Overview

• A nine-month basic training course for 4,000 constables commenced on July 23 at eight police training schools across Madhya Pradesh.
• ADG (Training) Raja Babu Singh has ordered recruits to recite one to two chapters of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas each night under their barracks head’s supervision.
• Non-Hindu trainees may opt out and all verses will be explained in Hindi to ensure the lessons are accessible to everyone.
• About 300 transfer requests citing homesickness were met with counselling and the comparison of nine months of training to Lord Ram’s 14-year exile.
• Congress leaders have criticised the religious element in police training while BJP spokespeople have endorsed the initiative as a motivational tool.