Soon candidates for the assistant commandant examination for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will have to show their psychological abilities just like exams for armed forces officers. The central government is working on a proposal to initiate a psychological evaluation for candidates appearing for the exam, sources told News18.
The process of review of the scheme, syllabus, and pattern of examination is on, and to finalise its shape, the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) has been tasked to prepare a roadmap.
The syllabus and pattern have not been altered in the past 19 years, a senior official involved in the process of changes and review said.
According to the sources, the union home ministry during a meeting proposed to explore ways to analyse candidates in a new way.
If it gets approved, the changed pattern, syllabus, and exam will also have psychological analysis and assessment at a very early stage through tests.
The Services Selection Board (SSB) responsible for assessing the candidates for induction of officers in the Indian Armed Forces has a psychological evaluation, which includes Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Word Association Test (WAT), and Situation Reaction Test (SRT).
According to an official communication, DIPR will hold discussions with all Central Armed Police Forces officers on psychological tests. “Based on the discussion with officers and DIPR suggestions, a top ITBP official will finally submit a detailed report to the home ministry,” a senior government official involved in the process told News18.
A discussion is scheduled this week in a series at various levels by CAPF officers starting from February 24 until the first week of March.
During these days, different officers from different forces will share their views on this test.
The Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) does research in psychology for armed forces personnel. The institute provides training in the selection, stress, combat stress management, and soft skills for the Indian Armed Forces and DRDO.
Former IG of CRPF, MP Nathanael said that the UPSC panel has a psychologist but the introduction of this assessment at an early stage is the need of the hour.
“In the Army, they assess candidates at screening level only. We have it at the last stage. It would be good if we can have it at the initial level. It will help to analyse if the candidate is psychologically strong enough to perform a tough duty, handle pressure with high efficiency,” he told News18.
Sources also said that apart from adding this test, there are plans to introduce technical and cyber knowledge apart from focusing on writing and communication, stress management skills, etc.
Currently, there is hardly any focus on cyber and digital knowledge, and areas like Kashmir, Naxal-affected regions require these kinds of skills.
“Cyber and digital knowledge is a must nowadays. Currently, there is no focus on analysing these skills. While doing duty in areas like Kashmir, officers must have these skills. Nowadays from operations to assisting in law and order duties to interception, everywhere, the officer must have these abilities. It will be important to add these aspects for ACs exams syllabus,” Nathanael said.
There have been discussions that the exam should be merged with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services test and, as per the rank, structure and postings should be done periodically. Officials say that this will also help in timely recruitment in CAPFs at the assistant commandment level.
“A merger will help in recruiting officers at equal intervals, which now gets delayed as UPSC conducts various exams on priority. Also, the same pattern will have a less financial burden,” a BSF official said.
Currently, this exam is for all Central Armed Police Forces, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), National Security Guard (NSG), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and National Security Guard (NSG).
The exam is conducted by the UPSC, which fills approximately 250 vacancies every year. The eligibility criteria for this test is that candidates must be between 20 and 25 years of age and at least graduates, and is conducted in three phases—written, physical test, and interview. On average, around 3.25 lakh candidates sit for the examination every year.
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