NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday initiated steps to create a special forces division, appointing a Major General rank officer as the chief of the new Armed Forces Special Operation Division, a defence official said. According to news reports, Dhingra is a special forces veteran, from the elite 1 Para Special Forces Regiment. “Major General AK Dhingra appointed as the first Chief of the Armed Forces Special Operations Division. The Indian Army has some 6,000 special forces personnel, while the Navy and Air Force have about 1,000 special force commandos, according to various estimates. The setting up of a special operations unit––known as the Special Operations Command––was first proposed by a committee headed by former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra in 2011.

Source: Mint May 15, 2019 12:53 UTC