Even Hollywood movies can at times be edifying. Recall the composition of the police force in any number of movies or American tele-serials. Inevitably it will be a mix of different races. More often than not, it will reflect the demographic diversity of a particular region or place, registering the importance of adequate representation for ethnic minorities (or even non-indigenous majorities!). In the popular crime tele-series Dexter, the Miami Metropolitan Police is represented as employing many Spanish speaking policepersons, including the (female) boss. Miami, incidentally, is referred to as the capital of latin America. It is next only to El Paso in Texas in hosting a Spanish-speaking majority, besides a huge Cuban American community. In Toronto (Canada) there is an area called Brampton that has a huge Indian origin populace. Concomitantly, Indian origin people find wide representation in government employment, including the police force (sourced from personal narratives).
While we have ensured diversity through reservations for historically disadvantaged castes, we have not done enough to ensure regional diversity in State employment, especially in the police forces. Take Gurgaon as an example. My rather infrequent, and invariably fruitless, visits to the police station near my place of residence (Sector 23, Gurgaon) have revealed to me the following: The police force and its ethos is single-community dominated, the local interests and interlocking networks of associations dominate policing priories (not a bad thing in itself, but troubling when applied to a modern bustling metropolis, which Gurgaon today has transformed into) and a complete disregard for ‘outsiders’ or the discourse of rational communication. A little research has revealed the same is true of most other police stations in Gurgaon. Not just police stations, but most Government offices and utilities.
The argument here is not specific to Gurgaon or Haryana, nor is it intended to target a particular region. When out of State candidates for railway recruitment visit either Guwahati or Mumbai to write entrance tests for clerical jobs, they are heckled and asked to leave by local chauvinists. Even Delhi has more or less a homogenous police force. It is not enough to say the police will be more sensitive to the specific problems faced by women for the Northeast of the country. Unless women officers from the Northeast are recruited to the Delhi police at the sub inspector level, and are posted in vulnerable police stations, the special sensitivity demanded of the police simply will not happen. The beauty of diversity in state employment is that it helps personalise the role of the state, which ultimately is fundamentally important to the delivery of services. I for one do not feel alienated from most things in Gurgaon — my place of residence — has to offer, except when I have to get work done in a government office. There I could be from Timbuktu, for all they care, little realising the fact that my right to access the service they offer is no less than that of any other citizen of the country.
The sort of local political patronage that determines sarkari employment by State Governments, or the closed networks within quasi-Government organisations (including Delhi University, where I teach), ensure community and inbred influence in recruitment choices. In the college where I teach, of late there has been some diversity in the teaching community, and this has immensely improved the overall culture of the organisation. If the same story could be repeated among the non-teaching staff, I believe it would significantly impact the administrative culture of the college. Unfortunately, however, unlike professionals who are open to mobility, clerical and office staff grade workers are often reluctant to move out of their secure territories (due primarily to cultural and socio-economic imperatives). (The underclass of course has no choice). This is changing slowly, but can indeed change faster if State Government and autonomous State-funded bodies make diversity in employment an affirmed position.
Gurgaon today comprises a multi-ethnic demography, where pre-liberalisation residents coexist with migrant professionals on the one end and low wage workers on the other. The city has been reinvented by commercial opportunities. It needs therefore to reflect that changed identity. It should no longer be controlled by sectarian and communitarian interests. Diversity in Government employment is the need of the hour for India’s ever-growing cities. Gurgaon could be made to set the ball rolling.