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CRADLE OF VALOUR

Seven decades after it was established by the British to train army officers, the Indian Military Academy (IMA) t Dehradun keeps pace with the times while retaining the quaint ambience of the past. India Today's Ramesh Vinayak looks at the new order.

On the face of it, the place has an unmistakable aura of a bygone British era - it's quaint surroundings, high-roofed rooms, arched corridors and the white-paint sign 'Chetword Building' on its imposing red-gray façade, with a fluttering tri-colour on its dome. But the Indian Military Academy located on the Chakrata-Dehradun highway is an important milestone on the Indian army's saga of valour and sacrifice both during the Raj and after Independence.

On a rain-swept noon of late August , we landed at the verdant leafy campus of the IMA, 7 km short of the hill capital of Uttaranchal. Against the clear blue skies and backdrop of Shivalik and Himalayan heights, the magnificent building offered a breath-taking picture-postcard view. Our mission: document the winds of change blowing at the 71-year-old premier institution known as the cradle of military leadership. Minutes after we were ushered into the office of an affable and polite Public Relations Officer Lt Col Manmegh Singh, the conversation warmed to the new regimen that IMA's 1300-odd Gentleman cadets are now keeping pace with.

The driving force behind the radical changes at IMA is its erudite Commandant Lieutenant General Tajinder Singh Shergill, known as 'a thinking general'. In fact, the academy could not have got a better choice for the job to conceptualize and bring about the changes in the curriculum in keeping with the scourge of the Pakistan-sponsored proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir. Coming from a highly reputed Majithia family of Amarisar with the finest traditions of serving the Indian army, Lt Gen Shergill is the son of Major General (retd) Rajinder Singh Sparrow, one-time Rajya Sabha member and brother of Lt Gen (retd) M.S.Shergill.Ever since he took over two years ago, Lt Gen Shergill's prime passion has been to bolster the leadership training to fashion what he calls a knowledge warrior. "The overlying idea of the changes in curriculum is to produce a Superman," he says, with a commander-like flourish. No wonder, IMA is now brimming with new regimen. A hands-on approach by him is succeeding in changing the face of the IMA - both in terms of infrastructure and content of training.

The changing ethos of IMA is also reflected in the Commandant's sparkling office: life-sized portraits of Maharana Pratap and Rani Luxmi Bai are the latest additions in the room whose walls have since long been adorned by the paintings of Mahatama Gandhi, IMA's founder Field Marshal Philip Chetword and Field Marshal Manekshaw. " But I have another ' Field Marshal' gazing at me all the time in my office," says Lt-Gen Shergill in a lighter-vein, pointing to the photograph of his wife right in front of his desk.

The changes are discernible from the well-equiped Information Technology lab to state-of-the-art small arms simulators, aptly named 'Drona' after the legendry Mahabharta instructor Dronacharya, whose ashram, as Lt Col Manmegh Singh animatedly tells us, is believed to be in the Doon Valley.

The IMA has been on a fast track of Information Technology, thanks to a massive infusion of resources in the last three years - from a meagre Rs 10 lakh in 1998, the IT fund for the current year has been pegged at Rs 2.5 crore. Gone are the days when half-a-dozen GCs had to gather around a single computer terminal. It now has two well-equipped labs and video projection systems in the classrooms. By the middle of next year, each GC will have a computer in his room. With the optical fibre backbone already in place, a wired-up IMA is all set to plug into
video-conferencing.

In a promising move to bolster the education profile of the GCs, the Academy has got an affiliation to H.N.B. Garhwal University last year for a post-graduation in defence and strategic studies. Considering around 50 per cent of the IMA pass-outs retire within two-rank promotions, a post-graduate degree would mean more opportunities. But the piece-de-resistance of the changes is a two-month capsule on anti-insurgency tactics. Given that two-third of the IMA pass-outs land in the ' hot spots', the tailormade CI capsule forms the last leg of their three-terms 18-month training. The upshot is a week-long arduous 'Chindit' exercise which until two years ago had conventional warfare as its major component. But now the focus has shifted entirely to CI tactics. The difference that the practical orientation of a well-structured CI capsule has been making to the confidence of the officers-in-making is too palpable. "The real-time training has primed us for what lies ahead," says third-termer M.S.Jamwal who will get commissioned as lieutenant by the end of this year.

While the IMA is buzzing with a new regimen that aims to fashion a new warrior, the place draws its biggest- and an ever-enduring - motivation from its history. Even seven decades after it was established by the British to the train of the core of the Indian army's officer elite, the saga of valour and sacrifices of IMA alumni remains a veritable fountainhead of fierce inspiration for the generation of Gentle Cadets.
During their stay at IMA, GCs are divided into four battalions named after the legendry generals of the Indian Army - Cariappa, Thimayya, Bhagat and Manekshaw. And an imposing ' Chetword Hall' is an eloquent testimony to 'valour and wisdom' credo. The 'Roll of Honour' written on gold paneled walls is a tribute to 550-odd gallantry award winners who brought glory and honour to their alma mater. From Major Somnath Sharma, Param Vir Chakra winner in the 1948 operations against the Pakistani raiders to Major Hoshiar Singh, PVC winner and hero of the Siachen battle to the PVC winners of the 1999 Kargil war including Capt Vikram Batra and Lt Manoj Kumar, the pantheon of gallant alumni exemplifies the raw courage and true grit of the Indian army officers with the finest tradition of leading from the front.

At any given time from the break of dawn to the dust, IMA is a beehive of activity, with its young officers-in-the-making. The spirit of new regimen is pegged to a six-point 'Code of the warrior' that Lt Gen Shergill has formulated for GCs. Its punch-line: "I am a warrior, fighting is my Dharma." We had a feel of the new ethos of the IMA the next day which happened to be Krishna janamasthmi, a national holiday. But it was a life at usual at the IMA - early in the morning, the Drill Square reverberated with the instructor's loud commands as GCs in olive green honed their synchronized drill. While the intent of Lt Gen Shergill's new regimen is to create new warriors, the impact of his well-meaning steps will be felt years after the GCs have walked down the last step of the IMA's portals whose red-grey colour symbolize the ethos of the Indian army - sacrifice and determination.

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