1984 batch IPS rules the roost

Hyderabad: As young IPS probationers, they trained together at the National Police Academy (NPA) where they were prepared to become leaders who would lead the force with courage, uprightness and dedication. Today, IPS officers of the 1984 batch have ended up creating history of sorts.

It could be sheer coincidence or purely based on merit, but 10 IPS officers of the 1984 batch are now at the helm of India's key security establishments. This is being described as a rare occurrence as no other batch of the IPS has had so many officers heading key posts at the Centre, all at the same time.

The new entrants in this 1984 brigade are Arvinda Kumar, who was appointed as Director, Intelligence Bureau, and Samant Kumar Goel, who was appointed chief of India's external Intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), yesterday. Both are 1984 batch IPS officers of Assam-Meghalaya cadre and Punjab cadres respectively.

“All 10 officers of the 1984 batch being appointed as heads of key agencies cannot merely be a coincidence. I feel it is based on merit and merit alone. It feels good to know that all my batch mates are now at the helm of India’s security establishment,” a 1984 batch IPS officer, who is holding a key post, told Deccan Chronicle, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the assignment he is holding.

At present, there are 16 officers of the 1984 batch who are in service and of them, 10 are heading key agencies in Narendra Modi’s government.

Besides Arvinda Kumar and Samant Kumar Goel, the other 1984 batch IPS officers who are heading key agencies are Rajnikant Mishra, who heads the Border Security Force, which is deployed on the frontiers with Pakistan and Bangladesh; Yogesh Chander Modi, who heads the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the central counter terrorism law enforcement agency; SS Deswal who is the chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Policem  which guards the Indo-China border; Sudeep Lakhtakia who is the chief of the elite National Security Guard, the counter terrorism force; Rajesh Ranjan, who is chief of the Central Industrial Security Force, which provides security cover to key installations including airports; Anand Prakash Maheshwari, who is special secretary (internal security) in the Union ministry of home affairs, Rakesh Asthana, director of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and Javed Ahmed who is presently Director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science.

“'Not only are my batch mates heading the key wings presently, many of them have served as DGPs of various states including Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. In many ways, our batch is unique and has outstanding officers,” another officer of the 1984 batch said, and added that 10 officers of the batch heading the key security wings of the country is indeed rare.

“'Normally, we have seen officers of different batches holding key positions in Government of India. They could be 1983, 1984, 1985 batches but this is looks more than a coincidence that 10 IPS officers of 1984 batch are holding key positions and all at the same time,” a senior IPS officer said, and added that this could be because  officers of this batch have had more number of years in service since joining.

In the next few months, at least two officers from will be retiring, which will bring down the number of 1984 batch officers at the Centre to eight, but that will still be remarkable.