Black Cats as white knights

The National Security Guards Black Cat commandos appear to have caught the fancy of the countrys youth with their heroics in Operation Black Tornado during the 26/11 Mumbai terror siege...

The National Security Guards Black Cat commandos appear to have caught the fancy of the countrys youth with their heroics in Operation Black Tornado during the 26/11 Mumbai terror siege. For the past month or so,the elite commando force has been flooded with hundreds of queries each day from people wanting to know the procedure to join the NSG and getting trained as commandos.

The large number of calls received at NSGs headquarters in Mehram Nagar has prompted the force to officially clarify that it has no arrangement for training private individuals. In fact,the NSG has recently put up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on its website which lists only two questions how can one join the NSG and how can one get trained at the NSG?

While the force has clarified that it is a deputationist force and therefore,there is no direct recruitment, in response to the first question,it has stated that requests need to come through respective governments/government agencies and that there is no arrangement for training private individuals in its response to the second.

“The number of people calling our offices and seeking details on how to get commando training has been phenomenal. Never before did we have to explain to the public that there is no direct recruitment to the NSG and all our numbers are made up of personnel from the Indian Army,the Central Para Military Forces and the state police forces. People have been passionately arguing with us to allow them entry into the force, an NSG official said.

The NSG is modelled on the United Kingdoms Special Air Service (SAS) and Germanys elite counter-terrorism force,the GSG-9,and comprises two complementary wings the Special Action Group (SAG) and the Special Ranger Group (SRG). Completely made up of Indian Army personnel,the SAG is mandated to conduct offensive counter-terrorism and anti-hijacking operations while the SRG is essentially tasked with the supplementary role of providing tactical support and carrying heavy weapons during the SAGs operations. The NSG currently has two SAG battalions the 51 SAG and the 52 SAG and has three SRG battalions. The SRG comprises personnel drawn from the Central Para Military Forces like the CRPF,the CISF,the ITBP,the BSF and the state police forces.