Territorial Army (India)

Territorial Army
प्रादेशिक सेना
Territorial Army India Logo
Country	India
Type	Army
Size	40,000 first line troops 160,000 second line troops
Part of	Indian Army
Headquarters	TA Group Headquarters
Nickname(s)	Terriers
Motto	सावधानी व शूरता - Savdhani Va Shoorta (Vigilant and Valour)
Engagements	1962 India-China War 1965 Indo-Pak war 1971 Indo-Pakistani War Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka OP RAKSHAK in Punjab & J&K OP RHINO and OP BAJRANG in the North East
Decorations	2 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals 15 Vishisht Seva Medals 5 Vir Chakras 13 Sena Medals 25 Mentioned-in-Dispatches 43 COAS commendation cards.
Website	Official Website of Territorial Army
Commanders
Notable commanders	Notable Honorary Officers Maj Deepak Rao

The Territorial Army (TA) is one of the arms & services of the Indian army composed of volunteers who receive military training for a few days in a year so that in case of an emergency they can be mobilised for the defence of the country.

It is a second line of defence after the Regular Indian Army; the Indian Territorial Army is not a profession, occupation or a source of employment. It is only meant for those people who are already in mainstay civilian professions; in fact, gainful employment or self-employment in a civil profession is a prerequisite for joining the Territorial Army.

History

The Indian Defence Force, incorporating Europeans and Indians in separate sections, was formed by the British in 1917. It was established in order to release regular troops from garrison duties during the First World War. It was divided into British and Indian sections. Like the Indian Army of the time, units in the Indian section consisted primarily of British officers and Indian other ranks. Units in the British section were all British. The Indians were volunteers, but many of the Europeans were conscripted, as the Indian Defence Force Act 1917 made military service compulsory for all Europeans permanently residing in British India (including the princely states) between the ages of 16 and 50.^[1] Boys between 16 and 18 were only obliged to undertake training and men over 40 only had to serve in their local district, but men between 19 and 40 were obliged to serve anywhere required within the country. Only the clergy were exempt.^[2]

The IDF was generally unpopular among the British conscripts. It was replaced by the Auxiliary Force (for Europeans and Eurasians) and the Indian Territorial Force (for Indians) in 1920.^[3]

The modern Territorial Army was inaugurated by the first Indian Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari, on 9 October 1949 after the Independence Territorial Army Act was passed in 1948. The annual Prime Minister's Territorial Army Day Parade takes place on 9 October.^[4]

The Territorial Army initially had various types of units such as armoured regiments, infantry battalions, air defence, medical regiments, engineers field park companies, signal regiments, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) workshops, coast batteries, Army Service Corps GT Coy, ASC Compo Pl, and AMC field ambulances. By 1972 these units were either disbanded or converted to Regular Army units with the exception of infantry battalions.

Territorial Army units were actively involved in military operations in 1962, 1965 and 1971. The "Terriers" have also taken part in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, Operation Rakshak in Punjab & J&K, Operation Rhino and Operation Bajrang in the North East. Departmental units came to the aid of the civil authorities during industrial unrest and natural calamities, most famous being earthquake in Latur (Maharashtra), Uttarkashi in Garhwal Himalaya and the super cyclone in Odisha. The Ecological units have arrested man-made environmental degradation by planting 2.5 crore trees over 20,000 hectare of land in Mussoorie hills and Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand), Bikaner and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) and ravines of Chambal in Madhya Pradesh.

Force structure

The Territorial Army is part of the regular Indian Army. The present role of the Territorial Army is to relieve the Regular Army from static duties and assist civil administration in dealing with natural calamities and maintenance of essential services in situations where life of the communities is affected or the security of the country is threatened, and to provide units for the Regular Army as and when required.

The Territorial Army has a strength of approximately 40,000 first line troops (and 160,000 second line troops) comprising departmental Territorial Army units such as railway, IOC, ONGC, telecommunication and General Hospital, and the non-departmental Territorial Army units of infantry battalions and ecological battalions affiliated to various infantry regiments.

Group headquarters

TA GP HQ, Southern Command – Pune, Maharashtra
TA GP HQ, Eastern Command – Kolkata, West Bengal
TA GP HQ, Western Command – Chandimandir, Chandigarh
TA GP HQ, Central Command – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
TA GP HQ, Northern Command -Udhampur, Jammu & kashmir

