Gujarat sets an example, gives women 33% quota in police

Ahmedabad: At a time when crime against

is on the rise in our country, the newly appointed Chief Minister of

has taken a path-breaking initiative by announcing 33 per cent reservation for women in the State

force.

Taking a leaf out of the Modi model at the Centre, the new Gujarat CM made this announcement and said that for the upliftment of women in society it is necessary to empower them.

"It is necessary to empower women for their uplift in the society. My government has decided to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in new recruitment in the police force. It will be implemented in all cadres," Anandiben said.

Rolling out a road map of governance for the next hundred days, the Gujarat CM ascribed top priority to women empowerment alongwith other things like nutrition, cleanliness, strengthening of public services, filling up of government vacancies etc.

As per a report in ET, a count by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) reveals that there are only 84,479 women cops in India against a total police strength of 15.85 lakh. The highest number of women cops are in Maharashtra (20,062) followed by Tamil Nadu (10,118) and Delhi (5,356). The proportion is extremely skewed in States like Uttar Pradesh, which has just 2,586 women cops out of its strength of 1.73 lakh cops while Madhya Pradesh Police has just 3,010 women cops among its strength of 76,000 cops.

And more alarming is the fact that the situation at top ranks of the force is even worse as the BPR&D claims that just 16 women cops are in the ranks of Director-General of Police or Special DG. If we talk about the figures in entire country then there are just 24 women in the ranks of an Inspector-General of Police.

These figures clearly suggest that there a big gap between male and female personnel employed in the police forces which needs to be bridged. To do the same, Gujarat will be the first State in India to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the police force. The incumbent Government alongwith other State governments should learn from this pioneering move of the Gujarat Chief Minister and replicate the same for betterment of our country.

Ever since Narendra Modi took over the reins of our country as Prime Minister, India has been riding high on hopes, expecting the Government to take some concrete steps to empower the women of our country.

And one such major issue is Women Reservation Bill which is still pending and has always been a bone of contention and thus, has been kept in and out of the cold storage for 18 long years. The Bill was tabled in its initial form in 1996, also talks about 33 per cent reservation of women, not in police forces, but in Parliament.

Why reservation for women?

"Reservation is necessary because it is an instrument and not a privilege to give equality to women whom the political system does not consider equal," Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said once.

With the Union Budget 2014 round the corner, people are ardent to know what reforms our Government will bring for economic inclusion of women as the women participation in the workforce has stagnated in the past few years.

With more females coming into the police force, resolving issues related to crimes against women will also become easier. And increased participation of women in the workforce will also help in shaping a better future of our country.

Oneindia News