| Service Overview | |
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| Abbreviation | IPS |
|---|---|
| Date of establishment | 26 January 1950; 75 years ago (26 January 1950) |
| Country |  India |
| Staff college | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy,Hyderabad,Telangana |
| Cadre controlling authority | Ministry of Home Affairs (Police-I Division) |
| Minister responsible | Amit Shah,Minister of Home Affairs |
| Legal personality | Governmental:Civil Service |
| Cadre strength | 5,047 members (2023) (4,344 officers in position; 703 position vacant)[1] |
| Selection | Civil Services Examination |
| Association | IPS Central Association |
| Head of the All India Services | |
| Cabinet Secretary | T. V. Somanathan, IAS |
| website | |
TheIndian Police Service (IPS) is acivil service under theAll India Services. It replaced theIndian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India becameindependent from theBritish Empire.
Along with theIndian Administrative Service (IAS) and theIndian Forest Service (IFS), the IPS is part of theAll India Services[2] – its officers are employed by both theUnion Government and by individualstates governments.
The service provides leadership to various state and central police forces, including theCentral Armed Police Forces (BSF,SSB,CRPF,CISF, andITBP), theNational Security Guard (NSG),Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB),National Disaster Response Force (NDRF),Intelligence Bureau (IB),Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW),Special Protection Group (SPG),National Investigation Agency (NIA), and theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
There is no alternative to this administrative system... The Union will go, you will not have a united India if you do not have good All-India Service which has the independence to speak out its mind, which has sense of security that you will standby your work... If you do not adopt this course, then do not follow the present Constitution. Substitute something else... these people are the instrument. Remove them and I see nothing, but a picture of chaos all over the country.
— Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Constituent Assembly discussing the role ofAll India Services[3][4][5]
In 1861, theParliament of the United Kingdom introduced theIndian Councils Act, 1861.[6] The act created the foundation of a modern and professional police bureaucracy in India. It introduced a new cadre of police, calledSuperior Police Services, later known as theIndian Imperial Police.[6] The highest rank in the service was theinspector general[6] for each province. The rank ofinspector general was equated to that of abrigadier,[7] and similar ranks in theIndian Armed Forces, as per a central warrant of precedence issued in 1937.[a][7]
In 1902–1903, a police commission was established to recommend reforms underSir Andrew Fraser andLord Curzon.[8] It recommended the appointment of Indians as officers in the police. Previously, Indians could rise only to the rank of an inspector, the senior N.C.O. position. However they were not part of theIndian Imperial Police.[8]
From 1920 onward, the Indian Imperial Police was open to Indians and the entrance examination for the service was conducted both in India and England.[8]
Prior to Independence, senior police officers belonging to the Imperial Police (IP) were appointed by the secretary of state on the basis of a competitive examination. The first open civil service examination for admittance to the service was held in England in June 1893 and the ten top candidates were appointed as probationers in theIndian Imperial Police. It is not possible to identify an exact date for when the Indian Police Service came formally into being.
Around 1907, the secretary of state's officers were directed to wear the letters "IP" on theirepaulettes in order to distinguish them from other officers not recruited by the secretary through examination. Therefore, 1907 could be regarded as the starting point for the IPS.[9] In 1948, a year after India gained independence; the Imperial Police was formally replaced by the Indian Police Service.
The Indian Police Service was created underArticle 312(2), XIV of theConstitution of India.[10]
As per media reports, there is a massive shortage of IPS officers in India, amounting to nearly 19% to 22% of the sanctioned strength.[11][12]
Despite having a very small cadre strength, many IPS officers have been awarded the highest gallantry awards (Ashok Chakra, Kirti Chakra). The current national security advisor of India, Ajit Doval, was an IPS officer who earned the Kirti Chakra for his gallant actions during operation Black Thunder. Though generally deployed in supervisory roles at senior levels, it is not uncommon for IPS officers to be in the field taking active part in maintaining law and order. IPS officers have been posted to various UN Missions and several have been awarded theUnited Nations Medal. Many exceptional IPS officers have been awarded with Padma awards from time to time.[13][14]
_of_the_Indian_Police_Service_from_Sardar_Vallabhbhai_Patel_National_Police_Academy%2c_at_Rashtrapati_Bhavan%2c_in_New_Delhi_on_October_12%2c_2018_(1).JPG)
