Indian army

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 15^th 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