The question here is not -from which region people are joining the army -- but from any region what group of people are joining the military.
For instance, in Air Force - it is Punjabis and Tamils who lead the way -predominantly -- just look at the Arir Chiefs of the past -- mostly Punjabis-becos also that Airforce pilots can later become airline pilots and make pots of money-is it? Also airforce people get to stay in big cities -and not in jungles. Similarly, at the time of independance every third Punjabi family had someone in the army --gets you stable income, good education for children etc. The "martial races" were created by the British after Sikhs, Gorkhas and Rajputs (of Rajasthan etc) remained loyal to British during the Revolt of 1857 -they got prefernce for jobs in military etc. No doubt they have been very brave in defending India subsequently-- but does it mean that other Indians are not brave enough. Even my father suffered ridicule in the army - since he was not from a Martial race - and did not eat meat or drink. It is time Indian army did away with regiments based on community names - Sikh, Jat, Mahar or Rajputana. They can name regiments on brave Indian warriors - Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Lachit Barfookan, Guru Govind Singh, Tipu Sultan etc. I know about corruption in army recruitment from those (ex-army sepoys) whose children have become sepoys thanks to the fact - that their relatives/neighbors were the recruiting officers - and they paid up Rs25,000 for each. Just like in the current scandal about Navy secrets getting out if War room - thanks to connection between current and ex-navy officers - similarly also in recuitments in military. Most help their own --as is common practice in India -in every shpere. Ofcourse this is much less prevalent than in the civilian world - but military people are getting smarter at it - thanks to improved communications and cable TV -even in Jungles. Ofcourse unlike civilians they do maintain the quality standards - but choose one of their own -first among equals. Currently why are 12,000 officer positions unfulfilled- don't they have any training systems to make asses into horses -if good candidates are not aplenty? Umesh --- Malabika Brahma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>. i have seen atleast 30 guys from the north and > west of india who dropped out of IITs to join NDA. > as far as assam is concerned i dont know of anyone > doing that. do u guys know?? > > > I did the reverse. I dropped out of NDA to join IIT. > > Assam Regiment has a large number of soldiers from > Assam and North East. Lots of Bodos and Rajbanshis > in Goalpara dist has been joining the army (though > in lower ranks) for a long time. Bodos and > Rajbanshis from the dooars were recruited in the > Gurkha regiment. One of my grandfather was in the > Britsh Gurkha that was part of the 2nd Indian Div > that saw action against Rommel in North Africa. > > tridip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Even in officer level posts - if your father or > relative has been in the army (mostly "martial > races" - Rajputs and Sikhs -then >you have a better > chance of getting in. > > well i beg to differ on that. the regiments in the > indian army are all pre-independent era ...the > britishers formed them and they have retained their > names..their identity....though the recruitment was > more or less strictly based on caste, community , > even villages they aren't anymore today esp. in the > officer ranks. the other ranks like the jawans etc > are usually recruited on the basis of their > community. and there's a logic behind this. it binds > the jawans amongst themselves. more often than not > one'll find people from the same villages in one > battalion or regiments. furthermore, people from the > hilly regions are better for mountain warfare ( it > was the gurkha, naga and kumaon regiment who took > the top honours in kargil) simillarly, the > rajputana, sikh regiments are better in plains or > deserts etc. as they call, its in their genes! > > as for the officer ranks, its simply that not many > sits for the entrance exams. even till some years > back not many students in assam were aware of exams > like NDA-NA, CDSE etc. they either wanted to be > doctors or engineers or maybe lawyers...not a > defence officer. i have seen atleast 30 guys from > the north and west of india who dropped out of IITs > to join NDA. as far as assam is concerned i dont > know of anyone doing that. do u guys know?? maybe > the better question would be, would you let your > son/brother drop out of IIT-D to join NDA??? most > probably the answer will be no. the opportunity cost > would be lot higher than what you would expect to > get. right?? > > now for the chances of a bengali or assamese getting > into the army in the lower ranks. its as good as any > other indian. but the only problem is that there > aren't many takers for it. the only reason why there > are a lot less assamese than, say, sikh is that not > many wants to join the defence forces...but the > recent stampedes in the recruitment rallys or camps > indicates the change in mentality and attitude. > > btw, assam rifles is the oldest regiment in india. > > regards, > tridip > > > Barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Even in officer level posts - if your father or > relative has been in the army (mostly "martial > races" - Rajputs and Sikhs -then >you have a better > chance of getting in. > > In this respect, the British were racist in that > they believed in the racial superiority of people. > In fact they not only believed and honored the Hindu > caste system, but also took advantage of it. They > used to employ the Brahmins for office work. > Similarly they openly gave preference to the martial > races for recruitment into the army. Sikhs, Rajputs > and the Gurkhas were the most preferred races for > military. A guy from Assam or Bengal will probably > have a low chance of getting into the military > specially in the lower ranks. I think it is still > the case although they may not say it openly. It > will be interesting to see the percentage of > different Indian ethnic groups in the military and > that might reveal the facts. > RB > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: umesh sharma > To: [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 6:10 PM > Subject: [Assam] Mr Suraj Bhan is right - do away > with Rajputana Rifles-name -atleast > > > http://www.ndtv.com/topstories/showtopstory.asp?slug=Panel+seeks+%27Dalit+Regiment%27+in+Army&id=18057&category=National > > > I was telling Hindu American F board members to > invite Mr Suraj Bhan (mentioned in the above > article) to speak on behalf of Hindu organizations > working for Dailts -at US Congressional meetings . > It seems he has taken up a challenging task. > > It is no secret that there is widespread corruption > in Army recruitment -esp for non-officer level > posts. Recruiting officers rely on their relatives > back home - to get in near and dear ones - but for a > fee --mostly from the same caste. Ofcourse, they > > > > --------------------------------- > Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in > one click. > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > > > --------------------------------- > How much free photo storage do you get? Store your > holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos. Get > Yahoo! Photos> _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
