The gap between recruitment and vacant posts in paramilitary forces is consistently widening at the officers’ level, reaching a point where it would not be wrong to deduce that the forces are facing a leadership crisis at various levels.
From 2018 till 2021, there has been a decline in the recruitment of Gazetted Officers (GO). According to the data shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), there has been a decline of more than 70% in the recruitment numbers of GOs in Central Armed Police Forces.
In 2018, the recruitment of Gazetted Officers stood at 834, which fell to 381 in 2019 and to 288 in pandemic-hit 2020. In 2021, a total of 238 officers were recruited in paramilitary forces.
Along similar lines, police forces in Union Territories, too, are facing shortage of GOs and subordinate officers. According to MHA data, Gazetted Officers’ recruitment in UT police in 2018 was 141, which dropped to 48 in 2019 and to 65 in 2020. In 2021, zero GOs were recruited.
The situation is not as bad in other ranks, and the government, in fact, is pushing higher recruitment in lower ranks.
In 2018, 13,346, lower rank staff were recruited in CAPFs, which saw a decline in 2019 (3,458) and 2020 (2,546). But last year, there was a massive push in recruitment and backlogs were cleared. In 2021, a total of 57,995 lower rank staff were recruited in CAPFs.
But there are more than 70,000 posts at various levels that are lying vacant in the CAPFs and the Assam Rifles. According to the data, 1,969 Gazetted Officer posts, 23,129 Subordinate Officer positions and 48,121 other rank posts are lying vacant in CAPFs and Assam Rifles put together, making it a total of 73,219.
The total sanctioned posts in the CAPFs amount to 10,05, 418, but currently, 9,30,746 are posted. The Shastra Seema Bal (SSB), deployed at the Nepal border, has the highest shortage of GOs, followed by the ITBP and the CRPF. According to sources, officers are not willing to join forces and states, too, don’t spare officers for central deputation.
“Close to two years ago, the Centre deputed three West Bengal cadre officers in CAPFs like ITBP and SSB but till date, the state has not relieved them. There have been many such cases where states are not ready to spare officers. Also, officers hesitate in joining particular forces and desire to join forces which they want. There have been multiple issues at the GO level. This affects leadership issues as these GOs head various battalions, departments, units etc,” a DG rank official in a paramilitary force told News18.com on condition of anonymity.
Sources also said that at battalions and unit level, troops have fewer officers to command. In fact, dedicated wings have massive shortage of officers in all paramilitary forces.
According to the Home Ministry, vacancies are filled by various methods of recruitment such as direct recruitment, promotion, deputation etc as per the provisions of the respective Recruitment Rules.
The ministry has told Parliament that “requisite measures are being taken to fill up the vacancies as and when to arise through various agencies such as Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Staff Selection Commission (SSC) as well as by holding Recruitment rallies, conducting Departmental Examinations, etc. Filling up of vacancies is an ongoing continuous process and efforts are made to fill up vacancies expeditiously through the relevant recruitment methods.”
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