Prakash Singh is a retired

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

officer, who rose to the highest rank of Director General of Police (DGP). He has served as Chief of the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

(BSF), Uttar Pradesh Police and

Assam Police The Assam Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Assam in India. The regular police force was initiated in Assam by the British after the Treaty of Yandaboo to maintain the law and order. It functions under the Department of Hom ...

. He is considered one of the best police officers for his role as key architect for Police reforms in India. After his retirement from service in 1996, he filed a

Public Interest Litigation The chief instrument through which judicial activism has flourished in India is public interest litigation (PIL) or social action litigation (SAL). It refers to litigation undertaken to secure public interest and demonstrates the availability ...

(PIL) in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. The landmark verdict of PIL came in 2006, in which the Supreme Court has given specific directions to the central and state governments to carry out structural changes in the police with a view to insulating it from extraneous pressures and making it accountable to the people.

Personal life

Mr Singh was born on 10 January 1936 in a rajput Family in a small village near Mehnajpur

Azamgarh district Azamgarh district is one of the three districts of Azamgarh division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, a son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit ...

of Uttar Pradesh, India and studied in the

University of Allahabad The University of Allahabad is a Central university (India), Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). ...

. He is married to Savitri. His son Pankaj Kumar Singh was appointed as the

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

in September 2021. His another son Piyush Kumar Singh was a Fortune 500 corporate executive, a successful start-up Founder and currently a CoFounder of an Insurance Services Product company in the US. Presently Prakash Singh and his wife live in

Noida Noida (), short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (ISO: ), is a city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. As per provisional reports of Census of India, the population of Noida in 2011 was ...

Career

Prakash Singh is a 1959 batch, Uttar Pradesh cadre

Officer. His first posting as an IPS Officer was as Assistant Superintendent of Police,

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

(ASP Kanpur).

Post retirement activities

* Present Chairman of

Indian Police Foundation and Institute The Indian Police Foundation and Institute is a New Delhi based research organization which seeks to bring the police and the citizen stakeholders together to collectively work for improving the professional, ethical and the service delivery stand ...

. * Associate Fellow,

Joint Special Operations University The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) is the designated agency within USSOCOM The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations ...

. * Conducted Inquiry into Haryana Jat Reservation Agitation in 2016. * Member, National Security Advisory Board between 2013 and 2014. * Member, Expert Group of Planning Commission to study ''Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas'' in 2008. * Chairman of Committee constituted by Allahabad High Court to De-Criminalize politics in UP between 2007 and 2008. *

gave orders on his petition to ''Restructure the Police Forces'' for Police Reforms in 2006. * Headed Inquiry Commission to probe attempted assassination of

N. Chandrababu Naidu Nara Chandrababu Naidu (; born 20 April 1950), commonly known as CBN, is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He holds the record of longest-serving Chief Minister in the political histor ...

by Naxalites in 2004. * Assists the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a constitutional body tasked with recruiting officers for All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B) through various standardized examinations. In 2023, 1.3 million applica ...

as expert in the selection of All India Civil Services officers.

Prakash Singh committees

After retirement he has been tasked to head Inquiry Committees on two occasions. * In February 2016 he was appointed by

Government of Haryana Government of Haryana, also known as the State Government of Haryana, or locally as the Haryana Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Haryana and its 22 districts. It consists of an executive, ceremonially led ...

to submit the report on Role of Officers of Civil Administration and Police during Jat reservation agitation in

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. The agitation had resulted in loss of 30 lives, blockade of National Highways, large scale damage to public and private property in many districts worth INR 20,000 crores. The 451 pages report, indicting 80 government officials was submitted in record period of 71 days. * In 2003, the

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

had asked him to conduct an Inquiry into the incident of mine blast at Tirumala Ghat Road, Chittur District on 1 October 2003 in which the Naxalite attempted to assassinate the then Chief Minister of the state, Mr

. A comprehensive Report was submitted by him on 6 February 2004.

As an author

Mr Singh has authored the following books. * * * * * * * *

Awards

Prakash Singh is a recipient of

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Award in year 1991 for his contribution to Civil Service. He has also been awarded State award by Government of Uttar Pradesh, Police Medal for Meritorious Service and Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

References

External links

Prakash Singh Committee Report

Police Reforms: Long Overdue

7 Steps to Police Reforms

Prakash Singh Vs Union of India

twitter.com/singh_prakash
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Prakash Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in civil service 1936 births Indian police officers