Maxwell Pereira Kamath – Mangalorean Star
Mr Maxwell Pereira Kamath is an extraordinary man of diverse interests, filled with true determination, discipline and dedication. He climbed the ladder from being a lawyer in 1967 to a post of Joint Commissioner of Police for the New Delhi Range of the Capital City of India in 2003. He is best known for his ever approachable and helpful nature, in addition to his exceptional legal background.
He has also been a well-known visiting faculty at various institutions in India, including The Indian Institute of Public Administration, The National Police Academy, National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, various Police Training Colleges, National Institute of Highway Safety and the Indian Institute of Technology.
He is actively involved in social welfare activities as a Rotarian, a prolific writer and a much sought-after speaker, he has been widely interviewed on Radio and Television networks, both local and international (..like NDTV, AajTak, CNN, BBC, CNBC, ABN, STAR and others), with hundreds of television appearances to his credit as a panelist/expert or consultant on varied topics and areas of expertise. Due to his versatile style of writing, he has earned the nickname of “The Thinking Policeman”, and his write-ups and articles appear regularly in such national dailies as the Times of India, the Hindustan Times, the Indian Express, the Statesman, the Delhi Mid-day and the Pioneer. His book, Road Safety for Schools, was published by the MacMillan Company of India in 1976, and he is currently working on “Criminality in Politics”, based on the most volatile and criminal infested Indian political scenario. Among others in the pipeline is another book on “Sensational Crimes of Delhi” to be published by Penguin shortly.
Maxwell Francis Joseph Pereira Kamath, a Mangalorean, was born in Salem (under the erstwhile Madras Presidency, now Tamil Nadu), on October 3, 1944. His Father – Ligoury Bernard Pereira (of the Bajpe Kuntala-kambla Pereira Kamath lineage), and mother – Stella Eleanora D’Souza.
Mr. Pereira Kamath received his early education at Mangalore’s St. Aloysius School before receiving his Bachelor of Science (St. Joseph’s graduating class of ’65) and Bachelor of Laws (Govt. Law College – graduating class of ’67) degrees from Bangalore University. He continued his further study and obtained Diploma in Business Administration from New Delhi in 1975.
Mr. Pereira Kamath began his government service in the year 1970. Prior to this, he managed his father’s Coffee Estates in Sakleshpur. He was an Advocate in Bangalore Courts from 1967 to 1970. Well known for his no-nonsense approach to curbing anti-social elements and rioters and for bringing order to chaotic conditions on city roads in Delhi, Mr. Pereira Kamath belonged to the Union Territories Cadre of the prestigious Indian Police Service (IPS). He has served in various capacities in Delhi, Sikkim, Mizoram and Pondicherry territories, specializing in criminology, administration, police community relations, traffic management/road safety, and in management of public offices, productivity and personnel. He has attended seminars and conferences worldwide and visited Japan, Singapore, U.K., Canada, U.S.A., France to name a few.
He has been called as the “High Profile Cop” of the Delhi Police and honored with numerous laurels during his successful thirty five years of service in Delhi. He has earned nine national and four regional awards adorning the lapel of his uniform, making him one of the most highly decorated police officers in India. Also a thoroughbred field officer with a reputation for taking the bull by the horns, he is the recipient of the Indian Police Medal for Gallantry (1979), the Police Medal for Meritorious Services (1987) and the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services (1995).
Outside his profession, Mr. Pereira Kamath has served as a Managing Committee Member of the Chartered Institute of Transport of the U.K. (India Chapter): an Executive Committee Member of the Automobile Association of Upper India (New Delhi); a member of the Traffic Engineering Committee for the Indian Roads Congress; and a life member of the Indian Society of Criminology, the Criminal Justice Society of India, and the Institute of Road Safety Education. At various stages of his career, he has held the positions in the State Transport Authority of Delhi and the Technical Committee of the Delhi Development Authority, as well.
