Police Commemoration Day was observed on 21 October 2026. The Union Home Minister paid tribute at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi and flagged off a nationwide "Fight Against Drugs" motorcycle rally; the Prime Minister paid tribute to police personnel who died in the line of duty. The Home Minister put the number of police personnel honoured at the memorial at 36,852.
The date is not arbitrary, and the story behind it is one of the most useful pieces of history an NDA candidate can carry, because it connects the police, the China border and the 1962 war in a single event.
What happened at Hot Springs
Hot Springs lies in the Chang Chenmo valley of eastern Ladakh, near the Kongka La pass. In October 1959, an Indian police party had been sent into the area to establish posts.
- On 20 October 1959, three reconnaissance parties went out from Hot Springs. One of them — two police constables and a porter — did not return.
- On the morning of 21 October, a search party of about twenty men, led by Karam Singh, a Deputy Central Intelligence Officer of the Intelligence Bureau, set out to find them.
- Around midday, Chinese troops on a hillock opened fire and threw grenades. The party had almost no cover. Ten policemen were killed. Karam Singh and several others were taken prisoner.
- China returned the bodies in mid-November 1959, at Kongka La, and the prisoners a day later. The dead were cremated with full police honours at Hot Springs.
The men were largely Central Reserve Police personnel serving with the Intelligence Bureau, which at the time had responsibility for frontier posts in Ladakh. Official accounts and later histories differ on some details — the size of the party, the number captured, the precise date of the return — but they agree on the date of the ambush and on the ten dead.
Since then, 21 October has been observed every year as Police Commemoration Day, honouring all police personnel who have died in the line of duty.
Why 1959 matters for 1962
The Hot Springs ambush was one of a sequence of events that turned a boundary dispute into a war.
- 1957-58: India learned that China had built a road through Aksai Chin, the high plateau India considered part of Ladakh, linking Xinjiang to Tibet.
- March 1959: the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and was given asylum in India, sharpening Beijing's hostility.
- August 1959: the Longju incident on the eastern border (in what was then NEFA) produced the first fatal clash between the two sides.
- 21 October 1959: Hot Springs/Kongka La in the western sector — the bloodiest incident before the war.
Hot Springs changed who held the border. The Army had been critical of the police posts being pushed forward without its involvement, and from 1 November 1959, by most accounts, the Army took over responsibility for the posts in the sector. Three years later, in the first week of the 1962 war, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was raised on 24 October 1962 — initially under the CRPF Act — to reorganise frontier intelligence and security on the Tibet border. The ITBP today guards the 3,488 km India-China border from the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, under its own statute, the ITBPF Act, 1992.
The place name returned to the news six decades later. The Gogra-Hot Springs area was one of the friction points of the 2020-21 eastern Ladakh standoff, and "Hot Spring" was among the place names formally recorded when the Survey of India listed 28 names in Ladakh this year.
The National Police Memorial
The National Police Memorial replaced an older memorial structure on the same site in Chanakyapuri.
- Dedicated by the Prime Minister on 21 October 2018 — Police Commemoration Day.
- Location: Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, on about 6 acres at the northern end of Shanti Path.
- Central sculpture: a 30-foot granite monolith, reported at about 238 tonnes, with a river-like water feature at its base representing continuous service.
- Wall of Valour: the names of police personnel who have died in the line of duty since Independence. When the memorial opened in 2018, reports put the number of names at 34,844; the Home Minister's figure this year was 36,852. The wall grows because names are added every year — the difference between the two figures is a measure of what police service has cost since 2018.
- Museum: a National Police Museum on policing history, uniforms and equipment of central and state forces.
The memorial honours all police — State police forces, the Central Armed Police Forces and central police organisations alike. That breadth is the point of the memorial and of the day: the Hot Springs dead were CRPF men on a border post, but the names on the wall include constables killed on village beats, in riot control, in counter-insurgency and in traffic duty.
Police in the Constitution: whose subject is it?
This is the fact candidates most often get wrong, and Police Commemoration Day is a natural peg for it.
- "Public order" is Entry 1 and "Police" is Entry 2 of the State List (List II) of the Seventh Schedule. Policing is constitutionally a State subject.
- The Union List covers the deployment of the Union's armed forces and other Union forces in a State in aid of the civil power (Entry 2A), and central agencies — Entry 8 is the "Central Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation".