The First Police Commission, appointed on 17 August 1865, contained detailed guidelines for the desired system of police in India and defined the police as agovernmental department toenforce the law, maintain order and to detect and prevent crime across the region. The Indian Police Service is not a force but a service providing leaders and commanders to staff the state police and all-IndiaCentral Armed Police Forces. Its members are the senior officers of the police. With time Indian Police Service's objectives were updated and redefined, the current roles and functions of an Indian Police Service officer are as follows:[15]
IPS officers are recruited fromCivil Services Examination conducted byUPSC. They are also promoted fromState Police Services andDANIPS. However, at present, recruitment fromLimited Competitive Examination has been put on hold.[11]
The training of IPS officer recruits is conducted atSardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy inHyderabad. The authorized cadre strength of the Indian Police Service is 4920. (3270 Direct Recruitment Posts and 1650 Promotional Posts).[16] The Civil List of IPS officers is an updated (annual) list maintained by theMinistry of Home Affairs, Government of India that lists the posting details of all IPS officers in India. This Civil List can be accessed from theMHA website. It allows searching for an IPS officer based on their name, batch, or cadre.[17]
After completion of almost 2 years of training, IPS probationers are awarded a master's degree in criminal justice management from NALSAR University of Law.[18]
TheUnion Government announced a new cadre allocation policy for theAll India Services in August 2017, touting it as a policy to ensure national integration of the bureaucracy as officers and ensure the All-India character of the services. Under the new policy, the existing 26 cadres have been divided into five zones in the new policy by the Department of Personnel and Training ofGovernment of India.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]
Under the new policy, a candidate has to first give their choice in the descending order of preference from amongst the various Zones.[25] Subsequently, the candidate has to indicate one preference of cadre from each preferred zone.[25] The candidate indicates their second cadre preference for every preferred zone subsequently. The process continues till a preference for all the cadres is indicated by the candidate.[25] The preference for the zones/cadres remains in the same order and no change is permitted.[25]
Officers continue to work in the cadre they are allotted or are deputed to theGovernment of India.[26]
| Zone | Cadres |
|---|---|
| Zone-I | AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram andUnion Territories including erstwhile state ofJammu and Kashmir),Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Punjab,Rajasthan andHaryana. |
| Zone-II | Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Jharkhand andOdisha. |
| Zone-III | Gujarat,Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. |
| Zone-IV | West Bengal,Sikkim,Assam-Meghalaya,Manipur,Tripura andNagaland. |
| Zone-V | Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka,Kerala,Tamil Nadu andTelangana. |
Till 2008 there was no system of preference of state cadre by the candidates; the candidates, if not placed in the insider vacancy of their home states, were allotted to different states in alphabetical order of the roster, beginning with the letters A, H, M, T for that particular year. For example, if in a particular year, the roster begins from 'A', which means the first candidate on the roster will go to the Andhra Pradesh state cadre of IPS, the next one to Bihar, and subsequently to Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and so on in alphabetical order.[27] The next year the roster starts from 'H', for either Haryana or Himachal Pradesh (if it has started from Haryana on the previous occasion when it all started from 'H', then this time it would start from Himachal Pradesh). This highly intricate system, in vogue since the mid-1980s, had ensured that officers from different states were placed all over India.
The system of permanent state cadres has also resulted in wide disparities in the kind of professional exposure for officers when we compare officers in small and big and also developed and backward states.[27] Changes of state cadre are permitted on grounds of marriage to an All India Service officer of another state cadre or under other exceptional circumstances. The officer may go to their home state cadre on deputation for a limited period, after which one has to invariably return to the cadre allotted to him or her.[28]
From 2008 to 2017 IPS officers were allotted to state cadres at the beginning of their service. There was one cadre for each Indian state, except for two joint cadres:Assam–Meghalaya andArunachal Pradesh–Goa–Mizoram–Union Territories (AGMUT).[28] The "insider-outsider ratio" (ratio of officers who were posted in their home states) is maintained as 1:2, with one-third of the direct recruits as 'insiders' from the same state.[29] The rest were posted as outsiders according to the 'roster' in states other than their home states,[29] as per their preference.
Though the standard uniform colour is khaki,[30] the ranks, posts and designations of IPS officers vary from state to state as law and order is afederalism in India. But generally the following pattern is observed.