To add a feather to his hat, Mr. Pereira Kamath has had occasion to interact on international programs and projects with Scotland Yard and other police forces in the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore Police, the Metropolitan Police forces of Washington DC, New York City, and the Seattle Administration in the United States. Also, as a member of the Board of Directors of the New Delhi YMCA, he has interacted with YMCA’s in London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Washington, New York, Seattle, Vancouver, and Chicago.
With Pope John Paul II
Mr. Pereira Kamath hails from the Kuntala Kambla ‘Pereira Kamath’ landed family of Bajpe in the suburbs of Mangalore in Karnataka (South India), tracing lineage to the migrations of five millennia ago, of the ones who moved from the banks of the Vedic Saraswati when its waters dried up. Via the erstwhile Trihotrapura (current day Tirhut division of Bihar) courtesy the tenth avatar sage Parasu Rama, eventually to settle along the lush Konkan plains of the west coast of India between the Sahyadri mountains (western ghats) and the Arabian Sea. Ancestors converted to Christianity in the initial flush of St. Francis Xavier’s Apostolate in Goa, from where various societal factors of the then prevalent caste system and the joint-family hegemony and circumstances resulting from accepting a western religion even while holding on to local Indian customs, warranted moving out of parts of the local community – to settle eventually in around the late 16th century at Mangalapura – in the delta regions of the confluence of the rivers of Kanara (Netravati and Gurpur) on the West Coast – the present day Mangalore, and its surroundings. Grandfather – Joseph Pereira Kamath, a landed farmer, head of the Kuntala Kambla Guthu. Parents – father Ligoury, an academician, Professor of languages and Physical Director at St. Aloysius College. Later, a philanthropist, entrepreneur and pioneer in pharmaceuticals, textiles, insurance and exports, ultimately to retire in Bangalore after being a ‘coffee planter’ of eminence in Sakleshpur – died at 74 in 1980. Mother Stella, a magistrate in the ‘40s and ‘50s, later a simple housewife, tenacious and resilient to the core – died at the ripe old age of 92 in 2003.
An interview with Mr. Pereira Kamath in his own words:
Early life and education:
Born on 3rd October, 1944 in Salem, Madras Presidency (current Sate of Tamil Nadu), India. Early education at Mangalore’s St. Aloysius. As ordinary a student as any other, fortified with nothing else but youthful exuberance and an arrogant confidence in self – be it in intellect or own ability to achieve. Academic performance rarely below the top few, with a love for the outdoors…. excelling in sports and games, and in music. For latter part of schooling career, had to move into the school ‘boarding house’ due to parents preferring a life of sweat and toil in the ‘ghats’ midst the grandeur of nature and wilderness, growing coffee. Hence grew up with an intense love for agriculture, the outdoors and the wilds of the forests, and plenty of shikaar in the jungles.
Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) from the Madras Board in March, 1960. PUC from Mysore University. Moved to Bangalore for college education – B.Sc. at St. Joseph’s and Law degree from Govt. Law College – Bangalore University. Unwittingly and easily catapulted into high profile – due to attributes and proficiency in public speaking, writing and publishing, amateur theatre, sports and games and student leadership activities. Member of the erstwhile the then Mysore State Bar Council and practised as an Advocate in the Bangalore Courts, mainly at Mayo Hall. While in service, also did Business Management from YMCA Management School, New Delhi in 1975. Currently registered for a PhD in History with the Mumbai University, on “French colonial policing in India”. The research is still on.
With President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Started a family in 1975. Now we are totally three children and self – two daughters in the US, a son with his wife in the uk – scattered around the globe pursuing their own individual vocations in the European and American Continents.
Joining the Police Service:
Many in the IPS, for sure, joined this service through inspiration and design. I am not one of those ideals! Like most who attempted the All India Combined Services Examination of the UPSC who appeared in those days for a lark, to achieve the elitist and the highest possible then in the public eye, to ‘make do’ and be satisfied with whatever one got – I too was no different. Declared eligible for appointment to the IPS on the basis of the UPSC exam of 1968, ended up joining the Delhi Police in 1970 through a strange quirk of fate. Having throughout been earmarked to take over family properties and manage the little empire built up by father through sheer dint of sweat, toil and hard work, there was family and parental resistance initially, which had to be overcome – to join government service. The idea of deserting the earmarked ‘career’ in favour of government service was anathema to father, who relented in the end against strict understanding and firm undertaking that return to ‘base’ in three years would be mandatory – after having quenched my ‘wander lust’ enough to settle for a serious life of taking up the reins of family holdings. That once having joined police service fate willed it so I could never look back, is another story.
