Central armed forces to get first all-women battalion with over 1,000 personnel

In a first, the Home Ministry has approved a decision to establish an all-women battalion of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), comprising over 1,000 personnel.
The ministry issued a sanction on Monday approving an exclusive women’s unit called “reserve battalion” in the CISF, with a total strength of 1,025 personnel, led by a senior commandant-rank officer, news agency PTI reported.
Currently, female personnel constitute around 7 per cent of the force, whose total strength is around 1.80 lakh.
The CISF has started preparations for the early recruitment and training for the new battalion. It has also begun searching for a new headquarters for the all-women battalion.
Sources from the CISF said that the training is being specially designed to create an elite battalion, which will be capable of performing multifarious roles, including commandos in VIP security and also managing security of airports, Delhi Metro, among others.
Notably, the CISF has 12 reserve battalions as of now, which have a mix of both men and women personnel.
The force has a huge interface with women commuters and visitors at facilities like the 68 civil airports it guards, the Delhi Metro and historical monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. It already has female personnel deployed at these duty locations.
The proposal for creation of all-women battalions in the Force was initiated following the direction of Home Minister Amit Shah during the 53rd Raising Day of the force in March 2023.