Village defence groups for JK

In News

• Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given a nod to the formation of village defence groups (VDGs) in Jammu and Kashmir.

About village defence committees (VDCs)

• History:
  • The VDCs were constituted in 1995 in 10 districts of the Jammu region to fight militants in far-off places. 
  • Around 26,567 locals were recruited into them. 
• Reason for Disbandment:
  • Most of the VDCs were disbanded by the previous governments following allegations of misuse of weapons in several cases.
• New Structure:
  • The members of the Village Defence Groups will be designated as Village Defence Guards.
  • People will work as soldiers without uniforms on the ground.
• Pay Scale:
  • In more vulnerable areas, the order stated that persons (V1 category) who shall be leading/ coordinating the VDG would be paid ?4,500 per month ;
  • Other persons (V2 category) who are members of these VDGs on a voluntary basis will be paid a uniform rate of ?4,000 per month.
• Benefits:
  • VDGs will use available resources on the ground at the optimum.
  • These groups will keep them well motivated and in a state of preparedness.

Source: HT