It is mesmerizing to know that in spite of prevailing corruption in Indian Police and Political field, you vision basically is devoid of this notion. Can you express you expain how you could maintain your principles and ethics during your tenancy of 35 years in Government Service?
In my opinion, it is the system that breeds corruption. If one’s foundations are strong with right values and principles imbibed through right upbringing, I feel one is strong enough to withstand the adverse social pressures that tend to make individuals week-kneed and prone to compromise. One needs to have a strong sense of the ‘right’ from the ‘wrong’ and the courage to press on regardless in the face of adversity – irrespective of reward or pain of sufferance.
It is often said that adequate compensation and reward is a natural human want. But this, I feel, sometimes has no limit. If one dwells on these aspects too much, and to the detriment of the actual service expected or rendered, we run the risk of being victims to a flawed perception leading to mediocrity in our performance, in our whole personality.
That having been said, may be I am not an ambitious person, who though with aspirations for the moon, did not really cry over not getting it – over not getting what was my due or what I wanted. Many may not agree with what I say, but being true to myself with contentment and satisfaction in what I do and achieve, is what matters for me in the end.
When a common man thinks of a policeman and that too from our mother country, one thinks of hard-headed person devoid of any human feelings. What inspired you to have these diverse talents, especially, in the field of literacy, education and media?
It is unfortunate that the police suffer from an image crisis. Not without reason. Believe me, policemen are no paragons of all virtue, even though society expects them to be! Also, perhaps it is necessary for mothers and elders not to make the policeman a convenient ‘bogeyman’ to make children pliable in their infancy and childhood stage.
But there are other reasons too. Policing is tough. The demands on a policeman are heavy. It is expected of the police to be the strong arm of the administration. The role is regulatory, required to ‘enforce’ and to always tell everyone: “do this or don’t do that”. The resultant factor common to all forces throughout the world, is that the policeman does not evoke feelings of love! Instead, it is resentment, if not hatred.
From infancy when the very mention of a policeman made us do things that we were reluctant to do, down the line through one’s adulthood the policeman continues to be thought of as a necessary evil – someone we can’t do without, someone necessarily to be suffered. At no stage and in no interaction does the policeman emerge unscathed, the entire system geared to have a negative effect on his functioning.
The public take their grievances to the police, where they are perpetually dissatisfied with the response – till of course the lost goods are found, or the grievance stands redressed. The police try to do what they can, sometimes with success, sometimes with not as much as expected, and the matter is sent to court. Where it prolongs, often with even the recovered property not returned to the aggrieved for years. And in the process, be it the complainant or the witness, is summoned again and again and subjected to the utmost discourtesy drawing no distinction between criminal and others, for all of which the public blames the police!
A policeman is normally portrayed as rough and tough, guttural in his utterances, generally exuding power and strength, – all of which may be positive aspects, which normally should give a positive image. But instead, people tend to associate this power and strength as excessive or excessively used. Being an authority with the liberty and license to use the ‘danda’ on the evil doer, very often the use of the ‘danda’ by the police is viewed as a brutal act, extending itself to giving the general image to the police of indiscriminate use of force, of use of force when not warranted, of excessive use of force even when warranted, and so on. In this, the role of the media, not to say the least, has been significant in giving this brutal image to the police.
