Context: The government named senior IPS officer Kuldiep Singh as the new Director General (DG) of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Another IPS officer of the 1986 batch M.A. Ganapathy of Uttarakhand cadre has been named as the DG of National Security Guard (NSG).

Central Reserve Police Force:

• It functions under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India.
• The CRPF's primary role lies in assisting the State/Union Territories in police operations to maintain law and order and counter insurgency.
• Background:
  • It came into existence as the Crown Representative's Police on 27 July 1939.
  • After Indian Independence, it became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act on 28 December 1949.
• Besides law and order and counter-insurgency duties, the CRPF has played an increasingly large role in India's general elections.
• CRPF contingents are also being deployed in UN missions.
• With 246 battalions and various other establishments, the CRPF is considered India's largest paramilitary force and has a sanctioned strength of more than 300,000 personnel as of 2019.
• Organisational Structure:
  • The CRPF is headed by a Director general who is an Indian Police Service officer and is divided into ten administrative sectors, each headed by an Inspector General.

National Security Guard:

• The National Security Guard (NSG) is an elite counter-terrorism unit under the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• It was founded on 22 September 1986 under the National Security Guard Act, 1986 following Operation Blue Star.

National Security Guard personnel are sometimes referred to as The Black Cats.

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/govt-appoints-new-chiefs-for-crpf-nsg/article34087772.ece

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