IPS officers are appointed on the basis of eitherCivil Service Examination or promoted from the state police service cadre(state civil service officers). Vacancy in an IPS cadre are determined on the basis of vacancy on an superintendent of police rank. Consequently, there are two level of gradations for SP rank. These are level 11 and 12 as per the Seventh Pay Commission. Resultantly, IPS officers remain on the rank on SP till the 13th year after which they are eligible for being promoted as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP). ASP rank is the junior most rank on an IPS state cadre. Consequently, fresh recruits to IPS are variously posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police in a supernumerary capacity (only for training purpose for two years and after that for 1 year) till they are formally placed as Superintendent of Police In-Charge of an area (when they get the pay of level 11 and level 12) and as district in charge (when they get the pay of level 12) (only in non-metropolitan districts). When the officers get promoted to the rank of SSP, some of them are posted as the district in-charge of metropolitan districts.[31][32][33][34]
| Insignia |  | |  |  | .png) |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||
| Rank | Director General of Police | Additional Director General of Police[b] | Inspector General of Police | Deputy Inspector General of Police | Superintendent of Police (Selection Grade)[c] | Superintendent of Police | Additional superintendent of police | Assistant Superintendent of Police | Assistant superintendent of police (probationary for two years) | Assistant Superintendent of Police (Probationary for one year) | ||||||||||
| Abbreviation | DGP | ADGP | IGP | DIGP | SP (SG) | SP | Addl.SP | ASP | ASP | ASP | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| Insignia | Grade/level on pay matrix[39][40] | Position in the state government(s)[38] | Other positions or designation in the union territory government(s) or theGovernment of India (GOI)[38][41] | Position inIndian order of precedence | Basic pay (monthly)[39][40] | Military Equivalent[42] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Secretary (R),Secretary (Security) in theCabinet Secretariat. | 23 | ₹225,000 (US$2,661) | |||
 | Apex scale (pay level 17) | 25 | ||||
| Apex scale (pay level 17) | Director General of Police (Head of Police Force) |
| |||
| HAG+ Scale (pay level 16) | heading an agency or functional area (intelligence, vigilance, prisons, anti-corruption bureau) |
| ₹205,400 (US$2,400)—₹224,400 (US$2,700) | ||
| HAG scale[43] (pay level 15) |
| — | ₹182,200 (US$2,200)—₹224,100 (US$2,700) | ||
| Senior administrative grade (pay level 14) | Inspector General of Police | ₹144,200 (US$1,700)—₹218,200 (US$2,600) | |||
| Super time scale (DIG/Conservator grade) (pay level 13A) | Deputy Inspector General of Police |
| ₹131,100 (US$1,600)—₹216,600 (US$2,600) | ||
| Selection grade (pay level 13) | Superintendent of Police (selection grade) | Deputy commissioner of police inDelhi and other police commissionerates. | ₹118,500 (US$1,400)—₹214,100 (US$2,500) | ||
| Junior administrative grade (pay level 12) |
| Deputy commissioner of police inDelhi and other police commissionerates. | ₹78,800 (US$930)—₹191,500 (US$2,300) | ||
| Senior time scale (pay level 11) | Additional Superintendent of Police | Deputy commissioner of police in police commissionerates in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu Additional deputy commissioner of police in police commissionerates inDelhi, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal | ₹67,700 (US$800)—₹160,000 (US$1,900) | ||
| Junior time scale (pay level 10) | Assistant Superintendent of Police | Assistant commissioner of police inDelhi and other police commissionerates. | ₹56,100 (US$660)—₹132,000 (US$1,600) |
India's police continue to be governed by acolonial police law passed in 1861.[44] TheIndian Constitution makes policing astate subject and therefore the state governments have the responsibility to provide their communities with a police service. However, after independence, most have adopted the 1861 Act without change, while others have passed laws heavily based on the 1861 Act.[45]
Repeated major incidents, like the2012 Delhi gang rape and murder,2020 Hathras gang rape and murder, as well as terrorist attacks such as the2008 Mumbai attacks revealed the failure of the police to uphold therule of law.[46][47]
The need for police reform in India has long been recognised. There have been almost 30 years of debate and discussion by government-created committees and commissions on the way forward for police reform, but India remains saddled with an outdated and old-fashioned law,[48] while report after report gathers dust on government bookshelves without implementation. Many committees on police reform have recommended major reforms in the police system coupled with systematicaccountability.[49][50]
The National Police Commission was the first committee set up by theGovernment of India to report on policing. The National Police Commission began sitting in 1979, in the context of a post-Emergency India, and produced eight reports, including a Model Police Act, between 1979 and 1981.[51]
In 1996, two former senior police officers filed aPublic interest litigation (PIL) in theSupreme Court, asking for the Court to direct governments to implement the recommendations of the National Police Commission. The Supreme Court directed the government to set up a committee to review the commission's recommendations, and thus the Ribeiro Committee was formed. The committee, under the leadership ofJulio Ribeiro, a former chief of police, sat over 1998 and 1999, and produced two reports.[51][52]
In 2000, the government set up a third committee on police reform, this time under the stewardship of a former union home secretary,K. Padmanabhaiah. This Committee released its report in the same year.[51][53]
The Malimath Committee Report submitted in March 2003 has very articulately laid down the foundation of a restructured and reoriented police system. The committee in its report observed that the success of the whole process of Criminal Justice Administration depended completely on the proper functioning of the police organisation especially in the investigation stage. Apart from the investigation of offences, the police also have the duty of maintaining law and order.
