ARMED FORCES IN INDIA : MILITARY, PARAMILITARY, And CAPF

According to the duty, 1.366 billion people in India can be grouped as civilians and soldiers. Approximately, 1.4 million soldiers actively protect the rest of the population. But these defense personnel did not belong to the same force. We are familiar with Army, Navy, Air force , CRPF, BSF, Coast guard, etc.

Many of us have little idea about the differences of these forces. Sometimes misconception may occur due to this.

All these forces have a single aim, to protect our nation from two types of threats ;

1. Internal threat 

2. External threat

To act efficiently in facing both the threats, armed forces are categorized. They are,

I. Military force

II. Paramilitary force

III. CAPF

I. Military force 

It includes ARMY, NAVY, and AIR FORCE. They perform important role in the protection of country from external threat and terrorism. They are under ministry of Defense. These forces are so familiar to the public.

II.    Paramilitary forces 

They primarily assist the military forces. They include Indian coast guard, Assam rifles, and special frontier force. Indian coast guard is under control of ministry of Defense. Assam rifles now existing as the only one dual commanded force. It comes under both the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of Defense. Here operational control such as posting, transfer, deputation is controlled by ministry of Defense. But the administrative control is done by the ministry of home affairs, which include provision of salary and infrastructure. Special frontier force is under Intelligence bureau.

All these forces gives protection of resources against the internal threat, left wing extremism, north east insurgency, ethnic violence etc. They also assist the military forces like Army, Navy, and Air Force 

III. CAPF

They are central armed police forces. It includes,

1. CRPF ( Central reserved police force )

2. CISF ( central industrial security force )

3. BSF ( border security force )

4. SSB ( Sashastra Seema Bal )

5. ITBP ( Indo-Tibetan border police )

6. NSG* (National Security Guard)

They are under the ministry of home affairs. They also assist the military and paramilitary forces as well as protect the nation against internal threats like terrorism, north east insurgency, illegal border crossing etc. 

Although, there are many forces under the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Home Affairs, there is only one mind and one aim for all the soldiers. There are diverse forms of uniforms but inside the diversity, there comes the unity ; patriotism!