C.V. Narasimhan

Indian Police Service (Retd.)


Biography Career Publications Extras    

 
C.V. Narasimhan
A viewing of this website of C.V. Narasimhan woud not be complete without a viewing of the website of N. Krishnaswamy at  http://www.nkrishaswamy.org  in order to get an interesting composite view of two persons whose careers and lives are so closely and incredibly inter-twined. Both of them were distinguished members of the the Indian Police Service (IPS), belonging to the same 1948 batch of  the Service. It is rare in this world to find the kind of friendship 'NK' and 'CVN' or 'CV' have developed and maintained over 50 years. Over that time they personally came to occupy such a a huge space in each other's persona, that one could complete sentences that the other started without loss of an iota of intent or content. Besides their combined and respective accomplishments in police work, they went on post-career to contribute to society in a subtantial manner in the area of education. And as part of the great sense of humor that they both share, they have compiled some snippets - mostly from the lighter side of their professional experiences - for all to read, enjoy, and gain an anecdotal history of the early days of Indian Police Service - as it was being formed in an independent India starting in 1947. Click here to view those snippets.
Foreword by David. H. Bayley
Distinguished Professor, School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA.
I am delighted to have been asked to write a foreword to the websites created to honor the accomplishments of C.V. Narasimhan (C.V.) and N. Krishnaswamy (N.K.). They are legendary figures in the modern Indian police. Although I will comment on some of their history, I will write largely as a friend, colleague, and admirer. It has been my enormous good fortune not only to be associated with the Indian police, but to have been facilitated in my work by insightful, dedicated, and far-sighted IPS officers such as C.V. and N.K. Like them I have enjoyed the beauty of the old IPS training academy at Mt. Abu. From them I have learned a great deal about the evolution of the Indian police since Independence. And with them I have shared the joys of friendship. Read full foreword here.

Biography of C.V. Narasimhan

Born in 1925 to Conjeevaram Venkatesa Sastry and Jagadambal, in the town of Shankari, in the present day state of Tamil Nadu, (then called Madras), India, Conjeevaram Venkatesan Narasimhan spent his childhood days in the town of Sholingapuram, Tamil Nadu. He was the first of four children in the family of two sons and two daughters.

C. Venkatesa Sastry was a school teacher in the Australian Presbyterian Mission (APM) Middle School at Sholingapuram (then called Sholingur) and C.V. Narasimhan ('Chaami' as he was affectionately known in the family) attended school at APM middle school and grew up in a traditional, modest, small town lower middle class Hindu family setting of British-ruled India. Since the APM school was equipped only up to the 8th class, C.V. Narasimhan moved to the present city of Chennai (then called Madras) in 1937 to live with his grand-father (a retired government employee) and pursued his education from the 9th Class onwards at Pennathur Subramania Iyer High School (P.S. High School) in Mylapore, Chennai. C.V. Narasimhan secured the first rank and a Gold Medal in the school final 11th class in 1940.

On the merit of his performance he then got admitted to the prestigious Loyola College in Madras from where he graduated with Honours in Mathematics in 1945. It was during his final year at Loyola college that Narasimhan’s life  took an unexpected turn with the untimely and tragic passing away of his father just on the eve of his final examination. Despite this tragic event in the family C.V. Narasimhan showed his grit and will by meritorious performance in the examination, securing the first rank in the Madras University and winning the Ananthakrishnan Gold Medal and Stuart Prize of the University in 1945. Following his father’s demise the burden of supporting his family and raising his siblings immediately fell on his young shoulders, and he bore it resolutely. 

Family circumstances being what they were at the time he graduated from Loyola, there was little choice for the 19 year old C.V. Narasimhan but to take up a job immediately, without pursuing any further research study in Mathematics which was his earlier ambition. His par-excellence performance from Loyola college earned him an Assistant Professor's job at the St. Joseph ’s  college in the city of Bangalore , which then proved to be  the start of a remarkable career that saw C.V. Narasimhan scale the highest of heights of government service in a free and independent India . His stint in the education arena was cut short when he  took the competitive examination for recruitment to the new All-India Services  which were constituted in 1947 when India became a sovereign State independent of British rule. In this competitive process C.V. Narasimhan was placed first in the first batch of officers appointed to the Indian Police Service ( IPS )  to staff the commanding levels in the police in  independent India . The first batch of IPS officers  graduated  from the   National   Police Academy at   Mount Abu  in  1949. 'CVN' as he was known amongst his friends and colleagues, was adjudged as  the Best Cadet of the graduating batch and awarded the prestigious President’s Revolver as prize.                                           

C.V. Narasimhan  married  Kamala, the eldest daughter of  Mangalam  and  M.K. Narayanamoorthy of Chennai city, in 1952.  Since her marriage to C.V. Narasimhan, Kamala Narasimhan went on to build her own career in the field of Carnatic Music as an accomplished player on the Veena (a classical string instrument from southern India). She has given numerous concerts and has been featured as a professional artist on a regular basis on the All India Radio.  C.V. and Kamala Narasimhan have three children and five grandchildren.

C.V. Narasimhan held senior positions in Tamil Nadu police as well as important posts under the Government of India including Joint Secretary to Government in the Union Home Ministry,  Director of Central Bureau of Investigation and Member-Secretary of the National Police Commission in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. He was awarded the Police Medal for meritorious service in 1962 and the President’s Medal for distinguished service in 1971.                 

He presided over the INTERPOL sessions at Stockholm in Sweden in 1977 and took a leading hand in evolving a working procedure for international cooperation in the investigation of economic crimes.

