Through horizontal reservation policy present in many states, 30% or 33% of the vacant posts (of direct recruitment) can be filled up by women in the police forces.
Horizontal reservation — if the minimum reserved vacant posts are not filled up in each category of the SC, ST, OBCs and un-reserved with women on merit, women candidates are pushed up in the list to make up for the gap.
The reservation for women in the State armed police forces is 10% in some States.
The ‘Data on Police Organizations’, published by the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) reveals that:
The total available strength of the State police forces increased by about 7.48% in the last 5 years (in 2021).
The representation of women in the State police force also increased from 1 7.28% to 10.47% of the total available force in the same period.
As per Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, representation of women in the police force (in 2022) remained at 11.7% of the total State police force.
Actual availability of women in police force remains low in spite of reservation policies.
Though, few States such as Kerala, Mizoram and Goa do not have reservation policy for women in the police force, they have women’s representation between 6% and 11%.
Himachal Pradesh has no reservation for women, but 20% constables’ vacancies are filled up by women.
Bihar provides for 35% reservation for women but the actual number of women in the force is about 17.4%.
Lack of permanent police recruitment board to undertake recruitment at regular intervals in some states have been a major factor for under-representation.
Only about 4% to 5% of the total posts are filled by recruitment, considering the attrition rate in the police forces to be 2.5% to 3% and the annual sanction of new posts to be about 1.5% to 2%. Such a situation can make women’s representation to increase from 10% to 30% in not less than 20 years.
Crime data and need for more women police:
Certain legal provisions mandate recording of reports and statements, arrest and search of a woman accused by a woman police officer.
The National Crime Records Bureau data reveals that:
About 10% of the total crime defined under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was committed against women.
About 5.3% of total arrested persons were women in 2021.
This data reflects that available women police force is insufficient even in dealing with cases that are related to women.
Dealing of cases related to law-and-order and day-to-day duties requires women forces.
The scope of women recruitment in the police force has been further widened after commencement of the POCSO Act.
Efforts to be taken:
The recommendations for ‘police reforms’ has to be implemented properly. The reforms suggested include:
Merging women police with the regular police
Establishment of the Police Recruitment Board
Establish a ‘women desk’ in every police station.
Special provision in the modernisation plan to build separate toilets for women staff.
Ensure crèche facilities for children in every police station.
Financial incentives were announced by the MHA from 2018-19 (reserving 10% in the 1st year and 20% of total modernisation funds thereafter) to States that implement police reforms to a satisfactory level, however the outcome was poor.
More women have to be encouraged to join the police force, which requires development of minimum necessity of a conductive environment and basic infrastructure.
Roll out of a uniform Police Act for the entire country that can help the Centre to frame uniform standards for women police (‘Police’ being a ‘State’ subject in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution).
A recruitment board for every state has to be constituted to ensure recruitment on a regular basis.
A special drive should be launched by all States and Union Territories to recruit more women and increase their representation in the police force.
Global dispute settlement, India and appellate review
Why in the News?
The New Delhi Leaders Declaration at G20 reiterated the need to pursue reform of the WTO “to ensure a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024”.
Issues with World Trade Organization (WTO):
The dispute settlement system, a two-tier panel cum appellate body structure, has been dysfunctional since 2019 as the United States has blocked the appointment of appellate body members.
The dispute settlement system has issued over 493 rulings since its establishment in 1995 (the International Court of Justice has dealt with only around 190 cases since 1947).
The appellate body of WTO has been crucial in ensuring coherence and predictability in rulings and confidence in the WTO dispute settlement process.
U. S’s continued opposition to an appellate review process seems to be inclined towards the de-judicialization of international trade law.
This can allow countries to take back control from international courts and tribunals.
The appellate review process at the international level serves as an essential check on the interpretation and application of law and ensures consistency.
Benefits of an appellate review:
Inconsistent and incoherent decisions and legal reasoning.
For instance, the Investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS), an international investment law of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) operates through ad hoc or one-off arbitration tribunals without any appellate review.
The ISDS tribunals operating under different arbitral institutions have offered diverging interpretations of the same treaty provision and even reached opposite conclusions despite interpreting and applying the same treaty to the same facts.
This has caused instability and improbability for states and foreign investors.
An appellate review shall allow for rectifying errors of law and harmonising diverging interpretations.
It shall have the power to uphold, modify, or reverse the decision of a first-tier tribunal and thus bringing coherence and consistency, and hence predictability and certainty into the ISDS system.
Critical issues in creating an appellate review:
The form in which the appellate mechanism shall take place
Ad hoc appellate mechanism, where a body will be constituted by the disputing parties on a case-by-case basis, or
a standing appellate mechanism
Deciding on the standard to review the decisions of the first-tier tribunal.
Finalising the time frame and the effect of the decision rendered by the appellate review.
India’s stand:
India, presumably, supports the idea of an appellate review in the ISDS because Article 29 of the Indian model BIT advocates it.
Supporting the creation of an appellate review mechanism will be in India’s interest as it will address the concerns about inconsistency and incoherence in the ISDS system.
Since India’s quest is to establish a rule-based global order, support to an appellate review shall usher in greater confidence for states and investors in international investment law.
Around 3.5 tonnes of gold, 18 crore cigarette sticks, 140 metric tonnes of red sanders and 90 tonnes of heroin were seized along with other drugs during the last financial year.
Highlights of a report released by FICCI CASCADE:
In the organised crime segment, India has a lower score of 4.3 against 5.2 for an average of 122 countries.
Though there are fewer criminal actors, they are widespread and engage in a variety of unlawful activities such as drug and human trafficking and the illegal trade in wildlife products.
Theefficacy of criminal networks in India have enabled them to generate substantial illicit financial flows, despite their small numbers.
This has led tototal potential revenue loss of US $13 billion involving both mis invoiced imports and exports to India.
The uncollected value-added tax (VAT) amounted to a total of $3.4 billion.
For the 2009-2018 period, the total aggregate value gap of misinvoicing was over $674.9 billion.
In 2018, India had a value gap of US $84.9 billion. The value gaps as the percentage of the trade, however, declined marginally.
Terror and Crime:Economic Impact of Violence for India (Billions PPP)
In 2021, India’s economic cost for violence was at US $1170 billion at purchasing power parity (PPP) which accounts for approximately 6% of the country’s GDP.
The violence per capita impact is estimated at US $841 at PPP.
80% of such containment costs relates to security.
Organised Crime and Illegal Economy in India:
Theaggregate score of organised crime actors in India is low, at 4.3 on a scale of 1-10, compared to the average benchmark of 5.2 for 122 countries.
The criminal network has a significant influence in India with a score of 6, which is higher than the average score of 5.8 for 122 countries.