Centre seeks CAPF inputs on recruitment of trans persons

New Delhi: The Union home ministry has sought views of central paramilitary forces (CAPF) for recruiting transgenders as assistant commandants, according to a letter written to in this regard on Wednesday, months after Parliament in December passed a law for protecting the community’s rights.

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In the letter, the ministry asked for Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)’s comments for adding transgender as the third gender category to recruitment rules ahead of the annual examination for recruiting assistant commandants in December. HT has seen a copy of the letter.

The comments will be shared with the Union Public Service Commission, which conducts the exams, for incorporating the third gender category in the relevant application forms, if the ministry gets a positive response, officials aware of the matter said. The government first wants to recruitment officers under the third gender category before hiring transgender troopers and sub-inspectors, they added.

The officials said there is currently no provision for hiring transgenders for the central paramilitary forces.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, which Parliament passed in December, says no establishment shall discriminate against transgender persons in matters relating to employment, recruitment, promotion, and other related issues.

In view of the law, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in April asked all central government departments to include transgender as a separate category for recruitment for all posts, including civil services. A DoPT order said the matter was under the government’s consideration for some time.

The Civil Services Examination Rules, 2020, notified in February included transgender as a separate category.

K Durga Prasad, a former CRPF chief, welcomed the home ministry’s move. “This is the time to give equal opportunities. The only thing we have to take care of is setting different parameters like training, job profile, etc,” he added.

Chayanika Shah, an activist, said, “By doing this, we are creating a category and you remain in a certain category forever. But the question is that once people come in, how do you deal with it? Why recruit only assistant commandants and not other categories?”

The one-million strong central paramilitary forces are deployed for securing India’s borders with Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, and Nepal as well as for counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and Maoist insurgency-hit areas.

According to home ministry data, these forces have 7,859 assistant commandants in their ranks. CRPF has the maximum assistant commandants (3,054), followed by BSF (1,888), ITBP (716), CISF (725), and SSB (542).