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  • In news: Malabar Rebellion

    A report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in 2016 has termed the Malabar Rebellion leaders as ‘rioters’.

    Try this question from CSP 2015:

    Q. Which amongst the following provided a common factor for a tribal insurrection in India in the 19th century?

    (a) Introduction of a new system of land revenue and taxation- of tribal products

    (b) Influence of foreign religious missionaries in tribal areas

    (c) Rise of a large number of money lenders, traders and revenue farmers as middlemen in tribal areas

    (d) The complete disruption of the old agrarian order of the tribal communities

    What is the Malabar Rebellion?

    • The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
    • There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
    • It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
    • The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.

    Why is it contentious?

    • It largely took the shape of guerrilla-type attacks on janmis (feudal landlords, who were mostly upper-caste Hindus) and the police and troops.
    • Mappilas had been among the victims of oppressive agrarian relations protected by the British.
    • But the political mobilization in the region in the aftermath of the Khilafat agitation and Gandhi’s non-cooperation struggle served as an opportunity for an extremist section to invoke a religious idiom to express their suffering.
    • There were excesses on both sides — rebels and government troops. Incidents of murder, looting and forced conversion led many to discredit the uprising as a manifestation of religious bigotry.
    • Moderate Khilafat leaders lamented that the rebellion had alienated the Hindu sympathy.

  • Chushul Valley and its Significance

    The Chushul sub-sector has come into focus in the standoff between the Indian and PLA troops.

    Tap to read more about Himalayan River System

    What is the Chushul Valley?

    • The Chushul sub-sector lies south of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh.
    • It comprises high, broken mountains and heights of Thatung, Black Top, Helmet Top, Gurung Hill, and Magger Hill besides passes such as Rezang La and Reqin La, the Spanggur Gap, and the Chushul valley.
    • Situated at a height of over 13,000 feet close to the LAC, the Chushul Valley has a vital airstrip that played an important role even during the 1962 War with China.

    What is its strategic importance to India?

    • Chushul is one among the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China.
    • It enjoys tremendous strategic and tactical importance because of its location and terrain, which make it a centre for logistics deployment.
    • This sector has plains that are a couple of km wide, where mechanized forces, including tanks, can be deployed. Its airstrip and connectivity by road to Leh add to its operational advantages.
    • Indian troops have now secured the ridgeline in this sub-sector that allows them to dominate the Chushul bowl on the Indian side, and Moldo sector on the Chinese side.
    • They also have a clear sight of the almost 2-km-wide Spanggur gap, which the Chinese used in the past to launch attacks on this sector in the 1962 War.

    How is Chushul important to China?

    • Simply put, Chushul is the gateway to Leh. If China enters the Chushul, it can launch its operations for Leh.
    • After the initial attacks, including on the Galwan valley by the Chinese in October 1962, the PLA troops prepared to attack Chushul airfield and the valley to get direct access to Leh.
    • However, just before the attacks were launched, the area was reinforced by the 114 Brigade in November 1962, which also had under its command two troops of armour and some artillery.

    What are the challenges in this area?

    • An immediate challenge is of a flare-up as troops of the two countries are deployed within a distance of 800 to 1,000 metres of each other at Black Top and Reqin La.
    • Logistics also pose a major challenge. There is a need to carry water and food to the top which soldiers cannot do.
    • The harsh winter that lasts for eight months of the year poses a big challenge.
    • It is very difficult to dig in and make shelters on the ridgeline. The temperature falls to minus 30 degrees Celsius, and there are frequent snowstorms.

  • [pib] Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)

    The SVEP is propelling enterprises in rural areas and building rural entrepreneurs during this pandemic.

    Try this PYQ 2015:

    How does the National Rural Livelihood Mission seek to improve livelihood options of rural poor?

    1. By setting up a large number of new manufacturing industries and agribusiness centres in rural areas.
    2. By strengthening ‘self-help groups’ and providing skills development
    3. By supplying seeds, fertilizers, diesel pump-set sand micro-irrigation equipment free of cost of farmers.

