A Parliamentary committee has expressed disappointment regarding women constituting only 3.68 percent of the total strength of the
Central Armed Police Forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and
Border Security Force (BSF) and has asked the Union home ministry to take concrete steps to increase their representation in the central police organizations.
The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma, observed that in 2016, the Central government had decided to reserve 33 percent constable-level posts for women in the CRPF and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to begin with and 14-15 percent constable-level posts in border guarding forces — the BSF, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
"The committee is disappointed to note that women constitute only 3.68 percent of the total strength of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). The committee recommends that
MHA should take concrete steps to increase the representation of women in CAPFs," the committee said in its report submitted to Rajya Sabha on Monday. The panel said the phase-wise recruitment drives for women may be conducted on fast track, particularly in the CISF and CRPF.
The committee also recommended that steps should be taken to create a conducive environment in border outposts by putting in place separate arrangements, so that women are motivated to join the security forces.
The committee noted that Rs 1,85,776.55 crore, covering all the eleven demands, has been allocated to the MHA in Budget Estimate 2022-23. It was an increase of 11.54 percent as compared to the allocation of Rs 1,66,546.94 crore made in BE 2021-22. The panel said the Union Territories without legislature had utilized approximately 66.83 percent of the total allocation made to them in BE 2021-22 till January, 2022.
"The committee is disappointed to note the persistent under-utilization of funds by the UT of Ladakh. The committee recommends that the MHA closely monitor the fund utilization by Ladakh in the ensuing year and take necessary corrective steps for enhanced utilization of funds in the UT," the report said. "The committee believes that proper utilization of funds is very important, failing which, it may lead to cuts by the finance ministry and weaken the case for enhanced allocations in subsequent years," the report added.
Referring to the now deferred work of
Census 2021, the committee stated it was of the view that the census being a pan-India decadal exercise should present the culture, traditions and diversity of the different regions of the country along with the numerical data. The committee stated that the number of questions in the census had increased, but the annual reports had not been written by the registrars or officers for few censuses.
"Therefore, the Committee recommends that the MHA may take up with RGI to restart the publication of annual reports from the upcoming census onwards," the report said. "The committee also recommends that a separate expert group should be constituted by RGI to examine the census pattern since its commencement and suggest measures to bring qualitative change in the census exercise so that the socio-cultural diversity of the country is truly represented in the census," the report added.
(Edited by : Shloka Badkar)
