On Friday, June 18, Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar gave directives to officials to ensure at least 35 percent of field posts for women. These posts range from the station house officer level to the sub divisional magistrate level.
After receiving the order, the General Administration Department of the state government has asked all offices to produces detailed accounts of the number of women officers and employees in each department.
This reservation also extends to promotions. Resultantly, the department heads have been asked to make sure that 35 per cent of boards at every level should benefit women officials.
According to sources from the government, the offices will have to submit details on the strength of women employees to the CM by the next meeting. The next meeting will be held by July 2. If implemented, this policy would ensure an increased number of block development officers (BDO), circle officers (CO), station house officers (SHO), and sub divisional magistrates (SDM).
Dr Archana Kumari, an educationist, said, "Thanks to Nitish Kumar, Bihar has the highest number of women cops (23,245) in the state's total strength of police force of 91,862," quoted The New Indian Express.
Bihar Has Highest Percentage of Female Cops
This makes female cops in the state's police more than 25% – the highest in the country and more than double the national average (10.3 per cent). Notably, in 2016, women occupied only 3.3 per cent of the police force.
However, the strength of women employees in junior office-level posts is still significantly low. Out of the states 1,220 police inspectors, only 32 are women. And out of 10,039 sub-inspectors and 6,675 assistant sub-inspectors, only 920 sub-inspectors and 185 assistant sub-inspectors are women.
Suraj Bhushan, retired IGP, told Swarajya, "The latest move of reserving 35 per cent of field posts for women and the 35 per cent promotion quota for women will dramatically enhance the number of women in the ranks of police inspectors, SIs and ASIs."
Woman Empowerment: Cornerstone Of The Nitish Government
Ever since Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005, woman empowerment has been one of the cornerstone policies of the NDA government. It was the first state to provide secondary and higher secondary girl students with bicycles, which had significantly enhanced their enrollments.
Bihar is the only state in the country with a 50 per cent reservation for women in teaching jobs and the panchayats. It also has 35 per cent reservation for women in women in government jobs and engineering, medical, and technical education colleges. A similar quote will be reserved for women in an upcoming sports university in the state.
Also Read: COVID: Bihar Becomes First State To Vaccinate Over 6L People In Single Day