200px, Home Guard ladies wing march-past in the 1960s The Home Guard of India is a volunteer force tasked to be an auxiliary to the State/UT police forces. The Home Guards Organisation was reorganised in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1966 after the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, though it existed in smaller units individually in some places. Home Guards are recruited from various cross sections of the civil society such as professionals, college students, agricultural and industrial workers (but only to the government) etc. who give their spare time for betterment of the community. All citizens of India, in the age group of 18–50, are eligible. Normal tenure of membership in Home Guards is three to five years.

History

The Home Guard was originally raised in the erstwhile Bombay Province in 1946. Apart from

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and other security agencies, the twin voluntary organisations – Civil Defence & Home Guards were raised to provide protection to citizens in any untoward situation. Therefore, 6 December every year is celebrated throughout the nation as Raising Day of the organisation. On that day in 1946, the first Home Guards Unit was conceived and raised in erstwhile Bombay Presidency during turmoil period of civil disorders and communal riots, as a civilian voluntary force in aid of administration as an auxiliary to police, under the stewardship of former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

. in accordance with the ''Home Guards Acts and Rules of States/Union Territories'', under the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

. The

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Home Guards was utilised by the Civil Defence which came into existence in 1952 under the name of Home Defence (New Civil Defence Act is 27 of 1968). In view of these the Maharashtra Home Guards and the

State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

could assist

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

in organising the Home Guards and Civil Defence creditably during external aggression in 1962. On some occasions the organisation went out of its lawful jurisdiction in order to render help as during the floods in

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

in 1956; civil defence measures organised in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

in 1962; special services rendered at the exposition of St Xavier's body in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

in 1964, etc. They also rendered yeomen's service during several strikes of

Bombay Municipal Corporation The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. Salman Khan Is Now Brand Ambassador of BMC from 2016. The BMC is India ...

(BMC) employees, and fully manned the essential services such as fire brigade, water supply and hospital services for a number of days. At this time the Home Defence was permitted to be brought to limelight by changing the ''Home Defence'' to ''Civil Defence''. The policies of State Civil Defence Committee were based on the directives issued by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

(GOI). This Home Guard organisation is also active in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Functions

The functions to be performed by Home Guards are listed below: * To serve as

auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of some kind to a military se ...

to the police and generally help in maintaining internal security. * To help the community in any kind of emergency—such as on

air-raid precautions Air Raid Precautions (ARP) refers to a number of organisations and guidelines in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. Government consideration for air raid precautions increased in the 1920s a ...

or on any natural disaster. * To function as an emergency force intended for special tasks directly or indirectly connected with the defence of the country. * To maintain functional units to provide essential services such as motor transport, engineering groups,

fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

and

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

, operation of

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, electric current, current, and frequency to power ...

, water installations and communication systems etc. * The Border Wing of 18 battalions assists the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

(BSF) in preventing infiltration on the international border/coastal areas, guarding of VA/VPs and lines of communication and vulnerable areas at the time of external aggression. The 18 battalions are deployed as follows: Assam (one bn), Gujarat (4 bns),

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

(one bn),

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

(6 bns), Rajasthan (4 bns),

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

(one bn), and

(one bn). * Marine units function as an

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and Exclusive economic zone of India, exclusive economic zone. It was st ...

(ICG) auxiliary. * The Fire Wing assists the Indian Fire Service.

Strength and organisation

The total strength of Home Guards in the country is 573,793 against which the present raised strength is 486,401 Home Guards in 25

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and the

union territories Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own state government systems. Unlike states, Union Ter ...

. It doesn't exist in

as its duties are performed by other organisations. It functions under the respective State/UT Home Department.

Training

Central Civil Defence training centres were established in various

to impart training to both Civil Defence and Home Guards personnel. The training consists of individual as well as team training. After Independence the task of civil defence training was revived only after 1962.

Equipment

The Home Guard is equipped with and trained to use older weapons such as the 7.62mm Self-Loading Rifles (Indian version of the British

L1A1 The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), also known by the initial Canadian designation C1, or in the U.S. as the "inch pattern" FAL, is a British version of the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle. The L1A1 was produced under licence and adopted by the arme ...

), Sten guns and

Bren The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Wor ...

guns which are manufactured indigenously by the

Indian Ordnance Factories The Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) (abbreviated: DOO(C&S)) is an authority under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Government of India. Its primary work is to management, give instructio ...

Personnel

Personnel are recruited from various people to include doctors, lawyers, teachers, employees of public and private sector organisations, college and university students, agricultural and industrial workers and others who give their spare time to their communities. All 18 to 50-year-old citizens of India are eligible for membership and normally serve from three to five years each. Members are paid an allowance when called up for service. All members, after their first three-year term of service, are eligible to be trained by the police in the maintenance of law and order, crime prevention, anti-

bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

measures, border control, disaster relief, fire prevention and fire fighting, election and social welfare activities.

In the news

The administration of Home Guards in

has been in news in mid-2016. The Home Guards volunteers were being governed from 1956 till April 2016 in Madhya Pradesh under the CP and Barar Home Guards Rules 1947. A raging controversy erupted in 2016 over the retirement age of the Home Guards volunteers in Madhya Pradesh. This even led to rumours and abrupt removal of the State DG Home Guards. This episode raises questions about the working of the administrative machinery and cadre management of an elite all India service like the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

(IPS) in Madhya Pradesh.IPS postings and cadre management in Madhya Pradesh
/ref>

References

# Civil Defence, ''Journal of the Civil Defence Services'', Editor Col.Kr.D.S.Rawal, Vol 1, 1970 No. 1. # India, Ary of Congress.

External links

Ministry of Home Affairs Directorate General of Civil Defense
{{Indian Railways Paramilitary forces of India

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

1946 establishments in British India Government agencies established in 1946