A recently former chief of Army Staff - General Roy Choudhury was Bengali. The current BSF head RS Mooshahary is a Bodo.
On other fronts, another Army Chief was a Tam Brahm - Gen S. Padmanabhan. The only Indian Field Marshall was a Parsi. So at least on the face of it, there is no taboo. Though I must admit the Sardars have way more people in the army than their proportion of the Indian population. --- tridip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Even in officer level posts - if your father or > relative has been in the army (mostly "martial > races" - Rajputs and Sikhs -then >you have a better > chance of getting in. > > well i beg to differ on that. the regiments in the > indian army are all pre-independent era ...the > britishers formed them and they have retained their > names..their identity....though the recruitment was > more or less strictly based on caste, community , > even villages they aren't anymore today esp. in the > officer ranks. the other ranks like the jawans etc > are usually recruited on the basis of their > community. and there's a logic behind this. it binds > the jawans amongst themselves. more often than not > one'll find people from the same villages in one > battalion or regiments. furthermore, people from the > hilly regions are better for mountain warfare ( it > was the gurkha, naga and kumaon regiment who took > the top honours in kargil) simillarly, the > rajputana, sikh regiments are better in plains or > deserts etc. as they call, its in their genes! > > as for the officer ranks, its simply that not many > sits for the entrance exams. even till some years > back not many students in assam were aware of exams > like NDA-NA, CDSE etc. they either wanted to be > doctors or engineers or maybe lawyers...not a > defence officer. i have seen atleast 30 guys from > the north and west of india who dropped out of IITs > to join NDA. as far as assam is concerned i dont > know of anyone doing that. do u guys know?? maybe > the better question would be, would you let your > son/brother drop out of IIT-D to join NDA??? most > probably the answer will be no. the opportunity cost > would be lot higher than what you would expect to > get. right?? > > now for the chances of a bengali or assamese getting > into the army in the lower ranks. its as good as any > other indian. but the only problem is that there > aren't many takers for it. the only reason why there > are a lot less assamese than, say, sikh is that not > many wants to join the defence forces...but the > recent stampedes in the recruitment rallys or camps > indicates the change in mentality and attitude. > > btw, assam rifles is the oldest regiment in india. > > regards, > tridip > > > Barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Even in officer level posts - if your father or > relative has been in the army (mostly "martial > races" - Rajputs and Sikhs -then >you have a better > chance of getting in. > > In this respect, the British were racist in that > they believed in the racial superiority of people. > In fact they not only believed and honored the Hindu > caste system, but also took advantage of it. They > used to employ the Brahmins for office work. > Similarly they openly gave preference to the martial > races for recruitment into the army. Sikhs, Rajputs > and the Gurkhas were the most preferred races for > military. A guy from Assam or Bengal will probably > have a low chance of getting into the military > specially in the lower ranks. I think it is still > the case although they may not say it openly. It > will be interesting to see the percentage of > different Indian ethnic groups in the military and > that might reveal the facts. > RB > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: umesh sharma > To: assam@assamnet.org > Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 6:10 PM > Subject: [Assam] Mr Suraj Bhan is right - do away > with Rajputana Rifles-name -atleast > > > http://www.ndtv.com/topstories/showtopstory.asp?slug=Panel+seeks+%27Dalit+Regiment%27+in+Army&id=18057&category=National > > > I was telling Hindu American F board members to > invite Mr Suraj Bhan (mentioned in the above > article) to speak on behalf of Hindu organizations > working for Dailts -at US Congressional meetings . > It seems he has taken up a challenging task. > > It is no secret that there is widespread corruption > in Army recruitment -esp for non-officer level > posts. Recruiting officers rely on their relatives > back home - to get in near and dear ones - but for a > fee --mostly from the same caste. Ofcourse, they > > > > --------------------------------- > Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in > one click. > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
