BSF recruits locals to rein in crime
The Border Security Force has been seeing signs of success in a programme to recruit young people in largely Muslim border districts of West Bengal and Bihar. Since last year, it has been educating students about both the objectives of the armed forces and the rewards of a career as a soldier or officer.
The programme aims to add more locals to the staff of the BSF in parts of the country that are infamous for illegal crossings by Bangladeshis and criminal activities like smuggling.
In addition to informative lectures about the workings of the BSF, the border guards are also conducting sessions of running and weight lifting to make students physically fit for recruitment.
Thus far the drive has been confined to a small number of schools, but the BSF plans to extend its efforts to numerous madrasas in the area.
“We have conducted programmes at four schools in Kishanganj (in Bihar) and also a few schools in North Dinajpur in West Bengal. The idea is to make students aware how a career in the BSF is both challenging and prestigious,” said PK Ranjan, second in command at the BSF headquarters in Kishanganj.
“Youths here are lured by miscreants to take up illegal activities as they have few job opportunities and poverty is rampant,” said a BSF officer who preferred to remain anonymous.