Know about Indian Military Academy, the cradle of India's budding army heroes

New Delhi: The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is India's premier military training institution which imparts training to officers of the Indian Army. It was on Oct 1, 1932 that the first batch of trainees came to the academy. The academy has a long and distinguished history. It started from a building where the Railway Staff College was housed.During the Indian independence struggle, Indian leaders recognized the need for a local military institution to meet the needs of imparting training to an armed force loyal to sovereign India. The British Raj was reluctant to commission Indian officers or to permit local officer training. Until World War I Indians were not eligible for commission as officers in the Indian Army.Following the experiences in World War I, where Indian soldiers proved their mettle, the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms facilitated ten Indians per year to undergo officer training at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. In 1922 the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (now known as the Rashtriya Indian Military College) was set up in Dehradun to prepare Indian boys for admission to Sandhurst. The Indianisation of the Army started with the commissioning of 31 Indian officers. Among this first batch of officers to be commissioned was Kodandera Madappa Cariappa, who later became the 1st Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army and 2nd Indian Field Marshal.Indian leaders then pressed for the issue at the 1st Round Table Conference in 1930. Eventually, the establishment of an Indian officer training college was one of the few concessions made at the conference, so The Indian Military College Committee, set up under the chairmanship of Field Marshal Sir Philip W. Chetwode, recommended in 1931 the establishment of an Indian Military Academy in Dehradun to produce 40 commissioned officers twice a year following two and a half years of training.The Academy was established in January 1932 at the premises of what was then the Railway Staff College and the first batch of cadets came for training in October that very year, which started the new chapter of Indian officers in the Army in a big way.Field marshal SHFJ Maneckshaw, popularly known as Sam Bahadur was in this batch.After independence in 1947, Brig Thakur Mahadev Singh was the first Indian commandant of the Academy. In 1960 the name was changed to Indian Military Academy. In 1980, the commandants rank was raised to Lt General.IMA Cadets are organized as a Regiment with four training battalions, of four companies each. There were sixteen companies in 2013. Battalions are named for generals of the Indian Army, while companies are named for battles of the Army. Cariappa Battalion: Kohima Company, Naushera Company, Poonch Company, Hajipir Company Thimayya Battalion: Alamein Company, Meiktila Company, Dograi Company, Chushul Company Manekshaw Battalion: Imphal Company, Zojila Company, Jessore Company, Sangro Company Bhagat Battalion: Sinhgarh Company, Keren Company, Cassino Company, Basantar Company Siachen Battalion : erstwhile Army Cadet College Cadets undergo training at the IMA for one year. An exception are trainees selected via the Combined Defence Services Exam of UPSC. These cadets who are graduates of a non-military college undergo training for one and a half years.With the purpose of grooming future military leaders of the Indian Army, the training regime at IMA moulds the physical and mental attributes and sharpen the leadership skills of cadets. Physical training, drills, weapons training, leadership development and practices form the focus of the training.

Know about Indian Military Academy, the cradle of India's budding army heroes

New Delhi: The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is India's premier military training institution which imparts training to officers of the Indian Army. It was on Oct 1, 1932 that the first batch of trainees came

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