The Government today decided to relax the minimum qualification for recruitment of constables in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Bijapur, Dantewada, and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh to encourage tribal youth to join the force.

As per a decision of the Union Cabinet, the minimum educational qualification for the post is being relaxed from 10th Class pass to 8th Class pass. Four hundred constables are to be recruited for the post of Constable (General Duty).

The recruits will be given formal education up to Class 10 and will be confirmed in the service only after acquiring the qualification of Class 10 pass.

The three Chhattisgarh districts have a history of high left-wing extremism for which the Union Government is implementing a multi-pronged strategy in association with the State Government.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Ministry of Home Affairs’ proposal to relax the requisite minimum educational qualification for the Constables.

In 2016-2017, the CRPF raised one Bastariya Battalion by recruiting Scheduled Tribe candidates from four districts of Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Sukma of Chhattisgarh.

However, the recruitment could not yield optimum results as native youths from interior areas could not compete in the recruitment process due to the non-fulfilling of the requisite educational qualification of the 10th pass.

In the fresh initiative, the CRPF will issue advertisements in local newspapers and adopt all means for wider publicity of the recruitment rally in the interior areas of the three districts.

Subsequently, CRPF will impart formal education to the recruited trainees during the probation period. Appropriate relaxation in physical standards for recruitment of the 400 tribal youth will also be given by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

CRPF is one of the Central Armed Police Forces, basically meant for duties like maintenance of law and order, tackling Counter-Insurgency, and maintaining Internal Security.

The CRPF will extend all possible support like providing study material, books, and coaching assistance to the recruited youth during their probation period.

The probation period may be extended suitably, if required, to facilitate the new recruits to acquire the prescribed educational qualification.

To facilitate them in taking the 10th standard exam, the recruits will be registered with the National Institute of Open Schools recognized by Central and State Governments.