paramilitary forces their role

The CRPF will be soon dead

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“Joining CRPF was the biggest mistake of my life. I have realized that the country doesn’t honor its soldiers and it is better to take voluntary retirement after 20 years of service than to be treated as a pawn” says an anonymous CRPF jawan. His opinion reflects the thoughts of thousands of CRPF jawans who have been treated worse than a cattle both by the state and their departments.

Most of the soldiers in the paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have lost their faith in the system and think they are being used as scape goats by government in war against the Naxals.

Compared to the army, the paramilitary forces have more to lose than to gain. The job benefits are very low in comparison to the army whereas the chances of death on duty are considerably high.

If we examine the current situation of CRPF, we find that their disillusionment may be justified on various grounds. The problem needs to be seen in context of two major issues :-

1. On-duty deaths

2. Voluntary Retirement Schemes

On-duty deaths

Insurgency is undoubtedly one of the biggest problems in the country. The force is mostly deployed in Naxal effected areas over the last 5 years and has been witnessing the game of life and death everyday. The soldiers are expected to fight insurgents without proper strategic and military support. The encounter with Naxalites is a routine affair for them.

The Naxalites are well aware of the internal areas and they use it to their advantage. They are experts in Guerrilla warfare tactics and successfully trap their prey. Their strategy is to exhaust enemy’s gun power and inflict maximum damage. First, they fire at the security forces and then take a different way to surround the forces from a different direction. The reinforcements which hardly last some hours are soon exhausted in the encounter. The jawans are left to the mercy of the enemy who never spares them. Various other reasons also contribute to the failure of tackling the Naxal issue.