A categorised list of the bodies the CAPF wiki covers: the five CAPFs and wider force family, national constitutional and statutory bodies, and international organisations, with founding facts and the security framing
This page is a categorised list of the organisations the CAPF (Assistant Commandants) wiki covers: the five Central Armed Police Forces and the wider force family, the national constitutional and statutory bodies, and the international organisations. The facts derive from the owner notes (exam-info/the-five-forces, the polity notes on constitutional and statutory bodies and human rights and internal security, and paper-1/current-events/international-organisations-and-india), are distilled into concept cards, and are held as machine-readable rows in _dict/forces.yaml and _dict/organisations.yaml. This index is navigation and quick recall; the authoritative catalogue is master index.
Currency caution, per sources and honesty policy: sanctioned force strengths, current Director-Generals, rotating chairs and summit hosts are year-sensitive. Verify the latest against the Ministry of Home Affairs Annual Report and the primary sources rather than committing a number or a name. Distinguish raised (the year a force began) from the founding act (the governing statute, often later).
These five are the forces the UPSC CAPF (AC) examination recruits Assistant Commandants (Group A) into. All five are under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
| Force | Raised | Founding Act | Border or role | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) | 1939 (renamed CRPF 1949) | CRPF Act, 1949 | Internal security, counter-insurgency, anti-Naxal, riot control, election duty; the largest CAPF | New Delhi |
| Border Security Force (BSF) | 1965 | BSF Act, 1968 | India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh land borders in peacetime | New Delhi |
| Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) | 1962 | ITBP Act, 1992 | India-China Himalayan border; high-altitude posts | New Delhi |
| Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) | 1963 (reconstituted 2003) | Reconstituted by the MHA, 2003 | Open India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders; lead intelligence agency for them | New Delhi |
| Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) | 1969 | CISF Act, 1968 | Security of industrial, airport, metro, port and nuclear-space installations | New Delhi |
Recall hooks: raising years CRPF 1939, ITBP 1962, SSB 1963, BSF 1965, CISF 1969. Border-to-force: BSF (Pakistan and Bangladesh), ITBP (China), SSB (Nepal and Bhutan). The CISF is the force least associated with the border and the only CAPF that guards private-sector undertakings (on cost reimbursement). CRPF specialist units include the Rapid Action Force (RAF, 1992) and CoBRA (from 2008). Owner note: the five forces; deep note: the five capfs in depth.
| Force | Raised | Ministry / control | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assam Rifles (AR) | 1835 (oldest paramilitary force in India) | Dual: administrative under the MHA, operational under the Army (Defence) | India-Myanmar border; north-east counter-insurgency |
| National Security Guard (NSG) | 1984 (operational 1986) | MHA | Counter-terrorism, counter-hijack, hostage rescue; the "Black Cats" |
| National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) | 2006 | MHA, under the NDMA | Specialist disaster response; battalions seconded from the five CAPFs |
| Indian Coast Guard (ICG) | 1978 | Ministry of Defence (not the MHA) | Maritime zones, the EEZ, coastal security, anti-smuggling, search and rescue |
| Railway Protection Force (RPF) | (statutory force) | Ministry of Railways (not the MHA) | Security of railway property, passengers and passenger areas |
Recall hooks: the Assam Rifles dual-control structure is a common exam point; the NDRF is the operational arm of the NDMA under the Disaster Management Act, 2005; the Indian Coast Guard and the RPF are the two armed forces of the Union most often mistaken for MHA forces but are not (Defence and Railways respectively). Concept cards: concept assam rifles, concept national security guard, concept ndma and ndrf, concept indian coast guard, concept railway protection force.
