What it is. It is the defense of the country hy the public on a voluntary basis. The underlying idea is to organise the public in such a manner as to enable them to meet an emergency in the event of a calamity arising out of a war or otherwise and to enable them to help themselves and others less fortunate and the administration to maintain law and order.
Qaumi Razakars are a body of volunteers organised by the Government under the Razakars Act. They discharge such functions in relation to maintenance of law and order, the work of national reconstruction and organisation of the internal defence of the country as may be assigned to them in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the rules made there under.
Control Qaumi Razakars are under the District Magistrate in each district and may be called out by him for service by a general or special order. They are recruited to two categories:
- Razakars in aid of the Police Force.
- Razakars for Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) service.
When called out, members of each category are under the control of such officers of the force or Service as are prescribed by the Government and have the same powers, privileges and protection to which à person appointed to such Force or Service under any law for the time being in force is entitled.[the_ad id=”17141″]
While members of a category (a) are attached to police stations, those of category (b) are enrolled in certain important towns selected by the Government, where a stipendiary staff of Civil Defence is maintained to instruct and train volunteers for the A.R.P. The selected town is divided into Warden Posts under a Post Warden based upon the population of the area, fixed by Government for a Post. Five or six Posts grouped together make a group of which a Head Warden is in charge. He is sometimes called a Group Warden but Head Warden is the approved name of the rank. Three or more Groups are amalgamated to form a Division which a Divisional Warden is in charge. Most of the towns of the basis of their population have only a Division each. The Wardens and other Razakars are all volunteers.
Services Category (b), i.e. A.R.P., is divided into several distinct services:
- The Warden Service.
- The House Fire Parties of Fire Fighting Service.
- The First-Aid Service.
- The Rescue and Demolition Service.
Each service gets special training to work as a team and a very high standard of discipline and efficiency is maintained by the Razakars.