In 2005, the government put together a group to draft a new police act for India. It was headed bySoli Sorabjee (formerattorney general). The committee submitted a Model Police Act to the union government in late 2006.[51]
In 1996,Prakash Singh (a former chief ofAssam Police andUttar Pradesh Police and subsequently Director General of theBorder Security Force) initiated aPublic Interest Litigation (PIL) in theSupreme Court of India, asking the court to investigate measures to reform the police forces across India to ensure the proper rule of law and improve security across India. The Supreme Court studied various reports on police reforms. Finally, in 2006, a bench of JusticeYogesh Kumar Sabharwal, JusticeC. K. Thakker and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan[54] ordered the state governments to implement several reforms in police force.[55]
Several measures were identified as necessary to professionalise the police in India:
In 2006, due to a lack of action by all the state governments,[57] theSupreme Court ordered the state governments to report to it why the reform measures outlined were not implemented.[58] After being questioned in front of the judges of theSupreme Court, the state governments finally started to reform the police forces and give them the operational independence they need for fearless and proper law enforcement.Tamil Nadu Police has been in the forefront of application of the new referendum.[59]
Again, in October 2012, a Supreme Court bench ofChief JusticeAltamas Kabir and justicesS. S. Nijjar andJasti Chelameswar asked all state governments andUnion territories to inform about compliance of its September 2006 judgement. The order was passed when Prakash Singh through his lawyerPrashant Bhushan said that many of the reforms (ordered by the Supreme Court) have yet not been implemented by many state governments.[60]
Some IPS officers have been accused of public corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, and unjust use of power.[61][62][63][64][65][66][67] There have been various instances of abuse of the public by officers.[68] High-ranking officers often enjoy many luxuries for no cost.[69] There is also opportunity to receive extra payment for doing specific tasks on the job.[69]
IPS officers have complained of high levels of stress due to long work hours and unrealistic demands of political bosses. Retired Director General of Police in Uttar PradeshVikram Singh believes job discontent is a combination of "no holidays, lack of sleep, the sinking feeling of failure, public treatment of policemen with contempt, the indifference of political bosses and almost no connect with superiors". Professional stress ruins personal lives and leads to marital discord. The inability to balance professional and personal lives has led some IPS officers to commit suicide.[70]
As of March 2023, India has a police-to-population of 153 personnel per 100,000 citizens, which is less than the sanctioned strength of 196 personnel, as well as way below the United Nations minimum requirement of 222 personnel per 100,000 citizens.[71] The training has also fallen short of world standards, with the shortage of personnel causing investigations to suffer.[72] These issues were previously noted in the aftermath of the 2008 terrorist attacks inJaipur,Bangalore, andAhmedabad.
The Indian Police Service has often faced the issues of being overworked, as well as underpaid. The7th Pay Commission mandated a pay of Rs. 21,700 per month for constables, with the Director-General of Police having a pay of Rs. 225,000 per month. The pay for constables and inspector-ranked officers varies from state to state.[73]
Due to a lack of shift system, many officers, especially the constable ranks were forced to work for more than 24 hours at a stretch, with no overtime pay. This affects the quality of the investigation as well as the morale of the officials on duty.[74][75] Furthermore, the constabulary also does not get decent housing or any allowances for reasonable accommodation.[76]
In May 2022, theMumbai Police implemented an 8-hour shift system for the constable rank officers and assistant sub-inspectors, and 16 hours of rest.[77] Following a lawsuit by a constable of theDelhi Police for demanding fixed working hours, proper housing, and reasonable pay in 2015, theDelhi High Court ordered senior officers of implementing better working conditions for constables in May 2023.[78]
Some IPS officers have been implicated in cases of domestic violence, assaulting women, and sexual misconduct.[79][80][81][82][83]
In 1972,Kiran Bedi became the first woman Indian Police Service officer and was the only woman in a batch of 80 IPS officers, she joined the AGMUT Cadre.[84] She was followed byJija Madhavan Harisingh in 1975, who became the first woman Indian Police Service officer from South-India (Karnataka cadre) and she remained in service for 36 years before retirement in 2011 asDirector General of Police (DGP), andKanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, the second woman IPS officer belonging to the 1973 Batch, becoming the first womandirector general of police of a state in India when she was appointed DGP ofUttarakhand Police.
In 1992,Asha Sinha, a 1982 Batch IPS officer, became the first woman commandant in the paramilitary forces of India when she was posted as commandant,Central Industrial Security Force inMazagon Dock Shipbuilders and she remained in service for 34 years before retirement in 2016 as thedirector general of police (DGP). In 2018, an IPS officerArchana Ramasundaram of 1980 Batch became the first woman to become the director general of police of aCentral Armed Police Force as DG,Sashastra Seema Bal.[85]
In 2021, Kalpana Saxena replacedYogesh Singh as the commandant of 47 battalion of PAC, Ghaziabad.[86]
In 2023,Nina Singh became the director general of theCentral Industrial Security Force.[87][88]
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