Chhattisgarh: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that Naxalism is a challenge and a menace which is now shrinking. “Naxalism is a challenge but I want to say that this menace is now shrinking and is losing ground. The casualties in Security Forces have declined,” Singh said while addressing the Passing Out Parade of 261 Bastariya Battalion in Ambikapur.
The Home Minister attended the commissioning of the ‘Bastariya’ battalion of the CRPF, created for the first-time with more than 534 tribal youths from Chhattisgarh. Singh also awarded the best performers of the new unit after they presented him with a guard of honour and a military parade.
The ‘Bastariya’ jawans will be deployed in core area to add teeth to the anti-naxal operations of CRPF in the naxal-infested Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. This new battalion of CRPF carries the moniker ‘Bastariya Battalion’ for the special reason that it comprises of youths, mostly scouted from the four highly naxal infested Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukmadistricts of Chhattisgarh.
Another remarkable feature of the battalion is its adequate female representation which is in sync with the Government’s policy of 33 percent reservation for women. The training included guerilla warfare, camouflage, living off the land and all those tricks of the trade that involve jungle operations. These jawans have been deployed in the core areas of Chhattisgarh to fight the naxals alongside the normal GD Bnsand CoBRABns of CRPF.
The ‘Bastariya Battalion’ came into existence on April 1, 2017 and has been created to enhance local representation in CRPF’s combat lay-out in the Bastar area besides providing the ‘Bastriya’ youths a full-proof platform for employment.