THE NAGALAND HOME GUARDS & CIVIL DEFENCE ORGANIZATION.

The Civil Defence in Nagaland preceded the Home Guards Organization. The Nagaland Home Guards Organization was formally established on 1st March 1988 by an Ordinance of 1987 under the Home Department with the then Home Commissioner as ex-Officio Commandant General. A Dy. Commandant General headed the organisation at the HQ level. There 238 regular paid posts. This arrangement continued till October 1991 when a regular officer was posted from the IPS in Late Sitlhou, IPS as the first Commandant General. The other senior Police officers who held the post were Lt. N.Aliba Ao, IPS, Shri. Lukhei Sumi, IPS, Lt. M.Hesso Mao, IPS, Shri. N.Aonochet, IPS. Lt. Taku Jamir, IPS. Shri. H.K.Rengma, IPS. Shri. S.N. Achumi, IPS. and currently Shri. Burkumzuk, IPS. The Nagaland Home Guards Acts of 1988 was passed by the State Legislature on 12th May 1988. Thus the department is 21 years as on March 2009. Both Civil Defence and Home Guards organization complement each other and co-exist under a common Head of Office. In this connection the Commandant General HGs is also the Director Civil Defence. While Civil Defence deals with incidences arising out of external aggression to the country in general, the Home Guards deal with incidences arising out of internal security, natural calamities like landslides, earthquake, fire etc, strikes, communal disharmony, socio-economic and welfare activities. It would be interesting to note that while the former is a Central subject, the later is a State subject. Referring back to the assumption that Civil Defence was irrelevant for the state of Nagaland, one should not oversee the fact that the concept of vulnerability has become enlarged and the threat of foreign aggression is very much alive. Based on this threat perception, each town/city in the country is categorized according to its vulnerability and importance and as such are classified into I. IA, II categories. Efforts have been made to reactivate the Civil Defence Organization in Nagaland and review the categorization of all Civil Defence towns in the country by the centre. , the MHA, GOI has instructed