- Saturday, March 01, 2025
The north-eastern state’s director-general of police Gyanendra Pratap Singh said the decision was taken on the direction of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Police officers in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam have been asked to reduce weight in a few months or quit the force.
A top officer in the state, which is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister Narendra Modi, said the body mass index (BMI) of all officers will be “professionally assessed” from mid August.
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Those officers found to be in the “obese” category will be given time till November to get into shape or take voluntary retirement.
Assam’s director-general of police Gyanendra Pratap Singh said the decision was taken on the direction of the state’s chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In line with directions of the Hon @CMOfficeAssam , @assampolice Hq has decided to go in for professional recording of Body Mass Index (BMI) of all Assam Police personnel including IPS/APS officers and all DEF/Bn/Organisations.
We plan to give three months time to all Assam…— GP Singh (@gpsinghips) May 16, 2023
“@assampolice Hq has decided to go in for professional recording of Body Mass Index (BMI) of all Assam Police personnel including IPS/APS officers and all DEF/Bn/Organisations,” he tweeted.
It has been decided to give three months to all personnel, including IPS (Indian Police Service) and Assam Police Services officers, till August 15, and then start BMI assessment, he said.
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“All those who are in obese (BMI 30+) category would be offered another three months time to reduce weight (till November end) and after that VRS option except those who have genuine medical ground like thyroidism etc (sic),” the top officer added, according to the Press Trust of India.
Singh said that he will be the first person in the force to record the BMI on August 16.
On May 8, Singh had said that the Assam Police drew up a list of about 680 personnel, who are habitual drinkers or obese, and after a multi-tier review, those found unfit for duty will be offered voluntary retirement.
In April, Sarma had said that around 300 officers and personnel of Assam Police would be handed retirement due to their problem of alcoholism.
Singh also said that people with medical conditions will be given exemptions, the BBC reported.
Studies have found that India’s police officers often work long and irregular hours without having proper rest or breaks.
In 2018, reserve police officers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka were also instructed to lose weight or get suspended.
A top official had then told the BBC that the decision was taken after several officers had passed away due to “lifestyle-related diseases” such as cardiac problems and diabetes.
BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the square of their height.
It is used by many doctors, health service providers and insurers around the globe to decide whether an individual is healthy. But there are also experts who argue that using BMI as a measure to assess the quality of health is not accurate and scientific and suits white, European men more, the BBC added.
