Ministry of Home Affairs wants 9 per cent disaster rescuers to be women, but just about 1 per cent present so far

Tribune News Service

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, April 6

The number of women personnel in National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions is envisioned to be about nine per cent of the total strength, but at present it is just a notch above one per cent.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to provide 108 women personnel for each NDRF battalion and so far only 170 women have joined NDRF, the ‘Review of National Disaster Response Force’ tabled by the Committee on Estimates in Parliament on April 4 has revealed.

The NDRF has operational 12 battalions, which implies that the current requirement of women personnel is 1,296. Another four battalions are in the process of being raised, which throws up an additional requirement of 432 women personnel. Each NDRF battalion has 1,149 personnel and intake of women would be within this strength.

Appreciating the idea of women personnel in NDRF for rescue and relief operations for women victims of disasters, the Committee has recommended that sports women and senior NCC women cadets who are physically fit and fulfill NDRF pre-conditions may be considered for induction so that the presence of adequate women personnel in each NDRF battalion can be ensured within a stipulated time frame.

NDRF got its first batch of 100 trained women rescuers in January 2021, which was deployed on the banks of the Ganga in Garh Mukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh. Rescue boats and associated equipments were handled by them on contingency duties. The current Commandant of an NDRF battalion based in south India happens to be a woman officer.

Raised in 2006 with eight battalions, NDRF is mandated to provide specialist response to natural calamities or man-made disasters. The entire manpower of NDRF is drawn on deputation from the CAPF’s which include the Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) and the Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB).

While women personnel in NDRF are accounting for 1.23 per cent of its manpower, the strength of women in the CAPFs is 3.67 per cent, the highest 6.37 per cent being in CISF and the lowest, 2.83 per cent being in ITBP, according to the home ministry’s data.

On the other hand, 10.30 per cent personnel across all ranks in state police forces across the country are women. The number is highest in Bihar with 25.30 per cent and lowest in Jammu and Kashmir with 3.31 per cent, the ministry’s data shows.

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