Indian Coast Guard

Story hook

It is the night of 29-30 August 2020. Indian troops occupy several dominating heights on the southern bank of Pangong Tso — Helmet Top, Black Top, Reqin La, Rezang La, Mukhpari — forestalling a Chinese attempt to do the same. Standing on the front line alongside Indian Army regulars is a Special Frontier Force (SFF) battalion — Vikas Battalion, raised 1962, recruited primarily from Tibetan refugees, commanded by Indian Army officers, and operating under the Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) rather than MoD.

A few hours into the operation, an SFF Company Leader, Nyima Tenzin — 51, Tibetan-origin, from Choglamsar near Leh — steps on an old PLA mine. He dies that night. His funeral procession through Leh on 7 September 2020 is the first public acknowledgement in 58 years that the SFF — formerly Establishment 22 — even exists. The Indian tricolour drapes his coffin alongside the Tibetan flag. National media for the first time names the unit.

Three forces. Indian Coast Guard under MoD — guarding 7,517 km of coastline. Special Frontier Force under Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) — covert mountain warfare specialists. Assam Rifles under MoHA for operations but MoD for administration — guarding the 1,643-km Indo-Myanmar border and counter-insurgency in the Northeast. Three legal regimes. Three command structures. Three oldest paramilitary lineages in independent India — Assam Rifles 1835, SFF 1962, ICG 1977/78.

For UPSC, this trio is the organisational anatomy of India's internal-security paramilitary architecture beyond the CAPFs (BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB, CISF), and examiners love to test the control / command / role distinctions.

Why this matters for UPSC

Asked in Mains GS-III in 2017 (paramilitary forces), 2020 (border security), 2023 (Northeast insurgencies + Assam Rifles). Prelims has tested Assam Rifles dual-control structure, SFF nomenclature (Establishment 22), ICG Act 1978, and unit-level facts (Vikas Battalion, Inspectorate General ICG). Interview boards love this topic because it tests institutional memory + clarity on command chains.