Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed Rajya Sabha Wednesday that steps are being taken to fill up the vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles. As per data from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the paramilitary forces are facing a shortage of over 1,09,868 gazetted officers (GOs) and personnel. “Filling up vacancies is a continuous process. The Ministry has been taking and will continue to take earnest steps to fill up the vacancies expeditiously” through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), etc, Rai said, adding that new vacancies arise on account of retirements, resignations, promotions, deaths, and raising of battalions. “Presently, 72,769 vacancies of various posts have been notified for recruitment, which are underway,” the minister said. In 2021, CAPFs and Assam Rifles were facing a shortage of 1,09,174 personnel in various posts. The MHA has sent letters to the Director-Generals of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and Assam Rifles (AR) in this regard. As per data compiled by the MHA till January 1, 2025, CRPF has sanctioned posts of 3,30,983 personnel, but currently, they have only 2,96,114 personnel – a shortage of 34,869. BSF has a sanctioned strength of 2,72,447, and they currently have 2,57,980 personnel – a shortage of 14,467 personnel. Similarly, CISF has a sanctioned strength of 1,93,970 personnel, but they have a strength of 1,50,720. ITBP has a sanctioned strength of 1,03,622 personnel against its current total of 88,587, meaning a shortage of 15,035 personnel, Rai said. SSB has a sanctioned strength of 1,00,548 personnel, and currently they have 92,689 personnel – having vacancies of 7,859 posts. Assam Rifles has a sanctioned strength of 65,540 personnel and they have 61,749 personnel – facing a shortage of 3,791. Rai said the government has taken several steps to fill up the vacancies at the earliest. “…yearly recruitment for the post of Constable (General Duty), for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with the SSC. For coordinating recruitment to General Duty posts, a Nodal Force for recruitment in the rank of Constable (General Duty), sub-inspector (GD) and assistant commandant (General Duty) has been nominated on a long-term basis,” he stated. The minister said directions have been issued to CAPFs to undertake recruitment against vacant posts in non-general duty cadres in a time-bound manner and listed steps taken in this regard: “Timely conduct of meetings of departmental promotion committee (DPC) for filling up of promotional vacancies, time taken in the medical examination has been reduced to expedite the recruitment, and also the cut off marks for short listing of candidates for constable/GD has been lowered in order to get sufficient candidates, especially in categories where shortfalls have been observed.”
