Indian Army : The making of Black Cat Commandos, Check NSG salary here
New Delhi : You must have seen the Black Cat Commandos deployed in the security of the Prime Minister or VVIPs, when they participate in a public event. They are dressed in full black clothes. They are called Black Cat Commandos. In addition to providing protection to VVIPs, Black Cat Commandos are deployed to deal with difficult situations such as terrorist attacks. Trained after rigorous training, these commandos are physically and mentally capable of dealing with any adversity.
The Union Home Ministry is responsible for the security of the country. The ministry consists of seven central armed police forces. This includes the National Security Guard (NSG). Black Cat Commandos are part of the NSG. Of course, the recruitment of Black Cat commands in the NSG is not direct. For this, the best capable soldiers are selected from the Indian Army and other armed forces. 53 per cent of the personnel are recruited from the Indian Army, while the rest are recruited from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF), RAS and others. Only those who have served in these forces for a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 35 years of age are selected for this purpose.
These selected soldiers are given one week of basic but hard training. About 80 per cent of the soldiers fail and only 15 to 20 per cent of them are selected. This shows the level of rigor of the training. Physical and mental tests are also taken before that.
Soldiers selected from this phase are given 12 weeks of rigorous training. The fitness capacity of the soldiers before training is 30 to 40 per cent, it goes up to 80 to 90 per cent after training. Their training includes a variety of combat skills. It teaches you how to attack without weapons, how to defend yourself if you are attacked. Black Cat Commandos are equipped with training on how to defend themselves from fireballs, gunfire, how to accurately aim at targets in the dark, and how to accurately kill an enemy without wasting a bullet.
Special training is also given to become a driver in the National Security Guard (NSG Driver). They are trained on how to drive in difficult roads, landmines, and being surrounded by attackers.
Black Cat commandos get a salary ranging from Rs 84,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh per month. Apart from that, they also get other facilities and allowances. According to the Seventh Pay Commission, officers on operation duty are paid an annual allowance of Rs 27,800, while officers on non-operational duty are paid a dress allowance of Rs 21,225.
