What is the National Security Guard (NSG)?

About National Security Guard (NSG)

• It is a special force in India that has primarily been utilised for counter-terrorism activities.
• The NSG is an elite force providing a second line of defence for the nation.
• The NSG members are also known as Black Cats because of the black drill cotton coveralls and balaclavas, or helmets, they wear.
• Establishment: 
  • It was raised in 1984,following Operation Blue Star and the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
  • It was created by the Cabinet Secretariat under the National Security Guard Act of the Indian Parliament in 1986.
  • It was modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and the GSG-9 of Germany.
• The Union Ministry for Home Affairs exercises administrative and operational control over NSG.
• Motto: Sarvatra Sarvottama Suraksa.
• Headquarters: New Delhi.
• Director General (DG): 
  • The head of the NSG, designated as Director General (DG), is selected by the Home Ministry.
  • All the selected DGs have been officers from the Indian Police Service (IPS).
• The NSG's specific goals include:
  • Neutralization of terrorist threats
  • Handling hijacking situations in the air and on land.
  • Bomb disposal (search, detection, and neutralisation of IEDs).
  • PBI (Post Blast Investigation)
  • Hostage Rescue
  • VIP Security
• It is designed to be employed as a specialised counter-terrorism force "only in exceptional situations," not to take over "functions of the State Police Forces or other paramilitary forces."
• The teams of NSG work on a basic philosophy of swift and speedy strike and immediate withdrawal from the theatre of action.
• The force is task-oriented and has two main elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG), comprising Army personnel, and the Special Ranger Group (SRG), comprising personnel drawn from the Central Armed Police Forces and State Police Forces.
• The NSG also has a National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) that maintains a centralised database of bombing activities reported in India and abroad.

The NBDC collects, collates, analyses, and evaluates all terrorist bombing activities and disseminates relevant information to concerned law enforcement agencies.

Q1: What is Operation Blue Star?

Operation Bluestar was an Indian Army operation carried out in June 1984 in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, to flush out militants who were led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a one-time leader of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal and a key figure in the growing separatist Khalistan movement at the time. While successful in its intended objectives, it caused a furore among some members of the Sikh community, who saw the operation carried out in their shrine as an attack on their faith; it remains a controversial episode of Indian history.

Source: CRPF ADG Nalin Prabhat appointed chief of NSG