CISF set to induct first women commando team into core operations

NEW DELHI: Keen to engage women personnel in frontline, operational roles, the Central Industrial Security force (CISF) is set to induct the first-ever all-women commando team into its core operations. Likely to be deployed at airports and sensitive installations post-training, around 100 women CISF personnel will be imparted operational skills, such as physical fitness and weapons training, live-fire drills under stress, endurance-building exercises like running, obstacle courses, rappelling, survival training in forests, and a 48-hour confidence-building exercise designed to test decision-making and teamwork under adverse conditions.

The training of women commandos has already begun at the Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Barwaha, Madhya Pradesh. The eight-week advanced commando course will prepare women personnel for duties with Quick Reaction Teams (QRT) and Special Task Force (STF) at high-security establishments and plants.

The first batch of 30 women - currently deployed across various airports - will undergo training from Aug 11 to Oct 4, 2025, and will be followed by a second batch from Oct 6 to Nov 29, 2025. In its initial phase, at least 100 women from different Aviation Security Groups (ASGs) and sensitive CISF units will complete the programme.

A CISF spokesperson said the force will make such all-women courses a regular part of its training calendar. "Inclusion of women in its core capabilities has moved the force a step towards gender parity and explored a new space on operational front, which has been the domain of men," said the spokesperson. CISF will increase women's recruitment to achieve govt's target of 10% representation in the force.