CISF to have all-women commando team for security of sensitive installations

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has decided to create an all-women commando team for conducting specialised counter-terrorist operations, officials said on Sunday.

A group of 100 female personnel deployed across the country as part of the aviation security group (ASG) guarding civilian airports are the first to be trained for the task.

The about 1.70 lakh-strength CISF is primarily tasked to guard 69 civil airports, the Delhi Metro and a number of other vital installations in the government and private domain.

"The training for the first batch of the women personnel in commando skills has been started at a training centre located in Barwaha, Madhya Pradesh.

"This eight-week advanced commando course will prepare women personnel for quick reaction team (QRT) and special task force (STF) duties at high-security establishments and plants," a CISF official said.

The personnel will be trained in physical fitness and weapons training, live-fire drills under stress, endurance-building exercises like running, obstacle courses, rappelling, survival training in forests, and a 48-hour confidence-building exercise designed to test decision-making and teamwork under adverse conditions, he said.

The central armed police force, which functions under the Union home ministry, has 12,491 women (8 per cent of its strength) in its ranks at present.

In 2026, 2,400 more women staff will be recruited and in the coming years, recruitment will be structured in such a way that women consistently make up at least 10 per cent of the force as per the directions of the home ministry, the official said.