ASSAM’S BEST DISTRICTS

LAW AND ORDER

Though Assam accounts for just 3.8 per cent of the total cognisable cases under the IPC (Indian Penal Code) in the country, it has the third-highest crime rate, at 358.9 incidences of crime per 100,000 people, as revealed in the 2019 report of the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau). The national average crime rate is 241.2. Assam also has the fourth-highest rate of murders in India and recorded 56 incidences of kidnapping, the third-highest in the country. The state has also earned the ignominy of having a high rate of rape—at 10.5 incidents of rape per 100,000 people, it’s the third-highest rate in India. The 2019 NCRB report also found that 397 cases were registered against police personnel, the third-highest in the country. The state also suffers from serious shortage of manpower, with 59 police personnel per 100,000 people, as against 99 in Kerala and 90 in Telangana, two states with comparable populations. Yet, to the state’s credit, the number of pending cases per 1,000 people in Assam is just nine—among the lowest in the country. Aside from this, the state has also shown remarkable progress in remaining free of terror-related activities. While 45 persons were killed in 2016, when the BJP-led government came to power, only seven people fell victim to terror-related violence in 2020. The number was just two in 2019, a far cry from 2001, when the toll was 284.

As Assam enters a phase of relative peace, the state is gradually taking steady steps towards social and economic progress. Bogged down by a