Cabinet approves raising of 17 Indian Reserve Battalions

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal for raising 17 Indian Reserve Battalions for Jammu and Kashmir and Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.

A decision to this effect was taken during the Cabinet meeting in the national capital.

It includes five battalions in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Chhattisgarh, three each in Jharkhand and Odisha and two in Maharashtra. Local youths will be recruited and the age and educational criteria will be relaxed by the states, if required.

In Jammu and Kashmir, 60 percent of the vacancies will be filled from the border districts of the state for the posts of constables and class IV.

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In LWE states, 75 percent of the vacancies of constables will be filled up from 27 core districts under Security Related Expenditure Scheme.

The government had introduced the scheme of Indian Reserve Battalions in 1971 and so far, 153 battalions have been sanctioned to various states.

Of them 144 have been raised and one battalion in Jharkhand has been converted into Specialized Indian Reserve Battalion.