C.V. Narasimhan retired from Indian Police Service in 1983 as  Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu, and settled in Chennai , India . Since retirement, he has continued his contributions to society, in particular to the causes of good governance and education. His services were utilised by the Government in the following assignments:

  1. Nominee of the Governor of Tamil Nadu in the Syndicate of Bharathiar University at Coimbatore,

  2. Member of the Standing Advisory Council of the Madras University, 

  3. Member of Justice Ramanujam Committee for Administrative Reforms  and 

  4. Member of Justice Sadashiva Committee set up by the National Human Rights Commission. He was also closely associated with consumer protection activities and functioned as a Trustee of Consumer and Civic Action Group,  Chennai for over 18 years.

He is presently the Chairman of P.S.Charities and President of Vivekananda Educational Society which run 24 schools in and around Chennai.                                                                            

Despite the 'detour' into Indian Police Service, C.V. Narasimhan has maintained his interest in  Mathematics and to this day enjoys tackling complex mathematical problems, specially those relating to Projective Geometry and Number Theory.  His other interests include Tamil literature, Philosophy, the game of Tennis of which he was an ardent fan and active player in his service days, Bridge, and Chess. His commitment to the sustainment and growth of Tamil literature led him to be elected and remain as the President of Delhi Tamil Sangam in New Delhi for nine years between 1971 – 1980. 

Foreword by David H. Bayley
Distinguished Professor, School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, New York, USA.

I am delighted to have been asked to write a foreword to the websites created to honor the accomplishments of C.V. Narasimhan and N. Krishnaswamy. They are legendary figures in the modern Indian police. Although I will comment on some of their history, I will write largely as a friend, colleague, and admirer. It has been my enormous good fortune not only to be associated with the Indian police, but to have been facilitated in my work by insightful, dedicated, and far-sighted IPS. officers such as C.V. and N.K. Like them I have enjoyed the beauty of the old IPS training academy at Mt. Abu. From them I have learned a great deal about the evolution of the Indian police since Independence. And with them I have shared the joys of friendship.

     N.K. was the first of the two that I met. It was in 1972, or possibly 1973, at the United Nations and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Fuchu, Japan, a suburb of Tokyo. This training facility, more familiarly known as UNAFEI, is run by the Japanese Ministry of Justice and draws scholars and practitioners to seminars from all over Asia and sometmes as far away as the Middle East and Africa. N.K. was an invited participant from India and I was a lecturer from the United States. I remember him not only for his thoughtful and insightful comments about the role of police in democratic societies, but also for the lovely sound of his flute as he practiced in quiet corners of the UNAFEI grounds.

     I met C.V. in the late 1970s when he was Member Secretary of the National Police Commission (1977-1981). The Commission, under the able leadership of Dharma Vera, retired Governor of West Bengal, had asked me contribute to its deliberations as a consultant. My task was to explore the proper relationship between operational police officers and elected political leaders. Not to be too cynical, but it would appear that my efforts have made the situation worse rather than better. When Mr Rustumji, Member of NPC, later visited the United States, my wife and I had the great pleasure of having him for dinner at our home in Denver, Colorado. When I returned to India as the NPC was winding down, C.V. gave me an extensive personal briefing on its main findings at the Commission’s office in New Delhi.

     In the ensuing years I have been kept up-to-date about C.V. and N.K. through the good offices of R.K. Raghavan, another close IPS friend, who tries to bring us together whenever I am in Chennai and C.V. and N.K. are not off doing good work somewhere else in India or the world. Rest is not something that either of them practices very much.

     What is remarkable for me is that I have had the opportunity to knowing personally two of the men who integrated the IPS after Independence. Theirs was the generation of officers who assumed responsibility for administering government in India after the British relinquished control. This was a daunting task after the agony of Partition, the rigors of World War II, the recriminations of the Independence struggle, and the need to nurture and accommodate a new political class. India has justly celebrated several of these gifted administrators, including Vallabhbhai Patel, after whom the National Police Academy in Hyderabad is named. Because C.V. Narasimhan and N.Krishnaswamy are of that venerable generation, we have a unique opportunity to learn what it was like to “Indianize” the vaunted steel-frame government during that momentous period.

     Like C.V. and N.K. I have been associated with the Indian police almost all of my professional life. They, of course, as leaders and me only as an observing scholar. I have been distressed by what I perceive as a decline in the standards of Indian policing during my lifetime. Perhaps my judgment romanticizes the past, but I know that C.V. and N.K. share this concern. Unlike me, however, they have tried to do something about it, by leadership, by personal example, and by advocacy.  Both have worked to implement the reforms recommended by the Indian National Police Commission. As evidence of their continued concern with policing, C.V. has recently written a short paper about direct recruitment to the IPS, setting the issue within the historical sweep of Indian policing since Independence and stipulating the principles that should guide IPS leadership. Among his recommendations, C.V. calls correctly for political neutrality of the police. He has been too diplomatic, in my opinion, in not adding that Indian politicians must learn to respect the operational and managerial integrity of the IPS. C.V. knows this issue full well, having wrestled with it throughout his career.

     N.K. has added an insightful annexure to C.V.’s paper about the importance of intelligence, in the technical sense, in police work. Intelligence gathering, he argues, has not utilized enough face-to-face interactions with the public and has relied too much on specialized units, often operating covertly. Police must learn to encourage cooperative relations with the public in order to obtain more timely and focused intelligence. He stresses the importance of developing the analytic capability of police control rooms, which has remained “rudimentary” in India.

     Writing such as these indicate why C.V. and N.K. are role models indeed for young IPS officers.

     One of the great privileges of my life has been to know these two great police professionals. Our association has not only been rewarding in terms of what I have learned about the Indian Police, but has been fun. What more could I have asked for?

David Bayley

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