Departmental units

968 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Ludhiana - since disbanded
969 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Jamalpur
970 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Jhansi
971 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Delhi - since disbanded
972 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Muzaffarpur - since disbanded
1031 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Kota
1032 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Adra
1034 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Bangalore - since disbanded
1101 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Chandigarh
1103 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Kota - since disbanded
1105 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Secunderabad
1051 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Ludhiana - since disbanded
1052 Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) – Adra - since disbanded
General Hospital (TA) (500 Beds) – Kolkata
General Hospital (TA) (400 Beds) – Allahabad
General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Jaipur
General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Patiala
General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Guwāhāti
General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Ahmadabad
General Hospital (TA) (400 Beds) – Rohtak (Haryana)
414 ASC Battalion Marketing (TA) – Kamptee
777 Signal Regiment Telecom (TA) – Mhow
801 Engineer Regiment Refineries & Pipelines (TA) – Agra
811 Engineer Regiment ONGC (TA) – Baroda

Non-departmental units

101 Infantry Battalion (TA) Maratha LI – Pune
102 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab – Kalka
103 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh LI – Ludhiana
105 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles – Delhi Cantonment
106 Infantry Battalion (TA) Para – Bengaluru
107 Infantry Battalion (TA) 11 Gorkha Rifles – Darjeeling
108 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar – Dehradun
109 Infantry Battalion (TA) Maratha LI – Kolhapur
110 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras – Coimbatore
111 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon – Allahabad
112 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra – Jalandhar
113 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput – Kolkata
114 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat – Fatehgarh
115 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar – Belgaum
116 Infantry Battalion (TA) Para – Deolali
117 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Tiruchirappalli
118 Infantry Battalion (TA) Grenadiers – Nagpur
119 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam – Shillong
120 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar – Bhubaneswar
121 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles – Kolkata
122 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras - Kannur
123 Infantry Battalion (TA) Grenadiers - Jaipur
124 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh – New Delhi
125 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Secunderabad
126 Infantry Battalion (TA) JAK Rifles – c/o 56 APO
150 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab – Delhi
151 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat – Muzaffarpur
152 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh – Ludhiana
153 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra – Meerut
154 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar – Brichgunj (Port Blair)
155 Infantry Battalion (TA) JAK Rifles – Sujanpur
156 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Punjab – Rajouri
157 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh – BD Bari
158 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh LI – Janlot
159 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Dogra – Thalela
160 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) JAK Rifles – Kupwara
161 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) JAK LI – Baramulla
162 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H)
163 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H)
164 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) NAGA – Zakhama
165 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam – Imphal
166 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam – Tezpur

Ecological battalions

128 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles Eco – Sri Mohangarh
127 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles Eco - Dehradun
128 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles Eco - Bikaner
129 Infantry Battalion (TA) JAK LI Eco - Samba
130 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon Eco - Pithoragarh
131 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput Eco - Gwalior
132 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput Eco - Bhatti Mines, Delhi
133 Infantry Battalion (TA) Eco
134 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco
135 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco

Training

Infantry training is carried out on urban and provincial systems.

Urban systems of training

Recruit Training: Training is carried out on weekends and holidays. Four hours of training is counted as one day. Thirty-Six days in the first year only including a camp of not less than four days if the trainee volunteers with the written consent of his employer, if any.
Annual Training: A minimum of thirty-six days, with extensions up to a maximum of sixty days including a camp for fourteen days.
Post Commission Training: All officers are required to undergo ten weeks of post commission training within two years of their commissioning. Ex-officers from the Regular Army or Short Service Commissioned can be exempted from this training at the sole discretion of the Commanding Officer.
Voluntary training to gain additional military training, provided the trainee volunteers with the written consent of the employer if any.

Provincial systems of training

Recruit Training: For a continuous period of thirty days in the first year only.
Annual Training: For a continuous period of two calendar months in the first and subsequent years.
Post commission Training: Officers receive ten weeks of compulsory post commission training within two years of commissioning.
Voluntary Training to gain additional military training, provided the trainee volunteers with the written consent of his employer, if any.

Members

Many famous Indians have been members of this force, including Brigadier K P Singh Deo, former Cabinet Minister; Captain Rao Birender Singh, former Chief Minister of the State of Haryana; Subir Raha, former Chairman, ONGC; Padama Shree, Brigadier (Retd) Dr. Kapil Mohan VSM PhD Managing Director, Mohan Meakin Breweries and various present ministers, legislators, senior civil officers and professionals.

Muthukrishnan Iyyappan, commissioned in 1999 was the first officer of the Territorial Army to be permanently seconded to the regular army. He joined the 3rd battalion of 8 Gorkha Rifles and served a tenure at the Siachen Glacier — again the first officer of Territorial Army to serve in the Siachen Glacier. Capt. Muthukrishnan Iyyappan was also the first officer of the Territorial Army to be posted at the Defense Services Staff College where he was the Officer Commanding - Troops during 1999–2000.

Navdeep Singh, a lawyer, is known to have received the highest number of decorations/awards in the Territorial Army.

The Malayalam film star Mohanlal is an honorary lieutenant colonel in the TA (Madras Regiment).

