By IANS,
New Delhi : To strengthen India’s policing, the government is considering holding a limited competitive examination for at least seven years that will not only fill up vacancies in the Indian Police Service (IPS) but also increase the intake by an additional 450 officers, say home ministry officials.
The move follows the recommendation of a former director of the National Police Academy.
In his report submitted in October last year, Kamal Kumar, a former IPS officer, has also recommended an increase in the annual intake of IPS officers through the civil services examination (CSE) from 130 to 150 officers.
Kumar was tasked by Home Minister P. Chidambaram to draw up a recruitment plan based on an assessment of India’s policing needs between 2009 and 2020.
“At a time of mounting challenges on the internal security front, there is a scarcity of IPS officers and we have to make good that shortfall,” said a ministry official.
With Chidambaram keen on implementing a new security architecture by setting up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) by the end of the year and redrawing manpower in the intelligence agencies, there is a pressing need to fill vacancies.
The government is still fine-tuning its plans, but the CSE will be open only for existing government servants — mainly from the armed services, paramilitary and state police forces.
Vacancies at the Superintendent of Police (SP) level and above in the Intelligence Bureau (IB), which are to be filled by IPS officers, have risen to 88.
Given the thrust on improving the overall intelligence network following the Mumbai terror attacks, the government is keen on filling up vacancies in the IB as soon as possible.
In the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 13 out of a sanctioned 49 posts are vacant at the superintendent of police (SP) levels.
In January 2009, the IPS was 557 officers short of its sanctioned strength.
Fifty-six percent of these vacancies – 314 officers – were in the direct recruitment quota, show figures updated till Jan 1, 2009.
“How did this situation come about? It is a story of neglect between 1998 and 2004, but I shall share the story with you on another occasion,” Chidambaram had remarked in January last year.
It is believed that during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, it approved the recruitment of only 36 IPS officers per year for four years, starting in 1998, going against an earlier projection of 85 appointments every year. This alone created a shortfall of 196 officers over four years.