Exam Summary
The CRPF achieved its first 12-month operational-fatality-free period in 47 years; its last death was on 30 October 2025, while the previous fatality-free period ended in January 1979. DG G.P. Singh credited equipment, training, planning and evacuation. CoBRA specialises in guerrilla warfare against Naxalism. It conducts 75–80 air-ambulance sorties, originated as Crown Representative’s Police in 1939, and was renamed under the 1949 Act. NHRC is statutory under the 1993 Act.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) completed 12 consecutive months without an operational fatality, its first such period in 47 years. The force’s last operational fatality occurred on 30 October 2025; the previous fatality-free period ended in January 1979.
Operational changes and deployments
CRPF Director General G.P. Singh attributed the achievement to improved equipment, training and strategic planning, as well as rapid evacuation of injured personnel. The force remains deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and Left-Wing Extremism-affected areas. In 2025, eight of the nine CRPF personnel who died were killed in action in Maoist-affected areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Twelve personnel died in operational incidents in 2024 across Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Manipur. The milestone coincided with India being declared Maoist-free around 30–31 March 2026, following a sustained crackdown.
Medical evacuation and personnel welfare
The CRPF conducts an average of 75–80 air ambulance sorties annually to move injured personnel to secondary and tertiary medical facilities, including the AIIMS Trauma Centre in Delhi. Separately, the National Human Rights Commission took cognisance in August 2026 of 19 personnel suicides reported between January and May 2026; 59 CRPF personnel died by suicide in 2025.
Important Facts for Exams
- Deployment jurisdiction: The CRPF can deploy anywhere in India for internal security, crowd control and elections, generally assisting state police rather than replacing their primary jurisdiction.
- CoBRA specialisation: The CRPF’s CoBRA unit was created to counter Naxalite insurgency and is specifically trained in guerrilla warfare, a specialisation uncommon among central armed police units.
- CRPF origins: The CRPF traces its origins to the Crown Representative’s Police, raised in 1939; it was renamed after the CRPF Act was enacted in 1949.
- NHRC legal status: The NHRC is a statutory, not constitutional, body established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, which provides its legal framework.
