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The Assam government has recently recruited 138 former militants in various police battalions. The former insurgents had to go through the requisite physical and medical examinations before the final recruitment.
Additional Director General of Police Khagen Sarma has categorically stated that there would be no separate battalion for the surrendered militants, but they would be inducted in various police battalions to fill the existing vacancies.
Earlier, 1,000 cadres of the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger outfit were recruited for the central paramilitary forces.
The rehabilitation of the surrendered militant scheme was cleared by the Union home ministry in April 2000 and revised in May 2005. The objective of the scheme was to wean away the misguided youth who had strayed into the folds of militancy. The scheme also sought to ensure that the militants who had surrendered did not take up militancy again.
After they surrender, the militants receive vocational training in different trades. While Tripura has four different rehabilitation camps, other insurgency hit states of the North East region don't have regular vocational training facilities.
In Assam, the army has imparted training to many surrendered militants in different vocations including computers, sewing, driving etc. In Tripura, the militants get regular training in driving, motor mechanics, electricity related trade, tailoring, computer, juice making, carpentry etc.
A surrendered militant expressed his dissatisfaction over the lack of proper vocational training facilities and said, "If we get proper training and start a business on our own, other militants will be encouraged to join the mainstream".