CRPF conducts first ‘Bastariya Battallion’ recruitment drive

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has started a recruitment drive to select 400 candidates from South Chhattisgarh to strengthen its “Bastariya Battallion”.
The ten-day drive organised between 10 October and 20 October aimed at selecting 400 candidates for the rank of Constable for general duty in the CRPF’s “Bastariya Battallion”— which the CRPF raised in 2016-17 by recruiting locals who have knowledge of language, culture, topography, and demography in the force.
CRPF officials said the drive “received an overwhelming response from the local youths who are participating in huge numbers with a strong desire to serve
the nation.”
“The overwhelming response is a result of the move adopted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to ease the eligibility criteria for local youths from Bijapur, Dantewada, and Sukma so that they can join the CRPF,” a senior CRPF official said.
The move comes almost four months after the Central government eased educational criteria for Chhattisgarh tribals to join the CRPF.

In June this year, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister NarendraModi, relaxed eligibility criteria for tribal youths from three naxal-affected districts of Chhattisgarh—Bijapur, Dantewada, and Sukma—to join the CRPF.
The Cabinet approved its proposal “to relax the requisite minimum educational qualification from Class 10 to Class 8 for the recruitment of 400 candidates as Constables (General Duty) in the CRPF from three districts of South Chhattisgarh, namely Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma”.
Notably, in 2016-17, the CRPF raised one battalion, where youths were primarily recruited from the Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, and Sukma districts of the Bastar region of the state.
To encourage locals to join the force, the government relaxed many of the physical requirements for recruitment. The move was aimed at having people with local knowledge of language, culture, topography, and demography in the force so as to strengthen its intelligence collection and operations.
However, it could not yield optimum results as not many native youths could fulfil the minimum educational qualification eligibility criteria, which was Class 10.