Sashastra Seema Bal
Emblem of the Sashastra Seema Bal
Flag of Sashastra Seema Bal
Common name	सशस्त्र सीमा बल
Abbreviation	SSB
Motto	Service, Security and Brotherhood
Agency overview
Formed	20 December 1963; 61 years ago (1963-12-20)
Employees	94,261 active personnel[1]
Annual budget	₹10,237.28 crore (US$1.2 billion)(2025–26)[2]
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency	India
Operations jurisdiction	India
Governing body	Ministry of Home Affairs
Constituting instrument	Sashastra Seema Bal Act, 2007
General nature	Federal law enforcement
Operational structure
Headquarters	New Delhi
Minister responsible	Amit Shah,Minister of Home Affairs
Agency executive	Sanjay Singhal,IPS,Director General
Website
https://ssb.gov.in/

TheSashastra Seema Bal (SSB;transl. Armed Border Force) is acentral armed police force inIndia, under theMinistry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guardingIndia’s borders withNepal andBhutan.

The force was originally set up under the nameSpecial Service Bureau in 1963 in the aftermath of theSino-Indian War to strengthen India's border areas against enemy operations.

The Sashastra Seema Bal was originally set up under the name Special Service Bureau (SSB) on 15 March 1963 (current raising day^{[clarification needed]} is 20 December, after the date of presidential assent to the SSB Act, 2007), following theSino-Indian War of 1962. The primary task of the force was to provide armed support to the foreign intelligence division ofIntelligence Bureau, which later becameResearch and Analysis Wing (after its creation in 1968). The secondary objective was to inculcate feelings of national belonging in the border population and assist them in developing their capabilities for resistance through a continuous process of motivation, training, development, welfare programmes and activities in the thenNEFA,North Assam (the northern areas of the Indian state ofAssam),North Bengal (the northern areas of the Indian State ofWest Bengal) and the hills ofUttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh andLadakh. The programme was later extended toManipur,Tripura,Jammu in 1965;Meghalaya in 1975;Sikkim in 1976; the border areas ofRajasthan andGujarat in 1989; Manipur, Mizoram and further areas of Rajasthan as well as Gujarat in 1988; South Bengal (the southern areas of West Bengal);Nagaland in 1989; and theNubra Valley,Rajouri and thePoonch district ofJammu and Kashmir in 1991.^[3]

Its primary purpose was to counter an act of aggression by the ChinesePeople's Liberation Army. The previous thinking had been that, militarily, the Chinese were "superior" to India and in the event of a war, the Chinese might attempt to overwhelm Indian forces. So, in 1963, a unique force was created, which would, in the event of such an attempt by the Chinese to invade and occupy Indian territory, merge with the border population, donning civilian attire, working aparallel administration and carry out the war of India with the help ofguerrilla tactics.^[4]

In 2001, the SSB was transferred to theMinistry of Home Affairs from R&AW and assigned the duties of manning theNepal andBhutan borders. The SSB was renamed the Sashastra Seema Bal, in accordance with its new role, and came under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. This was done after the Kargil War with the adoption of the "one border one force concept".

The SSB claims to have presented a "benign face" of the government in border areas and that this was appreciated by the people of those areas.^[5]

Pursuant to the recommendations of a group of ministers on reforming the national security system, SSB was declared as a Border Guarding Force and Lead Intelligence Agency (LIA) for Indo-Nepal border (June, 2001) and assigned the task of guarding the 1751 km long Indo-Nepal border along the states ofUttarakhand, (263.7 km with 3 districts),Uttar Pradesh (599.3 km—with 7 districts),Bihar (800.4 km—with 7 districts),West Bengal (105.6 km—with 1 district) andSikkim (99 km). In March 2004, SSB was assigned the task of guarding the 699 km stretch of Indo-Bhutan border along the states of Sikkim- (32 km), West Bengal (183 km—with 2 districts), Assam (267 km—with 4 districts) and,Arunachal Pradesh (217 km—with 2 districts).^[3] Since then SSB was re-christened into Sashastra Seema Bal and reached new heights. SSB is the first border guarding force that has decided to recruit women battalions. It is doing excellent job as Border Guarding Force on Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan Border.^{[citation needed]}

SSB is also engaged in Counter-Insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Anti-naxal operations in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. It is also performing internal security duties i.e. Election duties and law and order duties in different parts of India.

SSB celebrated the year 2013 as Golden Jubilee year marking 50 years of its raising. The celebrations have commenced with the Flag-off of a Mount Everest Expedition on 2 April 2013 from Delhi. The team led by Commandant Somit Joshi successfully reached at the peak at about 9:45 a.m. (IST) on 21 May 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary.

In 2014, the government of India approved the recruitment of women as combat officers in SSB.^[6]

The previous role of the Special Service Bureau was to motivate and mobilise India's border population for national security during times of peace as well as war and to promote a sense of security and brotherhood among the population, in furtherance of national integration. Its present-day role consists of preventing cross-border crime and smuggling as well as other anti-national activities.

