Understanding CAPFs

Ranjan K Baruah *

In our last edition we published about the Indian Army and career options associated with it. Like the Army, Navy or Air Force there are few other forces which are important for the Nation. One of the important forces in the country is the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

In today’s edition we shall discuss CAPF and how one may get recruited. The Central Armed Police Forces were set up to protect the internal security of the Nation as well as support the defense services in securing the borders of India.

All the CAPFs function under the purview of MHA, i.e., Ministry of Home Affairs. We should know that the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force are under the Ministry of Defence. In simple terms we can learn that CAPFs are in between Defence Forces and State Police Forces. Examples of CAPFs are as follows -

CRPF : The Central Reserve Police Force came into existence as Crown Representative’s Police on 27th July 1939. It became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act on 28th December 1949. It has completed 82 years of glorious history.

The Force has grown into a big organization with 246 Bns, (including 208 executive Bns, 6 Mahila Bns, 15 RAF Bns, 10 CoBRA Bns, 5 Signal Bns and 1 Special Duty Group, 1 Parliament Duty Group), 43 Group Centres, 20 Training Institutions, 3 CWS, 7 AWS, 2 SWS,1 MWS, 4 Composite Hospitals of 100 bedded and 17 Composite Hospitals of 50 bedded.

CISF: The Central Industrial Security Force came into existence in 1969 to provide integrated security cover to certain sensitive public sector undertakings with a strength of only three battalions. The force has since grown into a premier multi-skilled organization with a present strength of 1,63,590 personnel.

The CISF at present provides security cover to 352 establishments through the length and breadth of the country. The CISF security umbrella includes India’s most critical infrastructure facilities like nuclear installations, space establishments, airports, seaports, power plants etc. In addition, the CISF also protects important Government buildings, iconic heritage monuments and the Delhi Metro.

ITBP: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Force was raised on 24 October, 1962. At present, the ITBP primarily guards 3,488 km long India-China borders ranging from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh. Most of the ITBP's Border Out Posts (BOPs) are located at altitudes ranging from 9,000 ft to 18,800 ft where temperatures drop to minus 45 degrees Celsius in extreme winters.

BSF: Till 1965 India’s border with Pakistan was manned by the State Armed Police Battalion. On 9th April, 1965 Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Chhar Bet and Beria Bet in Kutch.

This exposed the inadequacy of the State Armed Police to cope with armed aggression due to which the Government of India felt the need for a specialized Centrally controlled Border Security Force, which would be armed and trained to man the International Border with Pakistan. As a result of the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries, the Border Security Force came into existence on 01st Dec 1965.

SSB: Sashastra Seema Bal was established as the Special Service Bureau in May 1963. It came under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Jan 2001). SSB was declared a Lead Intelligence Agency for Indo Nepal (June 2001) and assigned the Indo Nepal border. Later, SSB was also assigned to the Indo Bhutan border (March 2004). In March 2004.

There are different options and opportunities for deserving candidates. There are officer entries like Assistant Commandant, Sub Inspector, etc apart from Constable entries and others. Advertisements related to vacancies are published in leading newspapers and the Employment News.