The Role Of Indian Paramilitary Forces And How They're Different From The Army

India lost 44 men in a terror attack that took place in Pulwama¡¯s Awantipora district on February 14 and a pall of gloom enveloped the entire country. The entire nation has come together to pay their respects to the martyrs in what is being condemned as a cowardly attack, by leaders across the world. These brave men belonged to the CRPF - India's paramilitary force. Since both, the Indian Army and the CRPF play a pivotal role in protecting and safeguarding the country, it is not always clear that the two are actually different and are not a part of each other.

Reuters

In the wake of the Pulwama attack #IndianArmy trended on Twitter. While the intention of those who expressed their sentiments was indeed honest, the hashtag was slightly misleading.

While the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy come under the Ministry of Defence, the paramilitary forces like the CRPF are under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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The Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, the National Security Guard, Assam Rifles and the Sashastra Seema Bal are among the main paramilitary forces deployed to combat insurgency

According to this report, the nearly nine lakh personnel-strong paramilitary forces - with the CRPF being the largest - are mostly deployed in more insurgency-affected areas than the Indian army.

Reuters

The CRPF looks after the internal security in every part of the county. They are also tasked to watch over Naxal operations, assisting the states and union territories in police operations to maintain law and order and helping with the UN peace-keeping missions.

The Indian Armed Forces, on the other hand, is the primary defence wall of India and they mainly manage external security threats.

CRPF personnel were the first to respond to the attack on Parliament in 2001. They have played an active role in combating Maoists and insurgents in the northeast and Kashmir on multiple occasions.

The CRPF guarded the India-Pakistan Border until 1965, after which the BSF was established in the same year and their main role was to keep a watch over international borders against intrusion.

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The video below clearly explains the difference between the various defence forces in India:

It is not easy to put yourself in the line of fire every day to protect your countrymen. Irrespective of what part of defence they belong to, hats off to these brave men and women who stand guard so that the rest of us can sleep in peace.