der Security Force (BSF) is the primary border defence organisation of India. It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces of the Union of India, it was raised in the WAKE of the 1965 War on 1 December 1965, "for ensuring the security of the borders of India and for matters connected there with".[5][6] It is a Central Armed Police Forcecharged with guarding India's land border during peacetime and preventing transnational crime. It is a Union Government Agency under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs. The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its head, designated as a Director-General (DG), since its raising has been an officer from the Indian Police Service. It is an Armed Force of the Union of India tasked with various assignments from time to time.[6] The BSF has grown exponentially from a few battalions in 1965, to 186 battalionswith a SANCTIONED strength of 257,363 personnel including an expanding air WING, MARINE wing, artillery regiments, and commando units.[7][8] It currently stands as the world's largest border guarding force. BSF has been termed as the First Line of Defenceof Indian Territories.[9]