- So the Ministry of Home Affairs does not command State police forces. It raises and controls the Central Armed Police Forces, funds modernisation, and sets advisory standards.
The reform debate follows from this structure. In Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006), the Supreme Court issued seven directives for police reform, including a State Security Commission, a minimum two-year tenure for the DGP, a Police Establishment Board for transfers, Police Complaints Authorities, and separation of investigation from law and order. Implementation has been uneven precisely because policing is a State subject.
The Central Armed Police Forces
The Home Minister's address paid particular tribute to the CAPFs, which the MHA lists as seven forces:
| Force | Principal role |
|---|---|
| Assam Rifles | North-East and the India-Myanmar border |
| BSF | Pakistan and Bangladesh borders |
| CISF | Industrial and infrastructure security, airports |
| CRPF | Internal security, counter-insurgency, Left-Wing Extremism |
| ITBP | India-China border |
| NSG | Counter-terrorism and hostage rescue |
| SSB | Nepal and Bhutan borders |
The CRPF, India's largest CAPF, has its own history and organisation, including Valour Day on 9 April, which marks the 1965 action at Sardar Post in the Rann of Kutch.
What the Home Minister claimed
Three statements from the address are worth knowing — as the government's stated positions, attributed as such.
- Left-Wing Extremism: the Home Minister said that India achieved freedom from Naxalism on 31 March 2026, and that between 1981 and March 2026 more than 3,600 security personnel and nearly 13,700 civilians were killed. He thanked the CRPF and its CoBRA battalions and the Chhattisgarh Police. The milestone itself was set out earlier this year in the government's account of the end of Left-Wing Extremism.
- Drugs: the MHA has set a target of a drug-free India by 31 December 2029, which is why the day's rally carried the "Fight Against Drugs" message. About 90 riders from States, UTs, CAPFs and central police organisations will ride to Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, for the Ekta Parade on 31 October — Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, Sardar Patel's birth anniversary.
- Elections: he said the recent West Bengal Assembly elections were completed without a single fatality, crediting the CAPFs.
Dates that get confused
| Date | Observance |
|---|---|
| 9 April | CRPF Valour Day (Sardar Post, 1965) |
| 21 October | Police Commemoration Day (Hot Springs, 1959) |
| 24 October | ITBP Raising Day (1962) |
| 31 October | Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (Sardar Patel's birth anniversary) |
| 1 December | BSF Raising Day (1965) |
🔑 Revision block
- Police Commemoration Day: 21 October, marking the Hot Springs ambush of 21 October 1959 in the Chang Chenmo valley, Ladakh, near Kongka La.
- The incident: a search party of about 20 led by Karam Singh (IB); 10 policemen killed; several captured; bodies returned mid-November 1959.
- Who they were: mainly CRPF personnel serving with the IB, which then manned the Ladakh frontier posts.
- Consequence: the Army took over the sector's posts from about 1 November 1959; ITBP raised 24 October 1962 (ITBPF Act 1992), guarding 3,488 km from Karakoram Pass to Jachep La.
- Sequence to 1962: Aksai Chin road (1957-58) → Dalai Lama's flight (March 1959) → Longju (August 1959, east) → Hot Springs (October 1959, west).
- National Police Memorial: Chanakyapuri, dedicated 21 October 2018; 30-ft granite central sculpture; Wall of Valour (34,844 names in 2018 → 36,852 cited in 2026); museum.
- Constitution: Police = Entry 2, Public order = Entry 1, State List; Union forces in aid of civil power = Union List Entry 2A.
- Reform: Prakash Singh (2006) — seven directives (State Security Commission, two-year DGP tenure, Police Establishment Board, Complaints Authority, separate investigation).
- 2026 claims (MHA): Naxal-free 31 March 2026; drug-free target 31 December 2029.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. Police Commemoration Day is observed on 21 October in memory of policemen killed in 1959 at: (a) Longju, in the eastern sector (b) Galwan, in eastern Ladakh (c) Hot Springs, in eastern Ladakh (d) Nathu La, in Sikkim
→ (c) Ten policemen were killed by Chinese troops at Hot Springs, in the Chang Chenmo valley near Kongka La, on 21 October 1959.
