500 woman constables join ITBP
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 15
As many as 23 widows of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, who died in harness, were among 500 woman constables inducted into the force today. This is the largest batch of women constables to pass-out since women were allowed to join the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) a few years ago.
While the Ministry of Home Affairs has a long standing policy to provide employment in the CAPFs on compassionate grounds to widows, they were earlier recruited for ministerial posts. Induction as constables in the CAPFs, other than the Central Reserve Police Force, which has special women’s battalions, is a recent development.
ITBP officers said though relaxation in some rules like age limit was granted, the minimum educational and physical standards had to be met by them for induction as constables. Among them was a woman who had a young child and special arrangements were made for the child to stay at the basic training centre (BTC) here, the alma mater of all ITBP recruits.
There have been instances of widows being recruited as constables in other CAPFs like the Border Security Force. Many of the new inductees are well educated. Though minimum qualification for induction as contables is Class X pass, 40 of them hold masters degree in commerce, education, science and arts. Only five per cent of the total number had the minimum educational qualification. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pardesh and Bihar had the highest contribution of recruits in the batch.
The Director General ITBP, Krishna Chaudhary, reviewed the passing-out parade and gave away prizes for outstanding performance during the training. These included Shuhani Kunda (best in physical), Manshi (best in dirll), Gita Chaudhary (best in weapon handling), Shama (best in sports) and Deepika Tyagi (over all best trainee).
The Deputy Inspector General, BTC, PS Papta, said the recruits had undergone a 44-week intensive training programme that included all aspects of service orientation and physical fitness.
