Comparing State Sub Inspector and CBI Sub Inspector

Like i was few years back, i am sure many aspirants are also wanted to know the difference between State Police Sub Inspector and CBI Sub Inspector. In other words, they would like to know who is more powerful between State SI and CBI SI and what career to choose? There is no proper internet article explaining this. Even a few readers of this blog asked me to throw some light on this subject. I mentioned the differences below in the way you used to write for a four marker question during our school days. Read further to understand State SI vs CBI SI.

Comparison Table	State Sub Inspector	CBI Sub Inspector
Selection	Recruitment Exams conducted by concerned state.	SSC CGL
Physical Tests like Long jump, High jump and Running for selection.	Yes	No
Power to Register a Case	Yes	No officer below the rank of SP can register a case. No officer can choose a case that he wants to work on. All decided by the SP. SI can verify if a complaint is genuine.
Promotional Growth	Slow. You become inspector after 10 years. At max you retire as SP	Fast. You are an inspector after 4-5 years. You can even retire as DIG
Departmental Exams	Limited or No	Yes
Political Pressure	Full. Even a petty case is influenced by local leader. This political interference makes him feel powerless though it seems he has wider powers.	No. Everything is documented which needs to be substantiated by a reason for doing anything.
Transfers	Within the state. Majorly controlled by the ruling party politicians.	Can be transferred from anywhere to anywhere else in India. No zonal restrictions.
Bossism	More. Many bosses in the form of DSP, ASP, SP, Politicians, Courts, Media etc.	Comparatively Better. Only SP/DIG is his immediate boss. Not answerable to any other officers.
Law & Order	Their Responsibility	Not CBI Responsibility
Duties	Investigation Court Pairvi Law and Order Politicians Security Providing hospitality services to higher levels Prevention of Crimes Traffic	Investigation Court Pairvi However these two activities are again done by two different people.
Pick up to and from Office	Yes	No
Salary	Less. If you are send to VR (Vacancy Reserve, it is not suspension), your salary will be on hold until you are given next posting. This is the main tool that a state police boss (SP and above) has in their hands.	Better than state police. 20% extra SIA attracts many to come to CBI on deputation. No concept of VR in CBI. Under no circustances, your salary will be put on hold unless you are suspended/dismissed.
Corruption	Perceived even at constable level. Some become so corrupted that they involve an inncoent in a case, leaving the actual culprit.	No
SHO Powers	Full SHO Powers, if SI is not working together with any higher official. Read chapter 12 of CRPC to know what the powers of an SHO are.	No SHO powers until you work with some specific station and for some specific case. You regularly work at DIG/SP's office.
Leadership	He is the leader of a police station. All his subordinate's duties are decided by him including their leaves.	No such responsibility. You focus only on investigation. HoB/HoZ can only handle all those admin things.
Holidays	Less Leaves. Their holidays as per state govt. gazette and SP's wish. It is a 24x7 duty.	Better leaves with All central government holidays with regular government times. At max you may have to extend for an hour/two, in rare cases.
Respect	Just in his own state and in his jurisdiction.	Revered across India. CBI Central Units in Delhi has All India jurisdiction.
Quantity of Cases	More. Even petty cases are forced to get registered by the educated citizens.	Less
Quality of Cases	Less	More
Uniform	Yes with 2 stars and a cap	No uniform and No stars for any rank in CBI. You have to introduce yourself to new people to get respect. If you don't, you are just a common man for them.Example: An autowala can maltreat you if you give him a torn 10 rupee note unknowingly, as he doesn't know who you are. Once he knows about you, he might leave the auto and run.
Car Beacon	Yes	No
Infrastructure	Bad No funds even for station stationery.	Comparatively lot better.
Corruption Cases	Against State govt. employee and only if he in State ACB	Against central govt. employees while working in CBI ACB.
Common man's fear	Yes	Yes
Politician's fear	No. They consider them as their ____	Yes
Work load	High due to more responsibilities. Hardly get time to sleep for more than 6 hours per day and your sleep cycle is completely disturbed. Responsibilities are so much that you compromise on the quality of the work you do there by not able to do proper justice.	Comparatively lot better, considering the time given for every case.
Focus on Work	Less due to more parallel responsibilities. Conviction rate in very poor in most of the states. Only 30-35 accused gets conviction for every 100.	More. Conviction rate is more than 65%
Family life	Disturbed as they need to be available 24x7. No one knows when a theft / rape / murder / accident / Riot happens. As a rule, you should never switch off your mobile and it keeps ringing.	A lot better than them.
Is personal gun issued?	Yes	No, unless the situation is compelling. This answers a long pending question if CBI officer is given a gun. Answer is big NO. In rarest of the rare cases, guns are temporarily issued by the SP.
Encounters	Yes	No
Uniform Allowance	Yes	No
Deputation Chances	They can move to any central police departments like CBI, NIA, IB etc, ofcourse with an interview and when their higher official approve.	CBI itself has shortage of manpower and hence you never or rarely get a chance to depute to other dept. like ED, Income Tax etc. As per papers, it is possible but practically it is less likely. However, i know few officers who went to other departments on deputation.
Corruption Tolerance	You might be tolerated and it depends on his boss.	No chance. Zero tolerance towards the corrupted
Job Tours	Limited, within police station area, unless you go for execution of NBW	More, across districts/states.
Manpower	Many thousands across India	Just few hundreds across India.
Team Work	Full control over your team	You are alone unless you go for raid/trap. You need to take care of yourself in all respects, even in office. Carry your own bag, water bottle and files. If a case involves scrutiny of 1 lorry of documents, ONLY YOU have to study all of them and come to a logical conclusion. This is actually good as secrecy is maintained and no ego clashes in deciding the approach to be adopted.
Personal Life	High Profile	Need to maintain Low Profile
Cases Handled	Low/High Profile	High Profile
Demand for unmarried	Less	Comparatively Better
Finally	Every job has some pros and cons. It is up to the aspirant to choose the right career as per his personal interests and hence others can't decide your personal taste. The aspirant should have ultimate clarity on what kind of satisfaction he wants and on what items he can compromise. Taking a wrong decision can make a person unhappy as he may not be able to adjust with that job environment and with the nature of job. Pls do self-assessment on the qualities of each job mentioned above and come to a decision. Comparing these two jobs is like comparing an Apple with an Orange stating both are fruits (Police).

No department is powerful unless it is empowered by an act and every public department derives powers from those acts. Be it CVC, Income Tax, Railways etc.. So, to understand any organization about its powers and functions, understand the law that formed it. CBI doesn't have any special law other than a very small 2 page DSPE Act.

CBI works as per existing laws based on which their respective departments are already working in India. It is powerful because few departments work can be done and accessed by one single department in India i.e. CBI.  Also, things are very transparent and scrutiny of every work at many differnet levels. You can find the list of those laws here though it is not an authentic source. From the below picture, you understand few things better.

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