Union Minister of State Nityanand Rai on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that steps are being taken to fill the vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFS) and Assam Rifles. According to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), paramilitary forces are facing a shortage of more than 1,09,868 gazetted officers (GOS) and personnel.
Rai said, “Filling vacancies is a continuous process. The Ministry is taking and the Union will continue to take steps to fill the vacancies through the Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), etc.
“Currently, 72,769 vacancies of various positions have been informed for recruitment, which are running,” the minister said.
In 2021, CAPFS and Assam Rifles were facing a shortage of 1,09,174 personnel in various positions. MHA has sent reports to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sasastra Border Bal (SSB), and Assam Rifles (AR) Director General-Communications.
According to data compiled by MHA till January 1, 2025, CRPF has approved the posts of 3,30,983 personnel, but currently, they have only 2,96,114 personnel – a shortage of 34,869. BSF has an approved force of 2,72,447, and currently he has 2,57,980 personnel – a shortage of 14,467 personnel.
Similarly, CISF has the sanctioned strength of 1,93,970 personnel, but they have a power of 1,50,720. RAI said that ITBP has an approved force of 1,03,622 personnel compared to its current 88,587, which means the lack of 15,035 personnel, Rai said.
SSB has the sanctioned strength of 1,00,548 personnel, and currently he has 92,689 personnel – including 7,859 vacancies. Assam Rifles have an accepted strength of 65,540 personnel and have 61,749 personnel – facing a shortage of 3,791.
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Rai said that the government has taken several steps to fill the vacancies as soon as possible. “… Annual recruitment for the post of Constable (General Duty), for which a memorandum (MoU) has been signed with SSC. For coordination for recruitment in general duty post, for the recruitment of Constable (General Duty), Sub-Inspector (GD) and Assistant Commandant (General Duty), a nodal force has been nominated on a long period.
The minister said that guidelines have been issued to CAPFS to recruit against vacant posts in non-general duty cadre and listed steps have been taken in this regard: “To fill the departmental vacancies, the departmental promotion committee (DPC) meetings to fill the departmental vacancies have been ordered to get adequate candidates on time, especially the order of getting adequate candidates.
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