Madhya Pradesh faces acute police shortage with 45,000 vacant posts

Madhya Pradesh is grappling with a significant shortage of police personnel, with an actual strength of 121.76 officers per lakh population against the sanctioned level of 147.23. Approximately 45,000 police posts remain vacant across the state. The Ministry of Home Affairs recently urged state officials to accelerate recruitment to address this gap.

Nationally, the shortfall is also stark, with actual police strength at 152.80 per lakh population compared to the sanctioned 196.23. While Nagaland leads with the highest ratio of 1,189.33 per lakh, Bihar has the lowest at 75.16, followed by West Bengal at 97.66 and Rajasthan at 120.39.

State officials attribute vacancies to retirements, resignations, deaths, and removals from service. Since police recruitment is a state subject, significant regional disparities persist across the country.