New Delhi: The Central government has approved the continuation of umbrella scheme of Modernization of Police Forces (MPF) for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, providing a total central financial outlay of Rs 26,275 crore. The approval moves forward the initiative of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to modernize and improve the functioning of police forces of States and Union Territories, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement.
“The scheme comprises all relevant sub-schemes that contribute to modernization and improvement with a total central financial outlay of Rs 26,275 crore,” said the Ministry, adding that provision has been made under the scheme for internal security, law and order, adoption of modern technology by police, assisting States for narcotics control and strengthening the criminal justice system by developing a robust forensic set-up in the country.
For the modernization of state police forces, the scheme has a central outlay of Rs 4,846 crore, which will be spent on developing operationally independent high-quality forensic sciences facilities in States/Union Territories for aiding scientific and timely investigation through modernization of resources. For the modernization of forensic capacities, an outlay of Rs 2,080.50 crore has been approved.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that the central outlay of Rs 8,839 crore has been earmarked for security related expenditure for the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, insurgency affected North Eastern States and Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas. With the implementation of ‘National Policy and Action Plan’ for combating LWE, the LWE violence incidents have come down drastically.
To further pursue this accomplishment, six LWE related schemes with Central outlay of Rs 8,689 crore has been approved. These schemes include Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Most LWE Affected Districts and Districts of Concern to consolidate the gains. For raising India Reserve Battalions/Specialized India Reserve Battalions, a central outlay of Rs 350 crore has been approved. The Central sector scheme of ‘Assistance to States & Union Territories for Narcotics Control with outlay of Rs 50 crore has been continued. /BI/
