New Delhi: Families of serving paramilitary personnel and veterans staged a protest at Rajghat in Delhi on Thursday against the recently passed CAPF Bill, pressing for its withdrawal and raised some other demands.
The group, largely comprising women, demanded that the CAPF (General Administration) Bill, 2026, be withdrawn and that cadre officers and jawans of these forces receive timely promotions.
The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) — comprising the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — have a combined strength of about 10 lakh personnel.
Ranbir Singh, general secretary of the Alliance of All Ex-Paramilitary Forces Welfare Association (AAPWA), said, “The peaceful protest was held at Rajghat to demand that the Parliament-passed CAPF Bill be rolled back and that justice be done for the cadre officers and jawans who have been stagnating due to lack of promotions for years ranging between 15 and 17”.
He said the retired officers have repeatedly raised these concerns and sought meetings with President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to explain their grievances, but have not received a response so far.
“We also demand that CAPF officers be allowed to avail the old pension scheme (OPS) and be granted the Organised Group A Service (OGAS) benefits in the real sense,” Singh said.
H R Singh, president of the AAPWA and a retired additional director general-rank officer from the CRPF cadre, said the government passed the CAPF Bill despite a Supreme Court ruling from May 2025 that paved the way for better service prospects for CAPF cadre officers.
“About 10 lakh personnel and 13,000 officers of these forces are very concerned about their future. We will continue our protests,” he said.
In their representations to the Union home ministry, serving cadre officers stated that the Bill’s provisions were “oppressive” and that they would continue to stagnate in their current ranks if Indian Police Service (IPS) deputations are not curtailed as directed by the top court in an order issued last year.
The Centre filed an appeal against this order, which the apex court rejected.
Retired CAPF officers said the Bill was “discriminatory” towards cadre officers.
The government said the Bill seeks to create a unified legal framework governing the service conditions of personnel across the CAPFs, replacing the current patchwork of separate service rule regimes for cadre officers and those coming on deputation from the Indian Police Service (IPS).
