NSG Launches First Mahila Commando Conversion Course at Manesar for Women Counter-Terrorism Training

Manesar, Haryana: The National Security Guard’s Training Academy at Manesar has begun its first Mahila Commando Conversion Course, opening a new pathway for women personnel from State Police Forces and Central Armed Police Forces to receive specialised counter-terrorism training.

The 12-week programme is designed to prepare selected women personnel for high-risk operational duties through intensive instruction in physical conditioning, weapons handling, marksmanship, tactical intervention and hostage-rescue techniques. The NSG has framed the initiative under the message “She Who Dares, Leads”, signalling a move beyond representation towards giving women access to advanced combat and counter-terrorism skills.

Training women for specialised operational roles

According to the NSG, the Mahila Commando Conversion Course is intended to produce women commandos who are physically robust, technically proficient and operationally ready for demanding security environments. The training package includes the core elements associated with commando work: conditioning to build stamina and endurance, firearms training to improve weapons proficiency, and marksmanship to ensure accurate engagement under operational stress.

Participants will also undergo tactical intervention training, which is meant to equip them for operations in buildings, confined spaces and other sensitive locations where security forces may need to neutralise threats quickly. Hostage-rescue drills form another significant component of the course, reflecting the complexity of situations in which security personnel must act rapidly while reducing risk to civilians and hostages.

Taken together, the modules are meant to develop women personnel who can contribute to specialised counter-terrorism and other high-risk operations within their own organisations after completing the programme.

A training model that reaches beyond the NSG

The initiative is notable because the women attending the course are not being trained for permanent NSG service. Instead, they have been drawn from different State Police Forces and CAPFs, and will return to their parent organisations after completing the programme. In effect, the NSG is extending its specialised expertise to the wider security ecosystem rather than keeping it confined within its own ranks.

This approach builds on the NSG Training Centre’s long-standing role in capacity building. The centre was originally raised on 15 October 1985 to train NSG probationers and personnel from State Police Forces. Over time, it has evolved into one of the country’s principal institutions for specialised counter-terrorism instruction. The NSG says the centre trains personnel in counter-terrorism, bomb disposal and counter-IED operations, while also conducting joint exercises involving CAPFs, State Police organisations and security forces from friendly foreign countries.

The first Mahila Commando Conversion Course expands that mandate by opening advanced operational training to women personnel in a structured and specialised format.

Why the course matters for national security preparedness

The significance of the course extends beyond the first batch of trainees. Once they complete the programme, the women personnel will return to their respective forces carrying skills that could be applied in specialised intervention teams, counter-terrorism units and other operational formations, depending on the needs and deployment policies of each force.

That could help widen the pool of trained personnel available to respond to complex security incidents. Instead of specialised capability remaining concentrated in a small number of units, the initiative may help distribute that capability more broadly across State Police Forces and CAPFs.

In that sense, the course is intended to strengthen India’s distributed counter-terrorism capability. It also reflects the practical need for trained personnel not only at the national level but within local and regional forces that may be the first to respond to a crisis.

Focus on interoperability among forces

Another objective of the programme is to encourage common professional standards among personnel from different organisations. Major terrorist incidents in India often require the coordinated participation of local police, specialised state units, CAPFs and central agencies such as the NSG.

Training women from multiple forces under a shared curriculum can improve familiarity with operational procedures, tactical concepts and response mechanisms. That becomes especially relevant in complex incidents where different agencies need to work together quickly and effectively.

The NSG has increasingly highlighted this kind of cooperation. Its 2026 institutional material describes structured cooperation with State Police Forces, joint training and interoperability as important elements of India’s national counter-terrorism framework.

Women entering more specialised domains

The launch of the Mahila Commando Conversion Course also reflects the broader expansion of women’s roles in India’s police and paramilitary forces. Women already serve across several CAPFs and in State Police organisations in roles ranging from law and order and border security to intelligence, investigation and operational deployments.

According to data previously provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the combined strength of women personnel in the CAPFs and Assam Rifles stood at 41,606 as of early 2024. The government has also introduced a series of measures aimed at encouraging greater recruitment and career progression for women in these forces.

The NSG’s initiative takes that process a step further by opening access to tactics and skills associated with counter-terrorism operations. The emphasis is not merely on increasing numbers, but on operational capability and specialised professional training.

About the National Security Guard

The National Security Guard is India’s specialised federal counter-terrorism force, raised in 1984. Popularly known as the Black Cat Commandos, it is tasked with responding to serious terrorist and hostage situations and maintaining specialised counter-terrorism readiness.

The force draws its personnel from the Indian Army, Central Armed Police Forces and State Police Forces. Its Director General describes the NSG as India’s “anti-terror force”, ready to respond to major national security challenges. The organisation’s motto, “Sarvatra Sarvottam Suraksha”, reflects its emphasis on specialised operational preparedness.

Alongside its operational responsibilities, training and capacity building have become an important part of the NSG’s role in India’s security architecture. The Manesar academy is central to that function.

Manesar’s long-standing training ecosystem

The NSG’s Manesar establishment has for years served as a centre for training commandos and sharing specialist expertise with other forces. According to the NSG, the training centre combines expertise from CAPFs and the Indian Army and provides instruction in urban counter-terrorism, bomb detection and disposal, counter-IED operations and related disciplines.

Historical NSG records also show that commando conversion courses have traditionally involved demanding training cycles. Previous documentation records combined conversion courses involving 12 weeks of intensive training before commandos were inducted into the force. The Mahila Commando Conversion Course follows that same rigorous model while applying it to women personnel.

By training women from multiple forces in this environment, the NSG is placing them inside a specialist ecosystem that has been built over decades for high-risk operational responsibilities.

A wider impact on operational readiness

Modern terrorist threats can involve attacks on crowded urban locations, critical infrastructure, transport systems, public institutions and other sensitive establishments. Responding effectively requires not only specialised national units but also trained personnel within police and paramilitary organisations who can deliver immediate and coordinated responses.

By bringing women personnel from several forces together for common training, the NSG is seeking to broaden the availability of such capabilities. When the trainees return to their respective organisations, the knowledge they carry back could influence training, readiness and operational planning far beyond the academy at Manesar.

That multiplier effect may prove to be one of the most important outcomes of the programme.

The start of the first Mahila Commando Conversion Course therefore stands as both a development in the evolution of women’s participation in India’s security forces and a practical effort to widen the country’s counter-terrorism preparedness. As the NSG put it: “She Who Dares, Leads.”

In opening specialised commando training to women personnel from State Police Forces and CAPFs, the NSG has created a new channel for operational empowerment within India’s internal security framework.