Rashtriya Rifles - Organization

Organization

All units of the Army have an organizational structure called the War Establishment (WE). According to the WE are laid down the number of men, vehicles, weapons etc. which the unit is authorized for carrying out it's assigned role. The infantry battalions (inf bns) in the Indian Army have a standard organization called the Inf Bn Standard. Other types of inf bns according to their assigned role are called by various modifications to the Inf Bn Standard like Inf Bn CI, Inf Bn Mountains, Parachute Inf Bn, Para Commando Bn and even (till 1975) Camel Mounted Bn. Till the RR came into the picture, the infantry battalions tasked for CI ops were on the Inf Bn CI.

They had four companies and retained their battalion heavy weapons since they were dual tasked. The RR on the other hand has an organization structure tailor made for CI ops. They have six infantry companies and do not have the heavy battalion weapons which the Inf Bn CI carry although RR troops do train on them. Thus they do not incur the costs of a heavier unit. Also unlike regular army units which were rotated out of the valley regularly, the RR concept was to rotate personnel after fixed periods of deputation. Currently this is for two years. The RR units are permanently located in "sectors", with each sector being the equivalent of a brigade with three battalions. To create a distinct identity, the RR has its own dress, special insignia and flag logistics.

The RR units come under four CI Force HQs. Victor Force looks after Anantnag and Pulwana districts in the south Kashmir valley, Kilo Force looks after Kupwara and Baramulla districts in the north Kashmir valley. Both these forces come under the operational control of the 15 Corps. The Delta Force looks after the Doda district and the Romeo Force after Poonch and Rajouri. These two forces come under the operational control of the 16 Corps. Each force is headed by a GOC-in-C with the rank of a Major General. In terms of their location and use, each of the units and sectors was seen as being interchangeable with a regular, equivalent army formation. GOC Victor Force in some instances would have 2 sector HQs and a regular infantry brigade in his charge. On the other hand when 8 Mountain Division moved to Kashmir, it came with 2 brigades which were then augmented by adding a sector of the RR apart from a couple of independent mountain brigades to it.

After the government gave the go-ahead to set up the RR, the army decided to milk its existing units by 10-20% of their personnel to set up it up quickly. The officers and men came on deputation from all branches of the army including the Infantry, Army Service Corps, EME, Artillery, Armoured Corps. The infantry provides 50%, services 10% and other arms 40% of the troops. In fact the army mothballed a few armoured regiments and transferred their manpower to the RR.

Each regimental center was given the task of raising 1-2 battalions in one year time. During this period, the units were raised and sent to the Northern Command where they got another 4 to 6 weeks to consolidate. All of them went through a structured 8 week course in special CI schools. They were then given another month to stabilize and then sent to the more dormant sectors of Kashmir and to the Punjab. To provide some experience base, 6 RR battalions were exchanged for 6 Assam Rifles units.

In raising the Rashtriya Rifles to full strength, the Army also had to dig into its war-wastage reserves, with the best available vehicles, weapons and radio sets going to the RR. In fact the RR units were even the first to receive bullet-proof jackets and patkas. With manpower drawn from all its arms and services, the Army has had to deal with serious shortages in many of its conventional units, for Rashtriya Rifles battalions are maintained at full authorized strength. However once the teething problems were overcome the RR proved it was worth the trouble.