ITBP inducts first women officers on combat service

Source: The Hindu

What is the News?

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force which guards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the India-China border has commissioned its first two women officers in combat after they completed their training here.

Women in ITBP:

• The ITBP started recruiting women combat officers in its cadre from 2016 through an all-India examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). 
• Before this, it had combat women only in the constabulary ranks.
• These women officers recruited will now be posted across ITBP formations in the country, including along the LAC with China and the anti-Naxal operations theatre in Chhattisgarh.

About ITBP:

• Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBPF) is a Central Armed Police Force(CAPF) functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs. 
• Origin: ITBP was initially raised in 1962 under the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Act, 1949 in the backdrop of 1962 during the India-China War 
• However, in 1992, parliament enacted the ITBPF Act and the rules were framed in 1994.
• Mandate: ITBP is India’s primary border patrol organization for its border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. It is also deployed for Anti Naxal Operations and other internal security duties.
• Moreover, ITBP personnel have also been deployed abroad in UN peacekeeping missions.