The NSG Capacity Building Module for Karnataka's police forces got underway on Friday, when the National Security Guard staged a Capability Demonstration in Bengaluru attended by Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar. The event marked the commencement of what the force calls the Comprehensive Capacity Building Module, or CCBM, a structured programme aimed at Karnataka State Police Forces.

Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly R. Ashoka, senior ministers and other dignitaries were present alongside Shivakumar. DGP Karnataka Dr M. A. Saleem, IPS, and DG NSG Shri Brighu Srinivasan, IPS, attended along with senior officers of the state police and the NSG.

NSG Capacity Building Module puts counter-terrorism skills on display

Helicopter slithering and rappelling opened the sequence. Intervention drills, K9 operations and bomb disposal followed. Urban assault, counter-drone work, VVIP and PSO protection and tactical driving rounded out the programme.

Garuda Force and Karnataka State Police personnel ran first-responder drills side by side.

A structured module built around interoperability

Friday's demonstration was framed as the beginning of a structured capacity-building engagement rather than a one-off event, aimed at first-responder capabilities, operational interoperability and coordination between the NSG and Karnataka State Police Forces.

The initiative was described as reinforcing the NSG's role as a national force multiplier, with central and state forces training off a shared calendar. The NSG Capacity Building Module is now the template the force intends to carry to other states as the programme expands.

A mandate that already covers state capacity building

The National Security Guard's brief already extends beyond direct counter-terrorist response. It functions as the Ministry of Home Affairs' nodal National Counter-Terror Force, a role that includes capacity building of state forces alongside its own operations, and the Bengaluru module fits that wider mandate. Raised in 1984, the force runs regional hubs in several cities, according to its official profile.

The Comprehensive Capacity Building Module in Karnataka follows a pattern the force has used elsewhere. In Agartala, an Army-run counter-drone and quick-reaction course for CISF personnel guarding an airport ran on similar lines, part of a wider push toward joint training between the armed forces and state or central police units. The counter-drone module in the Bengaluru demonstration also builds on capacity already developed through the CISF's own counter-drone training programme for airport and installation security.

Karnataka's police leadership at the ceremony

DGP M. A. Saleem heads the Karnataka State Police, a force of roughly 80,000 personnel across the state. His presence alongside DG NSG Brighu Srinivasan placed the state's senior-most police officer directly opposite his central-force counterpart at the launch, a pairing that recurs through operational-preparedness reviews elsewhere in the country, including recent command-level security reviews in Jammu and Kashmir.

Neither the NSG nor the state government named a timeline for the CCBM's further modules.

Speed, synergy and precision

The NSG closed its own account of the day with a short line summing up the programme's intent: train together today, respond together tomorrow. Speed, synergy and precision were named as the three qualities the module is meant to instil across both forces.