New Delhi: The NSG has included a new and comprehensive psychology test for entry-level soldiers aspiring to be inducted and honed as 'black cat' commandos who undertake special counter-terror and counter-hijack operations in the country.
The federal contingency force till now used to put Army and paramilitary troops under rigorous physical and mental strength tests once they join the commando conversion course (CCC) to get inducted into the premier force.
Soldiers desirous of joining the National Security Guard (NSG), modelled on the lines of special counter-terror forces of the UK and Germany, will now have to undergo a special capsule of psychology tests and questions during the 3-month CCC, a senior official in the Union home ministry said.
He said a threshold mark has to be obtained by a soldier in the psychology test like qualifying the other physical and mental parameters in order to join the force.
The force had a “pressing” need for a full-time pyschologist in its commando selection panel and experts of this domain have recently been hired in the NSG, he added.
The new system of induction will ensure that physically and mentally fit personnel are inducted into the force to become and perform as the best commando unit of the country, the official said.
A news agency had reported in January that the force, while conducting a Psychological Screening Test (PST) when chosen personnel from various uniformed forces join it on deputation, wanted to have a “regular process” of measuring psychological attributes of a trooper wanting to join it and also for those who are already in the ranks.
