Govt urges States to increase women's police representation to 33%
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New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday that while the Centre has repeatedly advised states to boost the participation of women in the police force to 33 per cent, their actual strength as of January 1, 2022, was 11.75 per cent.
According to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised all state governments to increase the representation of women police to 33% of the total strength in advisories dated April 22, 2013, May 21, 2014, May 12, 2015, June 21, 2019, June 22, 2021, and April 13, 2022.
"According to data compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), as on January 1, 2022, the actual strength of women police personnel is 11.75 per cent at all India level," he said in a written reply to a question.
Ladakh has the highest percentage of women in the police force (28.3 per cent), followed by Andhra Pradesh (21.7 per cent), Chandigarh (21.6 per cent) and Bihar (21.2 per cent).
States with the least share of women in police are Jammu and Kashmir (3.2 per cent), Tripura (5.29 per cent) and Meghalaya (5.9 per cent).
The minister said all state governments have been requested to create additional posts of women constables, and sub-inspectors by converting the vacant posts of constables and sub-inspectors.
The aim is that each police station should have at least three women sub-inspectors and 10 women police constables so that a women's help desk is functional round the clock, he said.
With PTI inputs