To meet the tasks assigned to him, the policeman has to often sacrifice his health and the heath of his personal life. Long and irregular hours take their toll and spell neglect of his family. Because of work stress and rigors of duty, family life tends to turn problematic, crises ridden and strained. Psychologically drained, the policeman is often forced to carry his official worries home, to infringe and impose on his domestic life. The impact of crime, crime and crime and continuous integration with criminals and other hardened elements of society tend to make the police develop a brutal outlook at the slightest provocation
In such a scenario, believe me one needs diversions to keep one’s sanity, interests outside policing. Hobbies and activities outside policing helped me be a normal citizen. Interest in music, writing for my own pleasure gave me release, comfort and satisfaction, enabling me to let my hair down savor aspects of life that were otherwise rushing past leaving me behind. Even so, perceptions often can be deceptive. No individual is without his crosses!
Among the many wise sayings in the Mahabharata, is also the revelation that the greatest ‘gift’ anyone can give another, is ‘abhaya-daan’ the gift of ‘freedom from fear’. India’s former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpeye addressing the Delhi Police many years ago told us that there is only one service or agency in the world which can gift this ‘abhaya-daan’. Only the police! It is only the police who can remove fear in an individual’s mind or circumstance. The medical profession, the only other to claim a distant second in this ability. It is this realization in society, with the citizens the police serve, which is necessary. And both – the society, and the police, needs to work hard towards this goal.
When you were the Superintendent of Police in Sikkim, you were the recipient of a most decorated honor, “Indian Police Medal of Gallantry” What specific success you achieved to have this most coveted honor?
I’d like to believe that most work hard, put in their best. But not everyone is lucky to get recognition for it. Briefly, there was a jail riot inside Gangtok Jail in 1979, when the inmates had gone on a rampage, over-powered the Jail-wardens and taken them hostage – generally taking control of the jail. When prolonged efforts of the State machinery had failed to overcome the situation, I had managed to effect entry with a small band of loyal troops by jumping over a fire cordon built by the miscreants and subdued the riot in the face of uncertainty and bodily injury. The State Government in recognition of my initiative and contribution recommended to the President of India that I be rewarded for it.
Can you enlighten the Mangalorean.com writers, viewers and well-wishers your most valuable contribution to the community, as a decorated Government Staff?
Not me, but the community should be the assessor of what it may consider my most valuable contribution. I am satisfied that I was in a position of authority that had opportunities to help the needy, and am thankful for the treasury of ‘goodwill’ gained by me in the process.
Your most recent publication on Rajesh Ranjan (Pappu Yadav) is most vivid in presentation and mind boggling for all the intellectuals on the ground of, “Bihar States local community’s perception of their chosen representative”. What inspires them and endures them to have this leadership? Keeping this in perspective, do you feel at this time you could have done something different in (reaching out) eradicating this simplistic attitude? What measures will be effective in eradicating this ‘frame of mind’ of the community?
I think that article of mine is quite clear on the subject. While I have come up with a poser there wondering what it is that makes us Indians hero worship the law-breaker and send such to Parliament, there is no getting away from the fact that the only way to counter this is a firm resolve by the powers-that-be not to throw up hands, but to enforce the rule of law with no compromises. The administration and its police needs to have guts for this.
Do you feel the values and culture of your birth community and where you grew-up as an adolescent to adult played an integral part in advancement of your most successful career? Can you distinguish some of the important fundamental differences that we have as Mangaloreans with that of Northern Indian masses?
There is a belief in North India that topographically anything or anyone from below the line of the Vindhya Mountains has that much more respect for the rule of law. There are reasons for this. Due to repeated invasions, the mostly ravaged and metaphorically raped milieu of North India have suffered adverse consequences, which have blunted their sensitivities – to be bull-dozing and aggressive, brusque and brash with scruples thrown to the winds and heavily materialistic in their approach to life. Short-cuts for self-interest and self-survival being their primary motto.
Compared to this, we in the South, I believe, have been pretty lucky to have had less turmoil in our lives over the centuries and we’ve had a God-fearing upbringing that believed in inculcating the right values – both, at home and at school. Then I believe The Lord Above has been a bit partial to Mangaloreans while dispensing His small mercies in the form of intelligence and other attributes of endeavor and enterprise, to generally emerge as leaders wherever or in whatever walk of life we venture. So being Mangalorean, a Catholic Christian, with a Jesuit education, has contributed immensely and without doubt played a major part in the personality development of yours truly.