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    About SVEP

    • The SVEP is implemented by Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana –National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, as a sub-scheme since 2016.
    • Its aims are to support the rural poor come out of poverty, supporting them set up enterprises and provide support till the enterprises stabilize.
    • SVEP focuses on providing self-employment opportunities with financial assistance and training in business management and soft skills while creating local community cadres for promotion of enterprises.
    • It addresses three major pillars of rural start-ups namely – finances, incubation and skill ecosystems.

    Key elements of SVEP

    • Create a Block Resource Centre – Enterprise Promotion (BRC-EP); The BRC should act as a nodal centre to implement SVEP. Block Level Federation (BLF) to come up under NRLM could be one of the institutional platforms for BRC.
    • Cluster Level Federation (CLF) /VOs shall hold the entity till BLF comes into existence. BRC should follow a self-sustaining revenue model.
    • BRC to be assisted by CRP-EP and the Bank Coordination System (Bank Mitra). BRC to provide resource and reference material including videos, manuals etc.
    • Help enterprises get bank finance using tablet-based software for making the business feasibility plan, doing credit appraisal and tracking business performance.
    • Use the Community Investment Fund (CIF) to provide seed capital for starting the business until it reaches a size where bank finance is needed.

  • [Burning Issue] India’s GDP Contraction

    India’s GDP for the period April to June 2020 has contracted by 23.9 percent. In other words, the total value of goods and services produced in India in April, May and June this year is 24% less than the total value of goods and services produced in India in the same three months last year.

    What is worse is that, because of the widespread lockdowns, the data quality is sub-optimal and most observers expect this number to worsen when it is revised in due course.

    India’s GDP numbers

    Almost all the major indicators of growth in the economy — be it production of cement or consumption of steel — show deep contraction. Even total telephone subscribers saw a contraction in this quarter.

    Chart 1: India’s GDP story since economic liberalization. Source: McKinsey and Express Research Group.

    Chart 2: Percentage change in key indicators. Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

    What contributes to India’s GDP?

    GDP measures the monetary value of all goods and services produced within the domestic boundaries of a country within a timeframe (generally, a year).

    In any economy, the total demand for goods and services — that is the GDP — is generated from one of the four engines of growth.

    1. The biggest engine is consumption demand from private individuals like us. Let’s call it C, and in the Indian economy, this accounted for 56.4% of all GDP before this quarter.
    2. The second-biggest engine is the demand generated by private sector businesses. Let’s call it I, and this accounted for 32% of all GDP in India.
    3. The third engine is the demand for goods and services generated by the government. Let’s call it G, and it accounted for 11% of India’s GDP.
    4. The last engine is the net demand for GDP after we subtract imports from India’s exports. Let’s call it NX. In India’s case, it is the smallest engine and, since India typically imports more than it exports, its effect is negative on the GDP.

    So total GDP = C + I + G + NX

    Tap to read more about:

    National Income Determination, GDP, GNP, NDP, NNP, Personal Income

    Now, look at Chart 4. It shows what has happened to each of the engines in Q1.

    Chart 4: Engines of growth falter. Source: MoSPI and Express Research Group

    Reasons for GDP contraction

    The biggest engines, which accounted for over 88% of the Indian total GDP saw a massive contraction. They are as follows:

    1. Private consumption — the biggest engine driving the Indian economy — has fallen by 27%.
    2. Investments by businesses: The second biggest engine — investments by businesses — has fallen even harder — it is half of what it was last year same quarter.
    • Net export demand: The NX has turned positive in this Q1 because India’s imports have crashed more than its exports. While on paper, this provides a boost to overall GDP, it also points to an economy where economic activity has plummeted.
    • Govt. Expenditure: Data shows that the government’s expenditure went up by 16% but this was nowhere near enough to compensate for the loss of demand (power) in other sectors (engines) of the economy.

    Issues with govt. expenditure

    • Even before the COVID crisis, government finances were overextended.
    • It was not only borrowing but borrowing more than what it should have. As a result, today it doesn’t have as much money.
    • It will have to think of some innovative solutions to generate resources. Chart 4 by McKinsey Global Institute provides ways in which an additional 3.5 per cent of the GDP can be raised by the government.

