE Police building. He worked for several other causes, which included special NE recruitment in Delhi Police, starting an SoS helpline 1093 for the people of NE. The list goes on and on.
Chosen for a stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2017, Mr. Hibu became the first IGP from the region to serve as the Joint Commissioner in Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat, New Delhi. He designed the first Model Anti-riot/ anti-fire/anti-water-resistant Beat Booth solar energy enabled with digital LCD with inbuilt PA system. Today stands tall near the iconic India Gate in New Delhi.
ACCOLADES THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER
Mr. Hibu was born and brought up in the remote village of Hong, nestled in the beautiful Ziro Valley of Arunachal Pradesh. Apart from committed to his job, he is an avid social worker and has won several prestigious awards. Notable among these are the Samajik Ratna Puraskar (2007), Social Work for Minorities Award in 2018 by Delhi Minorities Commission, and the Global Mahatma Gandhi Award in 2019.
He was conferred with the President of India Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the President of India Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 2010 and 2017, respectively.
Mr. Hibu has led UN missions and was awarded the UN Peace Medal for Meritorious Services in Bosnia in 1999. He was honored twice with the Gold Medal in 2003 and 2009. The following year he won the UN Peace Medal for Distinguished Services in Kosovo in 2000 from the legendary Kofi Annan for his distinguished service in UN Police as UN Police Commander at Gjilane, Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina.
“This birthday gift Medal is nostalgic for me. Also, I have learned, wherever you are, if you give your best unconditionally for the place where you serve, the people, society, and the authority will accept you with warm hearts – lessons I feel we all NE diaspora need to learn to survive with love and respect away from home,” Mr. Hibu told Indian Masterminds.
Hailing from the Apatani community, Mr. Hibu has also worked to tackle racism experienced by North Easterners in other parts of the country, especially in the national capital. He has relentlessly aimed to bridge the invisible gap that stands between the mainlanders and North Eastern Indians.
