Govt decides to get strict on fitness norms for IPS recruits

The Union home ministry has decided to strictly enforce the physical fitness parameters for the Indian Police Service (IPS) at the time of induction.

Fitness of IPS officers came under the spotlight after a Madhya Pradesh policeman’s weight problem became a subject of online discussion after he was “fat-shamed” by writer-columnist Shobha De on Twitter. Inspector Daulatram Jogawat, who weighed 180-kg, underwent a bariatric surgery at a Mumbai hospital on Thursday for reducing the volume of the stomach to curb the food intake.

Two IPS officers, Kushum Punia a 2010 batch officer of Jharkhand cadre, and Kumar Gautam, a 2011 batch officer belonging to West Bengal cadre, were sacked from the service as they failed to clear their mandated physical fitness tests as probationers. They were reinstated only after they cleared the test. Punia had not cleared her swimming test as part of basic course for IPS officers at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, while Gautam didn’t clear cross-country race test.

“Taking a strict view of the matter, the Union home ministry discharged them from service last year.

But they sought another chance on compassionate ground following which they appeared for the test and cleared them.

We have not reinstated them,” a home ministry official said. “The message is very clear. The IPS recruits will have to take their physical fitness parameters very seriously,” said the official.

This is not only case when the home ministry has taken a stern view over adherence to physical fitness parameters of newly inducted IPS officers.