    Why can’t the government just spend to revive growth?

    • First, in all likelihood, temporary incomes coupled with job/income uncertainty will induce precautionary savings without any impact on growth.
    • Second, the fiscal situation was weak even before the pandemic. With revenues having cratered, funding of additional expenditure is through higher borrowings.
    • Any incremental debt should be seen in the context of future investments being hampered due to current consumption.

    Implications of GDP decline

    • With GDP contracting by more than what most observers expected, it is now believed that the full-year GDP could also worsen.
    • A fairly conservative estimate would be a contraction of 7% for the full financial year.
    • Chart 1 puts this in perspective. Since economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, Indian economy has clocked an average of 7% GDP growth each year. This year, it is likely to turn turtle and contract by 7%.
    • The worst affected were construction (–50%), trade, hotels and other services (–47%), manufacturing (–39%), and mining (–23%).
    • It is important to note that these are the sectors that create the maximum new jobs in the country.
    • In a scenario where each of these sectors is contracting so sharply — that is, their output and incomes are falling — it would lead to more and more people either losing jobs (decline in employment) or failing to get one (rise in unemployment).

    Impact on Economy

    The impact of an economic contraction on an average individual isn’t always in a direct way, like job losses or salary cuts. There are indirect ways as well. Let’s take a look at this pointwise.

    • Many companies are encouraging their employees to work from home. This has an impact on those working in the surrounding informal sector leading to a loss of economic activity.
    • If people cut down on consumption, it basically means they are spending less than before. This works in various ways. First, businesses, on the whole, see a fall in revenues and a fall in profits. Hence the employees are bound to be impacted.
    • Many businesses, in order to stay afloat, have fired employees. Some have cut salaries. Some others have rescinded on the job offers they made.
    • Even businesses that are on a strong wicket have given only bare-minimum increments to their employees this year.
    • Further, many big businesses have publicly announced that they are putting all their expansion plans on the backburner currently. If businesses don’t expand, then a fresh set of jobs don’t get created and hence expenditure.

    Getting recovered: Way forward

    Thinking beyond stimulus

    To achieve a stipulated economic growth, the government needs to start addressing some of the traditional sore points such as the large infrastructure deficit, the weak financial sector, archaic land and labour laws, and the administrative and judicial hurdles.

    • It is easy to prescribe abandoning fiscal prudence or ‘printing money’ to fund spending. But the risk is high compared to the reward.
    • This sets the base for any kind of “stimulus” — it should be well-targeted and have a large multiplier effect.
    • Instead, they argue, that India needs to broaden its consumer base beyond the top 10- 20 per cent of the population to improve long-term growth prospects.
    • This cannot happen with regular doses of consumption stimulus but through creating steady and well-paid employment for the bottom and middle segments.

    Bumpy road ahead

    • Firstly, in the months to come, private consumption will improve and so will investment as a result. But it will take a while for both consumption and investment to reach pre-COVID-19 levels.
    • With Covid-19 now spreading at the rate of more than 85,000 cases per day, it is no longer just an urban India phenomenon. As it spreads to semi-urban and rural India, it will impact consumption, though not in the same negative way as it did during total lockdowns.
    • To ease the pressure on consumption, banks have cut interest rates in the hope of people and businesses borrowing and spending more. People and businesses borrow and spend more when they are confident about their economic future. Right now, the confidence has to be instilled.
    • The government can reduce the GST burden. What it loses out in taxes per unit of sales, it will make up for in volume. The government, for its part, needs to step in and spend more, in the process create some economic activity.

    Not letting a good crisis go to waste

    • To conclude, it is worth saying that if all problems had solutions, they wouldn’t be called problems in the first place.
    • The government being clearly tied on spending-more front, it can possibly push in more economic reforms at this point of time.
    • One area that clearly needs reform is the GST system, which instead of freeing up the Indian economy has acted in a negative way. Another area that clearly needs reform is India’s public health infrastructure.
    • While these reforms may not lead to immediate benefits they will work well for the economy in the longer-term, something which we shouldn’t miss out on with the current focus on Covid-19.
    • Beyond that, there isn’t much that the government can do. Also, it is worth remembering here that the Indian economy was already in trouble before the pandemic struck.