In pursuit of achieving this mandated task, the SSB has been conferred with certain powers under the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, the Arms Act of 1959, the NDPS Act of 1985 and the Passport Act of 1967. TheGovernment of India also contemplates conferring additional powers under the Customs Act of 1962.

These powers are to be exercised within a belt of 15 km in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, running along the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, as well as in any other area of SSB operation.

Prior to 2001, the force was known as the Special Service Bureau (SSB). As per its revised role, the uniform wing worked under the operational command of civilian officers. It was in 1985 that a 15% quota of Area Organisers, for promotion to the rank ofDeputy Inspector-General, was given to the commandants of the uniform wing. The civil wing worked in the Area of Operations (AOPs) along the Indo-Tibet and Indo-Pakistan border. Recruitment in uniform wing would be from among Indian youth of the border area who have undergone advanced training in guerrilla warfare and also selected by the respective operational commander such as by the Divisional Organiser, Area Organiser, Sub-Area Organiser and Circle Organiser.

The Divisional Organiser was equivalent in rank to that of Inspector-General of Police, specifically earmarked for the respective AOPs to which they belonged and were activated by. The repercussions of the closure of the old role have been debated and deliberated in the defence establishments and now the relevance of the old role of SSB has been realised for the security of the border area, as such a role is likely to be revived.

The highest-level headquarters of the force is Force Headquarters (FHQ), also called the Directorate-General of SSB, located in the Indian capital ofNew Delhi. Force Headquarters (FHQ) is commanded by an officer of the rank ofDirector-General. The Director-General is assisted by the Additional Director-General. Various Directorates including Operations and Intelligence, Personnel and Training, Administration, Provisioning and Communication, Medical, as well as others, function under the DG. Each Directorate is headed by an IG and assisted by a DIG and other officers.

Frontier Headquarters (FTR HQ) is commanded by an officer of the rank of Inspector-General (IG), who is placed next in thechain of command after the FHQ. FTR HQ, in turn, exercises command and control over the Sector HQs, commanded a Deputy Inspector-General (DIG). Each SHQ consists of 5-6 battalions and 2-4 Sectors constitute a FTR HQ.

The SSB Battalion, is commanded by an officer of the rank of Commandant and who is assisted by officers of the rank of Second-in-Command, Deputy Commandant, and Assistant Commandant. The battalion is further divided into companies andborder out-post (BOP). There are seven companies in a battalion, each company consisting of three border outposts. The company is commanded by an assistant commandant and the BOP is commanded by Sub-Inspectors, with each BOP comprising several border check points.

A battalion consists of 1,000 personnel. As of 2005, SSB had 25 battalions and received government clearance for 20 more battalions, 2 sector HQ and 1 frontier HQ in 2 years. In 2021, SSB received another clearance of raising 12 battalions over the next 4 years. Clearance for 2 more Sectors and one Frontier is also expected.^[7][8]

Present rank structure is as follows:

Gazetted officers (GOs)

Rank group	General / flag officers										Senior officers						Junior officers
Sashastra Seema Bal[9] v t e
					Director-general -	Additional director-general -	Inspector general -		Deputy inspector-general -		Commandant -		Second-in-command -		Deputy commandant -		Assistant commandant -

Non-gazetted officers (NGOs)

Rank group	Subordinate Officers (SO)										Non commissioned officers (NCO)																		Enlisted
Sashastra Seema Bal[9] v t e																													No insignia
	Subedar major सूबेदार मेजर						Inspector निरीक्षक	Sub inspector उप निरीक्षक	Assistant sub-inspector सहायक उप निरीक्षक		Head constable हवलदार												Naik नायक				Lance naik लांस नायक		Constable कनिष्ठबल

1. Assistant commandants—Assistant commandants are appointed (as officers are appointed and personnel below officer are recruited in any government organization) through a Competitive Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) along with assistant ommandants (Comn) recruitment conducted by SSB. Sub Inspectors in GD/TEL/COMN are appointed (as SOs) through a competitive examination conducted by SSC and other special vacancies. Recruitment of constables and Head constables in different branch are also come every year generally.

Both civil and uniformed cadres of SSB are equally trained in various warfare's and other specialised courses such as Guerrilla warfare, Counter-Insurgency, Intelligence, Demolition, Jungle and Snow survival etc. The various training centres within the Force and in the training centres of other organisations/agencies.

Before 2001, SSB was one of the four organisations under the Directorate General of Security and was headed by a director. The director reported to the principal director, DGS, who in his turn, reported to DG (security). On shifting of SSB to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the post of principal director, DGS, was shifted alongside as director general, SSB. The post of director, SSB got re-designated as additional DG, SSB. Lists of directors,^[10] principal directors^[11] and directors general are given below.

Director, Special Service Bureau

Director General, Sashastra Seema Bal

• Ministry of Home Affairs
• Central Reserve Police Force
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police
• Central Industrial Security Force
• Border Security Force
• Assam Rifles
• National Security Guard
• Border outpost

• 1963 establishments in India
• India–Nepal border
• Bhutan–India border
• Central Armed Police Forces of India
• Border guarding forces of India

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