Every force operates under the Constitution (Article 21), the NHRC mechanism (recommendatory powers, with the Section 19 limit on complaints against the armed forces under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993), and the principles of necessity, proportionality and minimum force. Article 33 lets Parliament curtail the forces' own Fundamental Rights in the interest of discipline. This framing is the dimension CAPF tests; owner note human rights and internal security and deep note afspa and the human rights debate.
| Body | Status | Founding / Article | Role in one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Election Commission of India (ECI) | Constitutional (Art 324) | 1950 | Conducts elections to Parliament, State legislatures, President and Vice-President |
| Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) | Constitutional (Art 148) | Office 1858 | Audits Union and State accounts; guardian of the public purse |
| Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) | Constitutional (Art 315) | 1926 (as PSC) | Recruits to the All-India and central services, including the CAPF (AC) exam |
| Finance Commission | Constitutional (Art 280) | 1951 (first) | Recommends Centre-State tax devolution every five years |
| GST Council | Constitutional (Art 279A) | 2016 | Chaired by the Union Finance Minister with State representatives |
| National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) | Statutory | 1993 | Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993; chaired by a former CJI or Supreme Court judge; recommendatory |
| Reserve Bank of India (RBI) | Statutory (central bank) | 1935 | Monetary policy, currency issue, banking regulation; CPI inflation target 4 percent (band 2 to 6) |
| NITI Aayog | Executive (think tank) | 2015 | Replaced the Planning Commission (1950 to 2014); a policy think tank, not fund-allocating |
| National Investigation Agency (NIA) | Statutory central agency | 2008 | NIA Act, 2008 after the 2008 Mumbai attacks; investigates scheduled terror and security offences |
Owner notes: constitutional and statutory bodies, money and banking and the rbi, planning and niti aayog.
| Body | Type | HQ | Founded | India |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Nations (UN) | Intergovernmental | New York | 1945 | Founding member; UN Day 24 October |
| UN Security Council (UNSC) | UN principal organ | New York | 1945 | Recurring non-permanent member; seeks permanent reform |
| International Court of Justice (ICJ) | UN judicial organ | The Hague | 1945 | 15 judges; principal judicial organ |
| WHO | UN specialised agency | Geneva | 1948 | Member |
| ILO | UN specialised agency | Geneva | 1919 | Founding member |
| UNESCO | UN specialised agency | Paris | 1945 | Member; World Heritage Sites |
| FAO | UN specialised agency | Rome | 1945 | Member |
| WFP | UN body | Rome | 1961 | Member |
| IAEA | UN-affiliated | Vienna | 1957 | Member; nuclear safeguards |
| UNICEF | UN body | New York | 1946 | Member |
| UNDP | UN body | New York | 1965 | Publishes the Human Development Index |
| WTO | Trade body | Geneva | 1995 | Founding member; succeeded GATT (1947) |
| IMF | Bretton Woods | Washington, D.C. | 1944 | Founding member; World Economic Outlook |
| World Bank Group | Bretton Woods | Washington, D.C. | 1944 | Founding member; arms IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, ICSID |
| Body | Type | HQ | Founded | India |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAARC | South Asia | Kathmandu | 1985 | Founding member; 8 members; largely stalled |
| ASEAN | Southeast Asia | Jakarta | 1967 | Dialogue partner, not a member; anchor of Act East |
| BIMSTEC | Bay of Bengal | Dhaka | 1997 | Member; connectivity and security |
| SCO | Eurasian security bloc | Beijing | 2001 | Full member since 2017; counter-terror via RATS |
| BRICS | Emerging economies | No fixed secretariat | 2006 (first summit 2009) | Founding member; runs the New Development Bank |
| G20 | Economic forum | No permanent secretariat | 1999 (summits from 2008) | Member; hosted the G20 summit in 2023 |
| QUAD | Indo-Pacific security | No secretariat | Revived 2017 | Member with the US, Japan, Australia; maritime security |
| G7 | Advanced economies | No permanent secretariat | 1975 | Not a member; invited as a guest |
| ICRC | Humanitarian body | Geneva | 1863 | Custodian of the Geneva Conventions (1949) |
Recall hooks: India is NOT a full member of ASEAN (a dialogue partner) or the G7 (a guest). The groupings most likely to carry a CAPF security framing are the SCO (the RATS counter-terror body), the QUAD (Indo-Pacific maritime security) and BIMSTEC. The ICRC is the custodian of the Geneva Conventions, the core of international humanitarian law, which links to the human-rights syllabus. Owner note: international organisations and india.