SEPTEMBER 2013
DSI
RETOOLING
THE PMFs AND CAPFs In March 2012 it was reported that Ministry of Home Affairs used Rs. 4,600 crores for modernising CAPFs and that Rs. 610 crores were allotted to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and north eastern states to meet security related expenditures.
ANIL BHAT
KEY POINTS ! Assam Rifles, India’s oldest
paramilitary force of 46 battalions, is under administrative control of the MHA, but under ops control of Army ! The BSF came into existence with aim to promote trans-border security & presently is the largest Border Guards in the world. ! The ITBP, born after the 1962 military debacle was restructured in 1978 making it now to be a formidable mountain force
AFP
O
n May 2, 2013, the Cabinet approved Rs 11,000- crore plan to modernise central armed police forces (CAPF) including the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which is deployed along the SinoIndian Line of Actual Control (LAC). Although the plan was conceived long ago, the timing of the approval became quite
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obvious in view of the recurring incidents along the LAC and also along the IndiaPakistan Line of Control (LoC). In March 2012 it was reported that Ministry of Home Affairs used Rs 4,600 crores for modernising CAPFs and that Rs 610 crores were allotted to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and other north eastern states to meet security related expenditures. The 26/11 Pakistani terrorist attack on Mumbai as well as the heavy rate of casualties that Maoists have been able to inflict on CAPFs like the CRPF, are again important wake-up calls for the process of modernisation to be implemented urgently and meaningfully. The term “paramilitary forces” (PMF) was generally used to refer to a variety of armed services that aid law enforcement and the Armed Forces. The term normally included central armed police and often included some state armed police. At the Army’s request, government authorised Army to provide definitive terminology, which narrowed definition of “paramilitary” to include only Assam Rifles, Indian Coast Guard and a third one which is classified. Since a March 2011 ruling, all others are categorized as “Central Armed Police Forces”.