Mid-career courses for officers comprising land campaign studies of Indian Generals and maritime strategies of Indian kings, drafting a tri-service Act instead of three individual service Acts, reduction of the number of Scottish-origin pipe bands in the Army and giving a greater degree of pan-India character to certain arms of the Army.
These are some of the changes being discussed within the Indian military to shed the last of the colonial vestiges that continue to be part of the Armed Forces, senior officials told The Indian Express.
According to officials, some of these points also feature in a publication on ‘Colonial Practices and the Armed Forces – A Review’ that was launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the maiden Joint Commanders Conference in Lucknow earlier this month.
Officials said efforts have been on to inculcate an India-centric strategic thought in young military minds by including in courses texts written by ancient Indian strategists instead of including only thoughts propagated by Western military thinkers and writers.
Towards this, they said, the Secunderabad-based College of Defence Management (CDM) is drafting a syllabus in consultation with the Indic Studies department of Gujarat University which will be made a mandatory part of mid-career courses to be attended by officers of the three services.
It could include land campaign studies of Indian Generals in history such as the INA, Marathas or Sikhs as well as ancient maritime strategies and naval exploits of past Indian rulers such as Raja Raja Chola I and his son Rajendra Chola, King Marthand Varma at Colachel and Kunjali Marakkar IV among others. It could also include the governance model of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.
Additionally, other professional military education institutes have begun conducting regular seminars by top Indology authorities to propagate indigenous ethics, law and warcraft concepts.
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For instance, the Army Training Command has drafted reading material on ancient Indian concepts and doctrines for Army personnel, while the CDM has published books on the subject.
Some of these include the ‘Pearls of Ancient Indian Wisdom’ with extracts from the Gita, Panchatantra, Arthashastra, Chanakya Niti and Thirukkural.
The Armed Forces are also in the process of identifying obsolete laws and rules so that they can be weeded out, even as work is on to do away with individual service Acts and come up with a consolidated tri-service Act.
There may also be a study to see if the Army’s infantry regiments can be given a more pan-India character, like its other arms incrementally over a period of time. Additionally, more Indian poetry, prayers, songs will be used in military training institutions replacing colonial era literature, such as IF by Rudyard Kipling and the current prayer in English at NDA.
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Officials said that while the Indian Air Force and the Navy have one Scottish-origin pipe band in each of their regional command headquarters, the Army has them in each unit. The Army is discussing whether they can be reduced to one at each regional command headquarters purely for ceremonial purposes.
The Indian military has shed most of its colonial-era vestiges since the country’s independence in 1947. But there was an upswing in efforts after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the Combined Commanders Conference in Gujarat’s Kevadia in 2021, talked about increasing indigenisation in the national security system, including in the doctrines, procedures and customs practised in the Armed Forces.
Some of these include changing several Army unit crests, the naval ensign, giving out Indian names to military platforms, weapon systems, exercises, operations. There is also an enhanced use of Indian tunes and instruments in the Republic Day parade and the Beating Retreat ceremony.