Village Defence Committees is a militia formed in the Chenab Valley area of Jammu and Kashmir. It was created in the mid-1990s to defend locals, especially the Hindus who reside in the remote hilly villages, against militancy. It consists of the police officers along with the villagers. Jammu and Kashmir set up new VDCs in Kishtwar in 2019.
Indian Army conducts training camps for VDC consisting of intelligence gathering basic and weapons training. The main aim of it is to protect Muslims and Hindus living in that area. The first Village Defence Committee was set up under a Superintendent of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, in Bagankote Village, Udhampur, in 1995.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has assured the people of Dangri village of Jammu and Kashmir that they would get a Village Defence Committee. Although the people demanded weapons to protect themselves, the VCDs were disbanded by the previous government following the alleged misuse of weapons in various cases.
The VDCs were credited with fighting the terrorists and stopping the migration of local people from the peripheries. The VDCs are now renamed Village Defence Guards. Last March, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs approved a new scheme to set up VDGs in vulnerable areas of J&K. Both VDG and VDC are civilian groups provided with arms and ammunition to tackle militants in case of attack.
Ministry of Home Affairs
The Ministry of Home Affairs is an interior ministry of the Government of India. It was formed on August 15, 1947. This ministry is responsible for the maintenance of domestic policy and internal security. The Home Ministry is also the cadre controlling authority for the DANIPS, Indian Police Services and DANICS. The Home Secretary stands as the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Union Home Secretary controls all the central forces, such as CISF, CRPF, BSF, etc. and the Union territory police forces.
The Ministry of Home Affairs extends support and manpower, expertise and guidance to the State Governments to maintain peace, security and harmony without trampling upon the states’ constitutional rights.
List of different constituent departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs
- Department of Border Management
- Department of Internal Security
- Department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh Affairs
- Department of Home
- Department of Official Language
- Department of States
There are few organizational divisions of the ministry which are not any specialized departments:
- Administration Division
- Border Management Division
- Centre-State Division
- Coordination Division
- Disaster Management Division
- Finance Division
- Foreigners Division
- Freedom Fighters and Rehabilitation Division
- Human Rights Division
- Internal Security Division
- Judicial Division
- Left-wing Extremism Division
- Police Division
- Police Modernisation Division
- Policy Planning Division
- Union Territories Division