    Conclusion

    When incomes fall sharply, private individuals cut back consumption. When private consumption falls sharply, businesses stop investing. Since both of these are voluntary decisions, there is no way to force people to spend more and/or force businesses to invest more in the current scenario.

    • For achieving rapid growth at a sustainable rate, India needs the government to invest in raising the productive capacity of the economy. The government will have to strike a combination of the two policy approaches:
    • The first is the process of “Unlocking”. It has been observed that with the economy moving from the stage of a total lockdown to a gradual opening up of the windows has reflected in the macro-economic numbers such as the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
    • The second factor which will play a role in the economy’s growth prospects in the coming months is the possibility of a revival package from the government. This can be a course changer for the growth trajectory.
    • To boost growth presently, there should ideally be some additional capital expenditure by the government which goes beyond what has been provided in the budget. By increasing capital expenditure, the government can begin a virtuous cycle of creating assets as well as providing employment.

     

    References:

    https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/gdp-contraction-23-9-the-economics-behind-the-math-6578046/

    https://www.deccanherald.com/business/economy-business/gdp-contraction-no-easy-solutions-but-a-chance-for-deep-economic-reforms-883234.html

    https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/09/04/explained-how-will-indias-gdp-contraction-impact-you

  • 07th Sep 2020 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 517]

    [WpProQuiz_toplist 516]

  • Judiciary and challenges ahead

    The relations between the judiciary and executive have always been tumultuous. This article analyses the changes in the judiciary’s relations with the executive after 2014.

    Relations with executive

    • In 2014 government blocked the elevation of Gopal Subramanium as a judge of the apex court.
    • A month later, the government introduced a bill to create the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
    • The NJAC Act was passed by Parliament in December 2014.
    • In October 2015, the SC struck down the NJAC Act, ruling that it would affect the independence of the judiciary vis-à-vis the executive.
    • Following striking down of the NJAC Act, the SC directed the government to propose a new memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointments to the higher judiciary.
    • The draft government sent to the Court allowed the government to reject any name recommended by the Collegium on grounds of national security and made it compulsory for the Collegium to justify its selection.
    • The Collegium rejected these clauses and the MoP could never be finalised.
    • The government sat on the appointments that the Collegium had recommended months ago.
    •  In April 2016, 170 proposals for appointments to the high courts were pending at that time.

    SC’s perceived reluctance  to question executive after 2017

    • Appointments and transfers ceased to be a problem because the Collegium accepted the appointments and transfers.
    • The Court considered that the Aadhaar Bill could be passed as a Money Bill, validated the Electoral Bonds Act.
    • The SC also abstained from dealing with sensitive issues like the abolition of Article 370 or the Citizenship Amendment Act.
    • This modus operandi of the court, when applied to Aadhaar, created a fait accompli.

    3 questions over the SC’s role

    • 1) The court’s reluctance to question the government on contentious issues — from J&K to misuse of sedition law or the NRC — is disturbing.
    • 2) The manner in which the judiciary has addressed allegations against itself — Kalikho Pul or Prasad Education Trust or on sexual harassment — gives a handle to those in power.
    • 3) The independence of the judiciary is inevitably affected by the acceptance of post-retirement jobs.

    Consider the question “While playing its role, judiciary faces several challenges from the other organs of the democracy. In light of this, examine the challenges judiciary in India faces from the executive.”

    Conclusion

    Supreme Court’s apparent reluctance to question government on consequential issues affects its moral authority.

  • Kesavananda Bharati: The petitioner who saved democracy

    Kesavananda Bharati (80), the sole unwitting petitioner in the historic Fundamental Rights case which prevented the nation from slipping into a totalitarian regime has passed away.

    Who was Kesavananda Bharati?

    • Kesavananda Bharati was the head seer of the Edneer Mutt in Kasaragod district of Kerala since 1961.
    • He left his signature in one of the significant rulings of the Supreme Court when he challenged the Kerala land reforms legislation in 1970.

    What was his case?

