Border Security Force


The Border Security Force is a central armed police force and an Armed Force of the Union in India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India's borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 1965 to ensure the security of India's borders and for related matters.
The BSF has grown from 25 battalions in 1965, to 193 battalions with a sanctioned strength of 270,000 personnel including an expanding air wing, water wing, an artillery regiment and specialised units. It is currently the world's largest border security force. BSF has been termed the First Line of Defence of Indian territories.

History

Since India's independence in 1947, the protection of its international boundaries was the responsibility of the local police in each border state, with little inter-state coordination. However, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistan attacked Sardar Post, Char Bet, and Beria Bet on 9 April 1965, in Kutch. This attack exposed the inadequacy of the State Armed Police in coping with armed aggression. Thus, after the war, the government created the Border Security Force as a unified central agency with the specific mandate of guarding India's international borders. This act brought greater cohesion to border security. K F Rustamji, from the Indian Police Service, was the first Director General of the BSF. Since it was a new force, the officers had to be deputed or inducted from outside to fill the various vacancies at different levels until the force's own cadre matured sufficiently. For this reason, emergency commissioned officers and SS officers of the Indian Army were inducted in large numbers into the force, along with IPS officers who were deputed to the force for high-level appointments.
The BSF's capabilities were used in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 against Pakistani forces in areas where the Regular Forces were thinly spread. BSF troops took part in several operations, including the famous Battle of Longewala. In fact, for the BSF the war on the eastern front had started well before the war actually broke out in December 1971. BSF had trained, supported and formed part of Mukti Bahini and had entered erstwhile East Pakistan before the actual hostilities broke out. The BSF played a very important role in the Liberation of Bangladesh, which Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman had also acknowledged.
K.F. Rustamji, IPS, was appointed as the first Director General of Border Security Force from 22 July 1965, to 30 September 1972, and the current DG is Praveen Kumar, IPS, since 15 January 2026.

Engagements

  • Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
  • Operation Blue Star
  • Operation Black Thunder
  • Insurgency in Punjab
  • Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Operation Vijay – Kargil War
  • 2001 Bangladeshi-Indian border skirmishes
  • 2001–2002 Operation Parakram – India-Pakistan Standoff
  • 2013 India-Pakistan Border skirmishes
  • 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
  • 2016–2018 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
  • 2019 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
  • 2025 India–Pakistan standoff

    Roles

During peacetime
  • Border guarding and security.
  • Prevention of trans-border crimes, unauthorized entry into or exit from the territory of India.
  • Prevention of smuggling and any other illegal activities on the border.
  • Anti-infiltration duties.
  • Collection of trans-border intelligence.
  • To promote a sense of security among the people living in the border areas.
During war time
  • Holding ground in assigned sectors.
  • Limited aggressive action against irregular forces of the enemy.
  • Maintenance of law and order in enemy territory administered under the Army's control.
  • Acting as guides to the Army in border areas.
  • Assistance in control of refugees.
  • Provision of escorts.
  • Performing special tasks connected with intelligence including cross-border raids.
  • Replenishing manpower.
The BSF is also employed for internal security duties and other law and order duties on the requisition of the State Government. Being a Central Armed Police Force, it can be entrusted with policing duties at any place apart from its mandate. Although originally charged with guarding India's external boundaries, the BSF in the 1990s was also given the task of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and the Northeastern Seven Sister States. While in Punjab, the BSF took part in operations like Blue Star, Black Thunder 1 & 2. However, when the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir broke out in 1989, it moved towards the state and handed over the operations in Punjab to CRPF and local police. In Jammu and Kashmir, the state police and the thinly-deployed Central Reserve Police Force struggled to cope with the torturous violence, so it was deployed to combat these.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the BSF initially suffered casualties from terrorist attacks but later saw successes. During the initial years, terrorist activity had even reached Jammu and parts of Northern Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. However, it was only due to the successful operations by BSF that by the late 1990s, their area of activity had been restricted only to the valley.
BSF was also successful in setting up a robust HUMINT network. From arresting Maulana Masood Azhar, Bitta Karate, Yasin Malik, the BSF is also credited for killing Ghazi Baba - the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed and the mastermind of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in August 2003, along with his deputy commander. The BSF raided Baba's hideout in Srinagar, and he was killed in the ensuing gun battle along with his deputy chief.
However, with changing tactical and operational conditions, and expansion and modernisation of State police, the Government withdrew all 60 BSF battalions and redeployed them on the Indo-Pakistani border and Bangladesh–India border. These troops were then replaced by fresh troops from the CRPF that had undergone specialised training in counter-terrorism.
Some units of the BSF are also deployed in Central India to combat Naxal violence. Counter-Maoist operations are diversified. BSF is deployed in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, where Naxal strength is comparatively thinner than that of other parts of Bastar region. At present total 15 battalions of BSF are stationed in different parts of Kanker district to combat the Naxal.
After recent civilian killings in Kashmir the Home Ministry re-inducted the BSF for counter-insurgency operations and law-and-order duties in valley. The BSF units will be deployed in sensitive areas which lie in various districts of the Kashmir valley. A significant contributor to BSF success in the Kashmir Valley is Commandant Jagmohan Singh Rawat SM, KC. He has played a crucial role in counter-insurgency operations.
After Pahalgam Attack in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in India the Indian Armed Forces launched military operation which is named as Operation Sindoor against the terrorism originating from Pakistan. BSF played an significant role in operation Sindoor by targeting terrorist launch pads in Pakistan. In Jammu Region BSF destroyed 118 Pakistan Rangers Border Outposts. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi widely acknowledged the role of BSF in Operation Sindoor and appreciated the valour of BSF soldiers.

