Struggle for Indianisation of Indian Army during the British Rule: A View

Abstract

Indianisation of the Armed Forces during the British rule was a subject which came up often enough during the early part of the 20th Century. Yet, it made only halting progress, till the beginning of the Second World War which necessitated large scale induction of Indians into the officer cadre. During the British period in India, the Indian National Congress was interested in an enlargement of the Indian Army recruitment, expansion of Indianisation of the officer corps and modernisation of the Indian Army. In 1921 Legislative Assembly session, Sir Sivaswamy Aiyar demanded more percentage of the King Commission Indian Officers. Later by 1928, Indian leaders presented irrefutable argument during the debates in the second session of Legislative Assembly. In 1932, the British Indian government announced 40 vacancies for the recruitment to the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun. After a hard struggle from 1932 to 1941, 535 cadets and in early 1947, 8400 Indian officers were commissioned. The present paper through the lights, especially “Struggle for Indianisation of Indian Army during the British Rule: A View” in detail.