The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai addressed the inaugural function of the 4th National Youth Superintendents of Police Conference and Police Expo today. On this occasion, Director General of BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development) and Director Generals/Inspector Generals/Deputy Inspectors General of States and Union Territories, Inspectors General/Deputy Inspectors General of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Central Police Organizations (CPOs), Youth Superintendents of Police, Commandants and industry representatives were present along with several other dignitaries.

In his address, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said the theme chosen by BPR&D for this year's conference 'Innovation and Research in Cybercrime Management, Drones and Counter Drones' is very relevant in these times. He said since its inception, BPR&D has been involved in capacity building, administrative and reformative reforms, modernization and up-gradation of the police by promoting best practices and standards. BPR&D has completed a long journey of 52 years in the service of the Nation and the Bureau is doing exemplary work in ensuring peace, harmony and maintaining law and order situation across the country by guiding and supporting the Police.

Shri Nityanand Rai said police are the most important part of public administration and make  their presence felt in every sphere of public life. Police are the keepers of national peace and harmony, ensuring a safe environment, and are thus, an essential part of the developmental journey of the country. He said our law enforcement agencies are witnessing changes on two fronts, first, adoption of technology to solve new criminal challenges day by day, as also use of artificial intelligence etc. for better identification of crime patterns, and second, to understand the rapidly changing patterns of crime and their modus operandi and take strong action against them. Shri Rai said criminals are increasingly misusing these technological advancements and posing serious threats to society. The need of the hour is to address these challenges, to keep law enforcement agencies ahead of  crimminals and to protect lives of civilians and infrastructure. He said cyber attacks, ransom-ware attacks, identity leaks and infrastructure breaches are a few of the major categories of crime patterns occurring in the cyber security domain.

The Minister of State for Home said cyber crimes and cyber attacks have a huge impact on the lives of the common people. Additionally, social media is also being misused to create unrest and mistrust among communities, to spread hatred, to commit cyber fraud, and to spread fake and fabricated news. He said  under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under the guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs is focusing on combating cyber crimes and preventing cyber attacks by enhancing the capacity of our law enforcement agencies. We are constantly striving to establish strategic institutions to deal with crimes and offenses and improve our legal system for time bound prosecution of the guilty. Shri Rai said that the Union Home Ministry has set up the Indian Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Center (I4C) to deal with the increasing cases of cyber crimes in a coordinated and effective manner. This coordination center has seven components, of which a significant component is located at the National Cyber  Research and Innovation Center (BPR&D). He said that in order to provide prompt and timely assistance to citizens who have lost money in online financial frauds, the government has launched a dedicated toll free helpline number, 1930, and also a portal for this where people can register their complaints.

Shri Nityanand Rai said under the guidance of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the Ministry of Home Affairs is fully committed and ready to tackle the challenges of cyber crime. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) has been implemented in all 16,347 police stations across the country and in 99 percent police stations, 100 percent FIRs are being registered directly in CCTNS. Apart from this, the work of upgrading infrastructure to deal with cybercrime has been completed up to the police outpost level, while the work of creating analytical tools against cybercrime has also been completed up to 40 percent.

The Minister of State for Home said if we talk about strengthening our internal security, border security and security in remote areas, then drones can be useful in combat operations, surveillance, communication in remote areas etc. Apart from this, they can also be used for transportation of medicines, food and essential commodities and for search and rescue operations in areas affected by natural calamities and disaster. He said that at the inauguration of the Bharat Drone Utsav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the use of drones as revolutionary, and a new chapter in the direction of modernizing agriculture. Digital mapping of property is being done and in the near future new avenues of employment can be generated by setting up soil testing laboratories in villages with the help of drone services. Additionally, drones can also help farmers and fishermen in timely delivery of their produce with minimum damage and it will also be easier to spray pesticides on crops with minimum efforts. He said that BPR&D has created synergy between academia, industry and LEAs in developing research-based solutions.

NW/AY/AK/RR/AS