New Delhi: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has formulated a policy of not allowing change of gender by its personnel, going by the opinion of the highest medical officer of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) that it “will have a bad impact on the psychology and behaviour of personnel”, ThePrint has learnt.
The ITBP headquarters passed an order regarding the same Monday and it was forwarded to all commands, frontiers, zones and battalions. The order, which ThePrint has seen, came on a plea for gender change filed by a female personnel of the force that is primarily deployed to secure borders along the Line of Actual Control.
Sources in the ITBP told ThePrint that it was the first such request received by the establishment wing of the force.
In Monday’s order, different pre-decided criteria for recruitment of male and female personnel have also been cited as the reason for recommending against change of gender.
According to the order passed by the Directorate General of the ITBP, the female personnel’s request was first forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs for consideration because there is no provision on the subject in the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules.
“The matter was examined with the Personnel and Policy Section of the Home Ministry. There is no policy or guidelines regarding gender change available in the Home Ministry. Therefore, ITBP can take an administrative decision at its level based on the recommendation of the Additional Director General (Medical) CAPF and available guidelines,” the MHA is quoted as saying in the ITBP order.
The ADG (Medical) of CAPF is the highest-ranking officer assisting in formulating policies and standard operating procedures on healthcare delivery systems and services in the Central Armed Police Forces, National Security Guard and Assam Rifles.
On the recommendation of the ministry, the ITBP headquarters followed up with the ADG (Medical) CAPF for opinion, who recommended against allowing change of gender of personnel, citing different parameters required for recruitment of male and female candidates.
“General opinion is that gender change cannot be entertained/permitted in the force as it will have a bad impact on the psychology and behaviour pattern of force personnel. Further, the required physical parameters are different for male and female for enrolment in the force, therefore after sex change these parameters will not be met. Hence, it is not recommended,” the ADG (Medical) CAPF’s opinion was quoted in the ITBP order.
“Therefore, if an application is made by any officer serving in the force seeking permission for sex change, the matter should be disposed of as per the opinion given by the Additional Director General (Medical), CAPF,” the order further states, paving the way for disposal of similar applications in the future.
Sources in the ITBP said recruitment rules and parameters are “considerably” different for male and female candidates and allowing for gender change would potentially impact the operational capacity of the force.
They highlighted that parameters such as dimension of chest (applicable only for males), minimum height required, minimum running distance, and physical examinations such as length of high and long jumps are different for males and females, and, hence, allowing female personnel to change gender would be “disadvantageous” for other personnel.
“This policy, based on the opinion of the topmost medical officer of the CAPF, further strengthens the principle of natural justice since it treats all personnel equally based on their orientation at the time of recruitment,” an ITBP official said.
“There is at least 8-10 cm of difference in minimum height required for males and females according to the recently-released recruitment guidelines for the post of assistant commandant in the telecommunications department of the force. How can those parameters be overlooked for personnel post-enrollment and induction into force?” another ITBP officer asked.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Excellent decision by the senior leadership of ITBP. Kudos to the senior officers.
Wokeism cannot be allowed to gain a foothold in our armed forces. It would be a disaster for national security.
Such wokeism looks cute only on college campuses.