Govt replaces safai karamchari, kahar categorisation for CAPF jawans with MTS, kitchen services

The government has done away with service categorisations like safai karamchari, kahar, farash and masalchi for the lowest ranks of paramilitary jawans and replaced them with professional designations like multi-tasking staff and kitchen services.

The Union Home Ministry recently issued an order to all paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and directed them that all constabulary recruitments in these services be advertised and named as per the new nomenclature.

The CAPFs, every recruitment cycle, hire hundreds of jawans for rendering various administrative works for the combat troops of these forces, like cooking, cleaning, gardening, washing and some other daily jobs.

As per an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the post of constable daftary (office boy), farash and safai karamchari (cleaner) and peon have been "merged" and now will be known as constable MTS or multi-tasking staff.

Similarly, as per the order accessed by PTI, the posts of cook, water carrier, butcher, waiter, masalchi (kitchen helper who works with preparation of spices), table boy and kahar (helper for cleaning and other activities) have been merged and will now be known as constable for kitchen services.

"These decisions have been taken by the ministry on the recommendations of a committee that was appointed by the MHA under the chairmanship of an ITBP officer. The aim is to have a professional and respectable designation for the jawans who are at the bottom of the hierarchy in these forces," a senior ministry officer said.

Also, the two broad categorisations will help in a uniform recruitment policy in these forces who engage hundreds of such personnel for a variety of administrative duties that run a combat unit of troops, he said.

There are no financial implications in doing away with these archaic designations, he added.

A CAPF officer said the move to re-name these categorisations "does justice to the aspirations of the personnel who apply for and undertake these jobs and does away with the age-old designations which do not evoke respect."A lot of this personnel do not feel it respectable to mention their service designation among their friends and family. These trades are specialisations that are earned after obtaining the required skill so why not give them their professional due," the officer said.

The future recruitments in these forces will be done under these new two service categorisations, he said.

The CAPFs include the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Central Industrial Security Force and the Sashastra Seema Bal.

There are three other central forces-- the National Security Guard, the National Disaster Response Force and the Assam Rifles--who recruit this category of personnel.

These central forces, with a combined strength of over 10 lakh personnel, render a variety of internal security duties, law and order management, border guarding, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations and disaster rescue and relief under the command of the Union home ministry.