| Border Security Force | |
|---|---|
| Formation | December 1, 1965 |
| Headquarters | Force Head Quarters, Block 10 CGO Complex Lodhi Road New Delhi 110003 |
| Director General | U K Bansal |
| Website | bsf.nic.in |
The Border Security Force (BSF) is a border patrol agency of the Government of India. Established on December 1, 1965, it is one of the Central Armed Police Forces. Its primary role is to guard India's international borders during peacetime and also prevent transnational crime. Like most paramilitary units of India, the BSF is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is one of the many law enforcement agencies of India.
With a strength of 240,000 personnel in 186 battalions, including women battalions,[1][1][2] it is one of the world's largest border patrol forces. K F Rustomji, the BSF's first Director General is referred to as father of the BSF. Its current Director General is U K Bansal.
From independence in 1947 to 1965, the protection of India's international boundaries was the responsibility of local police battalions belonging to each border state, with little interstate coordination.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 demonstrated the inadequacies of the existing border management system and led to the formation of the Border Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international boundaries. The BSF was the brain child of its founding father Sh KF Rustamji,IPS, the first Director General of BSF. Till 1965 India’s borders with Pakistan were manned by the State Armed Police Battallion. Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Chhar Bet and Beria Bet on 9 April, 1965 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 01 Dec 1965 with K F Rustamji was its first Director General.
The BSF's capabilities were used in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 against Pakistani forces in areas where the Regular Forces were thinly spread; BSF troops took part in several operations including the famous Battle of Longewala. In fact, for BSF the war on eastern front had started well before the war actually broke out in Dec '71. BSF had trained, supported and formed part of "Mukti Bahini" and had entered erstwhile East Pakistan before the actual hostilities broke out. BSF had played a very important role in Liberation of Bangladesh which Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujbir Rehman had also acknowledged.
The BSF, long considered a male bastion, has now deployed its first batch of women personnel at the border to carry out regular frisking of women as well as other duties performed by their male counterparts, including guarding the border. Over 100 women have been deployed on the highly volatile Indo-Pak border, while around 60 will be deployed on the Indo-Bangla border. The first batch of 178 constables have already completed successful training and are all set to serve the frontier. In total, 595 women constables will be deployed on the border in different phases.
The current Director General is U K Bansal who took charge in November 2011.
Although originally charged with guarding India's external boundaries, the BSF has more recently been given the task in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. When the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir broke out in 1989, the Jammu and Kashmir state police and the thinly-deployed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) struggled to cope up with the spiraling violence, and the Indian government deployed the BSF to Jammu and Kashmir to combat Islamic militants.
The BSF initially suffered casualties from insurgent attacks but later saw successes, including the arrest of militant leaders, after setting up an intelligence network and working with local civilians. The BSF killed Ghazi Baba—second-in-command of Jaish-e-Mohammed and the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack—in August 2003. The BSF raided Baba's hideout in Srinagar and he was killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
Despite the BSF's success in a counter-terrorism role, many in the government felt that this additional burden was leading to a dilution of the BSF's mandate and degrading the force's ability to perform its primary role of guarding the country's borders. The Indian government has now decided to implement recommendations to restrict each security agency to its mandate. Thus the 16 BSF battalions in Jammu and Kashmir are gradually being withdrawn from counter-insurgency duties and diverted back to guard the Indo-Pak border. They are being replaced by fresh units from the CRPF Force that have undergone specialized training in counter-terrorism. But the CRPF is yet to take over sensitive places like Tral. The 16 Battalions being withdrawn from J&K were supposed to provide R&R to the battalions already deployed on the border. But with increasing Naxal violence in Central India, government decided to diversify the Anti Naxal operation with the induction of ITBP and BSF. BSF was deployed in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, where Naxal strength is comparatively thinner than that of other parts of Bastar region. At present total 5 battalions of BSF are stationed in different parts of Kanker district to combat Naxal menace.
The Border Security Force has its Head Quarters at New Delhi and is known as Force Head Quarter (FHQ) headed by a Director General. Various Directorates like Operations, Communications & IT, Training, Engineering, General, Law, Provisioning, Administration, Personnel, Medical, Finance etc. function under the DG. Each Directorate is headed by an IG. The Eastern Theater is looked after by Spl DG HQ at Kolkata and the Western Theater is looked after by Spl DG HQ at Chandigarh.Field Formations in BSF are headed by an IG and are known as Frontiers Head Quarters (FtrHQ). There are 10 such Frontier under which Sector Head Quarters (SHQ) function headed by a DIG each. There are 31 such Sectors. Each SHQ has under its command 4-5 Duty Battalions. Presently 186 Battalions are sanctioned to BSF. Five major training institutions and 10 Subsidiary Training Centres (STCs) are imparting ab-initio as well as in-service training to its ranks and other CPOs/SPOs including IPS Probationers.
