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Low Voluntary Retirements in 2024 Came on the Back of Two Back-to-Back Years of High Attrition Rates

- Bharati Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI: At least 8,771 personnel from the six paramilitary forces took voluntary retirement in 2024, the lowest attrition rate reported since 2017, people familiar with the matter said.

The six paramilitary forces—Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Assam Rifles (AR)—collectively have a sanctioned strength of 1,028,722 personnel.

The low voluntary retirements in 2024 came on the back of two back-to-back years of high attritions—while 10,290 personnel took early retirement in 2023, the number stood at 11,211 in 2022, the highest in recent years.

Senior paramilitary officials, requesting anonymity, said that over the past 7-8 months, chiefs of all the forces have been repeatedly directing to reduce the attrition rate and suicides.

In April last year, an in-depth analysis of a task committee's report on suicides and attrition in paramilitary forces was shared with the paramilitary forces, which showed most personnel quit or took their lives over issues such as financial woes, posting locations, and personal issues related to their family.