QUICK TAKE | CRPF Goes 12 Months Without an Operational Death. Here Are Seven Things to Know

1. What did the CRPF achieve?

Director General GP Singh said the force completed 12 consecutive months without losing a member in operations. He dated the last operational fatality to October 30, 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the announcement on X, calling it “A ZERO that speaks volumes”.

2. What exactly does zero count?

The figure tracks operational deaths among CRPF personnel over a rolling 12-month period. Injuries and deaths outside operations fall outside that measure. The distinction matters because some reports used the broader word casualties, which can include people who were injured and survived.

3. When did it last happen?

Singh said the previous such stretch ended in January 1979. The Times of India reported that it began in February 1977 and lasted 24 months. The new milestone marks the first time in 47 years that the CRPF has again gone a full year without an operational death.

4. Where was the force still operating?

The CRPF remained deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and areas affected by Maoist insurgency. Singh pointed to its continued participation in major operations. Those deployments put personnel in situations where even routine movements can require the same precautions as an operation.

5. What changed before troops went out?

Singh credited better training, planning and equipment. Former Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid pointed to protective gear such as helmets and body armour, as well as armoured vehicles. A CRPF official told The Times of India that teams apply combat precautions even to routine travel in high-risk areas.

6. Why did evacuation get so much attention?

A CRPF review found that many personnel who died succumbed after the initial injury, an official told The Times of India. That made the time between injury and hospital care a priority. Singh singled out rapid transfers to hospitals equipped to treat serious injuries.

7. How high has the toll been before?

The Times of India reported 143 operational deaths in 2010, the force’s worst year on record. A single Maoist ambush accounted for more than half that toll. That history gives a sense of the risks CRPF units have faced on anti-Maoist deployments.