UPSC CAPF Interview

NDRF gets 2 more battalions, from SSB(a total of 12 now)
The government on April 29, 2015 decided to sanction two more battalions for the National Disaster Response Force, which was possibly the first foreign rescue team to reach Nepal following last weekend’s earthquake.

To speed up matters, two battalions of the Sashastra Seema Bal, the border guarding force set up in 1963, would be converted into NDRF units. One of these battalions would be based at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Arunachal Pradesh.

The decision was cleared at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NDRF, which has been deployed in Nepal and some Indian states bordering it that were affected by the earthquake, currently has 10 battalions adding up to around 10,000 men.

”The objective of the conversion of these two additional battalions of SSB into NDRF battalions is to provide response to the area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh during any natural and man-made disaster and to enhance the capability of the existing NDRF battalions,” according to an official release.

”The placement of two NDRF Battalions at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh will fill up the vast gap of deployment of the NDRF,” an official release said.

The NDRF, a force raised by bringing on deputation personnel from various paramilitary forces, is the first responder in case of any natural or man-made disasters and its units are deployed in various parts of the country for such emergencies.

Each NDRF battalion has 1,149 personnel and is equipped to rescue people affected by disasters.

At present, the NDRF battalions are based in Guwahati (Assam), Calcutta (West Bengal), Cuttack (Odisha), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Pune (Maharashtra), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Bathinda (Punjab), Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Patna (Bihar) and Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh).

Earlier, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol, Border Security Force and Central Industrial Security Force had earmarked two battalions each for the NDRF. The SSB now joins their ranks. 

Fighting without equipment
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/fighting-without-equipment/article7307353.ece

The MoD is also believed to be considering the alternative proposal of abandoning the import of both the carbine and assault rifle and manufacturing them locally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ enterprise. But this will also entail time-consuming procedures, necessitating a private or public sector-led joint venture with an overseas original equipment manufacturer, again selected after extensive trials. Such an enterprise would, doubtless, necessitate the import of a certain number of weapon systems before their licensed production by the JV begins much later.

Army officers have warned that such delays severely compromise the operational efficiency of infantry units, especially those deployed in counter-insurgency operations, as they are forced to employ INSAS rifles against the superior weaponry of militants in Kashmir and the Northeast. Meanwhile, even the sniper rifles used in the paramilitary forces are more contemporary and advanced than the Army’s Soviet-era Dragunov SVD gas-operated, semi-automatic models acquired in the 80s.

Compare and contrast the structure, mandate, role and abilities of India’s armed forces with that of paramilitary forces
The basic aim of having well equipped armed forces is protection of the sovereignty
of the country from external (foreign) and internal aggression. Indian armed
forces include Indian Army, IAF and Indian Navy. The armed forces are supported by paramilitary forces which include Assam rifles, Special Frontier Force and
Indian Coast guards.

Indian armed forces come under Ministry of Defence while the
paramilitary forces come under Ministry of Home Affairs(except Indian Coastal Guards). The military forces play active lead roles while country fights external wars.

As per International Mandate Indian Armed forces being the federal cannot be deputed on the recognized international borders so other forces such as BSF ITBP etc protects the international borders(IBs), while Indian Army can be deputed on disputed borders (as these are not recognized IBs) such as LOC and LAC.

Apart from importing the various state of art weapons, vehicles and artilleries,
Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence is responsible for
the indigenous production of equipment used by the Indian Armed Forces. It
comprises Indian Ordnance Factories and some Public Sector Undertakings like
BEL, HAL etc.

Paramilitary forces under Home Ministry mostly buy their equipment from the domestic and international markets. The organizational differences are reflected in procedures of procurement of weapons, and paramilitary forces are said to have more modern weapons than Indian Army.


There is need for bringing in organizational transparency in the procurement of the weapons systems so that the operational efficiency of the armed forces are not compromised.

Paramilitary Force and CAPF definition
In 2011, Government of India made the formal definition: Paramilitary force =headed by Military officer (and not an IPS officer).
CRPF, BSF, ITPB etc are all headed by “Director Generals” but these director generals are actually IPS officers (and not military officers.) Hence going by that definition, we are left with only three “real” paramilitary forces
Assam Rifles
Special Frontier Force
Coast Guard
Ok then
what are CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB? =these are “Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).”
Then what are RAW and IB = they are intelligence gathering agencies (internal and external)
Then what are CBI and NIA= they are law enforcement agencies.

Organizations

Critically comment on the existing disaster response mechanism in India and critically examine the  role, objectives, structure and performance of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
The existing disaster response mechanism in India are as follows:

1.The new mechanism through National Disaster Management Act, 2005 has led to establishment of disaster management institutions at the national, state and district levels as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) headed by the Prime Minister, State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by Chief Ministers, and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) headed by district collectors/magistrates 
2.A specialist response force called NDRF to tackle all types of disaster, including nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.
3. National Crisis Management Committee that includes cabinet secretary and secretaries of other departments that are in charge of dealing with crises and giving directions to the Crisis Management Group.

However,there are certain issues related to disaster response that have come out recently :
1. There are no provisions to make guidelines issued by the NDMA binding on state .
2. The National Disaster Mitigation Fund has not yet been established. 
3. Communication systems for DM are not developed. Critical equipments have not been procured and the satellite based communication network has not been developed.

NDRF : It is a disaster response agency under National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) created by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in 2009

Structure : It works at state and central-level under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) based in Delhi.At present, National Disaster Response Force consists of twelve battalions, three each from the BSF, CRPF and two each from CISF, ITBP and SSB(recently inducted). Each battalion will provide 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics.

Role and objectives:
1. to combat all natural disasters including radiological, nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.
2. to conduct search and rescue operations in the event of any natural catastrophe .

Critical issue : 

The effectiveness of the National Disaster Response Force has been hampered because of shortage of trained manpower and absence of appropriate training facilities, infrastructure and equipment. The Standard Operating Procedures for deployment of the NDRF have not been finalised .