Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Nitin Agrawal, who was awarded the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2015, took over as the new Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Wednesday.
The BSF claims to be the largest border guard force in the world.
Who is Nitin Agarwal?
Agrawal is a Kerala cadre IPS from the 1989 batch who has held a number of high-profile positions in the Kerala Police, including those of Deputy Inspector General in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Inspector General in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and Inspector General in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
He took over from CRPF Director General Sujoy Lal Thaosen, who had been in charge of the BSF since Pankaj Kumar Singh retired in December 2022. He has held that position for the past five months.
Agarwal held the positions of Additional Director General (ADG) Operations and Additional Director General (ADG) Central Zone in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) prior to taking on the position of Director General of the BSF. While working for the ITBP in 2014, he received the rank of ADG.
Agarwal received his B.Tech., M.Tech., and M.Phil. degrees from Punjab University and IIT Delhi, respectively.
The Central government awarded Agarwal the Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2007 and the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2015 to recognise his outstanding contributions to law enforcement.
After Pankaj Kumar Singh retired in December 2022, the country's prestigious BSF was without a leader for five months.
On Sunday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the Ministry of Home Affairs' proposal to appoint Agarwal as the force's new Director General.
In addition to performing a variety of tasks related to internal security, the country's top security force, the BSF, is primarily responsible for guarding the 3,323 kilometers of the India-Pakistan and 4,096 kilometers of the Bangladesh international border.
Over 2.65 million people are employed in various capacities by the BSF.
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