India 2018

Law and Justice 387
Force' self-contained in supplies, communication and intelligence collection. It
has evolved with passage of time into a conventional border guarding Force.
Today, ITBPF guards 3,488 kms of Indo-China Border and is manning 173 Border
Out Posts (BOPs) with altitudes ranging from 9,000 feet to 18,750 feet in the
western, middle and eastern sector of the Indo-China Border along the
Himalayas from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh.
8 ITBPF Bns are deployed in Maoist affected areas of Chhattisgarh. The Force
operates through 05 frontier headquarters, 14 sector headquarters, 56 service
battalions, 02 DM battalions, 04 specialized battalions and 14 training centres
with a total sanctioned strength of 89,432.
ITBP is basically a mountain trained force and most of the officers and
men are professionally trained mountaineers and skiers. They have scaled more
than 180 Himalayan peaks including Mt. Everest four times including the 2012
expedition. ITBP mountaineers have also successfully climbed peaks in Nepal,
Iran, Japan and South America. ITBP skiers have been national champions and
have taken part in winter olympics. It has also participated in adventurous
White Water Rafting, through turbulent and mighty waters of the Brahamputra,
the Indus and the Ganges and has international achievements to its credit in
this field.
O. W.: http://www.itbpolice.nic.in
Border Security Force
International borders of India with Pakistan both east and west were being
manned by the respective state police forces till Indo-Pak war in September,
1965. Certain inherent shortcomings of this arrangement came to light during
the war and it was decided to have one single force under the Union of India
for guarding the international borders with Pakistan.
Border Security Force was raised in 1965 with the strength of 25 Battalions
and 3 Coys. Over the years, the Force has grown in size and as on date, it has
186 Battalions including 3 NDRF battalions, 5 major training institutions, 11
subsidiary training centres and 03 minor training institutions. The Force
Headquarter is in New Delhi. Its field formations includes 2 Special Directorates
General (Spl DsG) i.e. Spl DG (Eastern Command) and Spl DG (Western
Command), 13 Frontiers and 46 sector headquarters, water wing, air wing and
other ancillary units. The sanctioned strength of BSF as on 31.12.2016 is 2,57,363.
BSF's role during peace time is as : (i) to promote a sense of security among
the people living in the border areas; (ii) to prevent trans-border crimes,
unauthorized entry into or exit from the territory of India; (iii) to prevent
smuggling and any other illegal activities on the border; (iv) anti-infiltraton
duties; and (v) to collect trans-border intelligence. Its role during war time is as:
(i) holding ground in assigned sectors; limited aggressive action against central
armed police or irregular forces of the enemy; (iii) maintenance of law and
order in enemy territory administered under the army's control; (iv) guarding