Only 1 in 10 cops in Karnataka a woman; governments 25% target to take time

BENGALURU: Four years and 10 months after the government announced in its budget that at least a quarter of all police personnel in the state will be women in five years, only one in 10 members of the Karnataka State Police is a woman.
According to data from the home department, as on date, the department has 90,539 personnel out of a sanctioned strength of over 1 lakh and only 9,007 of them are women. This does not include officers of the rank of inspector and above. Nationally, as per the bureau of police research and development and an India Justice Report assessment, women make up 10.5% of the police force.

DG&IGP Praveen Sood told TOI: "During 1980s and 1990s, there were hardly any women (personnel) and the number has since grown. To achieve 25% in the overall police force will take a lot of years. However, what we have been doing in the past few years is that in every recruitment - other than Class 1 officers where there's no quota - we are hiring women for 25% of posts."
Over time, he said, the department will have 25% women. "The only way to ensure 25% women overall in a short span would be to not hire any men at all for the next few years, which is not possible."

In several categories, there is a greater percentage of women. "For instance, in the technical/scientific stream, nearly a third are women. In the clerical section, the number is around 50%," he added.
Data from the state home department shows that 95% of the 9,007 women police personnel in Karnataka are with the civil police. Nearly 91% of the 8,572 women civil police are part of the constabulary. Even in other categories, women are predominantly part of the constabulary and very few have made it to the assistant sub-inspector or sub-inspector ranks.
In seven categories - sub-inspector and other posts in armed police, some in the fingerprint bureau, KSRP and KSISF - representation of women is zero.
In terms of overall vacancies, the highest are in the civil category and are for constables. The department has already advertised for 5,600 - 1,600 civil and 4,000 armed - constable posts and recruitment is expected to be completed by February 2023.
Overall vacancies among lowest in years
As reported earlier by TOI, the overall vacancies are among the lowest the state has seen in years and Sood had said: "After this year, the vacancy position would be less than 5%, which will be the lowest for any state and the lowest ever for Karnataka. At present, going by our strength (more than 1 lakh), vacancy position is around 11%, which is already very low compared to 20%-25% in the past."