Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated August 19, 1952: Role of army in India

General K. M. Cariappa, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, warned the people against complacency about the strength and invincibility of their armed forces and said that the strength of a nation, apart from a well-equipped modern army, depended on four factors namely, the high morale of the people, economic stability, industrial self-sufficiency and a virile race of people.

The Commander-in-Chief who was addressing the members of the Rotary Club in Madras, on August 18, criticised those who wanted the Indian Army to emulate the Chinese Army and said that the Indian Army was not only small in number compared with the Chinese Army but had carried out a number of civil duties during the spare time after undergoing training.

Gen. Cariappa observed: The strength of the country was not to be measured, merely by the strength of its armed forces. There were four factors that primarily contributed to make a country strong. They should all realise the importance of these factors and whether they wore the olive green, the white or the khaki uniform they should get together to ensure the security of their homeland.

In the first place, Gen. Cariappa said the people must develop a high standard of morale. Only high morale would enable them to suffer the horrors of war and the frustrations in life. They must carry out the task assigned to them in the farms and factories. Otherwise, at the first sight of a hostile aircraft or enemy shell, they would collapse. The high morale could be built up only by mothers and school teachers. It was they who could see to it that the children grew into citizens with a high morale.

The second factor was economic stability. Thirdly, there must be industrial self-sufficiency. Many people, Gen. Cariappa said, talked glibly and lightly of a mechanised mobile army. A modern army required a modern weapon, equipment and materials. They were all aware that, industrially, our country was still in infant stage. They had to depend upon other countries industrially. Would they be justified in having a modern well-equipped army when they had to buy equipment worth millions of dollars from other countries? Tanks, ships, wireless radar and other equipment which went to make up a modern armed force had still to be obtained from abroad.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Miscellaneous

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• All in the game
• The Hindu crossword 7446
• Solution to puzzle 7445
• God can be bound by chord of devotion
• dated August 19, 1952: Role of army in India
• Weather

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu