This page defines the recurring exam terms, abbreviations and security and human-rights concepts the CAPF (Assistant Commandants) wiki uses, in one line each, with a link to the note that owns the full treatment. It is a quick-lookup aid, not a source of new facts; the canonical statement of any fact lives in the linked owner note. The fuller abbreviation list is abbreviations and full forms; the concept cards are catalogued in concept index. For the meta vocabulary of how the vault is built (owner, parent edge, distillation), see GLOSSARY of conventions.
Year-sensitive numbers (force strengths, current office-holders, scheme amounts) are not given here; where a term carries one, the linked note flags it "verify the latest" per sources and honesty policy.
- CAPF (AC): Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) examination, conducted by the UPSC to recruit Group A officers into the five forces below. Owner: about capf ac.
- The five CAPFs: BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP and SSB, all under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The forces the CAPF AC exam recruits into. Owner: the five forces.
- BSF: Border Security Force, raised 1965, guards the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh land borders in peacetime. Owner: indo pak border and relations.
- CRPF: Central Reserve Police Force, the largest CAPF; internal security, counter-insurgency, anti-Naxal and election duty. Owner: the five forces.
- CISF: Central Industrial Security Force, guards industrial, airport, metro, port and nuclear installations; the only CAPF that protects private undertakings on cost reimbursement. Owner: the five forces.
- ITBP: Indo-Tibetan Border Police, raised 1962, guards the India-China Himalayan border. Owner: indo china border and the lac.
- SSB: Sashastra Seema Bal, guards the open India-Nepal and India-Bhutan borders. Owner: the five forces.
- MHA: Ministry of Home Affairs, the parent ministry of the five CAPFs and the lead for internal security. Owner: internal security architecture of india.
- PST / PET: Physical Standards Test and Physical Efficiency Test, the qualifying physical stages. Owner: Index.
- Fundamental Rights: justiciable rights in Part III (Art 12 to 35), enforceable by writ under Art 32. Owner: fundamental rights.
- Directive Principles (DPSP): non-justiciable guidelines for the State in Part IV (Art 36 to 51). Owner: directive principles and fundamental duties.
- Basic structure doctrine: judge-made limit on Parliament's amending power (Art 368), from Kesavananda Bharati (1973). Owner: amendments and basic structure.
- Writ: a court order (habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, quo warranto) under Art 32 (Supreme Court) or Art 226 (High Courts). Owner: fundamental rights.
- Emergency provisions: National (Art 352), State or President's Rule (Art 356), and Financial (Art 360). Owner: citizenship and emergency provisions.
- Article 355: the Union's duty to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance; the constitutional anchor for central-force deployment. Owner: internal security architecture of india.
- Constitutional vs statutory body: a constitutional body is created by the Constitution itself (ECI, CAG, UPSC, Finance Commission); a statutory body is created by an Act (NHRC, CVC, CIC, Lokpal). Owner: constitutional and statutory bodies.
- AFSPA: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, granting special powers in a notified "disturbed area"; the centre of the security-versus-rights debate. Owner: afspa and the human rights debate.
- Disturbed area: an area declared so under AFSPA (or a State Act), where the special powers apply. Owner: afspa and the human rights debate.
- UAPA: Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the principal anti-terror law; bans organisations and individuals. Owner: terrorism and counter terrorism.
- NHRC: National Human Rights Commission, a statutory body under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993; note its Section 19 limit on inquiring into armed-forces complaints. Owner: human rights and internal security.
- LWE / Naxalism: Left-Wing Extremism, the Maoist insurgency of the "Red Corridor", countered under the SAMADHAN doctrine. Owner: left wing extremism and naxalism.
- LoC vs LAC: the Line of Control (with Pakistan, in Jammu and Kashmir) versus the Line of Actual Control (with China). Distinct, often confused. Owners: indo pak border and relations and indo china border and the lac.
- One border, one force: the doctrine assigning a single CAPF the lead on each frontier (BSF Pakistan and Bangladesh, ITBP China, SSB Nepal and Bhutan). Owner: border management of india.
- Non-refoulement: the principle that a person must not be returned to a country where they face persecution; relevant to the refugee and border-state debate. Owner: human rights and internal security.
- Geneva Conventions: the four 1949 treaties on the humane treatment of war victims, the core of international humanitarian law. Owner: terrorism and counter terrorism.
- NIA: National Investigation Agency, the central counter-terror investigation agency under the NIA Act, 2008. Owner: terrorism and counter terrorism.
- NSG: National Security Guard, the counter-terror and hostage-rescue force, the "Black Cats". Owner: organisation index.
- NDRF: National Disaster Response Force, the operational arm of the NDMA under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Owner: disaster management and the ndrf.
- JAM trinity: Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile, the rails for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Owner: major economic schemes.
- Central-sector vs centrally sponsored scheme: fully Centre-funded (PM-KISAN) versus cost-shared with the States (MGNREGA, PMAY). Owner: scheme index.
- Fiscal deficit: the gap between total government expenditure and total receipts excluding borrowings. Owner: budget and fiscal policy.
- GST: Goods and Services Tax, the destination-based indirect tax under the 101st Amendment, governed by the GST Council. Owner: taxation and gst.
- Repo rate: the rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks, the main monetary-policy lever. Owner: money and banking and the rbi.
- Owner note: the single note that holds a fact as its source of truth; everything else references it. See 00 knowledge graph architecture.
- Concept card: a one-screen distillation in
_dict/concepts/, with a parent edge back to its owner. See concept index.
- PYQ: previous-year question. A real PYQ is sourced and dated; an authored drill is labelled "Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ". See pyq index.
- Coverage map: the per-subject YAML in
_dict/master-topic-index/ that tracks covered, partial and uncovered sub-topics. See README.