New Delhi: Aware of the fact that living conditions of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel in terror infested Jammu and Kashmir is not conducive, a Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has suggested to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to take up this matter with CAPF besides allocating necessary funds to improve the living conditions of the personnel at the camp.
During its visit to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, members of the Parliamentary committee observed poor living conditions at the camp. The committee visited the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp of 132 battalions at MA Road in Srinagar and reviewed accommodation and other facilities provided to the personnel.
Besides observing poor living conditions at the camp, the committee was informed by the representative of the CRPF that the said camp was a rented accommodation due to lack of availability of land and shortage of accommodation facilities. The committee recommends that the conditions of all such camps functioning from rented accommodation may be reviewed by the MHA. In its 238 page report tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently, the committee also found that 2110 gazetted posts of the CAPF are lying vacant till December last year.
Vacant posts of gazetted officers:
AR (125), BSF (293), CISF (316), CRPF (335), ITBP (394), SSB (647).
Ironically, the committee in its report has also highlighted that the women representation in different CAPF is very minimal with 3.68 per cent against the desired 33 percent. Against a sanctioned strength of 3,24,654 personnel in CRPF, it has appointed 3,09,686 personnel, out of which, 9,854 are women.
Similarly, against the sanctioned strength of 2,65,277 personnel in BSF, it has posted a strength of 2,44,610 personnel with women representation at 7,339. CISF has posted strength of 1,45,201 personnel against the sanctioned strength of 1,64,124 with women representation at 9,245. ITBP has posted a strength of 84,233 against the sanctioned strength of 88,430 with only 2,386 women.
According to the MHA data provided to the committee, SSB has a posted strength of 87,600 against an actual strength of 97,790 with only 3,607 women. Similarly, AR has a total posted strength of 59,416 personnel against a sanctioned strength of 65,143 with only 1,791 women personnel. The committee observes that in 2016, it was decided by the government to reserve 33 percent posts at the constable level for being filled by women in CRPF and CISF, to begin with and 14 to 15 percent posts at constable level in border guarding forces including BSF, SSB and ITBP.
The committee has expressed its disappointment over the fact that women constitute only 3.68 percent of the total strength of CAPF. The committee has also expressed its concern over the fact that the suicide incidents in CAPF continue unabated. In the year 2021, such incidents increased marginally among all the CAPFs. As per the government statistics, 14 Assam Rifles personnel, 42 personnel from BSF, 19 from CISF, 58 from CRPF, 10 from ITBP, 2 from NSG and 8 personnel from SSB died by suicide in 2021.
A total of 137 CAPF personnel died by suicide in 2020 and 129 committed suicide in 2019. The MHA in its reply submitted to the Parliamentary committee has said that issues like the stress of the job and monotony, family issues and disputes, property and land-related disputes, health issues of some and family members, domestic and financial stress are the major reasons for CAPF personnel dying by suicide.
While giving its suggestions, the committee recommends that MHA may take up with CAPFs chief to devise a rotation policy of deployment so that the jawans do not stay in hard and inhospitable areas and terrains for prolonged periods. "Efforts should also be made to fix the working hours of the jawans besides yoga classes and counselling sessions to improve their mental and emotional well being," the committee said in its report.
Talking to ETV Bharat, Sujeet Kumar, BJD MP in the Rajya Sabha and a member of the Parliamentary committee said that the central government must take necessary steps to improve the living conditions of the CAPF personnel. "Government should also take all necessary steps to stop the incidents of suicide among CAPF personnel," said Kumar.
Referring to the presence of women personnel in CAPF, Kumar said that the present situation needs urgent attention of the government as well as the attention of the concerned department. "Both MHA and CAPF should take all required steps on an urgent basis so that the women representation in the armed forces get increased," Kumar said.