BSF is the only Indian paramilitary force to have its own Air Wing, Marine Wing and artillery regiments, which support the General Duty Battalions in their operations.
The BSF also has a national level school for breeding and training of dogs. Dogs from other CPOs and State Police are sent to National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) to be trained in infantry patrol, detection of explosives, tracking and the like.
The BSF maintains a Tear Smoke Unit (TSU), which is unique in India. The TSU is responsible for producing tear gas munitions required for the Anti-Riot Forces. It also exports a substantial quantity to other countries.
Two battalions of the BSF, located at Kolkata and Guwahati, are designated as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Each battalion maintains 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each, including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics. The establishment of each battalion is 1,158 personnel. The NDRF is a multi-disciplinary, multi-skilled, high-tech force for all types of disasters and can deploy to disasters by air, sea and land. The battalions are equipped and trained for all natural disasters including combating nuclear disaster, biological and chemical disasters.
| BSF RANKS | POLICE RANKS | ARMY RANKS | NAVY RANKS | AIR FORCE RANKS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director General (Apex Scale of the Indian Police Service) | Director General of a State Police Force | Lieutenant General (Army Commander's Scale) | Vice Admiral (FOC-in-C's Scale) | Air Marshal (AOC-in-C's Scale) |
| Special Director General (HAG+ Scale of the Indian Police Service) | Special Director General | Lieutenant General (HAG+ Scale) | Vice Admiral (HAG+ Scale) | Air Marshal (HAG+ Scale) |
| Additional Director General (Higher Administrative Grade of the IPS cadre, also available to BSF cadre) | C.P, ADG | Lieutenant General (Higher Administrative Grade) | Vice Admiral (HAG) | Air Marshal (HAG) |
| Inspector General | Joint C.P, IG | Major General | Rear Admiral | Air Vice Marshal |
| Deputy Inspector General ♯ | Additional C.P, DIG ♯ | Brigadier | Commodore (IN) | Air Commodore |
| Commandant | Additional C.P, DIG | Colonel | Captain (IN) | Group Captain |
| Commandant | SSP, Deputy C.P(selection grade) | Colonel | Captain (IN) | Group Captain |
| No Equivalent | No Equivalent | Lieutenant Colonel | Commander (IN) | Wing Commander |
| 2 I/C | SP, Deputy c.p(Non Select) | No Equivalent | No Equivalent | No Equivalent |
| Deputy Commandant | ASP, additional deputy c.p | Major | Lt. Commander | Sqn Leader |
| Assistant Commandant | No equivalent | Captain | Lieutenant (IN) | Flight Lieutenant |
| No equivalent | Deputy Superintendent of Police | Lieutenant[3] | Sub Lieutenant | Flying Officer |
♯ With 3 years seniority [4][5][6][7][8][9]
The BSF personnel have been recipients of the following awards:
[[File:|thumb|]]
The Border Security Force operates helicopters, plus additional Utility aircrafts.
| Image | Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service[11] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HAL Dhruv | India | utility helicopter | HAL Dhruv | 3 [12] | 8 Ordered. | |
| Mil Mi-17 | Russia | utility helicopter | Mi-17KF | 6 | ||
| Embraer EMB 135 | Brazil | VIP transport | 1 | 3 more planes ordered[13] | ||
| Beechcraft Super King Air | United States | turboprop aircraft | 2[14] | |||
| Hawker Siddeley HS 748 | United Kingdom | turboprop transport | 2[14] |
BSF had evaluated two aircraft for the transport aircraft requirement they are Alenia C-27J Spartan manufactured by Alenia Aeronautica and EADS CASA C-295.[15]
Creek Crocodile Commando are the elite commando force of BSF,It is Rann of Kutch (An extensive salt marsh of western India and southeast Pakistan between the Gulf of Kutch and the Indus River delta. It was the scene of major border disputes in 1965 and 1971.) Creek (Gujarat): In order to thwart landing of terrorists through the sea route, BSF has formed its first commando unit -- Creek Crocodiles -- to man the hostile creek area where India shares border with Pakistan.
