As many as 27,167 women personnel serve in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the Assam Rifles (AR), according to official data.
Of these, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) accounts for the most 8,557, or nearly 32 percent, women personnel staffed under the CAPFs, followed by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with 30 percent, and the Border Security Force (BSF) with 20 percent.
There are five CAPFs - CISF, CRPF, BSF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and one central paramilitary force the Assam Rifles under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“In January, 2016, it was decided to reserve 33 percent posts at Constable level for women in CRPF and CISF to begin with and 14-15 percent posts at Constable level in border guarding forces i.e. BSF, SSB and ITBP,” Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha on February 2.
Of the 27,167 women personnel in the CAPFs and AR, nearly 3 percent, or 785, are gazetted officials. In 2016, IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram became the first woman chief of a CAPF on being appointed as the Director General of the SSB.
The AR and the BSF, ITBP and the SSB are the 'Border Guarding Forces', while the CRPF is deployed to assist the civil administration under state governments/UT administrations in matters relating to maintenance of public order, internal security, and counterinsurgency.
The CISF - that accounts for the most women personnel among the CAPFs -provides security and protection to key installations of national and strategic importance such as airports, atomic power plants, space organisations, industrial units, national museums and government buildings.
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