Territorial Army (India)

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.

801 Engineer Regiment R&P (TA) was raised as a Departmental Territorial Army unit on 1st March 1983 at Agra (Agra Fort) under Ministry of Petroleum, Chemicals & Fertilizers; later renamed as Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG). The purpose of raising of the unit was to operate oil Refineries & Pipelines in case of any eventuality. The unit was raised to cater for Indian Oil Corporation. Later the scope was extended in 1985 to other oil companies i.e. BPCL (Bharat Petroleum), HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum), CRL (later CPCL & now IOCL-CR), BRPL (now IOCL-BGR) and KRL (now BPCL, Kochi).

The Central Govt (MoPNG) decided to raise following departmental territorial army units for respective domains:-

• 811 Engr Regt, ONGC (TA)-(Baroda). It was raised for operating oil wells/ receiving imported crude oil on behalf of ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) and to supply the same to various refineries.

• 801 Engr Regt, R&P(TA)-(Agra Fort). It was raised considering an emergency or eventuality wherein operating any one of the refineries and maintenance of selected Pipelines for the public sector would be required.

• 414 ASC BN (TA)-(Kamptee). For the role of marketing of petroleum petroleum products in case of emergency situations.

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.

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 43,085(2019) 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.

• 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

• 127 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles Eco - Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• 128 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles Eco - Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
• 129 Infantry Battalion (TA) JAK LI Eco - Samba, Jammu and Kashmir
• 130 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon Eco - Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand
• 132 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput Eco - New Delhi (Union Territory)
• 133 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra Eco - Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
• 134 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco - Rangiya, Assam
• 135 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco - Tezpur, Assam
• 136 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar Eco - Aurangabad, Maharashtra
• 137 Composite Eco-Task Force Battalion (TA) 39 Gorkha Rifles - Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

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 at IMA Dehradun 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.

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 29 July 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.

• National Cadet Corps

• Official website
• Territorial Army (TA) at GlobalSecurity.org
• Evolution of Territorial Army article at Sainik Samachar