Major Vishal Bakshi, Chairman of VR Industries, was awarded with the Vishisht Seva Medal, on Republic Day, 2010.^[5]

Deepak Rao, a military trainer, scientist, author, and physician, is considered to be an authority in the field of close quarter battle training. He was conferred the honorary rank of Major in the Territorial Army^[6]^[7] after 17 years of imparting special close quarter battle commando training to the armed forces. He serves as the executive director of the Unarmed and Commando Combat Academy and has been appointed as resource personnel for imparting training in close quarter battle by India's Ministry of Home Affairs.^[8]

On 1 November 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 106 INF Bn (TA) PARA and Abhinav Bindra 124 INF Bn (TA) Sikh Li were awarded the rank of Lt Colonel in the Territorial Army for their respective contributions in the field of cricket and shooting.^[6]^[7]

Mechanical Engineer from Special Class Railway Apprentice 96 Batch, Prashant Kumar Singh, posted as Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer at Carriage & Wagon Workshop, Alambagh, represented Indian Railways TA at Rashtrapati Bhawan.^[9] Captain Prashant Kumar Singh participated and presented the tableau from Railway’s side in Prime minister’s Territorial Army Day parade on 4 October in Parade Ground Delhi. He is the only officer to have received the General Manager Railway Award on the recommendation of the Territorial Army.^[10] He represented the Indian Railway Territorial Army before the President of India, Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, at the "Calling on the President" that was held at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 13 October 2011.

Captain Jitender Kumar Sharma, Platoon Commander at 1101 Railway Engineer's Regiment (TA) at Chandigarh, is posted as Senior Coaching Depot Officer at New Delhi Railway Station, having been previously posted in Railway Board. Under his leadership, his depot won the General Manager's Best Coaching Depot Shield in Northern Railway.

Honorary officers

Kapil Dev joined the Territorial Army on 24 September 2008 and was commissioned as an honorary Lieutenant Colonel.^[11]^[12]
Mohanlal joined the Territorial Army as an honorary Lieutenant Colonel on 9 July 2009. The army announced his appointment in December 2008. He is the first and only actor to have been conferred this title. His role in two films, Kirti Chakra and Kurukshetra, as an army member, led to his interest in the army and he voluntarily joined the Territorial Army.^[13]^[14]
Deepak Rao was commissioned into the Para TA Regiment with the honorary rank of Major by the President of India on 1 November 2011^[6]^[7] for his contribution of 17 years in the modernisation of close quarter battle for the Indian Army.^[15] Rao, along with his spouse Dr Seema Rao trained 15,000 soldiers over 17 years in close quarter battle training and hence was cited as India's foremost pioneer and specialist in close quarter warfare by the Indian Ministry of Defence.^[16]^[17] His method of reflex shooting has been used to modernise combat shooting in Northern Command and Eastern Command under the directive of Army commanders. He serves as the executive director of the Unarmed and Commando Combat Academy and has also been appointed as a resource person for imparting training in close quarter battle by India's Ministry of Home Affairs.^[8]
Mahendra Singh Dhoni Para (TA) and Abhinav Bindra 124 SIKH (TA) were conferred the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel for their respective contributions in the fields of cricket and shooting.^[6]^[7]

References

↑ "Indian Defence Force", The Times, 3 March 1917
↑ "Compulsory Service in India: The New Defence Force", The Times, 7 March 1917
↑ "Indian Auxiliary Force: First Year's Success", The Times, 12 October 1921
↑ History
↑ "New Delhi News : Vishisht Seva Medal for TA officer". The Hindu. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
1 2 3 4 Firstpost (31 October 2011). "Army to confer Lt Col rank upon Dhoni, Bindra". Firstpost. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
1 2 3 4 "Army to confer Lt Col rank upon Bindra, Dhoni - Rediff.com News". Rediff.com. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
1 2 "Home Ministry Authorizes". Blackbeltcombat.tripod.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ "Welcome To The Irsme Website". Irsme.nic.in. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ "Article Window". Times of India. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ "Kapil Dev joins Territorial Army". Rediff.com. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ Kapil Dev joins Territorial Army
↑ "Mohanlal wants to join Territorial Army - Movies News News - IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ Mohanlal to become a Lt Colonel
↑ "State Govt Commendation". Blackbeltcombat.tripod.com. 7 January 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
↑ "Ministry of Defence, India - Press release". http://pib.nic.in. Retrieved 11 January 2011. External link in |publisher= (help)
↑ "Ministry of Defence - Report" (PDF). http://pib.nic.in. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2011. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

The official website of the Territorial Army in India
Territorial Army (TA)
Evolution of Territorial Army article in Sainik Samachar about Territorial Army evolution
Territorial Army parade Video on YouTube
Join Territorial Army (TA)
Indian Territorial Army Recruitment 2015

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