Day: August 18, 2020

Just two months after the accomplishment of the private security industry (PSI) whereby private security services (PSS) were declared an ‘essential service’ during COVID-19 regime, the industry has set forth for a next pursuit. Kunwar Vikram Singh, Chairman, Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), has recently written a letter to Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India whereby he sought that the private security services in India should be declared a ‘tax-free service.’ He said that it is the basic and fundamental duty of the Government to ensure every citizen of the country safety, security and the sense of being secured; and to make a citizen feel so it must provide adequate internal security infrastructure.     The Chairman argued that security and safety are of paramount significance. The Government creates police and paramilitary forces to respond to the security and safety situations of the citizen; however, it does not send invoices to people for availing such services. Owing to the fact that there is a very low police-public ratio in India, there are huge gray areas where citizens are forced to protect themselves and their assets by retaining the paid services of private security agencies. This need of paid security services is experienced as they don’t feel secure due to various prevailing factors. That sense of insecurity created a fear psychosis among the citizens that forces them to buy private security at a cost. These circumstances bring us to a conclusion that the government internal security infrastructure is not adequate enough to grant ‘right to security’ to every citizen. This gap needs to be addressed post haste. Such an inadequacy of government services must be compensated by the State by paying for the additional security services needed by its citizens. Kunwar Vikram Singh said that this huge expense may not be possible for an already burdened government, but it should not be levying a Service Tax to those who should have otherwise been protected by the government itself. Private security agencies, which are, to a large extent, filling the void in the internal security environment due to the lack of government forces are actually saving the government exchequer huge money which would otherwise have been used in raising more police and paramilitary forces. People pay for the security services and take away financial burden off the government for raising more battalions of Police and Paramilitary forces. Considering this huge savings, the Government must not charge Services Tax for the services which they are duty bound to provide. Kunwar Vikram Singh sought that in order to create goodwill among its citizens post Covid, the private security services should be declared ‘tax free’ so that the consumers of the private security services will be hugely benefitted and such services will become more affordable. Majority of these services are now being availed by lakhs of resident welfare associations (RWAs) and small, medium enterprises (SMEs). He concluded that a delegation of CAPSI shall soon meet the Prime Minister to discuss the merits of this approach.  

The Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, popularly known as GFSU, as claimed, is the world’s first and only university dedicated to Forensic Sciences and allied subjects. Nestled in the lush green environs of an equally serene capital city of Gandhinagar, the university quietly continues to gallop in academic excellence. Envisioned by the P.M. and the then C.M. of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, to be an institution of higher learning of international standard for producing experts in different fields of Forensic Science, this unique university has not looked back since its inception on 10th February, 2009. Well before ‘Skill India’ became a buzz word, its founder Director General and the country’s senior-most Forensic Scientist, Dr. J.M. Vyas had started employing all his experience of five long decades to launch post graduate courses in all possible branches of Forensic Science. Today, in just about a decade, GFSU boasts 50 specialised P.G. programmes, ranging from legacy branches like Fingerprint Science, Document Examination, Food Analysis and Ballistics, to the more advanced forensic fields like DNA analysis, Toxicology, Odontology and Forensic Psychology, further on to the latest streams such as different areas of Cyber Forensics, Forensic Nanotechnology, Forensic Structural Engineering and Environmental Science, to name a few.   Reminiscing about initial days, Dr. Vyas said that as there was no forensic science university in the world, we had no template to fall back upon and had to innovate and plan each and every training methodology and facility in-house. Despite this, Dr. Vyas simultaneously embarked on three major verticals – Institute of Forensic Science, Institute of Research & Development, and Institute of Behavioural Science to cover all the branches as also to provide a special impetus to the R&D. Besides this, to keep pace with the advancements in academics and technology, Dr. Vyas planned academic collaboration across the world in a big way which stands today with more than hundred multi-disciplined institutions. He also began offering expert consultancy in setting up or upgrading various laboratories in the country as well as abroad. Once the University settled down, Dr. Vyas came out with a new concept of Preventive Forensics! He explained that while Forensic Science is used the world over for investigating a crime, it should also be utilized in preventing a crime. This gave rise to courses in Homeland Security, Cyber Security, Hospital management and Forensic Accounting. These Management courses, coupled with enormous training programmes being run by GFSU for participants from different departments of the Government as well as number of foreign countries, led Dr. Vyas to plan the next vertical, Institute of Management & Training. Dr. S.O. Junare, Director of this institute informed that GFSU conducts a number of special training programmes, including for 68 friendly foreign countries. As a result, Dr. Junare proudly stated that in just ten years, GFSU has trained about 10,000 officers including 2200 foreign officers from varied departments such as Police, Armed Forces, Bureaucrats from Central Ministries, Judiciary, Banking, Vigilance, Customs, Immigration etc. One of the unique and successful courses at GFSU is its 2-year full time MBA Programme in Homeland Security. It is a very comprehensive course where the students are trained in every facet of internal security to function at higher appointments at global, national as well as organisational level. Veteran Air Commodore K.R. Thaakar, now a Senior Faculty Member for Homeland Security, informed that the course has recently been upgraded to equip the participants with requisite skills to respond to major security threats and disasters by way of preparing strategy, refining plans, implementing in a fool-proof way, exploiting technology, carrying out investigations, undertaking audits etc. In particular, the course is designed to gain expertise in the fields of International Security Perspective, Internal Security Threats, Border Security Threats, CBRN Warfare, Cyber Security, Disaster Preparedness & Response, Financial Frauds, Intelligence Sharing, Threat Assessment, Vulnerability Analysis, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Civil & Criminal Laws and Application of Forensic Science, to name a few. This, coupled with the extensive coverage of Management Fundamentals & Techniques, Financial Accounting and Psychology, prepare the students with necessary managerial skills to lead their security departments. Air Commodore Thaakar said that besides equipping with wide ranging knowledge, the students are also provided with practical exposure through a week-long visit to Adani Port & SEZ at Mundra (Gujarat) and a recently introduced 2-week training at the prestigious North-Eastern Police Academy (NEPA) at Shillong. The entire 4th semester is dedicated to internship at one of the major institutions/ industry for hands-on experience in various facets of security, and preparing a dissertation which provides valuable and analytical insight to the students. In the past, besides young students, the course has also been attended by number of armed forces officers and police officers from India as well as abroad, and they found it very useful. Dr. S.O. Junare, who is the senior-most Director, unhesitatingly claimed that no one passes out disappointedly from GFSU as it has achieved enviable standard of academic excellence, established impressive infrastructure and has expert faculty.   Dr. J.M. Vyas, despite serving for 47 years as a Forensic Scientist, heading Gujarat’s Forensic Science Directorate for past 27 years and presiding as the Director General, akin to the Vice Chancellor, of GFSU for 11 years, is not contented as yet. Continuing its long strides, GFSU has launched nine new P.G. programmes in the upcoming academic session of 2020-21. This includes courses in novel fields like Multimedia Forensics, Malware Analysis & Reverse Engineering, Forensics and Anti-Corruption, and Cyber-Psychology. As the new courses start, the entire process of inviting expert faculty to join the family, creating infrastructure, entering into academic collaboration, starting research activity and most importantly, ensuring that the highest academic standard is maintained, is all put into motion, each and every time. Dr. Vyas, with his outstanding vision, dynamism and expertise, continues to raise the bar at the GFSU.  

As businesses in many countries around the world reopen and resume operations, people are getting back to work and back to their daily routines. And with today’s technologies being applied in practical ways that help in the real world, keeping people safe, healthy, and protected is becoming easier than ever. Using a non-contact temperature-screening solution is one current measure being used to quickly spot individuals with elevated skin temperature (EST). This detection method is designed to help initial screening of EST, and combines with the use of medical equipment to further verify symptoms. This method also reduces manual testing time and safety risks to those involved in the detection process. Temperature screening cameras have now been widely adopted by organizations and business across the globe. Some of the most typical use-cases are found in airports, hospitals, offices, and manufacturing and logistics facilities, which have seen tremendous benefits using thermal technology. Prama Hikvision helped customers build the first line of defence Prama Hikvision’s temperature screening solution, made up of various products and a wide range of applications, is designed for the detection of skin-surface temperatures to achieve rapid and safe initial screening in public areas. Its flexibility means it can be used in a multitude of scenarios.   These thermographic cameras are used by customers from multiple industries around the world such as at ports of entry and high-traffic locations, including Charles De Gaulle airport in France, Brasilia Airport in Brazil, Ikazia Hospital in the Netherlands, Cambridge hospital in Canada, Chaudhary Group Industrial Park in Nepal, Toyota Industrial Park in Canada, Vancouver liquor store in Canada, and many more. Temperature screening will remain important for reopening and resuming businesses of all types. In some countries health authorities and regulators are taking a very cautious approach to deployment of temperature screening cameras, and it is advisable referring to the current local guidance before any deployment of this solution. In case of the U.S., the latest specific guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), temperature checks are encouraged at entrances for employees returning to work. It’s all part of the increasingly common measures employers are now putting in place to guard against a second wave of the pandemic. More than that, Prama Hikvision’s temperature screening cameras integrate into security and access control systems in convenient ways that really work, with functionalities that include social distancing measures, crowd and traffic controls, mask detection, access control and employee attendance tracking, temperature screening, and more.