Tell about Indian Army?

Indian army also had successfully handled many riots, for example Godhra riots, 1992 Mumbai riots, 1984 riots etc. It is currently also tackling terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and in some north eastern states

It’s also a very good employer. Currently it has about 1.23 million persons on active rolls while another 9.6 lakhs in reserves.

It has also produced many notable sports persons who have brought laurels to our country. Some of them are Milkha Singh, Rajya Vardhan Rathore, Vijay Kumar, and Major Dhayan Chand etc.

Indian army is one of the best forces in the world. It has the ability to handle any external and internal threat. Overall, we can say that Indian Army is the soul of our country.

If you pick a person, randomly and ask him birthdays of film stars, politicians, sports persons etc.

There is a good chance that he/she will be able to tell quite a few but if you him/her that, “when and why is Indian army day celebrated”? There is a good chance he/she will have no answer.

The problem is that, we have taken so many things for granted. One among them is freedom/security.

We have taken for granted that someone is always deployed to guard our borders while we sleep in our cosy homes or there will be someone to take the bullets of the enemies and terrorists for us.

I think the occasions like Army day, Republic day etc are of course day’s celebration and jubilation but I think we must also introspect on these days. Why everyone wants to become a doctor, engineer, lawyer etc but very few of us wants to become soldiers.

As far as celebrations are concerned, Army day is celebrated formally in New Delhi at “Amar Jawan Jyoti”, India Gate every year on 15th of January. The day was started celebrating from 1949 through various activities like Military Parade, cultural programs, etc.

It is also celebrated at all army establishments. Some schools and social organisations also celebrate army day.

The day is celebrated to commemorate the appointment of our first army chief, Lieutenant general K.M. Cariappa. The story of his appointment is also very interesting. The story goes something like this – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was having a meeting with senior army personals and cabinet ministers.

He suggested that the post of first army chief should be given to a British officer because Indian officers have no experience in handling such a post.

One of the army personnel present their, objected to this and said that, “as we also don’t have the experience of leading a nation, so we should appoint a British person as our first Prime Minister.”

After hearing this, Nehru realised his mistake and asked the person that would he like to become the first army chief? On this he suggested the name of Lieutenant general K.M. Cariappa who was also present there and thus he became the first army chief.

It’s high time, we should mend our ways and start giving real respect to the soldiers otherwise a time may come when there will be no one to defend our motherland.

It’s high time, we should mend our ways and start giving real respect to the soldiers otherwise a time may come when there will be no one to defend our motherland.

I wondered as a kid, as to how is the life of a soldier. I assumed that it must be a bed of roses as opposed to mine which was like hell because I had to go to school, finish homework, learn answers, appear in tests and exams and had no time to play. On the other hand, I felt that a soldier just has to move around here and there in his smart green uniform with his gun. The problem is that, even many grownups also feel the same, not realizing how wrong they are. Maximum people think that its like a regular 9 to 5 job but this is far from reality.

I used to tell my dad that I would also like to become an army officer like him (he served in the Territorial Army as a junior commissioned officer).

When asked, “why I wanted to become an army officer”? My reply was, “I would get a gun and a strong stick and with that I would beat up the bad guys”. On this my dad used to laugh loudly.

Now I realize how wrong I was.  The reality is that, it is one of the toughest working environments and definitely not a bed of roses. I got some idea of the work environment of the army from the media but I soon realized it was half-truth. The only way by which I could get the real information was by talking to the real “Faujis”.

Luckily my dad and some of his friends (who also served in the army) were more than willing to share their stories.

He told me that their training days were quite tough because the new environment was quite different from the civilian environment which they were used to. In civilian life 6 o’clock reporting time means 6.15 or may be even 6.30 but in army 6.00am means exactly 6.00am.

All institutions of the country contribute towards nation building. It’s like the various organs of a body which perform in synchronization. It would not be wrong to say that Indian army is like the heart of a body. If it stops, the whole body (nation) stops. There are many roles which the army plays. Some of them are discussed below.

We all know that Indian army is our first line of defence. It has defended us from many foreign attacks (5 major wars and few other minor conflicts). It is also helping other agencies in dealing with terrorism, insurgency, law and order, riots etc. Its professionalism and secularity remains unquestioned.