The jawans that were killed on February 14 were underpaid and under-resourced as is with many who join CRPF. They mostly come from hinterlands to man the frontlines and be the first responders to insurgency. How does CRPF recruit its soldiers and what do they get for putting their lives in danger?
In the next few months, about 22,000 new people will be recruited for various ranks in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF,) exams for which begun three days before the Pulwama attack in which about 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when an SUV containing explosives rammed into their convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.
The CRPF is India’s largest paramilitary force and its primary role is assisting Indian states and union territories in police operations to maintain law and order and counter insurgency. It also plays a big role in India’s general election and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The jawans that were killed on February 14 were underpaid and under-resourced as is with many who join the force. They mostly come from hinterlands to man the frontlines and be the first responders to an insurgency.
Soldier’s Background
The army and the paramilitary forces recruit people who want to commit themselves to protect India’s sovereignty and to do that, they have to pass gruelling physical tests besides having mental fortitude for the most dangerous and stressful job there is.
India gets most of its recruits from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast. Most of them come from farming or labour backgrounds.
The 40 CRPF jawans that were killed on February 14 belonged to 16 states of India. Majority of them were from Uttar Pradesh. 12 jawans from UP were in that bus besides five from Rajasthan, four from Punjab and a couple from Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and one each from Jharkhand, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and even Jammu & Kashmir.
Many came from farming backgrounds while many had fathers who were either auto drivers, truck drivers, priests or daily wage labourers. Before they joined CRPF many were hawkers, folk singers and labourers themselves but joined the force to bring their families out of poverty.
Many of them were either recently married or had plans to get married this year. Some had left their pregnant wives to go on duty and most TV channels covered young children crying over their father’s remains wrapped in the tricolour, often clueless about what was happening around them. Many jawans were even planning their children’s marriage this year or were thinking of retirement.
Mounting losses
CRPF lost more men in Kashmir in 2019 than the last four years put together. And we are only halfway through February.
In 2010, 76 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh. The same year saw a second deadly attack on the paramilitary force in the same state, with at least 26 jawans killed. The next deadly attack would also occur in Chhattisgarh in 2017 when at least 26 Central Reserve Police Force men were killed. Losses dipped to nine in 2015, only to rise again, Scroll reported.
CRPF: The poorer cousin of the army
In a report by Reuters, former senior officials from CRPF said that the force is not appreciated as much, poorly paid and under-resourced when compared with the army.
CRPF has been tasked to be the first responder in insurgent situations. This is the primary task,” said Pranay Sahay, a former CRPF director general, in the report.
They fight alongside the army, yet they are paid less and get fewer benefits and less training, former officials said.
A low-ranking army soldier typically receives one-and-a-half times the pay of a CRPF officer of equivalent experience, said Ranbir Singh, general secretary of the Confederation of Ex-Paramilitary Forces Welfare Associations, a difference which is also reflected in their pensions, the report added.
Living conditions are poorer, a sensitive issue when so many of the police are so far away from home, former officers said. Suicide rates are much higher than in the army, they added.
“The housing satisfaction level in the CRPF is the poorest, probably around 13-14 per cent,” Sahay told Reuters. Many had to pay for private accommodation for their families because the CRPF could not provide a decent alternative, he added.
The caste question
The Indian army and paramilitary forces, like others in the west and east that don’t have compulsory conscription, has over the years faced a huge problem in recruitment. The middle classes and upper middle classes of urban India, who dominate the discourse of pseudo and hysterical supra-nationalism, rarely lose their children on the borders.
The army and paramilitary forces claim that their recruitment processes are merit-based and believe that the introduction of reservations and quotas in the armed forces will affect the morale of soldiers and it would cease to be a level playing field. Then why is it that the forces continue to induct north Indians in such high numbers?
Rajput Regiment, Jat Regiment, Rajputana Rifles, Maratha Light Infantry, Madras Regiment, Mahar and Gurkha Regiments. These are some of the names of Indian Army regiments. They announce the caste hierarchy before introducing patriotism or valour.
The reason is that India still follows a colonial method of recruitments which has never been reformed.
The British recruited to the Indian Army on the basis of their categorisation of certain ethnicities and castes as supposedly warrior material or “martial” and others as being “non-martial”.
In 1933, Lt Gen. Sir George MacMunn reckoned that of the 300 and odd million people of India then, “only 35 million belonged to the martial races and of them, only three million were males between twenty and thirty-five years of age. Recruitment from martial races became the norm since then.
