Context: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently approved the re-establishment of village defence groups (VDGs) in Jammu and Kashmir.
About village defence committees (VDCs)
History

• The VDCs were constituted in 1995 in 10 districts of the Jammu region to fight militants in far-off places. 
• Around 26,567 locals were recruited into them. 

Reason for Disbandment

• Most of the VDCs were disbanded by the previous governments following allegations of misuse of weapons in several cases.

New Structure

• The members of the Village Defence Groups will be designated as Village Defence Guards.
• People will work as soldiers without uniforms on the ground.

Pay Scale

• In more vulnerable areas, the order stated that persons (V1 category) who shall be leading/ coordinating the VDG would be paid Rs 4,500 per month ;
• Other persons (V2 category) who are members of these VDGs on a voluntary basis will be paid a uniform rate of Rs 4,000 per month.

Benefits

• VDGs will use available resources on the ground at the optimum.
• These groups will keep them well motivated and in a state of preparedness.

By: Shubham Tiwari