More than six and a half lakh posts are lying vacant in various State police and Central forces.
According to the data released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) on Tuesday, 5.31 lakh posts in different state police forces and 1.27 lakh posts in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are lying vacant.
Releasing different aspects of policing in the country as on January 1, 2020, the BPR&D also said a total of 1,19,069 police men were recruited in 2019 in various police forces across India. These vacancies are expected to increase further due to the Covid-19 pandemic as many organisations have not conducted fresh recruitment in the entire 2020.
According to the data, the total sanctioned police forces in States and Union Territories is 26,23,225, while there are 20,91,488 police personnel actually in service. Therefore, 5,31,737 posts in police forces are lying vacant as on January 1, 2020.
The figures include civil police, district armed police, special armed police and India Reserve Battalions. The BPR&D, a wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the strength of women in police forces is 2,15,504, which is 10.30 per cent of the total police force in India.
There has been a 16.05 per cent increase of women police over the previous year, it added. The data said the total sanctioned strength of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) is 11,09,511 but the actual strength of the CAPFs as on January 1, 2020, is 9,82,391. The total number of women police personnel in CAPF is 29,249, which is 2.98 per cent of the total strength. The CAPFs are CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, NSG and Assam Rifles.
According to the data, there are 800 police districts in the country and the number of sanctioned police stations is 16,955. The total State Armed Police Battalions is 318 and the total police commissionerates is 63. A total of 2,02,925 police vehicles are available with the states and UTs police, besides 4,60,220 CCTV cameras, the BPR&D said. The governments has spent Rs 1,566.85 crore in 2019-20 for expenditure and police training.