Raksha Mantri unveils policy reforms for Indian Coast Guard: gender-neutral career progression and faster ex-gratia for families of personnel missing at sea
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh announced gender-neutral officer career progression in the Indian Coast Guard and faster ex-gratia for next of kin of personnel reported missing at sea.
- Indian Coast Guard officers can be inducted through Short Service Appointments (SSA) or Permanent Appointments (PA), which are different service pathways with different rules.
- Indian Coast Guard induction rules allow women into both SSA and PA and also allow male candidates into SSA, with equal career progression starting from initial training.
- Indian Coast Guard women officers already on PA can be considered for promotion to higher positions, based on eligibility conditions.
- In Indian Coast Guard missing-at-sea cases, ‘presumed dead’ is an administrative category used to process ex-gratia for next of kin.
What happened: ICG officer policy reforms announced by Raksha Mantri
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh unveiled two policy reforms for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). The reforms aim to improve gender parity in officer induction and service conditions and to reduce delays in granting ex-gratia to the next of kin of ICG personnel who go missing at sea while on duty. The announcement was made at Kartavya Bhavan-2, New Delhi on July 28, 2026.
Background and earlier position
UPSC can frame the reforms as administrative law and personnel-policy choices: how gender-neutral career pathways and time-sensitive welfare payments can be designed within military institutions while managing eligibility conditions and procedural timelines.
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