The Chief Minister's Office of Gujarat announced on 8 July 2026 that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel presented appointment letters to 449 newly selected unarmed Police Sub-Inspectors (PSIs) at a ceremony held in Gandhinagar, marking a significant addition to the state's police force.

Context

The formal induction ceremony was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, the Director General of Police of Gujarat, and other senior dignitaries. The 449 candidates, selected through the state's competitive recruitment process for the unarmed PSI cadre, received their appointment orders directly from Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in what the CMO described as a 'varadhasthe' (auspicious hand) ceremony — a formal tradition of conferring appointments with honour.

The event also served as a platform to formally launch new training materials developed specifically for this incoming batch, signalling a curriculum overhaul aligned with India's reformed criminal justice framework.

Policy Backdrop

A key highlight of the ceremony was the release of new textbooks prepared by the Gujarat Police Academy for the basic training syllabus of the unarmed PSI cadre. These books have been developed in the context of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the new criminal code that replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code and came into effect nationwide from 1 July 2024.

The BNS, along with two companion statutes — the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — received presidential assent in December 2023. Gujarat Police Academy has now incorporated the new legal framework into the foundational training syllabus, ensuring recruits are versed in the current law from day one of their service.

This move is part of a broader national pattern where state police training institutions have been revising their curricula since the 2024 rollout of the new criminal justice codes to ensure field-level compliance and readiness.

Stakeholders and Impact

The 449 newly appointed PSIs represent a direct strengthening of Gujarat's police force at the sub-inspector level, a rank critical to day-to-day law enforcement and investigation functions. The state has periodically conducted unarmed PSI recruitment drives — previous batches were inducted in 2022–23 — as part of efforts to bridge sanctioned-strength gaps across the department.

For the recruits, the appointment letters mark the conclusion of a competitive selection process and the beginning of structured basic training. With the revised syllabus already in place, they will be trained on the BNS framework from the outset, reducing the need for supplementary retraining later in their careers.

What's Next

The newly appointed PSIs will now proceed to the Gujarat Police Academy for their basic training, where the newly released BNS-aligned textbooks will form a core part of the curriculum. Authorities are expected to monitor subsequent phases of PSI recruitment to continue addressing vacancies in the unarmed police cadre.

The full implementation of the revised training syllabus across all Gujarat Police Academy batches will be a key measure of how effectively the state integrates the new criminal justice codes into frontline policing.