The security in India has always been dependent on the effectiveness and direction exhibited by the police and paramilitary forces of the nation. The person on the frontier of this effort today is Anish Dayal Singh, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who is at the helm in charge of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in India. Singh is regarded as a disciple of discipline, a strategic thinker and has decades of experience that have seen him take over as one of the respected people within the security circle in India.
Early Life and Education
There is little known about Anish Dayal Singh, especially his early childhood life, but what one can establish is that he was extremely successful at school, and he was keen on joining the Indian Police Service. He is of the 1988 batch of IPS of the Manipur cadre. The North-East is also the place where officers are frequently exposed to some of the most challenging issues in policing, insurgency, and border security. This background defined the career of this person and made him competent in issues of leadership in the central forces of India.
Entry Into the Indian Police Service
Anish Dayal Singh joined the uniformed service in 1988. As an IPS officer of the Manipur cadre, he was exposed to complex internal security issues at a very early stage in his career. Manipur is an especially delicate region of insurgency and border problems, which made the professional background of Singh a tackling of problems of national security at the grassroots level.
This early one enabled him to develop an effective sense of counterinsurgency, border, and management of the public order, skills which proved invaluable in his leadership of CAPF organizations.
Career Highlights and Key Roles
During the decades, Anish Dayal Singh has occupied various key positions in his cadre state and on central deputation as well. His appointments in different jobs demonstrate his flexibility as an administrator as well as his readiness to fit into the needs of policing.
Some of his most prominent highlights in his career are:
- Leadership in Border Security – Singh is experienced in matters of border management. This is important since a large part of the Indian security problem can be seen in protecting its distant borders against Pakistan, China, and others.
- Central Deputation Roles – He has been in various positions at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), where he has gotten to know how national policy works.
- Experience in Paramilitary Forces – His stint with paramilitary units exposed him to the hierarchical and functional design of armies such as the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and both services came into his administrative fold.
Appointment as Director General (DG) of ITBP
In August 2022, Anish Dayal Singh took the position of the Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). The ITBP also defines an instrumental part in the protection of the border between India and China, a long and dangerous Tibetan Himalaya.
This posting was in the midst of a strained relationship between India and China after the clash in eastern Ladakh. During this time, it was especially relevant to have the ITBP led by a person like Singh, as the role of the ITBP had grown not only to keep watch of borders, but also to provide strategic liaison with the Indian Army in such sensitive areas.
ITBP was doing the following under him:
- Increasing the movement of troops in forward locations.
- Enhancement of the infrastructure of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
- Ensuring improved living conditions for those soldiers deployed at extreme altitudes.
- Training method modernization to prepare itself to fight at high altitude.
His leadership has made the ITBP firm gain its reputation as an organization that can face the emerging threats of security challenges.
Director General of Border Security Force (BSF)
As a next step in his illustrious career, Singh was once again assigned a very important duty; he became the new Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), the largest border force in India.
The border between India and Pakistan and India and Bangladesh is sensitive, and the BSF protects India on both their borders. Internal security is also maintained during elections, riots and insurgencies by the use of force.
The list of priorities of Singh as BSF DG included:
- Increasing vigilance at the border in the west with Pakistan.
- To increase cooperation with Bangladesh in ensuring that border management becomes more efficient.
- Applying more modern equipment, such as drones or AI-based surveillance systems, in order to protect against infiltration.
- Returning those in service in the BSF to welfare benefits, more than a quarter-million workers.
His management involved the right mix of operational readiness and people care, resulting in him being a credible leader in the force.
Leading the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)
Having been appointed to the post of the head of both ITBP and BSF, Anish Dayal Singh has been ranked among the most trusted IPS officers in the country. These, combined with the CRPF, CISF, and SSB, constitute the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
Administering CAPF is not an administrative matter-it is a national matter. The CAPF are used in some of the most difficult terrains, from the Deserts of Rajasthan to the Snow tops of the Himalayas, and they are frequently deployed to do Counter-insurgency, Disaster relief and Election duties.
As a leader, one of the things that Singh must make sure of is:
- Availability of the forces.
- Aligning with national security priorities.
- Equipment and training modernization.
- The morale and well-being of lakhs of personnel who serve under trying conditions.
Leadership Style and Vision
Individuals who have collaborated with Singh describe him as a motivated, timid, and tactical director. The experience in the North-East and his subsequent posting in CAPF have provided him with his excellent understanding of the ground realities. He is considered to pay attention to the global image of security policy as well as to the local life of a soldier.
The vision of Singh concerning CAPF is based on modernization, enhanced coordination with the armed forces, and enhancing interaction with neighbouring countries in regard to border security. He has also underscored the role of technology in policing, in the form of drones and tracking systems, to improve communications networks in the remote border regions.
Challenges Ahead
Although the leadership of Singh has been largely commended, the road that is ahead of him is humongous. These include:
- To seal long and porous borders susceptible to infiltration and smuggling.
- Pre-empting conflictual tensions at the LAC with China.
- Conducting operations in desolate environments such as Siachin, Ladakh and the Thar desert, keeping the troops in a comfortable state.
- Addressing other related challenges, such as stress and the mental well-being of CAPF personnel.
- Finding the balance between work requirements and modernization on small budgets.
The way he is going to triumph over these issues will determine his legacy as the head of the central forces in India.
Conclusion
Anish Dayal Singh is any other Indian Police Service officer, but a leader who is in charge of the most critical paramilitary forces in India. Ranging from finding borders to internal security management, his career life is exemplary of a researcher who served the nation for decades.
The Directors General of ITBP and BSF, having served with distinction in both cases, and a singularly great representative of the CAPF, Singh is emblematic of all that is best in this force: professionalism, discipline and stratagem. During the age of emerging security threats, he has played a crucial role in the security of India and its borders.
His path is an eye-opener that behind the dress code and configurations of Indian forces stand men and women whose leadership, vision and dedication are subtle in the safety and security of over one billion people.
