Government started recruitment of Transgender in CAPF

Recruitment of Transgenders' in CAPF

Indian Government has started the process of Recruitment of Transgender persons in the central government offices. In this connection,  the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) asked all central government departments to include transgender as a separate category for recruitment for all posts, including civil services. 


Actually, in the month of December 2019, Parliament passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, which said no establishment shall discriminate against transgender persons in matters relating to employment, recruitment, promotion, and other related issues.
Therefore, the Civil Services Recruitment Examination 2020 advertisement notified in the month of  February 2020 included transgender as a separate category. 

The CAPFs view for Recruitment of Transgenders

But there is currently no provision to hire transgender persons in the central paramilitary forces and armed forces.

Now, the Union home ministry has sought views of Central Armed Police Forces (also called paramilitary forces) (CAPF) to recruit transgender persons in their rank. Initially, it is being started to recruitment transgender person at the rank of assistant commandants. 

The CAPF includes Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Assam Rifles (AR). 


The central government has earlier asked these CAPFs to give their comments to add transgender along with male and female as a category of candidates for their annual recruitment of Assistant Commandants which is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

In this reference, officials of the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) told the Union home ministry that they will recruit transgender persons to the officer cadre post of assistant commandants. They said that “The CRPF already has a gender-neutral work environment.

These comments will be sent to the UPSC which conducts the annual recruitment exam to conduct assistant commandants in CAPF for incorporating the transgender category in the relevant online application form.

Many Issues remain to be resolved

Since the government is starting recruitment of transgender in CAPF cautiously by recruiting assistant commandants only initially, a question is being asked is why to recruit only assistant commandants and not other categories? The answer is that the government is very cautious and is actually testing the water. There will be several issues that need to deal with the recruitment of transgender in para-military particularly and in every central government department in general.

But one thing is certain that the government has started recruitment of transgenders' in government jobs.