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 Report assessment, women make up 10.5% of the police force.
While women make up for nearly 50% of Karnataka’s Population they accounted for 49.3% of the 6.1 crore in the state as per the last decadal census their representation in the police department continues to remain abysmal. That is, theres only one woman police personnel for every 3,345 women! Although the situation is not unique to Karnataka, and is the result of several legacy issues, the state would do well in being an exception and hiring more women. That said, it is making a conscious effort and the move to reserve 25% of posts in all recruitments barring Class-1 officers is welcome.