CRPF weighs bringing back lance naik, naik ranks to ease promotion backlog

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is considering reintroducing the military ranks of lance naik and naik, three decades after they were abolished, to address prolonged promotion delays and to make the force a more attractive option for Agniveers leaving the Army, officials said on Saturday.

The force headquarters has asked its field formations across the country to hold stakeholder meetings, or 'Sainik Sammelans', and gather the views of personnel on the proposal within two days, officials told PTI. The consultations suggest the matter is under active consideration, though no final decision has been announced.

The two ranks were abolished in the CRPF in 1997 and merged with the police ranks of constable and head constable through an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). They continue to exist in the Army. The CRPF and the Border Security Force (BSF) had earlier carried these ranks on the lines of the Army's infantry battalions.

Under the proposed hierarchy, a jawan joining as a constable would earn a first promotion to lance naik in five years, a second to naik in 10 years and subsequently to head constable in 20 years. At present, the CRPF, which has about 3.25 lakh personnel, is facing acute stagnation in these ranks, with a constable receiving a first promotion after 22 to 25 years on average. The delay has been a long-standing source of grievance among the jawans.

Officials said the aim of restoring the two ranks is to give the constabulary two additional promotions before the head constable level, which would help address grievances and lift morale.

The move is also understood to be aimed at making CRPF service attractive to Agniveers, whose first batch will begin retiring later this year and will be eligible to join the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF. Agniveers are short-term military personnel recruited into the three services for four years under the Centre's Agnipath scheme.

At present, the CAPFs follow an ad hoc arrangement under which constables are given a non-sanctioned senior constable rank insignia on their uniform, broadly treated as equivalent to the lance naik rank. There is no such arrangement for the naik rank.

Ranbir Singh, Secretary General of the Ex-Paramilitary Personnel Association, said the proposal would help jawans only if promotions are time-bound. Otherwise, he said, the exercise would prove futile.

A senior CRPF commandant said the reintroduction of the two ranks should "not just be a cosmetic move and should ensure that the discipline of the battalion is maintained". A battalion currently has more than 20 subordinate officers among its strength of over 1,000 men and women, and the commandant said any such policy must keep in mind the regimentation and operational efficiency of a unit.