Quota not answer to inadequate representation of women in police: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that gender-based reservation was not the answer to the issue of inadequate representation of women in the police and lady IPS officers can inspire other women to join the police.

He also spoke of the need to change the societal mindset and expressed confidence that this would happen gradually.

Addressing the probationers of the 2018 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS) here, Shah also said that the base of the police system was Constable and the young officers should work to build their capacities.

According to an official release, the minister spoke on the need to increase the proportion of women in police at every level and said lady IPS officers can inspire other women to join the police.

"He said that gender-based reservation was not the answer to the issue of inadequate representation of women in the police. He spoke of the need to change the societal mindset in this regard and expressed confidence that this would gradually happen," the release said.

Referring to the way efficiency of police can be improved, he told the probationers that as IPS officers their job would be to ensure that there is freedom to take required decisions and owning up of responsibility at all levels without overstepping of boundaries.

He urged the young officers to encourage and inspire their staff and build the capacity of constables and noted that an organisation can only be as strong as its base and the base of the police system is the constable.