Rashtriya Rifles

The Rashtriya Rifles or RR (Hindi: राष्ट्रीय राइफल्स; rarely National Rifles if translated verbatim to English) is a branch of the Indian Army under the authority of the Indian Ministry of Defence.

They are a counter-insurgency/anti-terrorist force made up of soldiers deputed from other parts of the Indian Army, who receive special incentives while serving in the Rashtriya Rifles. One half of the RR come from the Indian Army's infantry, and one half from the rest of the Indian Army. The force is deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.

Since the RR are under the authority of Ministry of Defence, and furthermore were initially designated "paramilitary" to get around an army manpower ceiling, they are sometimes misidentified as part of the Paramilitary Forces of India. In essence however, they are a crack force completely composed of Indian Army personnel, who undergo pre-induction training and operate in a grid structure to deal with insurgents at high altitudes.

The Rashtriya Rifles crest consists of Ashoka Chakra, two crossed AK 47 rifles with fixed bayonets. Beneath, in a banner, is emblazoned the motto of this force – Dridhta aur virta.

It was raised by General Sunith Francis Rodrigues and moulded by General B C Joshi in 1990 into a force dedicated to fighting insurgency in Kashmir and to complement the weak local security forces in the area. By 1994 it had 5,000 troops, all of whom served in Jammu and Kashmir. Some observers expected the force to grow to thirty battalions, with around 25,000 personnel. In March 1995, Indian television referred to the Delta Force of the "fledgling" Rashtriya Rifles. It was reported that the force was operating against terrorists and foreign mercenaries in Doda District in south-central Jammu and Kashmir.

The initial RR units performed well despite certain inherent weaknesses in their class and composition. They were raised on All India/All Class basis with troops from all over the Army. The logic being that since the units were going to fight an insurgency, there should be no scope for vested interests in accusing a battalion of bias based on a class or regional attributes. Unfortunately, this setup created problems in the field. The initial RR units were like transit camps, with troops coming and going at regular intervals. There was little camaraderie and cohesion among troops. There were also numerous problems of administration and even of indiscipline. COs of infantry battalions who were asked to provide manpower generally used to use that as a chance to get rid of trouble makers. If the initial battalions performed well in hostile conditions, it was mainly due to the professional competence of officers who were asked to lead them.

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