The Union Home Ministry has started the process of recruiting more women constables to achieve the target of 33 per cent representation of the fair sex in the two paramilitary forces - the CRPF and the CISF - and 15 per cent in the BSF, the SSB and the ITBP.
At present, the strength of women constables in all these five paramilitary forces is around 20,000 only, while the total strength is around nine lakh personnel. The special drive for women constables is expected to create more than two lakh jobs.
The 33 per cent reservation in constable-level posts in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and 14-15 per cent posts in border guarding forces of Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will start immediately, a Home Ministry official said.
While the CRPF is primarily used for law-and-order duties, CISF personnel are deployed for security of airports, metro networks, vital installations and other government buildings. Women empowerment and safety have been a priority of the government and the move was part of this initiative, the official said.
This reservation would be horizontal. The move came following the recommendation of the Committee on Empowerment of Women in its sixth report that there was an urgent need to provide due representation to women in paramilitary forces.
The CRPF, considered to be world's largest paramilitary force, are mostly deployed in law-and-order duties,
anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir and anti-Naxal operations. It has just around
6,300 women in its ranks. The government has found that women personnel constitute only a little over nine per cent in most of the police forces.
In March 20, 2015, the central government had approved reservation of 33 per cent for women horizontally and in each category (SC, ST, OBC and others) in direct recruitment in non-gazetted posts from constable to sub-inspector in the police forces of all Union Territories, including Delhi Police.
The process of recruiting procedures have started and expected to be completed by next year.