INDIAN DEFENCE SYSTEM

FIRST IN INDIAN DEFENCE

The combined Indian defense forces are ranked the third largest defense force in the world after the forces of USA and China. Indian army is the world’s second largest standing army, greater than that of People’s Republic of China and still it is short of manpower. Indian armed forces defend the vast lands, water and aerial borders of India and are renowned for their courage and valor. Indian armed forces have raised the country's honor in UN Peacekeeping Missions and have impressed everyone with their professionalism and discipline.

Indian Armed Forces

The Government of India is responsible for ensuring the defence of India and every part thereof. The Supreme Command of the Indian Armed Forces vests in the President. The responsibility for national defence rests with the Cabinet. This is discharged through the Ministry of Defence, which provides the policy framework and wherewithal to the Armed Forces to discharge their responsibilities in the context of the defence of the country. The Indian Armed Forces comprise of three divisions – Indian Army, Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.

Indian Army

The Indian subcontinent had witnessed the cohesive concentration of many Empires in the quest for control of military power, and governance of the State. As time rolled by, societal norms found an ethos in the workplace, the system of rights and privileges, and service under the flag.

The Indian Army, as we know it today became operational after the Country gained independence from British colonialism. The Indian Army's HQ is located in New Delhi and functions under the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is responsible for the command, control, and administration as a whole. The Army is divided into six operational commands (field armies) and one training command, each under the command of a Lieutenant General, who has an equal status to the Vice-Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), working under the control of Army HQ in New Delhi.

Indian Navy

The foundation of the modern Indian Navy was laid in the seventeenth century when the East India Company had established a maritime force, thereby graduating in time to the establishment of the Royal Indian Navy in 1934. The Headquarters of the Indian Navy is located in New Delhi, and is under the command of the Chief of the naval staff – an Admiral. The Indian navy is deployed under three area commands, each headed by a flag officer. The Western Naval Command is headquartered in Bombay on the Arabian Sea; the Southern Naval Command in Kochi (Cochin), in Kerala, also on the Arabian Sea; and the Eastern Naval Command in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on the Bay of Bengal.

Indian Air Force

The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8th October 1932, and on 1st April 1954, Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, one of the founding members of the Air Force took over as the first Indian Chief of Air Staff. With the passage of time, the Indian Air Force undertook massive upgrading of its aircraft and equipments, and as part of the process, it introduced more than twenty new types of aircrafts. The last decade of the twentieth century saw a phenomenal change in the structure of the Indian Air Force with induction of women into the Air Force for short service commissions. It was also a time when the Air Force undertook some of the most perilous operations ever undertaken.

Here are some interesting facts about Indian defense forces.

1.      First Commander-in-Chief of Indian Air Force: Air Marshal Sir Thomas Walker Elmhurst. He was Air Chief from 15 August 1947 to 21 February 1950.

2.      First Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army: General Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher. He was Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from 1 January 1948 to 14 January 1949.

3.      First Field Marshal of Indian Army: Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, popularly known as Sam Bahadur. He was appointed Field Marshal on 1st January 1973.

4.      First Indian Chief of Air Staff: Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee. He was Air Chief from 1st April 1954 to 8 November 1960.

5.      First Indian Chief of Naval Staff: Vice Admiral RD Katari. He was Naval Chief from 22nd April 1958 to 4 June 1962.

6.      First Indian Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army: General (later Field Marshal) K.M. Cariappa. He was Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from 15 January 1949 to 31st March 1953.

7.      First Recipient of Param Vir Chakra: Major Som Nath Sharma. Major Somnath Sharma was awarded PVC for his bravery in Badgam, Kashmir in November 1947 for fighting off Pakistani invaders.

8.      First Woman Air Marshal of Indian Air Force: Padmavathy Bandopadhyay joined as the Director General Medical Services (Air) at the Air Headquarters in 1968. She had the distinction of being the first woman officer to become an aviation medicine specialist and first woman officer of the IAF to be promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshall in 2002.
 

9.      First Woman Lt General of Indian Army: Lt General (Mrs) Punita Arora. She graduated from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune and joined Army Medical Corps in 1968.

10.  No Gender Bias: The Indian Air Force has inducted the first woman to fly its gigantic transport plane IL-76, nicknamed Gajraj, is largest flying machine in IAF inventory.

11.  First Woman Pilot: In the 1930’s Mrs Urmila Parikh opted for the adventurous career of a pilot with the defense forces. She was the first woman to obtain a pilot’s license.

12.  First lady Captain in the world: Saudamini Deshmukh fly an all-women IATA schedule flight on Nov 27, 1985.

13.  First women airborne tacticians of the Navy: Sub Lieutenants Ambica Hooda and Seema Rani Sharma, both 22 years, which has taken the lead in according equal opportunities to the fairer gender by starting entry for women in the observer cadre as Short Service Commissioned Officers.

14.  Lady Officers of the three wings: Indian Army, Indian Navy & Indian Air Force posing on completion of their basic course after being granted commission by the President of India who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of India.