VILLAGE
DEFENCE COMMITTEE – POLITY
News:
Village Defence Committee
Member's Heroic Act: Eliminates Terrorist in Rajouri's Kalakote
What's
in the news?
● Showing
exemplary courage, a member of the Village Defence Committee (VDC) struck a
major blow to sinister plot of hiding jihadis by eliminating one of the
terrorist within the treacherous Gund Khwas forest belt in Kalakote, Rajouri.
Village
Defence Committee:
● The
VDCs were first formed in the erstwhile Doda
district (now Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts) in mid 1990s as a force
multiplier against militant attacks.
● The
then Jammu and Kashmir administration decided to provide residents of remote
hilly villages with weapons and give them arms training to defend themselves.
Village
Defence Guards:
● The
VDCs have now been renamed as Village Defence Guards (VDG).
● The
new scheme to set up VDGs in vulnerable areas of J&K was approved by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in March
last year.
● Like
a VDC member, each VDG will be provided
a gun and 100 rounds of ammunition.
Features:
● Under
the new scheme, the persons leading the VDGs will be paid Rs 4,500 per month by the government, while others will get Rs
4,000 each.
● In
the VDCs, only the Special Police Officers (SPOs) leading them were provided a
remuneration of Rs 1,500 monthly.
● The SPOs, the lowest rank in the
J&K Police, used to be retired army, para military or police personnel.
Who
will have control over the VDGs?
● The
VDGs will function under the direction of the SP/SSP of the district concerned.
What
was the composition of VDCs?
● A
minimum of 10-15 ex-servicemen, ex-policemen and able-bodied local youth were
enrolled in each VDC on a voluntary basis.
● On
an average, at least five of them were provided .303 rifles and 100 rounds
each, through the district Superintendent of Police.
● The
allotment of weapons could go up depending on the credentials of the
volunteers, total population of a village and its security requirements, as
assessed by the district magistrate and SSP concerned.
Need
for VDC and VDG:
● Protect
the civilians from the militancy.
● Reduce
the fear factor among civilians.
● Make
civilians themselves protective.
● Both
VDG and VDC is a group of civilians provided guns and ammunition to tackle
militants in case of attack until the arrival of security forces.