Your youth days and any memorable events:
I don’t think my youth was any different from my neighbour’s, nor anything extraordinary about it. But I must consider myself lucky – God was kind, and gave me lovely parents steeped in values, from families proud of tradition and lineage, who were God-fearing and just. Sufficient means, with a decent standard of living that believed in the motto “want not and waste not”! A terrific childhood filled with mischief, fun and laughter, not devoid of the usual pangs of growth, sibling and peer rivalry and competition. Good school, good education – both, indoors for academics and outdoors for sport, enough exposure to nature, agriculture and the jungle, with the excitement of ‘shikar’ and the adventures of wildlife and the wilderness.
Against this background, I must confess: neither your space, nor my time will be able to contain the magnitude and quantum of memorable events that filled those halcyon and wonderful days that were part of my youth. This is my perception – for everyone, their own! Like I said before, all this irrespective of the plethora of adversities side by side, without which life would have ceased to be fun, or a challenge.
What is your advice to Mangalorean Youth and readers?
While I do believe that all human stock is incredibly gifted in multifarious ways, it is only a disciplined life that helps to identify and focus on priorities, to channelise one’s energies and realize one’s true potential.
My advice to our youth is to believe in themselves. Instead of looking for role models, it is necessary for each to think “why can’t I be a role model”.
It is necessary for Mangaloreans to shed stereo-typed mediocrity wherever it exists and to venture across a broader horizon with a broader vision; to be forward thinking, aiming at levels of excellence to reach nothing but the top. With that attitude to life, even if one can’t be at the top, at least one can ensure we are ensconced not too far below the top.
Mr Pereira Kamath’s brief profile:
Academic Qualifications:
Bachelor of Science – Bangalore University, India, April, 1965.
Bachelor of Law – Bangalore University, India, April, 1967.
Diploma in Business Management – New Delhi, YMCA, 1975
MCIT (Member of the Chargered Institute of Transport of U.K., India Chapter) – February 1993.
Research Scholar for Ph.D. In “French Policing in India” registered with Mumbai University.
Professional Career:
Practiced law as an advocate from 1967-1970 in Bangalore courts.
Worked as a manager in the Magadi and Sunderban Coffee Estates, Sakleshpur, India from 1969-1970.
Worked for the Government of India as a member in the Indian Police Service from 1970 – 2004.
Appointments Held:
From 1972-1975, appointed as Assistant Commissioner of Police in field assignments including District Policing and traffic in Delhi. Served as the first Superintendent of Police for Sikkim after its merger with the Indian Union from 1976-1980. Then for a year, he worked as Director Vigilance and Security in the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (a Public Sector Undertaking of the government). In 1981, he was appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Police to work first in the north and then in the south districts of Delhi till 1987. To Mizoram then from 1987-1989, as an Assistant Inspector General of Police and Chief Vigilance Officer for the State. There on till 1994, appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Delhi in the traffic and CID Crime Branch Units. From 1994-1997, he was the Additional Commissioner of Police, Delhi, in the New Delhi and Southern Ranges. From 1997-2000 worked as an Inspector General of Police, for the Union Territory of Pondicherry. A stint in France on a fellowship of the French Govt. for Research on French Colonial Policing in India for six months in 2000 in Paris and Aix-en-Provence. On return to Delhi, as in charge of General Administration at Delhi Police HQs for a while, before once again being saddled with the Traffic portfolio as Joint Commissioner. Pereira’s last position from 2003 July to 2004 October, was as the Joint Commissioner of Police for the New Delhi Range of the Capital City.
Teaching Experience:
Visiting faculty member at:
• The Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.
• The National Police Academy
• The School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.
• National Institute of Criminology of Forensic Science.
• The Police Training College, Delhi Police.
• The Training School of the Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi.
• The Intelligence Bureau Training School, New Delhi.
• The Organisation Development Cell & Road Safety Cell of the Delhi Police.
