10 per cent IPS officers quit service

More than 10 per cent of civil service aspirants who make it to the Indian Police Service do not join or quit soon after.

More than 10 per cent of civil service aspirants who make it to the Indian Police Service do not join or quit soon after.

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The high attrition rate has forced the Home Ministry to ask the Union Public Service Commission to increase the annual batch size from 130 candidates to 150.

There is a shortage of IPS officers in the country, largely due to reduced intake of officers during the NDA tenure. That many state governments have carved new districts to help ensure better delivery of public services has exacerbated this shortage.

Soon after taking over as home minister a year ago, P. Chidambaram had pointed to the yawning gap of 557 officers between the authorised strength of the IPS (3,889) and the actual (3,332).

Given the shortage of IPS officers at the SP-level in most states and taking into account the average attrition rate, it was decided that from the civil services examination 2009 onwards, the annual batch size would be increased to 150, the home minister said.

In recent years, 12 per cent of candidates selected to the IPS either opt to appear for the examination again to get into the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service, or quit soon after joining. The increased intake would cushion for this loss.