The Centre will soon launch a recruitment drive to fill up the vacancies in Central Armed Police Forces with a focus on hiring more personnel from minority communities. The move is part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 15-points programme for the welfare of minorities, which categorically stated that the Centre will take appropriate action in the recruitment of minorities in the Central forces.
Home Ministry sources said that approximately 70,000 positions in various ranks, including constables and Junior Commissioned Officers, are required to be filled and special emphasis would be given to organise recruitment drive in minority-dominated areas.
As per the current estimate, representation of minorities in police force is around 6.5 per cent. Till December 2012, over 78,000 personnel from minority communities were deployed in CRPF, BSF, CISF, SSB, Assam Rifles and ITBP.
The Prime Minister had advised state governments to give special consideration to minorities while recruiting personnel in the various ranks of state police.
The National Commission for Minorities, in its suggestions on Police Act, had recommended that the composition of the personnel in the police system as a whole should reflect the general mix of communities as exists in society and thereby command the confidence of the different sections so that the system would function impartially without any slant in favour of any community.
“The new Police Act should provide that the recruitment centres be set up in the districts having substantial population of religious minorities. The new Act should also provide that at least one member belonging to any of the religious minorities has to be ncluded in all the committees to select the new recruits to the State police forces and Central paramilitary forces,” it had suggested.