Territorial Army (India)

The Indian Territorial Army (TA) is a second line of defence after the Regular Indian Army; it 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.

Territorial Army
Territorial Army India Logo
ActiveIndian Defence Force (1917 - 1920)
Indian Territorial Force (1920 - 1948)
Indian Territorial Army (1949 - present)
Country India
AllegianceIndia
BranchIndian Army
TypeArmy
Size200,000[1]
HeadquartersTA Group Headquarters
Nickname(s)Terriers
Motto(s)सावधानी व शूरता - Savdhani Va Shoorta (Vigilance and Valour)
Engagements1962 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
Decorations1 Kirti Chakra
5 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals
5 Vir Chakras
5 Shaurya Chakra
1 Yudh Seva Medal
74 Sena Medals
15 Vishisht Seva Medals
17 Mentioned-in-Dispatches
266 COAS commendation cards.
Websitejointerritorialarmy.gov.in
Commanders
Current
commander		Lt.Gen DP Pandey, Director General[2]

Volunteers of the Territorial Army usually serve in uniform for a few days every year, so that they can bear arms for national defence in times of dire need or national emergencies.

History

The Indian Defence Force (IDF), incorporating Europeans and Indians in separate sections, was formed by the British on 9 October 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.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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 a 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 – Chandigarh (Union Territory)
  • TA GP HQ, Central Command – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
  • TA GP HQ, Northern Command – Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir

Departmental units
  • 969 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Jamalpur
  • 970 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Jhansi
  • 1031 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Kota
  • 1032 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Adra
  • 1101 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Chandigarh (Union Territory)
  • 1105 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) - Hyderabad
  • 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 Light Infantry – Pune, Maharashtra
  • 102 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab Regiment – Kalka, Haryana
  • 103 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh Light Infantry – Ludhiana, Punjab
  • 105 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles – Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi (Union Territory)
  • 106 Infantry Battalion (TA) Para – Bengaluru, Karnataka
  • 107 Infantry Battalion (TA) 11 Gorkha Rifles – Darjeeling, West Bengal
  • 108 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar – Dehradun, Uttarakhand
  • 109 Infantry Battalion (TA) Maratha – Kolhapur, Maharashtra
  • 110 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras – Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
  • 111 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon – Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
  • 112 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra – Jalandhar, Punjab
  • 113 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput – Kolkata, West Bengal
  • 114 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat – Fatehgarh, Uttar Pradesh
  • 115 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar Regiment – Belgaum, Karnataka
  • 116 Infantry Battalion (TA) Parachute Regiment – Devlali, Maharashtra
  • 117 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
  • 118 Infantry Battalion (TA) Grenadiers – Bhusawal, Maharashtra
  • 119 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam – Shillong, Meghalaya
  • 120 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar – Bhubaneswar, Odisha
  • 121 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles – Kolkata, West Bengal
  • 122 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras Regiment - Kannur, Kerala
  • 123 Infantry Battalion (TA) The Grenadiers - Jaipur, Rajasthan
  • 124 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh – New Delhi (Union Territory)
  • 125 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Secunderabad, Telangana
  • 126 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Madhopur, Punjab
  • 150 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab Regiment – New Delhi (Union Territory)
  • 151 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat Regiment – Muzaffarpur, Bihar
  • 152 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh Regiment – Ludhiana, Punjab
  • 153 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra Regiment – Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
  • 154 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar Regiment – Brichgunj (Port Blair), Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • 155 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Sujanpur, Himachal Pradesh
  • 156 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Punjab Regiment – Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 157 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Regiment – BD Bari, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 158 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Light Infantry – Janglot, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 159 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Dogra Regiment – Thalela, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 160 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 161 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry – Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 162 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry - Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 163 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Light Infantry - Hyderbeigh , Jammu and Kashmir
  • 164 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Naga Regiment – Zakhama, Nagaland
  • 165 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam Regiment– Imphal, Manipur
  • 166 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam Regiment– Sonitpur, Assam
  • 172 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras Regiment - Campbell Bay, Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Ecological Task Forces (Ecological Battalions)

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-Two[7] 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: 90 days Post Commission Training is compulsory within two years of commissioning IMA, Dehradun.[8]
  • Voluntary Training to gain additional military training, provided the trainee volunteers with the written consent of his employer, if any.

Notable members
Mohanlal with the then Defence Minister of India, A. K. Antony after joining the Indian Territorial Army in 2009
M.S. Dhoni, Abhinav Bindra and Dr. Deepak Rao after granted honorary rank in Indian Territorial Army in 2011
The Chief of Army Staff, Gen. V.K. Singh pipping in the Rank of Hon. Major to Dr. Deepak Rao for his contribution to modern close quarter battle training
The Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh conferring the rank of Lieutenant in the Territorial Army on Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Member of Parliament and President BCCI, at a solemn ‘Commissioning’ ceremony, in New Delhi on July 29, 2016.
  • Sachin Pilot, former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot became the first Union Minister of India to be commissioned as an officer in the Territorial Army on 6 September 2012.
  • Anurag Thakur, MP from Hamirpur has been commissioned to the rank of lieutenant on 29 July 2016.[9]
  • Col. Manvendra Singh, He is a member of the Indian National Congress. He joined Congress on 17 October 2018. He was the member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India from 2004-2009 representing the Barmer-Jaisalmer constituency of Rajasthan
  • Dr. 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[10][11] 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.[12]
  • Kapil Dev joined the Territorial Army on 24 September 2008 and was commissioned as an honorary lieutenant colonel.[13][14]
  • K P Singh Deo, former Cabinet Minister.[15]
  • 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.[16][17]
  • Mahendra Singh Dhoni Para (TA) and Abhinav Bindra 124 SIKH (TA) were both conferred the rank of honorary lieutenant colonel on 1 November 2011 for their respective contributions in the fields of cricket and shooting.[10][11]
  • Navdeep Singh, a lawyer, is known to have received the highest number of decorations/awards in the Territorial Army.
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See also

References
  1. "TA, a back-up for the Army". 8 August 2016.
  2. Philip, Snehesh Alex (2 March 2020). "Territorial Army set for overhaul as voluntary force gets its first director general".
  3. "Indian Defence Force", The Times, 3 March 1917
  4. "Compulsory Service in India: The New Defence Force", The Times, 7 March 1917
  5. "Indian Auxiliary Force: First Year's Success", The Times, 12 October 1921
  6. "Official Website of Indian Army". indianarmy.nic.in.
  7. "Urban Systems of Training for Territorial Army".
  8. Shelke, Ganesh. "Provincial Systems of Training of Territorial Army". Indian Army.
  9. "Anurag Thakur becomes first serving BJP MP to join Territorial Army". The Indian Express. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  10. Firstpost (31 October 2011). "Army to confer Lt Col rank upon Dhoni, Bindra". Firstpost. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  11. "Army to confer Lt Col rank upon Bindra, Dhoni - Rediff.com News". Rediff.com. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  12. "Home Ministry Authorizes". Blackbeltcombat.tripod.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  13. "Kapil Dev joins Territorial Army". Rediff.com. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  14. Kapil Dev joins Territorial Army
  15. "'I don't question my commander'". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  16. "Mohanlal wants to join Territorial Army - Movies News News - IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  17. "Mohanlal to become a Lt Colonel". rediff.com.
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