File photo of Anandi Patel
Gujarat's first woman Chief Minister Anandi Patel today announced a 33 per cent reservation for women in the state police force.
"It is necessary to empower women for their up-liftment in society. Thus, my government has decided to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the police recruitments," announced Ms Patel without elaborating.
She was interacting with media after attending the passing out parade of 97 armed Police Sub Inspectors (PSIs) and 39 Intelligence Officers (IOs) having PSI cadre, at Gujarat Police Academy in Karai, Gandhinagar today.
These officers will now be inducted in police force after completing their 9-month training at the Karai based Academy.
Among these 136 officers, 25 were women, including 10 PSIs and 15 IOs.
During her speech as the chief guest, Ms Patel claimed that Gujarat is having the lowest crime rate in the country.
"Peace and communal harmony is essential to bring development. Gujarat never saw any major communal clash in last 10 years, which helped us to bring development here. Gujarat is the safest state in India having lowest crime rate" said Ms Patel, who thanked Gujarat police for such environment.
"Gujarat police force is the most educated force in India having more than 26,000 educated policemen serving people. I thank the police force for having maintained law and order for these many years and contributing to the development process of the state," said Ms Patel, who also remembered Narendra Modi for showing the path.
"Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on strengthening 'Raksha Shakti'(Defence Power) of the state. Thus, we are now having three dedicated universities working in that direction, including Raksha Shakti University, Forensic Science University and Law university," said Ms Patel.
"This Academy also proved crucial in providing training to policemen. Till now, 952 policemen, from constables to IPS officers, took training from here. Recently, Goa government has sent 87 of their newly recruited PSIs to take training here," added Ms Patel.