Trainee IPS officers to be attached to Home Ministry before going to cadres, a first, say officials

New trainee officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) will be attached to the Union Home Ministry before they are sent to their respective cadres for probation and subsequent postings. Officials said on Wednesday that this is being done for the first time.

According to officials, the 78th Regular Recruit batch has 151 trainee officers in all, including 16 foreign officers from neighbouring countries. The batch recently completed the first phase of training at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Sources said an event will be held at Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday to attach this 2025 batch to the Home Ministry.

The passing out parade of the batch was held on October 17. Addressing the parade, the Union Home Secretary read out a message from Union Home Minister Amit Shah the same day. The message stressed a zero-tolerance stance towards terrorism, timely action and better coordination among intelligence agencies.

Under the IPS training guidelines issued by the Home Ministry in 2023, once academy training is complete, officers receive further training in the state allotted to them. The Union government decides the duration of this training in consultation with the state government concerned.

The new arrangement changes the traditional training sequence for IPS officers. However, officials have not yet made clear the exact purpose of attaching trainee IPS officers to the Home Ministry first, or how it will benefit them.

The passing out parade was held on October 17 at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad. It was the parade of the 78th Regular Recruit batch (2025) of the IPS. Along with 135 new officers from India, 16 foreign officers from Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives took part.

After the parade, questions began to be raised on social media about the standard of marching by the new IPS officers. Many people criticised an error in the arm swing of some IPS probationers during the parade. Some linked it to lax discipline, while others said the marching contingent lacked energy, alertness and coordination.