    • A 13-judge bench was set up by the Supreme Court, the biggest so far, and the case was heard over 68 working days spread over six months.
    • The Bench gave 11 separate judgments that agreed and disagreed on many issues but a majority judgment of seven judges were stitched together by then CJI SM Sikri on the eve of his retirement.
    • However, the basic structure doctrine, which was evolved in the majority judgment, was found in the conclusions of the opinion written by one judge — Justice H R Khanna.

    What was the case about?

    • The case was primarily about the extent of Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.
    • First, the court was reviewing a 1967 decision in Golaknath v State of Punjab which, reversing earlier verdicts, had ruled that Parliament cannot amend fundamental rights.
    • Second, the court was deciding the constitutional validity of several other amendments.
    • Notably, the right to property had been removed as a fundamental right, and Parliament had also given itself the power to amend any part of the Constitution and passed a law that it cannot be reviewed by the courts.
    • The executive vs judiciary manoeuvres displayed in the amendments ended with the Kesavananda Bharati case, in which the court had to settle these issues conclusively.
    • Politically, the case represented the fight for supremacy of Parliament led by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

    What did the court decide?

    • In its majority ruling, the court held that fundamental rights cannot be taken away by amending them.
    • While the court said that Parliament had vast powers to amend the Constitution, it drew the line by observing that certain parts are so inherent and intrinsic to the Constitution that even Parliament cannot touch it.
    • However, despite the ruling that Parliament cannot breach fundamental rights, the court upheld the amendment that removed the fundamental right to property.
    • The court ruled that in spirit, the amendment would not violate the “basic structure” of the Constitution.
    • Kesavananda Bharati, in fact, lost the case. But as many legal scholars point out, the government did not win the case either.

    What is the basic structure doctrine?

    • The origins of the basic structure doctrine are found in the German Constitution which, after the Nazi regime, was amended to protect some basic laws.
    • The original Weimar Constitution, which gave Parliament to amend the Constitution with a two-thirds majority, was in fact used by Hitler to his advantage to made radical changes.
    • Learning from that experience, the new German Constitution introduced substantive limits on Parliament’s powers to amend certain parts of the Constitution which it considered ‘basic law’.
    • In India, the basic structure doctrine has formed the bedrock of judicial review of all laws passed by Parliament. No law can impinge on the basic structure.
    • What the basic structure is, however, has been a continuing deliberation. While parliamentary democracy, fundamental rights, judicial review, secularism are all held by courts as the basic structure, the list is not exhaustive.

    What was the fallout of the verdict?

    • Politically, as a result of the verdict, the judiciary faced its biggest litmus test against the executive.
    • Then government did not take kindly to the majority opinion and superseded three judges —J M Shelat, A N Grover and K S Hegde — who were in line to be appointed CJI after Justice Sikri.
    • The supersession resulted in a decades-long continuing battle on the independence of the judiciary and the extent of Parliament’s power to appoint judges.
    • But the ruling has cemented the rejection of majoritarian impulses to make sweeping changes or even replace the Constitution and underlined the foundations of modern democracy.

    Significance of the Judgement

    • The judgment introduced the Basic Structure doctrine which limited Parliament’s power to make drastic amendments that may affect the core values enshrined in the Constitution like secularism and federalism.
    • The verdict upheld the power of the Supreme Court to judicially review laws of Parliament.
    • It evolved the concept of separation of powers among the three branches of governance — legislative, executive and the judiciary.
    • The Emergency was proclaimed shortly after the judgment was delivered on April 24, 1973.
    • It proved timely and thwarted many an attempt on democracy and dignity of an individual during those dark years.

  • What is the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, and why is it contentious?

    After the Rajapaksas’ win in the November 2019 presidential polls and the August 2020 general election, the spotlight has fallen on two key legislations in Sri Lanka’s Constitution.

    Sri Lankan amendments in news

    • One, the 19th Amendment was passed in 2015 to curb powers of the Executive President, while strengthening Parliament and independent commissions.
    • The Rajapaksa government has already drafted and gazetted the 20th Amendment.
    • The other legislation under sharp focus is the 13th Amendment passed in 1987, which mandates a measure of power devolution to the provincial councils established to govern the island’s nine provinces.

