Women in Kerala Police: Waiting for promised appointments and representation

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently said that Kerala has the best Public Service Commission in the country. The Chief Minister's words of praise were made by pointing out that the PSC has made about two and a half lakh appointments in the last eight and a half years. It is undeniable that the PSC in Kerala is transparent and corruption-free compared to many other states. Many prominent people in the society have also worked as PSC members. Getting on a PSC list is the big dream of an average Malayali. Lakhs of people write exams in the state for a few vacancies. For most jobs, in addition to the written exam, an interview test must be passed.

The delay in conducting the exam and publishing the list has reduced compared to the old days. However, the appointment in various lists often moves slowly. This causes a lot of mental anguish to the candidates who are eagerly waiting for a government job. There is no point in cursing the PSC for not making the appointment. The main reason for the delay in appointments is that department heads often do not report vacancies in government jobs accurately. In addition, due to the poor financial situation of the government, even the necessary posts are not created. Even if the minimum period of the list is extended, the current situation is that most of the people on the list are left behind.

There is only one and a half months left for the women police constable rank list to be completed. The PSC included 967 people in the list. Of these, only 259 people have received appointment notices so far. If the government had fulfilled the promise in the LDF manifesto to increase the representation of women in the state police force to 15 percent, more than twice the number of people would have been appointed. 815 people were appointed from the last rank list. However, the number of appointments from the current rank list has not even crossed 30 percent. There are only about 5,000 women in the 56,000-strong police force! Although it is decided that there should be at least six women CPOs in a station, most of the 454 police stations do not have even half of this.

More than 600 women CPOs are still on camp duty even after three years of training. If they are transferred to station duty, it will be possible for a good percentage of those on the list to get jobs. The Home Department should take immediate action regarding this. There are few women in the higher ranks of the force. 92 percent of women are below the SI rank. Out of 5,000 women, only 26 are in the CI rank. There are 131 SIs. In today's times, a job is essential for women to live with self-respect. When a woman gets a job, a family is also saved. Therefore, the government should not hesitate to take immediate action to expedite the appointment of women police constables.