At the time of independence, “half of India’s senior-most officers came from one single province, Punjab,” points out Steven I Wilkinson in his book, Army and Nation. Punjab comprised only 5% of the population of newly created India. Wilkinson reminds us that armies with a “high internal cohesion” have a greater capacity to intervene in domestic politics – or stage coups, wrote Dr Menaka Guruswamy who practices law at Supreme Court of India.
“It was the mutiny in 1857 which triggered caste-based induction in the Indian Army. It is a well-documented fact that the stated British intent was to divide the army into martial and non-martial races, wherein they defined non-martial as a class who did not have the qualities to make good leaders. Since the mutiny rose from the east and south, it was natural for the British to strike them off from roles in the army. It was the north which got rewarded for its martial heritage and the tradition of contribution to the military service,” News18 documented.
Wilkinson wrote that by the beginning of the 1970s, India doubled the number of ‘martial class’ units. “The Punjab Regiment that recruits mainly Sikhs and Dogras, has gone from five to 29 battalions since independence,” Wilkinson wrote. The Rajputana Rifles (mainly Jats and Rajputs) has increased from six to 21 battalions in the same period.
The recruitment based on caste and ethnicity was started by the British to divide the society and resultantly quash the repeat of revolts and it is still being practised.
The lack of reform of the colonial recruitment policies reflects poorly on the crafting of a professional fighting force. It may contribute to the high vacancy rate that plagues the officer cadre of the Army. It enforces a division of labour in the army that is located in caste when it comes to tasks like cleaning. It reinforces that which the Constitution abhors – the caste system, Guruswamy added in her report.
The Central government’s contention at the Supreme Court in 2012 was that this is a natural force multiplier. If this is indeed so, it posits a more dramatic challenge to our basic understanding of “We, the People”. This means that we cannot be bound to each other and we will not stand up for each other unless we are of a common caste or ethnicity. This contradicts the Constitution’s conception of India, she wrote.
The system trickled down to recruitments in paramilitary forces after their formation.
Compensation for Pulwama soldiers
Members of the slain jawans’ families have demanded a permanent solution for these issues. Though they have been promised jobs and compensation, they are adamant in claiming that no amount of compensation will bring their loved ones back.
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu today announced Rs. 5 lakh to the families of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans.
On the other hand, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palaniswami announced government jobs to one family member each of the 2 CRPF jawans from the state who lost their lives in the attack. TN govt announced a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh each to the families of the jawans.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh has announced financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh each to the next of kin of the CRPF jawans from Uttarakhand killed in the attack, besides a government job to one member of each family.
Odisha government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of two slain CRPF jawans from the state, who were killed in Thursday’s terrorist attack.
The Uttar Pradesh government also announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 25 lakh each to the families of the 12 CRPF jawans of the state killed in the terror attack in Pulwama, an official said. The government will also provide a job for one member of each soldier’s family besides naming the link road in their native village after the martyrs.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of a CRPF jawan from the state. The CM also promised a government job to a member of CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng’s family.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has announced Rs 12 lakh compensation and a government job to the next of kin of the four CRPF jawans from the state who died in the Pulwama terror attack.
The Madhya Pradesh government announced compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of Ashwini Kumar Kachhi, a CRPF jawan from the state who was killed in the attack. CM Kamal Nath paid tribute to him and said, “The martyr’s family will receive Rs 1 crore in compensation, a house, and one family member will be offered a government job.”
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh and the Maharashtra government announced Rs 50 lakh for the families.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot revised the compensation and relief package for the family members of the five soldiers who were from Rajasthan. The government will provide either Rs. 50 lakh cash or Rs. 25 lakh cash and 25 bigha land on the Indira Gandhi Canal Project or Rs. 25 lakh with a housing board residence. The state government will also provide a government job to a dependent of the soldier, scholarship for children and Rs. 3 lakh to parents, besides other facilities.
Paramilitary forces put themselves in the line of fire every day for the citizens of India. These brave men and women guard the nation and protect us at the cost of their lives and the knowledge that their families will have to live in uncertainty. The sorrow from this tragedy has gripped the nation and tribute to those who lost their lives have been constantly pouring to remind us of our collective loss. What we as citizens can do is honour their memory and what they stood for when they took the oath to protect the country.
(Compiled by Preksha Malu)