States asked to reserve 33 percent posts in police forces for women: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: The Centre has issued an advisory to states asking them to reserve 33 per cent of posts in police forces for women, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.

He also said that under the Nirbhaya Fund created after the gruesome Delhi gangrape of 2011, nearly 40,500 police personnel are being trained especially for protection of women and cyber security.

Singh said two projects have been sanctioned under the Nirbhaya Funds and 60 counsellors would be hired in the next two years.

"I have written to Chief Ministers of all the states with regard to 33 per cent reservation in women and police. State governments have taken cognizance of it and are working in that direction," he said while replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on Demand for Grants of Home Ministry.

During the debate, the Opposition accused the government of slashing funds for major programmes like internal security and police modernisation, saying this would weaken the fight against terrorism and extremism.

The Home Minister, while rejecting the opposition contention, said the government will roll out in a few months a student-police cadet scheme for which an action plan has been prepared.

The Student Police Cadet Project is a school-based youth development initiative that trains high school students with an aim of helping them evolve as future leaders by inculcating within them respect for the law, discipline, civic sense and resistance to social evils.

Talking about Kashmir which witnessed unrest last year, he said a plethora of measures were being taken to improve the law and order situation there.

Referring to the Pathankot terror attack that took place in Janury last year, the Home Minister said the Centre took it up as a challenge and the investigation were at an advanced stage.

On the terrorism front, he said the killing of militants have increased. While 99 terrorists had been killed in 2011, the number rose to 222 in 2016, he said.
Also, 1442 terrorists surrendered last year, against 394 in 2011, Singh said.

With regard to casualties suffered by the security forces in terror and naxal violence, he said while the government is providing assistance to their kin, corporates are also being contacted for help in this regard.

In this context, he showered praise on Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar who has declared that he would give Rs 9 lakh each to the families of 12 CRPF personnel killed in naxal attack in Sukma in Chhattisgarh recently.

Elaborating on the measures taken to contain Left Wing Extremism (LWE), Singh said the areas affected by naxalism are reducing.

He said the number of districts affected by naxalism has reduced from 106 to 68, with 35 being the most affected, across seven states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra.

"Their number is decreasing and will decrease further," the Home Minister said while noting that the Centre shares forces and intelligence with the states besides the financial assistance in dealing with the problem.