NEW DELHI: In a decision that is bound to cheer paramilitary forces personnel, the Ministry of Home Affairs has directed all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to ensure that each personnel gets to spend 100 days every year with his/her family.
On average, the personnel of CAPFs do not get more than 75-80 days in a year to spend with their families, officials told this newspaper.
Around 600 CAPF personnel have committed suicide in the last six years and stress is believed to a major factor. There are around 7 lakh personnel serving in CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles.
Officials said the decision was taken by Home Minister Amit Shah recently who directed that there should be enough family time for all jawans serving in the CAPFs. Shah took the decision after he was shown a presentation last month about the functioning of the CAPFs.
The Home Ministry has now asked all the chiefs or directors-general (DG) of these forces to undertake the exercise and implement a regime where a jawan or a constable gets to stay with his family for about 100 days, the officials said.
The ministry has also ordered for a mechanism to digitise deployment details of personnel for better manpower planning. This would mean the jawans will be posted to their nearest units and can travel and stay with families when there are no operational exigencies, an official explained.
The official added the chiefs have been asked to assess and prepare reports of their additional manpower so that the overall deployment of a unit is not affected. When this data is digitised, as compared to the regular paper file format prevalent as of now, it will be easy for the force headquarters to rotate and deploy troops.
This system will also help in ensuring that a large grievance of personnel regarding their transfer and posting to a place near to their parents or family home will be addressed up to a limit, he said. The forces have been given a deadline of two months to accomplish the task, the official said.
Digitising deployment details
The ministry has also ordered for a mechanism to digitise deployment details CAPF personnel for better manpower planning. This would mean the jawans will be posted to their nearest units and can travel and stay with their families when there are no operational exigencies