Comparative Rank Structure

Officers in CAPFs are recruited through the Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination conducted by UPSC. They are appointed as Assistant Commandants and are Gazetted Officers generally referred to as DAGOs (Directly Appointed Gazetted Officers). DEGOs (Departmental Entry Gazetted Officers) are those officers who have been promoted through departmental exams conducted internally for Subordinate Officers.

Women in the Central Armed Police Forces

Initially women were not recruited for the Central Armed Police Forces.

In 1992 Asha Sinha created history by being the first Woman Commandant of any of the Central Armed Forces in India when she was selected as Commandant, Central Industrial Security Force, for Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited. Earlier the role of Women was allowed but limited to supervisory roles in the Central Armed Police Forces. The Parliamentary Committees of India for women's empowerment recommended greater roles for women in the CAPF. On these recommendations the Ministry of Home Affairs declared reservation for women in constabulary in paramilitary forces, and later declared that they can also be inducted as officers in combat roles in all five Central Armed Police Forces. The Union Home Minister announced that women's representation in the CRPF and CISF would be made 15 per cent while it would be 5 per cent in the BSF, ITBP and SSB. On 5 January 2016, it was decided that 33 per cent of posts at the constabulary level would be reserved for women in the CRPF and the CISF to begin with, and 14-15 per cent of posts at the constable level in the BSF, SSB and ITBP in a phased manner. In 2016, an IPS Officer Archana Ramasundaram of 1980 Batch rewrote history when became the first Woman to become the Director General of Police of a Paramilitary Force as DG, Sashastra Seema Bal.