Who Is Nina Singh, The First Woman To Be Appointed As Chief Of CISF?

New Delhi: As the first female head of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Nina Singh brings a wealth of experience to her role. She has co-authored research papers with Nobel laureates and overseen high-profile cases like the Sheena Bora murder. After her predecessor Sheel Vardhan Singh retired from the force in August, she already held the position of special (interim) DG.

Singh, an officer from the 1989 IPS batch, has a distinguished career that includes work for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Rajasthan Police. In her career, she achieved numerous firsts as well, such as being the first female IPS officer to hold the position of Director General in the Rajasthan Police in 2021.

Daughter of Bihar

Originally from the Darbhanga district of Bihar, Singh attended Patna Women's College for her secondary education before graduating from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. She enrolled at Delhi School of Economics to pursue an MPhil, but she never finished it because she joined the police force. Additionally, Singh has a master's degree from Harvard University in public administration. She co-authored two research papers about reforms and enhancing police performance in a system at Harvard with Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, citing the Rajasthan Police as examples.

The IPS officer, who was assigned to the Manipur cadre, was transferred to Rajasthan at a very young age following her marriage to Rohit Kumar Singh, an IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre. Now, her spouse works as a secretary in the Union ministry of consumer affairs. She is credited with enforcing the strict requirement that two-wheeler riders wear helmets while serving as the Superintendent of Police in Jaipur. She went on to work as the Inspector General of the Ajmer range and the Deputy Inspector General of the Jaipur range.

In addition to the President's Police Medal, the Police Medal for Meritorious Service, and the Ati Utkrisht Seva Pada for professional excellence, the senior IPS officer has also received these awards. Singh worked for the Rajasthan Police in several specialised departments and was more interested in administrative roles.

Prior to taking over as the ADG overseeing the Civil Rights & Anti-Human Trafficking division, she served as ADG (Training). Prior to her appointment as an ADG on deputation to CISF in 2021, she had been promoted to the DG level within the same department. Her tenure with the CISF is her second central deputation; from 2013 to 2018, she worked as a joint director with the CBI.

Smt Nina Singh, IPS (RJ: 89) assumed the charge of DG #CISF engraving a historic milestone as the first woman to helm this esteemed position. Her visionary leadership will usher this multi-skilled and multi -dimensional force to greater heights.@PMOIndia@HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/gQVfoYo0So — CISF (@CISFHQrs) December 29, 2023

In charge of the CBI's designated crime zone, she and her team successfully investigated a number of cases, including the rape and killing of a student in a Gurugram school and the Kotkhai gang's murder in Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, she had overseen high-profile cases, such as the murder of Sheena Bora, the daughter of socialite Indrani Mukerjea. After being returned to her native country in 2018, she worked as an auxiliary director general of police until becoming the first female DG in the Rajasthan Police in 2021.

Officer of academia

According to a senior CISF officer, the government has acknowledged her academic abilities as well, and she is using them to prepare the force for all aspects of the mandate, particularly in interdepartmental communication, as demonstrated by the weekly conferences where topics such as administration, operations, and welfare are discussed.

A specialised central para-military force, the CISF was established in 1969 and works under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It currently provides security cover to 358 establishments across the country. The CISF was recently asked by the MHA to carry out a survey of the Parliament complex after the 13 December security breach.