Death Rattle
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Army jettisons good morning, adopts Jai Hind
Officers have been asked by Bikram Singh to use the Indian salutation.
SUMAN SHARMA 10th Nov 2012
fficers belonging to the Indian Army have started saluting each other with "Jai Hind", thereby doing away with the colonial practice of greeting colleagues with the British style "good morning/evening". They were made to shift to Jai Hind after Army chief General Bikram Singh issued an advisory a month ago asking them to do so. Army jawans have always used "Jai Hind" to greet each other and their officers.
"Officers belonging to the Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) were already greeting each other and their seniors with Jai Hind. The Army was feeling out of place, so followed suit," an officer told this newspaper.
Most Army units were originally formed based on caste, colour and creed. It is these issues that decide the salutations that the jawans use, as there are connotations involved, like Sat-Sri-Akal in Sikh/Punjab regiments, "Ram-Ram" in Jat/Rajput regiments and so on. Neutral units such as mixed artillery, armoured, Corps of Engineer units use "Jai Hind". Similarly, the battle-cries of the individual regiments are based on custom, like "Aiyo Gurkhali" for Gurkhas, "Veer Bhogya Vasundhara" for Rajputana Rifles, etc. The Assam regiment uses the salutation "Tagda Raho" (Be strong) for its troops and officers, and even ladies.
A retired three-star officer told this newspaper, "The lingua-franca of the Indian Army was English. All office work was done in English, including the word of command, and officers spoke English, therefore the salutation too was in English. But no salutation is required if one is saluting; there is no need for any spoken salutation in the first place."
Most armies in the world do not have any special salutations and greet each other formally. The US Rangers, however, say, "Rangers lead the way, Sir", to which the officers reply, "all the way".
It may be noted that former Army chief J.J. Singh had introduced "Friday dressing" in the Army, making it mandatory for the rank and file to wear combat fatigues on Fridays. Seeing the Army even Navy personnel started wearing their blue-combats on Fridays. Retired General Deepak Kapoor, who became Army chief after J.J. Singh, started the practice of black name tags on combat uniform, unlike the yellow ones used earlier.
All this was undone once V.K. Singh became Army chief. He discontinued combat fatigues on Fridays, except in field formations, which was always the rule. A former Army commander told this newspaper, "In field areas wearing combats is a necessity, as combats are rugged and are made for field. Since a majority of the Indian Army is fighting in J&K and the Northeast and are always in combat, so to show solidarity and identify with them, symbolically wearing combats on Fridays was made compulsory. Primarily, headquarters were associated with desk-jobs, which is why combats were not considered mandatory for personnel in the headquarters."
The British Army wears its combat uniform all the time, except for ceremonial functions, when they wear normal uniform. The US Army wears normal uniform except for training purposes, when they wear combats.
Army jettisons good morning, adopts Jai Hind
Officers have been asked by Bikram Singh to use the Indian salutation.
SUMAN SHARMA 10th Nov 2012
fficers belonging to the Indian Army have started saluting each other with "Jai Hind", thereby doing away with the colonial practice of greeting colleagues with the British style "good morning/evening". They were made to shift to Jai Hind after Army chief General Bikram Singh issued an advisory a month ago asking them to do so. Army jawans have always used "Jai Hind" to greet each other and their officers.
"Officers belonging to the Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) were already greeting each other and their seniors with Jai Hind. The Army was feeling out of place, so followed suit," an officer told this newspaper.
Most Army units were originally formed based on caste, colour and creed. It is these issues that decide the salutations that the jawans use, as there are connotations involved, like Sat-Sri-Akal in Sikh/Punjab regiments, "Ram-Ram" in Jat/Rajput regiments and so on. Neutral units such as mixed artillery, armoured, Corps of Engineer units use "Jai Hind". Similarly, the battle-cries of the individual regiments are based on custom, like "Aiyo Gurkhali" for Gurkhas, "Veer Bhogya Vasundhara" for Rajputana Rifles, etc. The Assam regiment uses the salutation "Tagda Raho" (Be strong) for its troops and officers, and even ladies.
A retired three-star officer told this newspaper, "The lingua-franca of the Indian Army was English. All office work was done in English, including the word of command, and officers spoke English, therefore the salutation too was in English. But no salutation is required if one is saluting; there is no need for any spoken salutation in the first place."
Most armies in the world do not have any special salutations and greet each other formally. The US Rangers, however, say, "Rangers lead the way, Sir", to which the officers reply, "all the way".
It may be noted that former Army chief J.J. Singh had introduced "Friday dressing" in the Army, making it mandatory for the rank and file to wear combat fatigues on Fridays. Seeing the Army even Navy personnel started wearing their blue-combats on Fridays. Retired General Deepak Kapoor, who became Army chief after J.J. Singh, started the practice of black name tags on combat uniform, unlike the yellow ones used earlier.
All this was undone once V.K. Singh became Army chief. He discontinued combat fatigues on Fridays, except in field formations, which was always the rule. A former Army commander told this newspaper, "In field areas wearing combats is a necessity, as combats are rugged and are made for field. Since a majority of the Indian Army is fighting in J&K and the Northeast and are always in combat, so to show solidarity and identify with them, symbolically wearing combats on Fridays was made compulsory. Primarily, headquarters were associated with desk-jobs, which is why combats were not considered mandatory for personnel in the headquarters."
The British Army wears its combat uniform all the time, except for ceremonial functions, when they wear normal uniform. The US Army wears normal uniform except for training purposes, when they wear combats.
Army jettisons good morning, adopts Jai Hind
