India Paramilitary and Reserve Forces Sources: The Library of
Congress Country Studies; CIA World Factbook In addition to the
regular armed forces, India also has paramilitary forces. These
forces have grown dramatically since independence. There are
twelve paramilitary organizations, which have an authorized
strength of around 1.3 million personnel. In 1994, their
reported actual strength was 692,500. These organizations
include the Coast Guard Organisation and the Defence Security
Force, which are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence.
Paramilitary forces subordinate to the Ministry of Home Affairs
include the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, the Central
Industrial Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force, the
Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and the Rashtriya Rifles (National
Rifles). The National Security Guards, a joint antiterrorist
contingency force, are charged with protection of high-level
persons (the so-called very very important persons--VVIPs) and
are subordinate to the Office of the