Fill paramilitary, police vacancies to secure India
The Union Government's decision to hire some 62,000 security personnel for various Central paramilitary and police forces could not have come a day sooner. For a large and populous country like India, located in one of the world's most unsafe regions, the importance of well-manned security forces cannot be overstated.
Yet, across the country, in almost all paramilitary and police forces, thousands of posts lie vacant — for reasons that vary from the political to the bureaucratic to the logistical. In July 2014, the Union Ministry for Home Affairs admitted that there are more than 71,500 vacancies in the paramilitary forces alone. The Central Reserve Police Force, the country's largest paramilitary force, tops the list with almost 19,000 vacancies, and the Central Industrial Security Force follows suit with more than 15,000 vacancies.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police needs about 13,500 personnel and so does the Sashastra Seema Bal to fill its ranks. The Special Frontier Force also suffers from a man-power shortage while the more recently established National Investigation Agency has struggled to live up to expectations, in part, because it lacks qualified personnel.
The importance of each of these agencies does not have to be reiterated. Suffice to say, each agency contributes an important element to our national security cover — be it the CRPF jawans who are at the frontlines of India's battle against the Maoists; the CISF constables who secure our atomic plants, thermal projects and airports; the SSB and ITBP personnel who protect our border populations or the NIA officers who play an important role in fighting terrorism.
In fact, given the nature of some of the most critical threats that India faces — Maoist violence, jihadi terror — it will not be a stretch to say that, now, more than ever before, the country needs more boots on the ground. Sure, technological advancements, such as CCTV cameras have changed the homeland security scenario but that does not take away from the centrality of the individual jawan or constable.
At the end of the day, no fancy gadget can replace the beat constable who gathers valuable human intelligence, just like no forensic laboratory can do the work of the detective at a suicide bombing site. It is no coincidence that States that have poor law and order records also have low police-to-population ratio. Bihar, for example, has only 69 policemen for every one lakh citizens while West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh do only slightly better with 78 and 81 policemen respectively.
Also, the economic implications of the Union Government's massive employment drive deserve to be underlined. Yes, the move will add to the Government's salary expenses but it will also provide stable, relatively well-paying jobs to thousands of young men and women, who, in turn, will contribute to the country's growth story. Hopefully, the State Governments, which employ the State police forces, will also follow in the footsteps of the Union Government.