Norms tougher, just 24% pass fitness test for recruitment of women constables in Sirmaur district

Merely 24 per cent women made the cut for physical proficiency test meant for recruiting women constables in Sirmaur district as stringent norms acted as a deterrent.  

“Among 2,178  women candidates who appeared for recruitment on the first three days from February 11 to 13,  merely 535 managed to qualify while 1,640 were disqualified for failing to meet the designated parameters,” said Sirmaur SP Nischint Negi.

He added that 3,014 candidates had been called for the fitness test but 836 were absent.

As many as 1,088 constables, comprising 708 men and 380 women, are being recruited from across the state in various districts.

A person who has passed Class XII and falls within the age group of 18 to 26 years is eligible to compete for this post.

With few employment avenues being available in the government sector, a large number of women candidates had descended at the Nahan Police Lines for the physical aptitude test.

The physical standard and physical efficiency tests which began on February 11 for women will be completed today while they will be held from February 15 to 20 for the males in Sirmaur district.

With eligibility conditions like time taken to complete 800-m and 100-m race, besides the height of field activities having been revised after the last recruitment drive held in 2021, few women managed to qualify the physical proficiency test in Sirmaur district.

While the 800-m race has to be completed within 3.45 minutes, a time frame of 17 seconds has been prescribed for completing the 100-m race for women. Earlier, the 800-m race was supposed to be completed within 4.15 minutes and there was no prescribed limit for 100-m race.

Similarly, women aspiring to join the police will have to undergo a high jump of 1.10 m as against 1-m height prescribed for the earlier recruitment of 2021. The parameter for the board jump, however, remains unchanged at 3 m.

For the recruitment of male constables, too, the prescribed standards have been revised vis-à-vis 2001. While the 100-m race has to be completed within 14 seconds, the 1500-m race, too, has seen a revised parameter of 5.30 minutes as against the earlier parameter of 6.30 minutes. The height of the high jump has been increased from 1.25 m to 1.35 m.

Since fewer candidates will manage to qualify the physical proficiency test, the number of those appearing for the subsequent  written examination will be fewer as compared to thousands who appeared during earlier recruitments.

“The revised parameters will ensure that aspirants who maintain an apt level of fitness would be selected for the job while those according little attention to physical fitness will lag behind,” said an official.