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The Rashtriya Rifles ( RR; ) is a counter-insurgency force in India, formed in 1990s, to deal with internal security in the Jammu and Kashmir region. They maintain public order by drawing powers from the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA). Its personnel are provided by the Indian Army on deputation.
The force operates under the Ministry of Defence. The Indian Army describes RR as their "specialist elite force to combat insurgency". The RR is headquartered at Northern Command in Udhampur and commanded by an Additional Director General of Rashtriya Rifles (ADG RR).
Rashtriya Rifles was raised on 1 October 1990 by the then Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General S. F. Rodrigues, with Lieutenant General P. C. Mankotia serving as its first Director General of Rashtriya Rifles (DG RR). The force was composed entirely of personnel on deputation from the Indian Army. It was created by reconstituting two Indian Army corps (about 75,000 troops). Initially, six battalions were raised, with three deployed in Punjab and three in Jammu and Kashmir.
By 1994, prior to his passing, General Joshi had expanded the force to 36 battalions through persistent advocacy with the government. Eventually, all battalions were repositioned exclusively to Jammu and Kashmir, where they have since engaged in low-intensity conflicts. The next COAS, General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, directed each regiment to raise two battalions for the RR. The Indian Army describes RR as their "specialist elite force to combat insurgency". Their motto is dridta aur veerta, meaning determination and valour.
From 1990 onwards, the MHA owed a sum of crore to the Army for the raising and equipping of the RR. Beginning in the 1998-99 fiscal year, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) allocated separate funds for the RR under the Army's demands for grants. By the end of 2005, the force was projected to consist of 66 battalions, each with 1,150 personnel dedicated to counter-insurgency operations. The budgetary allocation for the force rose significantly, from in 1998-99 to in 2006-07. Today, the RR budget is allocated separately from the Army's budget under distinct heads. In 2024-25, the government of India allocated as demands for grants.
The RR was raised in 1990 as a temporary force under the provisions of Union Composite Table, Part II, allowing it to be disbanded at any time through an executive order. It continues to operate as a temporary force without a permanent mandate from the Ministry of Defence. The question of granting it a permanent status has been a subject of contention between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Home Affairs has also questioned the rationale behind the creation of the RR, arguing that it suggests internal rebellions are a "permanent feature in India". During the Kargil War (1999), the Border Security Force (BSF) refused to serve under RR, arguing that they were of equal stature.
The RR was initially headquartered at the Army's main office in New Delhi and led by the Director General of Rashtriya Rifles (DG RR), a lieutenant general in the Indian Army. In 2021, as part of restructuring aimed at reducing its scope, its headquarters was shifted to Northern Command in Udhampur and its chief was downgraded to an Additional Director General of Rashtriya Rifles (ADG RR), a major general.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the RR is the "counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism arm of the Indian Army". Since its inception, the RR has neutralised a total of 16,368 terrorists, including 8,522 killed, 6,737 apprehended, and 1,109 who surrendered, as of 2015.
The Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry does not have an RR battalion associated with it because their troops are all recruited locally from the J&K region which provides valuable local resource and knowledge of terrain, language and information of the region to the army, hence, the regiment has small teams allocated to all RR battalions instead of them having their own RR battalion.
Victor Force and Kilo Force operate under the control of the XV Corps. Delta Force, Romeo Force operate under the control of XVI Corps. Uniform Force, which earlier used to operate under the XVI Corps, was moved from the Poonch sector to the Ladakh sector (under I Corps) in 2020 to counter Chinese aggression.
Malayalam actor and filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran portrays an Indian Army officer in the rank of Colonel from the Rashtriya Rifles in the hindi movie Sarzameen.
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