Organisation

The Border Security Force has its headquarters in New Delhi and is known as Force Headquarters headed by a director general. Various directorates like Operations, Communications & IT, Training, Engineering, General, Law, Provisioning, Administration, Personnel, Armaments, Medical, Finance etc. function under the DG. Each directorate is headed by an IG. The Eastern Theatre is looked after by Spl. DG HQ at Kolkata and the Western Theatre is looked after by Spl DG HQ at Chandigarh. Field Formations in BSF are headed by an Inspector General and are known as Frontiers Headquarters. There is 13 such Frontier under which Sector Headquarters function headed by a Deputy Inspector General each. Each SHQ has under its command, 4–5 infantry battalions, along with attachments of artillery, air and water wings. Presently 186 battalions are sanctioned to BSF. Five major training institutions and ten Subsidiary Training Centres are imparting ab-initio as well as in-service training to its ranks and other CPOs/SPOs including IPS Probationers.
BSF is the only Central Armed Police Force to have its own Air Wing and artillery regiment, and besides ITBP to have a Water Wing. All these specialised wings support the General Duty Battalions in their operations. The Financial Adviser of the BSF has been an Indian Revenue Service officer of the rank of Joint Secretary and also has Dy Advisers from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Indian Civil Account Service and Indian Defence Account Service.
The BSF also has a national level school for the breeding and training of dogs. Dogs from other CPOs and State Police are sent to National Training Centre for Dogs to be trained in infantry patrol, detection of explosives, tracking and the like.
The BSF maintains a Tear Smoke Unit, which is unique in India. The TSU is responsible for producing tear gas munitions required for the Anti-Riot Forces. It also exports a substantial quantity to other countries.
Three battalions of the BSF, located at Kolkata, Guwahati, and Patna, are designated as the National Disaster Response Force. Each battalion maintains 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each, including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medics and paramedics. The establishment of each battalion is 1,158 personnel. The NDRF is a multi-disciplinary, multi-skilled, high-tech force for all types of disasters and can deploy to disasters by air, sea, and land. These battalions are equipped and trained for all natural disasters including combating Chemical, Biological Radiological, and Nuclear disasters.
Since 2014, as a part of modernisation, BSF also started installing infra-red, thermal imagers, aerostats for aerial surveillance, ground sensors, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensor and laser beam intrusion detection systems on specific sections of border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. These Hi-tech systems are installed in areas where barbed wire fencing could not be installed due to treacherous terrain or marshy riverine topography. The largest section of this system is located at Dhubri, Assam, where Brahmaputra river enters Bangladesh.