The Staggering Gender Gap In MP Police: 35% Women Quota On Paper, Only 10% Women On The Ground

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): While Madhya Pradesh officially provides 35% reservation for women in the police department, the ground reality reflects a deep divide. Currently, women account for only around 10% of the total workforce.

The department has approximately 11,000 women serving in various posts against 1.04 lakh men. This disparity persists despite the fact that women were first granted a 30% recruitment quota nearly three decades ago.

PHQ officials appear unable to pinpoint the exact reason for this significant gap, which leaves the workforce 90% male. The Special Armed Force (SAF) remains the most stark example of this imbalance, operating under a de facto "only men" policy; out of its 23,000 personnel, only 70 are women. Only a few hundred women are currently posted in the ministerial staff, CID, LIB and other specialized wings.

The policy for female representation has evolved through three major legislative milestones over the last 27 years. The first gazette notification to grant 30% reservation to women candidates was issued on May 16, 1997, by the then government led by Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.

This was followed by a second notification on June 19, 2014, under the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, which increased the quota to 33%. Most recently, on October 3, 2023, the Chief Minister Mohan Yadav government issued a third notification, further raising the reservation to 35%.

District force stats:

Special DG (Administration) Adarsh Katiyar informed that the District Force (DF) maintains a slightly better ratio than the overall average. Out of the approximately 68,500 personnel serving in the DF, around 60,000 are men and 8,500 are women.