Q2. Under the Constitution, "Police" is a subject in the: (a) State List (b) Union List (c) Concurrent List (d) Residuary powers of the Union
→ (a) Police is Entry 2 and Public Order Entry 1 of List II; the Union List covers deployment of Union forces in aid of the civil power.
Q3. The National Police Memorial, dedicated to the nation in 2018, is located at: (a) Rajpath, New Delhi (b) Chanakyapuri, New Delhi (c) Hyderabad (d) Ekta Nagar, Gujarat
→ (b) It stands in Chanakyapuri at the northern end of Shanti Path and was dedicated on 21 October 2018.
Q4. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police was raised on: (a) 21 October 1959 (b) 1 December 1965 (c) 9 April 1965 (d) 24 October 1962
→ (d) It was raised in the first week of the 1962 war, initially under the CRPF Act; the ITBPF Act followed in 1992.
Q5. The landmark Supreme Court judgment that issued seven directives on police reform is: (a) Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006) (b) Vineet Narain v. Union of India (1997) (c) D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997) (d) Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973)
→ (a) The 2006 judgment directed a State Security Commission, a two-year DGP tenure and a Police Establishment Board, among other measures.
Q6. Which of the following is NOT one of the Central Armed Police Forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs? (a) Sashastra Seema Bal (b) Assam Rifles (c) Territorial Army (d) Central Industrial Security Force
→ (c) The Territorial Army is part of the Indian Army under the Ministry of Defence; the other three are CAPFs.
Q7. In the sequence of India-China incidents of 1959, the clash that occurred in the eastern sector in August 1959 was at: (a) Hot Springs (b) Longju (c) Kongka La (d) Chushul
→ (b) Longju, in what was then NEFA, was the first fatal clash; Hot Springs followed in the western sector in October.
Q8. The ITBP guards the India-China border from: (a) the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh (b) Siachen to Nathu La (c) Shipki La to Bum La (d) Lipulekh to Kibithu
→ (a) Its charge covers about 3,488 km of the border from the Karakoram Pass to Jachep La.
Q9. CRPF Valour Day, observed on 9 April, commemorates the 1965 action at: (a) Hot Springs, Ladakh (b) Haji Pir, Jammu and Kashmir (c) Longewala, Rajasthan (d) Sardar Post, Rann of Kutch
→ (d) CRPF companies held Sardar and Tak posts against a brigade-strength Pakistani attack on the night of 8-9 April 1965.
Q10. The Wall of Valour at the National Police Memorial bears the names of: (a) only Central Armed Police Force personnel killed on the borders (b) police personnel of all forces who have died in the line of duty since Independence (c) only the ten policemen killed at Hot Springs (d) police recipients of the President's Police Medal
→ (b) It covers State police, CAPFs and central police organisations, and names are added every year.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Commemorative days are a staple of the NDA GAT's general-knowledge questions, and this one carries both history and polity.
The first form is the date-to-event question: "Police Commemoration Day is observed on 21 October to commemorate..." with Galwan, Longju and Nathu La as distractors. Galwan (2020) is the most tempting, because it is the most recent China clash candidates remember; the right answer is the 1959 ambush at Hot Springs.
The second is the constitutional-list question: in which list is "Police" placed. The State List answer is reliable, and the trap is the Concurrent List, which feels plausible because the Union also maintains police forces. A follow-up form asks which entry covers deployment of Union forces in aid of civil power — the Union List.
The third is the odd-one-out CAPF question, where the Territorial Army, the Indian Coast Guard or the Rashtriya Rifles is slipped into a list of CAPFs. All three belong to the Ministry of Defence; the CAPFs belong to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A fourth, which rewards the historical thread, is the 1959 sequence: Longju in the east in August, Hot Springs in the west in October, and the ITBP's raising in October 1962.
For the SSB interview, Police Commemoration Day is a good example of how a single date can open a long answer. Ten policemen died at a remote post in 1959, the Army took over the border, and the war came three years later. A candidate who can explain why the police were on that border in the first place — and why the ITBP was created afterwards — is showing the kind of understanding of India's frontier that an interviewing officer is looking for.
Preparing for NDA? Learn every commemorative day as a pair — the date and the event behind it — and the GAT's observance questions become free marks. Build the base with our NDA study material, follow the daily NDA current affairs, and train with serving-standard faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col Vijyanat Thakur — Defence Studies faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.