The Union Cabinet has approved proposal of raising of 17 Indian Reserve Battalions (IRBs) in Jammu & Kashmir and 4 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.
Decision was taken by Union Cabinet Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Fact Punch
17 IRBs includes five battalions in J&K, 4 in Chhattisgarh, 3 each in Jharkhand and Odisha and 3 in Maharashtra.
The major thrust in raising these IRBs will be by recruiting local youths. State Government can relax age and educational criteria if required.
In case of 5 IRBs of J&K, 60% of the vacancies for the posts of constables and class IV will be filled from the state’s border districts.
In case of LWE states, 75% of the vacancies of constables will be filled up from 27 core districts under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme.
About Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme
The Union Government had introduced scheme of Indian Reserve Battalions in 1971.
It is a non-plan scheme. The objective of the scheme is to supplement the efforts of the states to deal with the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) i.e. naxalite problem effectively.
Under it, so far government has sanctioned 153 IRBs in the various states of which 144 IRBs have been raised.
1 IRB in Jharkhand has been converted into Specialized Indian Reserve Battalion (SIRB) which is having 2 engineering companies and 5 security companies.
Current Affairs: 27th January, 2016 Current Affairs Round up December, 2015.
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