    What is the 13th Amendment?

    • It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve the ethnic conflict and civil war.
    • The 13th Amendment, which led to the creation of Provincial Councils, assured a power-sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
    • Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations.
    • But because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the President, the provincial administrations have not made much headway.
    • In particular, the provisions relating to police and land have never been implemented.

    Why is it contentious?

    • The 13th Amendment carries considerable baggage from the country’s civil war years. It was opposed vociferously by both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE.
    • The opposition within Sri Lanka saw the Accord and the consequent legislation as an imprint of Indian intervention.
    • It was widely perceived as an imposition by a neighbour wielding hegemonic influence.
    • The Tamil polity, especially its dominant nationalist strain, does not find the 13th Amendment sufficient in its ambit or substance. However, some find it as an important starting point, something to build upon.

    Why is it significant?

    • Till date, the Amendment represents the only constitutional provision on the settlement of the long-pending Tamil question.
    • In addition to assuring a measure of devolution, it is considered part of the few significant gains since the 1980s, in the face of growing Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.

    Its criticism

    • Critics argue that in a small country, the provinces could be effectively controlled by the Centre.
    • The opposition camp also includes those fundamentally opposed to sharing any political power with the Tamil minority.
    • All the same, all political camps that vehemently oppose the system have themselves contested in provincial council elections.
    • The councils have over time also helped national parties strengthen their grassroots presence and organisational structures.

  • International Criminal Court (ICC)

    The U.S. has announced sanctions including asset freezes and visa bans against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

    International Criminal Court

    • The ICC is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands.
    • It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
    • It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
    • The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the UNSC.

    Issues with ICC

    The ICC has faced a number of criticisms from states and society, including objections about-

    • its jurisdiction, accusations of bias, questioning of the fairness of its case-selection and trial procedures, and doubts about its effectiveness

    Implications of US sanction

    • The US action is perceived as a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order, and the decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
    • The unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.

    B2BASICS

  • Assam Rifles and the tussle between MoD and MHA

    The Delhi High Court has granted 12 weeks to the Union government to decide on whether to scrap or retain the dual control structure for Assam Rifles. Presently it comes under both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

    What is the Assam Rifles?

    • Assam Rifles is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
    • The other forces being the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
    • It is tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East along with the Indian Army and also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the region.
    • It has a sanctioned strength of over 63,000 personnel and has 46 battalions apart from administrative and training staff.

    Making of the regiment

    • Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force raised way back in 1835 in British India with just 750 men.
    • Since then it has gone on to fight in two World Wars, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and used as an anti-insurgency force against militant groups in the North East.
    • Raised as a militia to protect British tea estates and its settlements from the raids of the NE tribes, the force was first known as Cachar Levy.
    • It was reorganized later as Assam Frontier Force as its role was expanded to conduct punitive operations beyond Assam borders.

    How is it unique?

    • It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the MoD.
    • This means that salaries and infrastructure for the force is provided by the MHA, but the deployment, posting, transfer and deputation of the personnel is decided by the Army.
    • All its senior ranks, from DG to IG and sector headquarters, are manned by officers from the Army. The force is commanded by Lt. General from the Indian Army.
    • The force is the only central paramilitary force (CPMF) in a real sense as its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army.
    • However, its recruitment, perks, promotion of its personnel and retirement policies are governed according to the rules framed by the MHA for CAPFs.

    Why do both MHA and MoD want full control?

    • MHA has argued that all the border guarding forces are under the operational control of the ministry and so Assam Rifles coming under MHA will give border guarding a comprehensive and integrated approach.
    • MHA sources also say that Assam Rifles continues to function on the pattern set during the 1960s and the ministry would want to make guarding of the Indo-Myanmar border on the lines of other CAPFs.
    • The Army, for its part, has been arguing that there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
    • Sources say the Army is of the opinion that the Assam Rifles has worked well in coordination with the Army and frees up the armed forces from many of its responsibilities to focus on its core strengths.
    • It has argued that giving the control of the force to MHA or merging it with any other CAPF will confuse the force and jeopardize national security.

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