Areas of Expertise & Specialisation:
• Administration
• Personnel Management
• General Policing
• Criminal Law and Legal Applications
• Investigations
• Traffic Management
• Crime Control
• Public Relations
• Media Management
Honours & Awards:
International:
• Honoured in the International Who’s Who of Intellectuals -Twelfth edition, of the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, U.K
• Personal biography published in the ‘Dictionary of International Biographies’ – 25th edition, by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, London.
• Honoured in the ‘Five Hundred Leaders of Influence’ – publication of the American Biographical Institute, USA.
National:
• Indian Police Medal for Gallantry for Conspicuous Courage in handling and subduing a jail riot in Gangtok Jail ( Sikkim ) – March, 1979.
• Sangram Medal (1971 Indopak-Bangladesh War).
• Katin Seva, Police (Special Duty) Medal for Service in Sikkim – 1976-77
• Bar to Katin Seva, Police ( Special Duty ) Medal for Sikkim Service, 1977-79.
• Katin Seva, Police (Special Duty) Medal for Service in Mizoram (1987-88)
• Bar to Katin Seva, Police (Special Duty) Medal for Mizoram Service (1988-89).
• Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service, Republic Day, January, 1987.
• Twenty-five years of Indian Independence Medal-1972.
• President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services Republic Day, January, 1995.
• Fifty Years of Indian Independence Medal 1998
Regional:
• The Catholic Sabha Mangalore Pradesh Award for selfless Service 14.12.1980
• Certificate of Merit awarded by the All India Sarafa Association, Chandni Chowk, Delhi – 19.4.1986.
• The Nehru Bal Mela – 90 Award for Good Work – December, 1990.
• The Road Safety Award – 1991 of the Automobile Association of Upper India (January 1991)
• Vishishta Kannadiga (Great son of the soil) – Title conferred by the Karnataka Sangha, Delhi for humanitarian services rendered to the community and society in general.
• Honoured by the Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Delhi on ‘Prerna Divas’, 7th Jan 1996, at the 27th Annual Day Function, in appreciation of Humanitarian Services And for being the Best Police Officer.
Published works (Books, Reports, etc):
• Road Safety for Schools – Published by MacMillan of India, 1976.
• Write-ups and articles in prominent National newspapers & magazines.
• Research Papers in Professional Journals.
Languages known:
English, Hindi, French, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, & Tamil
Membership, Associations, Institutes, etc.(with offices held):
Member – Chartered Institute of Transport(UK)-India Chapter. Ex- Managing Committee
Member – YMCA-Young Men’s Christian Association, NDelhi.(Board of Mgmt 1989-1999)
Member – Rotary International-Rotary Club of Delhi Garden City, (ex-VP and BM )
Member – ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations)
Member – INTACH (Indian National Architectural and Culture Heritage).
Member – India International Centre, New Delhi
Member – India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Member – St. Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi (Board of Management)
Member – Governing Body, ‘The Banyan Tree’ School, Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi
Member – Top Management Club, Institute of Marketing Management, Qutub Intl Area, ND
Member – Save the Children (Delhi Chapter – Board of Management)
Member – “Khushii” – Board of Management.
Member – Foundation for Peace, Harmony & Good Governanace – Board of Management
Member – Delhi Gymkhana Club.
Member – Delhi Golf Club
Member – Institute of Road Traffic Education, New Delhi
Member – Kanara Cultural Association, Delhi
Member – Karnataka Sangha, Delhi
Member – Goan Sports & Cultural Club, Delhi
Member – Delhi Music Society
V.President – Capital City Minstrels
Member – Bangalore Club
Ex-Member – Traffic Engineering Committee of the Indian Roads Congress
Ex-Member – Indian Society of Criminology
Ex-Member – State Transport Authority, New Delhi
Ex-Member – State Transport Authority, Pondicherry
Ex-Member – Managing Committee, Automobile Association of Upper India.
Ex-Member – Technical Committee of the Delhi Development Authority
Mangalorean.com salutes Mr Maxwell Pereira Kamath and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
