A quiet administrative proposal has, almost unexpectedly, reopened one of the more delicate questions in India’s security architecture. At the centre of it is the long-standing arrangement under which officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) occupy senior leadership positions within the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), and whether that arrangement should continue in its present form. On paper, the proposal appears to be a technical effort to streamline service conditions. Yet it has drawn attention to a deeper institutional issue involving both the IPS and the CAPFs.
