Reserving 33 Percent Posts for Women in CPMFs

Reserving 33 Percent Posts for Women in CPMFs 

            There is no proposal to increase the percentage of women personnel in CAPF upto 33 percent. However, in compliance of recommendations given by Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women in its sixth report, directions have been issued to all CAPFs to bring percentage of women in the forces to 5%. The force-wise details of women personnel at present are as under:-

Force/ Orgz’n	Posted Strength	Female	%age of Women w.r.t. posted strength
CRPF	286892	6120	2.13%
CISF	126636	6203	4.89%
SSB	79049	1186	1.50%
BSF	248882	3534	1.42%
ITBP	80864	1570	1.75%
AR	65609	485	0.74%
Total	887932	19098	2.15%

            To enhance the strength of women in CAPFs, Government is taking continuous steps. Some of these steps are as follows:-

· In the ongoing recruitment of Constables/General Duty, out of total vacancies of 62390,  8533 (about 14%) are earmarked for women.

· Government has approved recruitment of 2772 Mahila personnel (21 Companies) during the year 2014-15 to 2017-18 in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

· Government has approved raising of 02 Mahila (women) Battalions in place of 02 General Duty Battalions in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to be raised in the year  2015-16 and 2016-17.

Women personnel of General Duty cadre are deployed for performing combat duties like:-

(i) Gate management, Checking and Frisking

(ii) Patrolling duties

(iii) Interrogation and escorting of female apprehendees.

(iv) Law & Order duties

(v) Static guard duties at some of vital installations and also deployed during Shri Amarnathji Yatra

(vi) Also deployed in Maoist affected states for anti-Naxal operations

Conversion of two additional battalions of Sashastra Seema Bal for National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and for strengthening existing NDRF battalions

Conversion of two additional battalions of Sashastra Seema Bal for National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and for strengthening existing NDRF battalions

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for the conversion of two additional battalions of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and for strengthening existing  NDRF battalions.

The objective of the conversion of these two additional battalions of SSB into NDRF battalions is to provide response to the area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh during any natural and manmade disaster and to enhance the capability of the existing NDRF battalions. The placement of two NDRF Battalions at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh will fill up the vast gap of deployment of the NDRF.

Paramilitary Forces Deployed in Naxalism/LWE affected Areas

Paramilitary Forces Deployed in Naxalism/LWE affected Areas

Presently, a total of 691 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are deployed in 10 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal for anti-LWE operation/Internal Security/ Counter Insurgency duties.

                                             

The State-wise break up of number of CAPFs is given below:

State	No. of CAPFs (in coys)
Andhra Pradesh	16
Telangana	12
Bihar	57
Chhattisgarh	259
Jharkhand	144
Madhya Pradesh	08
Maharashtra	34
Odisha	102
Uttar Pradesh	06
West Bengal	53
Total	691

        Deployment of CAPFs is a dynamic process and keeps on changing from time to time depending upon the requirements projected by the state as well as demands of other LWE affected states, availability of force and security situation in the particular state.

Let younger BSF officers take charge: Delhi HC

Let younger BSF officers take charge: Delhi HC

The High Court observed there is an extreme level of frustration among members of the BSF.

At a time of frequent cross-border exchange of fire and stress on younger officers leading the charge, the average age of an officer commanding a BSF battalion on the India-Pak border is close to 50 years. Taking a serious view of this, the Delhi High Court has asked the government to create more posts at senior levels in the force so that timely promotions can take place and younger officers take charge of battalions.

The court has asked the government to carry out a cadre review (that will facilitate creation of new posts) through a committee in the next six months.

The order not only augurs well for the security of the borders but has also come as a big relief to BSF where career stagnation has led to a high rate of attrition. While laid down rules say a cadre review must be carried out every five years, it has not been done in BSF for the past 25 years.

The court order, passed in response to writ petitions filed by BSF officers on Wednesday, said, "Since the respondents (government) have not denied their responsibility to carry out a cadre review in BSF, we dispose of the two writ petitions directing that the cadre review exercise should be completed within the next six months, because time is running out and the issues raised in various writ petitions before us concerning BSF show an extreme level of frustration in the enrolled and appointed members of the force, which is not good for the security of the country."

The petitions have highlighted that no cadre review has led to one officer leading a BSF battalion of over 1200 men while the same figure for Army is just 800. Average age of a commandant in BSF is 49.2 years, while the same in Army (of a colonel) is 41.

It has also highlighted that "whereas percentage of higher administrative grade and above posts in BSF is a meagre 0.05% of the total strength of the organization, in some state civil cadres it ranges between 15.84% to 24.32%."

"We further direct that while carrying out the cadre review, the salient features of the requirement of the force as is brought out by the writ petitioners, which finds a reflection in our present decision, would be duly considered by the committee appointed and the two writ petitions would be treated as a representation to the said committee," the order said.