Some states have not implemented 33% quota for women in police

Some states have not implemented the policy of 33 per cent reservation for women in their police forces which was a reason for lack of their deployment in the police stations, the Centre said today.

Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued three advisories to state governments to increase women's representation to 33 per cent of the total strength of police personnel.

He said the states have also been requested to create additional posts of women Constables/Sub-Inspectors by converting the vacant posts of male constables.

"The aim is that each police station should have at least three women Sub-Inspectors and 10 women police Constables," he said.

"But some states have not implemented the advisory and that is why there are not enough women police personnel in police stations," he said.

The minister said all Union Territories have 33 pc reservation for women and some states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have 38 per cent reservation for women.

"The Central Government on 20.03.2015 approved 33 pc reservation for women horizontally and in each category (SC, ST, OBC and others) in direct recruitment of non-gazetted posts from Constable to Sub-Inspector in police forces of all the Union Territories," Ahir said in his written reply.

Citing data received from the Bureau of Police Research and Development, he said that as on January 1 last year, the percentage of reservation for women in States Police ranges in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana to 33.33 per cent.

The reservation for women in other states ranges from nil to 30 pc, he said, without naming these states.

Ahir said police was a state subject falling in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. "It is the responsibility of the State Governments to provide reservation to women in direct recruitment in police force," he said.