Creeks are a very hostile terrain constituting of numerous raised grounds having mangroves and a network of water channels which are quite shallow where all movements are tide dependent.
Creek Crocodiles are trained to thwart any evil designs from across the border, BSF Commandant Pushpendrasinh Rathore, who is training the commando unit at Koteshwar outpost of BSF said.
"We have kept three things in mind while selecting cadets for the commando including swimming and marine diving performance, firing abilities and endurance to work in the rough creek," Rathore said, adding IG BSF Gujarat range A K Sinha had given the idea of raising the commando force so that we can dominate the creek area.
The Crocodile units have 42 commandos at present and they are undergoing vigorous training, he said.
All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) to keep vigil on the Pakistani activities in the Harami Nala creek,BSF will deploy ATVs for vigil along Harami Nala by year-end. BSF to get two hovercraft for coastal surveillance.[16]
According to the senior BSF officer, some MPVs have already been introduced in a number of BSF units along the border and more MPVs to be added in the coming years.[17]
BSF has often been accused by Bangladesh government of incursions into Bangladesh territory, and indiscriminate shooting of civilians along the India-Bangladesh borders. This was in retaliation to massive illegal immigration from Bangladesh into India, for which the Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier is presently underway[18] In a news conference in August 2008, Indian BSF officials admitted that they killed 59 illegals(34 Bangladeshis, 21 Indians, rest unidentified) who were trying to cross the border during the prior six months.[19]
In 2001 July Bangladeshi Border Force BDR Kidnapped And Brutally Tortured And Killed 16 BSF Personells Because They Chased Some Bangladeshi Goons Back To Bangladesh And Amidst That Enterted Into Bangaldesh,So Since Then BSF Acts Tough Against Bangladesh[20]
Later Bangladesh Rifles Brutally Killed An Assistant Commandant Of BSF By Kidnapping In 2005
In July 2009 Channel 4 News reported that hundreds of Bangladeshis and Indians are indiscriminately killed by the BSF along the Indo-Bangladeshi Barrier. The BSF claims that the barrier's main purpose is to check illegal immigration, and prevent cross-border terrorism.[21]
Bangladeshi media accused the BSF of abducting 5 Bangladeshi children, aged between 8 and 15, from the Haripur Upazila in Thakurgaon District of Bangladesh, in 2010. The children were setting fishing nets near the border.[22]
In 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a 81 page report which detailed hundreds of abuses by the BSF. The report was compiled from interviews with victims of BSF shootings, witnesses and members of the BSF and its Bangladeshi counterpart. The report alleged that over 900 Bangladeshi citizens have been killed in the first decade of the 21st century by the BSF. According to HRW, while most of them were killed when they crossed into Indian territory for indulging in cattle rustling or other smuggling activities, many were also killed in BSF's indiscriminate firing across the border.[23]
In 2010, some Canadian visa officials rejected the immigration application of a retired BSF soldier Moninder Singh Pandher, terming BSF a "notoriously violent paramilitary unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and responsible for torturing suspected criminals". This accusation against one of India's elite paramilitary forces did not go down well with the Indian government. The Indian External Affairs Ministry was asked by the Home minister to take up the issue with Canada.[24] The Home ministry of India, as well as the Indian public in general and several of India's political parties, have expressed outrage at this attack and have called Canada's actions discriminatory and spurious, and their charges against the BSF as baseless and unproven. The Indian government has threatened diplomatic retaliation unless they withdraw their allegations. The Canadian government did not respond immediately.[25] It was speculated that diplomatic retaliation from India will consist of banning Canadians going to participate the War in Afghanistan if they are doing so through India. Public outrage in India prompted Canadian authorities to express "great respect for India's armed forces and related institutions".[26] Subsequently, India's Ministry of External Affairs summoned Canadian High Commissioner Joseph Caron and demanded that "the blatant discrimination against Indian security agencies" cease.[27] India's Minister of External Affairs, SM Krishna, condemned Canada's actions and has expressed pride in the accomplishments of the BSF.[28]
Following complaints made by the Indian government and criticism of Canada's actions against India, the Harper government retracted their earlier accusations against BSF security officials. Canada's Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Jason Kenney, Termed as "unfortunate" the incidents involving use of "foul language by the Canadian High Commission in visa rejection letters to some individuals", Kenney said, "This language, or the inaccurate impression it has created, in no way reflects the policy or position of the Government of Canada."[29]
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