New Delhi: Highlighting the lack of female representation in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), a parliamentary committee urged the Union Home Ministry to form strategies to improve their representation in the services, media reports said.

The committee further proposed the implementation of a reservation system for transgender individuals.

The committee report suggested facilitating more soft assignments for women officers instead of excessively arduous working conditions.

The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, chaired by BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, underscored that as of September 30, 2022, the representation of women personnel in the CAPFs and Assam Rifles stood at a mere 3.76 percent, reported NDTV

"The Committee advocates that all necessary steps should be taken by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) to encourage women to join the forces to the maximum possible extent. The major constraints preventing women from joining forces are the difficult terrains and the conditions in which they might have to work," it said in its 131st report on the "Review of Functioning of Recruitment Organisations of Government of India," according to the report.

"The Committee also recommends that some sort of reservation may also be given to transgenders. Steps may be taken to recruit transgenders as well so that they can be integrated well with mainstream society in the near future," it said.

Regarding the "essential concern" of the limited proportion of women within central forces, the committee highlighted that "currently, only 3.65 percent of available positions for women have been occupied." In the Border Security Force (BSF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), women make up only 14 to 15 percent of the workforce, while the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has a representation of 6.35 percent, and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has a representation of 2.83 percent, according to the report, stated the report.

"So there are certain constraints which are preventing women from joining the forces," the panel said in its report tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

It noted that there is no specific reservation for women in the CAPFs.

"However, in order to enhance the representation of women in CAPFs, in 2011, based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Empowerment of Women, directions were issued to bring the percentage of women in the forces to 5 per cent within 3 years," the report said.

The panel also said that it is paramount to recruit the maximum number of youngsters from border districts and recommended a special drive for local youngsters of "Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, North Eastern states and Kashmir".

"It should be ensured that the 25 percent of reservation for areas affected by militancy/LWE (left wing extremism) and 25 percent vacancies of border guarding forces allotted to border districts are fulfilled immediately so that the energy and talent of the youth of these areas are channelized and they do not deviate toward extremism and terrorism," it said.

The committee also emphasized the urgent need to expeditiously fill all vacancies within the central armed police forces and Assam Rifles.

"The Committee recommends that there has to be a robust mechanism to monitor how many people are retiring from forces, how many vacancies created and whether people have been appointed to the vacant posts, i.e. vacancies created should be filled regularly and backlogs to be avoided," it said.

All departments should be strictly directed at all places that they send details of vacancies well in time to the Home Ministry and "not take years and years to send the details of vacancies", the report added.