Centre Defends revival of Village Defence Groups to combat 90s style militancy in J&K

New Delhi: Having completed its efforts to woo the youth in Jammu and Kashmir and nullified most of the militant outfits, the central government has revived old scheme of ‘Village Defence Groups’ in the state. It bills to return to normalcy as soon as possible and before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, central government has briefed Parliament about the formation of civilian armed groups to protect villages, a tactic seen in the 90s when terrorism in the state was at its peak.

Justifying the revival of Village Defense Groups or VDGs in the union territory, the Home Ministry told lawmakers that it has brought back more than 4,000 of these groups and not formed any new ones.

“At present, the sanctioned strength of VDGs is 4,985, of which 4,153 VDGs have been constituted,” Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told Rajya Sabha in response to a question.

“The members of the Village Defense Group shall be designated as Village Defense Guard (VDG). The persons who shall be heading or coordinating the VDGs in the ‘more vulnerable areas’ shall be paid Rs 4,500 per month and persons who are members of the VDGs on a voluntary basis shall be paid a uniform rate of Rs 4,000 per month,” Mr Rai said.

The minister also said terrorist-related violence in Jammu and Kashmir has almost halved in the last five years – from 228 to 125 – and the number of security personnel killed has come down to a third, from 91 to 31. has also seen a slight decrease with 30 deaths in 2022 compared to 39 in 2018, he said.

According to the junior minister, the Central Reserve Police Force or CRPF has trained some 948 VDG members in collaboration with Rajouri District Police from January 6 to 25.

As a safeguard against the VDGs becoming a vigilante force outside the scope of the law, the Home Ministry clarified it was decided last March that there will be no more than 15 members in each VDG.

After these VDGs were set up and given arms, opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir criticized Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha but the center told Rajya Sabha that these weapons were being given out only after thorough scrutiny.

According to the Home Ministry, the weapons are being provided to people who have a valid arms license and have been cleared background checks by the Jammu and Kashmir police, District Magistrate or Senior Superintendent of Police.

“Persons in possession of a valid license and weapons or willing to purchase weapons on their own are also being provided training,” the minister stated in his written reply.