Proposals put forth,but will they work?

NSG Deputy Commandant Tejinder Kaur,a teacher turned officer,said the desire to explore herself and do what others find tough brought her into the security force. “While the reactions of some of my male colleagues did raise doubts in my mind but I took it as a challenge and finally proved them wrong,” she said. She added that the force now proposes to assign women officers the task of providing security to VIPs which till now has been limited to their male counterparts. The proposal has been sent to the higher authorities for the final nod,she added.

Dr Dolley Barman,IG (SSB) Guwahati,claimed the the best part about the northeast region is that all officials,whether men or women,are treated as equals. “We also have to tackle similar problems as faced by women officials in other parts of the country but gender equality is something that we can boast of. Also,the very fact that I have always put my best foot forward in terms of my work has helped me reach great heights”. She added that her department was putting forth the proposal that women drivers also be inducted in the force,unlike the present scenario. It has also been recommended to have counselling centers for the women police officials at various centers.

For IG Rapid Action Force,J S Dabas,women have proved to be no less than men in any field. He said,“While we have around 10 battalions of RAF in the country,the percentage of women in each of them is around 8 per cent. Now,a recommendation of setting up three more RAF battalions has been drafted,which has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs.” He also added that another proposal of setting up a separate training academy for the RAF staff is in the pipeline.

CISF Commandant Sahima Duttasaid that there are certain problems which are common to all security forces including that of posting policies. “Women officials are posted out every three years which has resulted in an increase in their dropout rates as they prefer quitting their jobs instead of shifting to far-flung areas. There is a need to bring in a change in the posting policy so that the increasing number of women personnel dropouts can be controlled,” said Dutta.