Subhashis Mittra

Government to enhance forensic capabilities in the country

The Union home ministry is going full steam towards establishing a National Forensic Science University (NFSU) in every major state and a mobile forensic van in every district. With the help of forensic science, India will soon rank among the leading countries in the world in terms of conviction rate.

According to Union home minister Amit Shah, 16 campuses of the NFSU have been approved, seven have been established, and a few are in process. An NFSU college will be set up in every major state to ensure the availability of trained manpower, he said, noting that from the 26 campuses across the country, 36,000 students will graduate annually with degrees, diplomas, and PhDs to meet the country’s requirement of 30,000 trained professionals per year. In this way, the task of creating human resources as per the requirement has been completed in advance.

Nine more NFSU campuses will be built at a cost of Rs 1,300 crore, while seven new Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) will be established at a cost of Rs 860 crore in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bihar.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has supported the forensic science infrastructure of the states and a Rs 2,080 crore plan is being introduced for the modernisation of forensic capabilities. Besides, a National Forensic Data Centre will be established at a cost of Rs 200 crore.

Shah recently laid the foundation stone of the NFSU and CFSL campus in Raipur (Chhattisgarh), and virtually inaugurated the temporary campus of NFSU-Raipur. The establishment of NFSU and CFSL in New Rai