Former Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh Vikram Singh said Uttar Pradesh has undergone a ‘major shift’ over the last nine years under a ‘zero tolerance towards crime and criminality’ approach, arguing that law and order remains a decisive factor in economic growth and investment, with weak policing driving capital flight and improved governance strengthening investor confidence.Speaking to TOI’s Aditi Prasad, he said, “if there is no law and order and crime control, there will be zero investment, if not negative investment.” He added, “whatever investment happened earlier, they will also go away from the concerned state.”He added, “Unprecedented blessing has come in the form of the absolutely perfect law and order control and crime control.”Arguing that the government no longer needed promotional campaigns, he said, “Today’s government… does not have to advertise itself… now the facts and figures speak for themselves.”Singh said, “Uttar Pradesh was known as the crime capital of the country,” recalling earlier years as a period marked by widespread insecurity and organised crime. He added that “Western Uttar Pradesh, was known as a west and waste land of UP because crime and criminality were such that everybody was insecure. You name the gangs and they were operating at the time.”A number of alleged criminal figures were active and cases such as kidnapping for ransom and contract killings, were part of what he described as a broader environment of entrenched criminality in the state. He added that this climate of insecurity had contributed to large-scale out-migration from Uttar Pradesh, with people leaving the state and settling in places such as Delhi, Punjab and Chandigarh.However, Singh said that this trend of outward migration is now being replaced by what he described as a ‘reverse migration’ back into Uttar Pradesh.“There is an investment of more than 34,000… in Uttar Pradesh that speaks volumes about the confidence that the captains of industry”, he stated.Citing the NCRB data, he said, “There is 80% decline in robbery, almost 90% decline in dacoity… murder has also recorded a 47% decline. Rape has come down by 53%.” He added, “As against 815 riots between 2012 and 2017, zero riots in these 9 years.”The former DGP also highlighted enforcement outcomes under ‘Operation Conviction’, an initiative launched by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to ensure faster investigation, prosecution and conviction in serious criminal cases. He said that the programme has been in operation from 2023 onwards and has continued through 2025, stating that the it led to significant judicial outcomes, “There have been 1.2 lakh convictions, 79 death penalties… and 10,415 life imprisonments.”He said, “Police does not have to take recourse to shortcut measures,” adding that most major offenders have been convicted through courts.
