Criticality of VIP security notwithstanding, nowhere in the world anti-terror special forces are used for VIP protection duties except in india, writes Pathikrit Payne
Meet Anil Kumar (name changed), hailing from a central
paramilitary force of India, it was last year when Anil was finally selected to join the elite NSG or National Security Guard on deputation. His eyes had then glowed at the very thought of wearing the black uniform and be part of one of the world’s best anti-terror units. The high rejection rates of 70-75% notwithstanding, Anil scalped through all hurdles to emerge as a toughened commando ready for any eventuality. Yet when 26/11 happened last year, the likes of him were not given the clarion call for duty. It was the chaps from army in NSG who handled it on their own while many like him, in spite of wearing the coveted black uniform, having the same rigours of training, were engaged in roles of VIP protection from the very beginning. As a professional, for him duty is duty but deep inside a few unanswered questions like ‘why are the army chaps never put to VIP protection duty or why men like him are never assigned works in the likes of 26/11 hostage rescue operations, hurts and haunts him. For, he at heart knows there’s nothing that an Army chap in NSG does, which he cannot.
At a time when India’s Defence Minister himself stated in the Parliament that Indian Army faces a shortage of a staggering 11,387 officers, the decision of the Government of India to augment the strength of NSG by 10,904 personnel has put the Army in a quandary. The reason being that the Army which already deputes more than 4,000 of its personnel to NSG and is hard-pressed with its deployments in Rashtriya Rifles in J&K and Assam Rifles in Northeast, would necessarily have to provide the lion’s share of the augmented strength. But if the Government of India can steer clear of the recent controversy over the withdrawal of NSG security to several VVIPs and thus give the Home Ministry the green signal to completely relieve NSG of VIP protection duty, it would give NSG an estimated 2,400 more personnel for anti-terror operations. In fact that is the estimated number of personnel from NSG who are involved in the protection of 20 VVIPs of India. Sources in Home Ministry state that 2,400 is perhaps good enough to take care of 10 Indian cities (without any further addition to the strength of NSG) given the fact that the standard procedure now is to deploy 240 personnel for each critical city. Or else, given the fact that each of the two upcoming hubs in Kolkata and Hyderabad are supposed to have 5,000 NSG personnel, this 2,400 would be good enough to take care of at least half the requirements of any of the two upcoming hubs without any additional recruitments. It would also help in reducing the gestation period that the NSG is expecting it would need to set up the regional hubs and additional centres in Jodhpur and Guwahati.
Meet Anil Kumar (name changed), hailing from a central
paramilitary force of India, it was last year when Anil was finally selected to join the elite NSG or National Security Guard on deputation. His eyes had then glowed at the very thought of wearing the black uniform and be part of one of the world’s best anti-terror units. The high rejection rates of 70-75% notwithstanding, Anil scalped through all hurdles to emerge as a toughened commando ready for any eventuality. Yet when 26/11 happened last year, the likes of him were not given the clarion call for duty. It was the chaps from army in NSG who handled it on their own while many like him, in spite of wearing the coveted black uniform, having the same rigours of training, were engaged in roles of VIP protection from the very beginning. As a professional, for him duty is duty but deep inside a few unanswered questions like ‘why are the army chaps never put to VIP protection duty or why men like him are never assigned works in the likes of 26/11 hostage rescue operations, hurts and haunts him. For, he at heart knows there’s nothing that an Army chap in NSG does, which he cannot.At a time when India’s Defence Minister himself stated in the Parliament that Indian Army faces a shortage of a staggering 11,387 officers, the decision of the Government of India to augment the strength of NSG by 10,904 personnel has put the Army in a quandary. The reason being that the Army which already deputes more than 4,000 of its personnel to NSG and is hard-pressed with its deployments in Rashtriya Rifles in J&K and Assam Rifles in Northeast, would necessarily have to provide the lion’s share of the augmented strength. But if the Government of India can steer clear of the recent controversy over the withdrawal of NSG security to several VVIPs and thus give the Home Ministry the green signal to completely relieve NSG of VIP protection duty, it would give NSG an estimated 2,400 more personnel for anti-terror operations. In fact that is the estimated number of personnel from NSG who are involved in the protection of 20 VVIPs of India. Sources in Home Ministry state that 2,400 is perhaps good enough to take care of 10 Indian cities (without any further addition to the strength of NSG) given the fact that the standard procedure now is to deploy 240 personnel for each critical city. Or else, given the fact that each of the two upcoming hubs in Kolkata and Hyderabad are supposed to have 5,000 NSG personnel, this 2,400 would be good enough to take care of at least half the requirements of any of the two upcoming hubs without any additional recruitments. It would also help in reducing the gestation period that the NSG is expecting it would need to set up the regional hubs and additional centres in Jodhpur and Guwahati.
