6th, Jan, 2009

By Asit Jolly

Chandigarh

Recently “handicapped” by a High Court order significantly scaling down the number of security men and vehicles deployed to protect top politicians and bureaucrats, the Punjab police is now seeking to better its anti-terrorist skills by re-training its commandos in advanced martial arts and equipping them with state of-the-art Swiss weaponry.

Police commandos on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s elaborate, 1,000-man security detail in Chandigarh as well as others at the Punjab Armed Police Academy at Jalandhar were recently shown live demonstrations of Krav Maga — a Czechoslovakian-Israeli unarmed combat technique currently employed by special forces across the world.

Staged over 10 days by experts from the Israeli Krav Maga Federation (India), the demonstrations were a precursor exercise to identify physically and emotionally suited personnel to undertake advanced courses in the technique supervised by Israeli instructors.

“The idea is to arm our men with specialised skills that could prove far more efficient than pistols and AK-47s in the protection of VIPs,” said a senior police officer. He admitted that with their present level of training and fitness, many of Punjab police commandos constituted more of a threat than any security to the people they are supposed to protect.

“There is always the possibility that motivated intruders could snatch a PSO’s weapon and use it on the protectee in a crowd or other close protection situations,” the officer said. Vicky Kapoor, the man who runs IKMF-India, insists “unarmed combat skills are the only solution on the street.” According to him, state police forces and other security agencies in India have been “overly focused” on procuring weapons. “Yes, a good weapon is important but even more critical is the man behind that weapon,” he said, adding, “As soon as we have a formal request, IKMF will commence an advanced Krav Maga course for a hand-picked group of Punjab police commandos.”

Source: Deccan Chronicles

Delhi is unsafe for women and the growing statistics on crimes against women prove just that .carrying pepper sprays and knowing at least the basics of self defence are what most women are arming themselves with. Introducing Krav Maga a tried –and tested, effective fighting and combat skill that can be learnt by civilians and professional security keeper’s alike .Different from martial arts, krav maga is a survival system dealing with personal safety issues in the context of defending against both armed and unarmed attacker. it integrates instinct based self defence tactics and trains Aggressiveness, fighting spirits, situational awareness, and verbal escalation of conflicts.  Krav maga could spell out to be a boon for women who have to battle Delhi’s mean streets and meaner attitude. Krav maga means ‘contacts combats” in Hebrew and it is the official self defence and hand –to-hand combat system of Israel.Imi Lichtenfled developed krav maga in his career, as chief instructor for close combat in I.D.F and then within different civilian systems .Krav Maga has received International recognition as a superior and highly practical method of self defence, easy to learn and natural to perform so individual can attain a high level of proficiency within a relatively short period of instruction Krav Maga is essentially street fighting and krav maga training is based on a system without rules. Instructors incorporate realistic re-enactment and teach students how to operate under the stress of an actual attack. Students learn to defend themselves against common chokes, grabs and bear hugs, as well as against weapons such as guns knives and sticks. They learn to function under the stress and shock of sudden ,violent encounter .the technique is based on mind and intellectual force no matter what physical strength one may have ;and has as a goal the transference of weight as an explosive force .The headquarter of the Indian chapter of the international krav maga federation are in new Delhi .Vicky kapoor the IKMF India chief director and representative is one of the three instructors who teaches and monitors each individual performances according to there level . One has to be above 18 years of age to join .the minimum period of learning to get the basic qualification is three months .one can join any time .women may choose between’women’s’only classes and mixed classes the krav maga Training program for women is * Developed to work well for the different life situations and ages of students. * Designed to be up beat, effective, decisive, safe, emotionally supportive, and hands-on. * Addresses real street situation instead of the typical studio environment * Simple and easy to learn in days and weeks instead of years. Krav Maga practitioners believe that ‘personal protection is not an option,. In the wake of the state’s failure to protect its citizens, ladies, please note, it’s no time to reflect and take action.