83rd Raising Day of CRPF

Contact Counsellor

CategoryPolity

Last Updated28/07/2021

India’s largest Central Armed Police Force, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) observed its ‘83rd Raising Day’ on 27 July.
The force has a mandate to secure internal security scenario of the country.
The day marks the immense and unparalleled contribution of the force in upholding the unity, integrity, and sovereignty of the nation.

CRPF operates under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Headquartered in New Delhi, CRPF came into existence as the ‘Crown Representative’s Police’ on 27 July 1939.
After Independence, it became the Central Reserve Police Force on the enactment of the ‘CRPF Act’ on 28 December 1949, which constituted CRPF as an armed force of the Union.
The then Home Minister Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel visualized a multi-dimensional role of the force in tune with the changing needs of a newly independent India.
The CRPF Rules as envisaged in CRPF Act were framed in 1955 and V.G.Kanetkar became the first Director-General of CRPF.
After Independence, CRPF contingents were tasked to check infiltration and trans-border crimes in Kutch, Rajasthan, and Sindh borders.
They were, subsequently, deployed on the Pakistan border in Jammu & Kashmir following Pakistan’s infiltration.
During the 1962 Indo-China war, the force once again assisted the Indian Army in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Further, in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars, CRPF provided shoulder-to-shoulder support to the Indian Army, both on the Western and Eastern borders.

After the Kargil war, a high-level committee was constituted by the Indian government, which emphasized the multiplicity of forces on the same border and enforced the principle of ‘One Border One Force’.
Accordingly, the Indo-Pakistan border and Indo-Bangladesh border were given to Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Myanmar border to Assam Rifles, the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan border to Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and the Indo-Chinese border to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
As a part of this exercise, CRPF was mandated to secure the internal security scenario or dealing with counter-insurgency in the country.

CPRF was the first paramilitary force in India, which sent its forces in the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions.
For the first time, 13 companies of CRPF including a detachment of women were airlifted to join the Indian PeaceKeeping Force in Sri Lanka to fight the militant cadres.
CRPF personnel were also sent to Haiti, Namibia, Somali4 Maldives, Kosovo and Liberia to deal with law and order situation there, as a part of another UN Peacekeeping Missions.