Assam Rifles personnel learning local languages of northeast for intelligence gathering

The Home Ministry is of the opinion that since Assam Rifles mostly operates in the North East region, preference may be given to local people of NER at the time of recruitment as well.

New Delhi: Being aware of the fact that local dialect plays a vital role for the law enforcing agencies, especially Assam Rifles (AR)-posted in the Northeastern states, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said that the AR personnel should learn as many as local languages of the northeastern States.

"We have already started training with the Nagamese language course at Kohima (Nagaland), Lai language course at Serchip (Mizoram), Mara language course at Lunglei (Mizoram), Hmar and Lushai language course at Aizawl (Mizoram) and Myanmar language course at Assam Rifles Training Centre and School at Dimapur,” a senior Assam Rifles official told ETV Bharat.

The official said that additional initiatives have already been taken to learn more local languages of the Northeastern States. “Learning local dialects on many occasions proved very useful,” the official said. The official admitted that the inability to understand local languages posed several challenges for the security personnel while referring to the recent ethnic clash in Manipur.

“However, in Assam Rifles, we have several local officials. Their presence has helped us to handle the situation with their interactions with local people in their languages,” the official informed. When contacted, a senior official in the Home Ministry said that personnel of Assam Rifles are being trained in the local language courses at various locations to enable them to understand and interact with the local population for intelligence gathering at local levels.

“Knowledge of local languages is very much necessary for intelligence gathering,” the official from MHA said. The MHA believes that since Assam Rifles mostly operates in the NE region, preference may be given to local people of NER at the time of recruitment as well. “However, this should be made based on functional requirements of the Assam Rifles so that the efficiency of the force is not affected by the shortage of recruits from the NE region,” the official said. Besides manning a 1,643 km long border with Myanmar, Assam Rifles also conducts counter-insurgency operations in the northeast.